Literate Commuters in Newcastle

The City of Newcastle will someday boast a World Class Transit Center on the shores of Lake Boren. Someday.

One of the components of Transit Center World Classdom has to be a Library located nearby. Weary commuters arriving back from work can take an escalator underground. From there they board the moving walkway that ambles through damp and dark tunnels to the sub basement of the library.

Then all they need to do is swipe their library card and enter a password (********* is what I use) and a book plummets down a chute. They slip the book into their rolling computer bag and head for home.

Without a library the transit center would just be a bus stop. For example right now in ‘downtown’ Newcastle that’s what it is – a bus stop.

Back in the old days when teachers were allowed to teach kids how to read a lot of us actually learned. We can still read stuff like books and blogs. That’s why we need libraries. There’s a correlation between folks who work and folks who read. This is why commuters want access to the library on their way home. It all fits together.

Newcastle embarked on a quest to get a branch library and in the King County Library System many years ago. Today there are almost 50 locations in the KCLS system. It’s a large outfit. Recently the Renton Library decided to join up. KCLS has survived the blow well and even managed to show a fake smile.

Renton is kind of a funny town. It’s part of the Greater Newcastle Metropolitan Area but has exercised some kind of independence for most of its existence. For example the street numbering system that’s worked for Seattle and most of the rest of King County was not acceptable to Renton. They changed it around 40 years ago and it makes finding addresses in Renton difficult. Fortunately very few of us want to find anything in Renton so it’s just a minor annoyance.

The GPS tong has gotten most of the Renton streets programmed in. Here’s a warning: if you’ve never been to Renton be sure to bring your GPS so you don’t get lost.

Anyway, they also put up their own “public library” in downtown Renton. It is a unique structure in that it spans the Cedar River. The floor of the library is essentially a bridge. Not a floating bridge like I-90, but in very wet weather it seems to be near floating.

Having a special library in Renton was awkward because most of us think its all part of the King County Library. Now it is.

Seattle has a separate library with branches and lots of books. They also have an agreement with KCLS to return books that belong to each other. If a person checks out a book from the Seattle library and drops it off with KCLS it gets returned to the correct Seattle branch. And vice versa.

The problem with that exchange is that many years ago when it was first dreamed up the Seattle library was much larger. They only had to send a few occasional books to KCLS. Now the King County Library System is very much larger and the cost of returning books is substantially higher for poor old Seattle. Boohoo.

Back to the Newcastle Library. During the planning stage the city wondered if they could also include a City Hall in the same structure. Right now the City Hall is located in the front of a factory. The KCLS folks thought that was OK and agreed. Mainly because that meant they could share cost of construction. Gotta have a goal. This caused a rework of the plan.

The KCLS Branch in Burien occupies the same structure as the Burien City Hall. It’s not unheard of. Take a look. It’s on the web. Try www.dumb.idea... Or something.

Well that wasn’t enough for Newcastle. Next they wanted some low income housing units in there as well. Maybe 80 or 90. Along with a carwash, vitamin store, and local airport. Why not?

Then they removed the City Hall from the plan. I think they decided sharing a factory building would be better than sharing low income housing.

Anyway, all this required a lot of plan revisions and working with several other entities to reach agreements on what it should look like. This is not a fast process. The world circled the sun a number of times before they even had a sketch ready.

Then things came unglued and revised again. Economic realities forced cutbacks on what could be included and what should be left out. The airport was the first to fly out of the plan. Observers saw things going that way and suggested maybe the original library plan should once again be an option. The City Council quietly approved a zoning change that would allow the library to go it alone.

People over at the King County Library System can read. It’s a skill many of them have. They can also add. Maybe half have that skill. The upshot is that the library will now be built as a single use structure. Over a parking garage. As part of the agreement the folks who want to build the 80 unit low income housing are now free to make their own plans and construction schedule. Except that if they fail to begin by an undisclosed date the library will then be free to select a new partner for the remaining area.

Here’s my thought: it’s only one acre! Once you have a library and a few shrubs there’s not much room left for anything else. So don’t look for more junk on that lot. Besides, the city council has several more meetings before construction begins so who knows what they’ll come up with?

Al

Wanta Lease A Floating Bridge?

A while back we talked about far away places buying some American highways and stuff. The Indiana Toll Road was leased for $3.8 billion. The Chicago Skyway was leased in 2005 for $1.8 billion for 99 years. And Mayor Daley leased 36,000 parking meters in Chicago for 75 years.


The benefit is local and state govs get lots of cash right away. The down side is other folks collect the income (tolls and parking fees). The thinking was that the investors would get steady cash income over long periods. Imagine how much the Skyway could make in tolls for 99 years. Or 36,000 parking meters.

However, apparently the people who lease these things also have to maintain them. That’s the point. The theory is a private investment group can be more efficient with managing the continuous repair and upgrading these items require.

The people who pay for these big leasing agreements are actually investment groups. If you have lots of cash (Republicans) and you want stable return you hand it over to some slick dude who promises huge returns. Most of these guys are in jail now so you need to look elsewhere.

