You have me mistaken with someone else. I've never once laughed about innocent people getting brutally attacked or murdered. I'm not like those who find it funny when innocent people are harmed. I never have, and never will. I don't condone or support violence or instigate violence upon innocent people. There's no excuse for harming innocent people, no matter what party they support, or what race, gender, or religious views they identify with, or belong to.
In the US intergenerational poverty is worse in rural areas than urban areas. Places like Appalachia have been among the poorest since the founding of the country. Mississippi and other parts of the South have been very poor for most of their history. Urban areas like Detroit have been suffering too from intergenerational poverty but 50 years ago were among the major economic engines of the country. At the same time we’ve seen places like Pittsburgh that were economic powerhouses then develop major problems come back in the last decade. While many like to view cities as crime ridden pockets of poverty they are generating far more of our economy than rural areas. As problems such as rural depopulation and consolidation of agriculture the economic gap between rural and urban areas is growing.
I want to point out that many today, including Fox News as an example, incorrectly refer to everyone crossing the border as illegal immigrants, when in fact, they are allowed to stay legally while awaiting immigration court hearings. Our economy is heavily reliant on immigration. It's not just the construction industry. As Fed Chair Powell stated, part of the employment recovery was attributed to the return of immigration, and as the CBO highlighted recently, the unexpected immigration surge is a $7 gift to the economy. The staunchly anti-immigration stance of the MAGA movement, if fully implemented, would undoubtedly harm businesses and the US economy, leading to price increases for everyone, increased national debt, and slower economic growth. While there are sensible solutions to address our border challenges, Republicans today have made it abundantly clear that perpetuating the perception of an issue is more politically advantageous than resolving it.
Thinking some more of the question that ATW posed about rebuilding the bridge I think 18 months might be too hopeful of a timeline. Two years might be more realistic. I do think 18 months is possible though but again I don’t have expertise in this type of project. Just for fun if I was given the project manager position for the rebuilding of the bridge here is what I would do: 1. It will take months for the damaged ship and debris from the bridge to be removed. Starting today I would start reviewing the drawings and other material from the existing bridge design and construction. Would also be meeting with state and local officials to get the permit and review process started on a new bridge. Also meeting with state and local politicians to determine budget and funding. For something like this given current construction costs will be probably be a couple of billion. 2. I would direct design teams to pursue two design options. A rebuild of the bridge on its existing foundations and one that would require new foundations, essentially a whole new bridge that would require rerouting. This phase is known as Schematic Design 3. As debris is being cleared have engineers determine how much damage is to the existing foundations of the bridge. This would determine which design direction of rebuilding on the current route and reusing existing foundations or if building on new foundations on a new route will be better. While it might seem like if the current bridge foundations can be reused would be cheaper and faster that isn't always the case. Especially using pre-engineered elements it might be cheaper and faster to just build completely new. Other issues are if the existing bridge foundations can hold a bridge for current and projected traffic conditions and of course have to consider possible future accidents involving ships much larger than was in the original design. 4. Once a design direction is determined move into the Design Development phase. From this phase budget and timeline will be refined. Lets say that the direction is a whole new bridge on new structure is the way to go. From the prior design phase the overall direction of the design is determined, say an inverted truss with suspension like what the previous bridge was then design teams would be tasked to work on multiple parts of the design. One team would be working on designing the new foundations. Another team would be working on the truss structure and another working on the roadbed. The focus would be on designing elements where a lot can be made off site with very little construction on site. At the same time be working with subcontractors and vendors to provide the supply chain necessary to get materials. 5. At the end of Design Development the budget and timeline should be largely determined and we move onto the next phase called Construction Documents where the design is refined for actual construction. Given the importance of this bridge likely to go into a Design Build phase here with on site work like digging out the holes for the foundations takes place as design is still going. Given this is a marine environment a lof of onsite work has to be done. By the end of this phase most of the permitting should be in place other than construction and final inspections. 6. Design Build / Construction phase. Timing is crucial on this project so design is still happening as construction is ongoing. Once the surface conditions are addressed new foundations are built. Ideally they are pre-made units that can be quickly put in place. IN the meantime design on the truss and roadbed are still going and as those designs are completed pre-made segments are manufactured. Once the foundations are in place and pass inspections the truss structure is built. Once the truss structure is built the road bed is built. Once all of that is done final construction such as road grading, installing things like lights, communication, and sensors is done. Finally painting and other finishing is done along with final inspections. The new bridge is connected to existing traffic routes and opened. This will take a lot of effort and will require very dedicated design team, managers, inspectors, along with political leaders. It will take a lot of discipline and some luck also to keep the project on schedule.
