Fact-Checking the "PRT Boondoggle" Blog
A project of the PRT NewsCenter

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The fibber's latest fibs

Bon jour gadgetbahners, I have indeed returned from a great holiday in France. So you can understand if I look down the list of the Minnesota anti-PRT propagandist's smelly output of the past two weeks, and simply smile at how trivial it (and he) is.

Ken Avidor has been a busy boy though. For entertainment purposes, the most fruitful of his prating have got to be his contributions to the Action Alameda News blog. The blog about life in that San Francisco Bay Area community1 had a post about Peter Calthorpe's pitch for redevelopment at Alameda Point (a, b; also here), and Avidor had to chime in with his usual Talking Points.

I'll skip over the old ones that have already been debunked, and focus on two interesting New Fibs. They are just as lame as New Coke.

1. Kenny-Boy wrote a letter to Action Alameda News, and signed it "Ken Avidor, Alameda." He lied so his smear job would gain the added legitimacy of local relevance. What do you call that -- a sock puppet address? But maybe he's really moved there! It's possible I guess. Advice: It's California, Kenwood, wear your sunscreen!

2. After his Minnesota residency is exposed by Atren, the Action Alameda author is intrigued enough to do a follow up. An interview with Ken is recounted, in which he talks about the origin of his PRT hatred:

...says that his opposition to PRT is rooted in his experience in 2004, watching the City of Minneapolis approve a study of a PRT system. Source

Interesting and moving, except for one thing: one of Kennel Ration's biggest claims to infamy, his seminal anti-PRT fearmongering cartoon, dates from April 23, 2003.

But wait -- on his own website, Kenwood wrote:

I first encountered the strange world of PRT in 1989, two years after I moved to Minneapolis from Manhattan. Source

C'mon Ken, which is it -- 1989, 2003, or 2004? Pick one and stick with it. Or are you doing that time-distortion thing you do so well???


Archives: He's ready for warmer climates in his Sonny Crockett blazer --

Related: Some of what I saw in France (@Viropop)



gPRT
Ken Avidor puts the IN in 'inaccuracy'
1. Hey Ken, have you picked up on the fact I was in the East Bay area in mid-July? Coincidence???