Anyway, you invest you “hard earned” with one of these investment groups and they lease, oh, I don’t know, let’s say a floating bridge. Now they charge a toll to drive across that bridge. Out of that income they do three things: pay dividends to investors, maintain the bridge, and finance the replacement when it finally stops floating. Unless the lease agreement includes some forward tax dollars to help with maintenance. Who knows?

The big dollar lease payment they gave the “owners” is not repaid. As long as the investors (you rich folks) don’t pull your money out of the scheme the leasing company hums along fat, dumb, and happy. And you make a few bucks along the way. See, the original investment stays as is and the investment company manages the cash flow.

The point of all this is that I’m forming an investment group to lease the SR 520 Floating Bridge. I’m planning a toll for everyone. Big bucks to use my bridge, man.

Here’s my plan: Double deck with transit and car pools on the lower deck and general purpose on the upper. Transit will include light rail. Everyone will get the transponder and when they use our new bridge we’ll make money. I need six lanes on each deck to maximize tolls.

We’ll have busses and car pools on the lower deck along with all commercial passenger vehicles regardless of riders. Taxis and shuttle busses with only a driver will be required to use car pool lanes anyway. We’ll have iron clad rules and massive fines. Porches will be allowed to drive anywhere they want.

Diamond Ts will be restricted to upper deck. See I call big trucks Diamond T. That’s because when I was a little kid, before the internet, TV, and video games, I’d go to the city park in Manhattan, Kansas and watch the big rigs on Poyntz. I didn’t know all the different brands so I thought they were all Diamond T. Now when I see a big truck my head says “Diamond T.” Sometimes my mouth says it too.

This is one of those things where a brand name morphs into a generic name such as Kleenex or Coke. Another generic word I often use is “hooter.” I use that whenever I encounter an object but I can’t quickly recall the right noun. That hooter you fill with water and put flowers in, you know… a vase! Or that hooter that squirts gasoline into the cylinders of your runaway Toyota.

Well it turns out that there are some people who have appropriated the word “hooter” as a designation for their very own personal anatomical parts. And they get annoyed if I use their word. Well here’s my reply: people don’t own words. OK, maybe somebody owns Kleenex or Coke, but generally speaking you can’t personally own a word. I’ve used the word “hooter” as long as I can remember. So my message is “Don’t get your naganeters in a bunch just because I say ‘hooter.’”

Dang, now I have to go back and see what I was talking about. I don’t read this stuff very often some hang on a minute… dum de dum dum.

Oh yeah! Leasing infrastructure. Apparently that was all the rage a few years ago but now it’s lost its luster. The Port Elizabeth NJ shipping terminal was leased to Deutsche Bank in 2007. They wanted to sell their interest in the $2.1 billion investment for profit. But then world wide shipping sank and they took a $205 million charge after shifting the terminals to their corporate division. In other words it didn’t work out so well.

My plan is better. Since I don’t have a big bank I can’t pay $205 million even if I had to. So your money is safe with me. Just send it in and when I get enough I’ll lease the Lake Washington crossing now occupied but the SR520 Bridge and we’re off to the races. I’ll sink the old bridge and install my new 12 lane money maker and charge enormous tolls. What could possibly go wrong?

Al

Cell Phones Cause Cooties

A Maine legislator, Andrea, is proposing a bill that would require cell phones to carry radiation hazard warnings. All cell phones sold in Maine would fall under this bill. She says there’s scientific proof that cell phones cause cooties.


Well I know the girls in my first grade class had cooties and that was way before cell phones were invented. In fact I remember the day the teacher came in and told us some guy named Alex had invented the telephone. The girls squealed happily because they knew someday the cell phone would be invented. All they could talk about was how great it will be one day when they could hear their own special ring tones and before they could find the phone in the bottom of the purse it would quit.

Anyway, according to Time Magazine, the cell phone emits about a billionth of the radiation of a typical X-ray. So a visit to the dentist is the equivalent of a billion phone calls. Or a typical senior year in High School. Which is why we need the radiation hazard warning. It’ll be in the “Warning” section of the instruction manual with all the others.

Right up there with not taking the phone into the bath tub, disconnect the battery before and after every use, never chew gum while talking to your mom, keep your shoes tied, use a handkerchief, and never wax the primer coat. All very relevant to the safe and proper use of a cell phone.

In our state (to be renamed “Salish”) the legislature is upping the use of a cell phone while driving to a primary offense. That means if the radar spots a car going below the speed limit it alerts the officer to possible cell phone use. That can get you a ticket. Here’s a way to go broke: drive 15 mph under the speed limit alone in the HOT lane while eating a sandwich, putting on makeup, texting, using a cell phone, and ignoring the seatbelt.

Talking on a cell phone was a secondary offense before which meant you could only get a ticket if they caught you doing something else bad while yakking away. Now that’s all they need to nail you. “Hang on a minute while I see what this cop wants.” Or, “Officer, wait a sec. Can’t you see I’m on the phone?!”

The good news is you can talk all you want on our public transportation system. Just try it. Make sure you use the cell phone camera to capture the looks from your fellow passengers. Whoever you’re talking to will get a kick out of it.

Al