Big fat whopping kudos to the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist!
This week he appears to be enjoying an extended orgasm (1 2 3 4) over attempts by Resmuglican Minnesota state rep Mark Olson (16-B) to project a balanced approach to transportation. See, Olson says he supports Personal Rapid Transit. But because he's a Resmuglican he has a history of pooh-poohing conventional heavy and light rail systems--because he's an R, not because of PRT as Mr. Omnivor likes to imply (never mind that thousands of R pols nation-wide are opposing AND supporting mass transit--and 99.9% of them never utter the avi-trigger word, "PRT").
As noted before, one need not be a genius to predict that Rs in general are going to oppose big-budget rail transit. But the Propagandist acts like he discovered it.
Mark Olson is not the kind of politician we want supporting PRT. He has not proposed PRT as integrated into a multimodal system: it's as if he is blind to other transit systems that already exist in his community. Europe is showing us the way, in terms of seeing PRT as a potential solution for extending the overall reach and utility of transit networks. All PRT advocates in the U.S. who support realistic public policy need to get onto that page.
The bottom line is that Olson is wrong on so many other important issues. That's why we urge 16-B voters to vote for Democrat Jim Huhtala (and Patty Wetterling for Congress over the egregious Bachwomann).
And now for the kudos. For months now I have been saying that PRT is a technology, that it is not partisan/political. I know liberals, moderates, principled conservatives as well as apolitical folks who support PRT. But like anything else, any weasely politician like your Olsons and Bachmanns can claim to support whatever they want, if they think they can get political mileage out of it. And now by pointing up that Olson's campaign has thrown PRT "under the bus," Kiln Ovendoor is helping me make my point. Thanks, Kiln!
Opendoor is helping to disprove his own allegation that Personal Rapid Transit is a vast right wing conspiracy to defeat transit. Right now he should be asking himself: why has a member of the Gay Old Party abandoned PRT? Where is the huge PRT money machine to pay for Olson campaign ads? Why has the Secret PRT Brotherhood not enforced discipline? Simple answer: there isn't one. Nominal Resmuglican support doesn't make a technology exclusively conservative, any more than the right-wing's loud claims of patriotism give them ownership of that nonpartisan value.
Mark Olson doesn't support PRT? Good! We don't want him either.
Update (10/29): Lloydletta says Olson still supports PRT, really. So what if he does? It still doesn't mean PRT is inherently conservative. Again proving my point: if Olson is "downplaying" PRT then he doesn't have the courage of his convictions--i.e., he doesn't really support PRT. Strange move, if supporting PRT is right-wing. More evidence that it's not.
gPRT
Ken Avidor is a stockinged horse!
3 comments:
Indeed, wasn't Olson one of the centerpieces of the vast anti-transit conspiracy? Now he seems to be endorsing Minnesota light rail - why is a core member of the alleged conspiracy now supporting Minnesota light rail?
Avidor also conveniently ignores the fact that "clueless" Barbara Johnson is a Minneapolis DFLer, i.e. Democrat! If PRT is a right-wing, transit-hating conspiracy, why is Barbara Johnson voicing support for it?
Let's apply some Avidorian logic to this situation:
{Avidor logic on}
Barbara Johnson is DFL. Barbara Johnson supports PRT. Therefore DFL supports PRT!
PRT is an anti-transit conspiracy. DFL supports PRT. Therefore DFL is part of the anti-transit conspiracy!
I wonder why the DFL hates transit? I wonder why Avidor supports a party that hates transit?
{Avidor logic off}
Actually, this is kind of fun. No wonder why Avidor does it so much. :-)
(By the way, I respect Barbara Johnson for having an open mind on new ways of relieving traffic congestion, and this is not in any way an indictment of her stance).
You didn't read the post. Olson still supports PRT, he's just downplaying it in his literature.
LL:
To which post are you referring? I'm just going by what Korn Opensore the super-accurate transportation expert wrote--
Mark Olson Throws "Personal Rapid Transit" Under the Bus... Mark Olson now says he supports Northstar in his campaign literature... I could find no mention of PRT in Olson's campaign literature.
-Ed.
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