The blame goes to the leaders of red states. Their policies, funding, and laws affect everyone in the state. The worst states for workers, based on wage policies, worker protections, and rights to organize are North Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas, Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Idaho, North Dakota, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Indiana. https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explor...es/poverty-in-the-us/best-states-to-work-2023/ The states with least mental healthcare facilities per population are Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Arizona’s , Wyoming, Tennessee, and Idaho. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/worst-states-for-mental-health-care/ The states with the most people uninsured for healthcare are Mississippi 15.9%, Texas 14.4%, Georgia 11.4%, Tennessee 11.2% and Kansas 10.6%. https://www.valuepenguin.com/uninsured-rates-study The states with the worst roads are Wyoming, Alabama, North Dakota, Kentucky, Tennessee, Nebraska, Florida, Minnesota, Georgia, Oregan, Kansas, South Dakota, Montana, and Oklahoma. https://constructioncoverage.com/research/us-states-with-the-worst-roads-2023 The worst states for working women are North Carolina , Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina, Wyoming, Utah, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Arizona, Kansas, and North Dakota. https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explor...in-the-us/best-states-for-working-women-2022/ Seven of the top 10 worst states for healthcare are in the South, including Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas and Texas. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/health-insurance/best-worst-states-for-healthcare/ The states for high school students where the highest risk of threats, fights or injuries with a weapon and exposure to illegal drugs on school property are Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, New York, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, and Oregan. https://districtadministration.com/...dents-drugs-bullying-weapons-school-shootings/ The states that invest the least amount per capital in its libraries are Mississippi, Wyoming, Nevada, Alaska, Alabama, Virginia, South Dakota, Texas, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Florida. https://bookriot.com/library-use-and-spending-by-state/ The worst states for long-term care are Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nevada, Mississippi, New Mexico, West Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee. https://medicareguide.com/best-and-worst-states-for-long-term-care-331669 Texas is #1 in worst ranked nursing home states. The other failing states are North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Indiana. https://familiesforbettercare.com/index.php/report-cards/state-ranking#:~:text=The Bottom of the Barrel,, and Indiana (41). The worst states for addiction, overdose, and treatment are Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Tennessee, New Mexico, and Kentucky. https://www.ecs.org/50-state-comparison-k-12-school-safety-2022/ States with most drunk driving fatalities per 100,000 people are Wyoming, South Carolina, North Dakota, New Mexico and Alabama. https://alcohol.org/guides/drunk-driving-accidents-by-state/ I could go on and on, and the story would be the same. Red State leaders don't care about people. They cater to the rich, the NRA, and the big corporations and billionaire oil companies.
I see estimates of about $400M.... so basically 25% of the Clippers' new arena. I think we can handle that.
I say let's take the $400 million from a gop member who didn't vote for the infrastructure bill and then took credit for getting it passed They obviously didn't think they needed it so no harm, no foul
Actually according to that link Minnesota is one of the best states to be poor in: GO GOPHERS! Yes the roads aren't great but that is because this is one of the coldest places in US. It is so cold that several car companies have their cold weather testing facilities here. Also because Minnesota traffic planners are weird and Minnesotans don't know how to zipper merge and do stuff like drive slow in the passing lane.
I just saw an estimate for $400 million: https://finance-commerce.com/2024/0...ao, a West Virginia,as little as $400 million. "Hota GangaRao, a West Virginia University engineering professor, said the project could cost as little as $400 million. But that’s only if the old bridge’s pier foundations are used; designers may want to locate the new supports farther away from the shipping channels to avoid another collision." I find that hard to believe given the I-35W bridge cost $250 million in 2007 dollars which would be about $400 million now. While that span carries more traffic its much shorter than the FSK bridge and its foundations are on bedrock on the sides of the Mississippi gorge and in the relatively shallow river there. The construction challenges for this bridge are much more challenging even if they can build it on the existing foundations. From that article though it's good to see that for someone who doesn't deal with this type of project my time estimate is close to what some of the experts think. "Others are more optimistic about the potential timeline: Sameh Badie, an engineering professor at George Washington University, said the project could take as little as 18 months to two years."
My broader point was that we, as a society, find a lot more money all of the time to pay for superfluous things like stadiums. Any complaints about the federal government paying for the reconstruction of the Key Bridge ring hollow to me.
The arguments for public funding stadium projects are that they are essentially infrastructure projects that will deliver more economic to the city. They are also billed as civic pride projects. As an FYI the I-35W bridge reconstruction was paid with federal funds. GW Bush signed the bill relatively quickly after the bridge fell with little opposition.
That's so true. Look at the billions in Federal aid in Florida and Texas alone for tropical storms and hurricanes. Florida got $8.69 billion in Federal aid after Hurricane Ian alone, and Texas has gotten billions in Federal aid from hurricanes and tropical storms. Name any state and there have been disasters from fires to hurricanes to earthquakes, tropical storms, flooding, and tornadoes. Whether it's a bridge, roads, businesses, or homes, the aid is sent after disasters.
