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actually i'd love to hear an example of a construction zone that has been going on for decades that didn't go anywhere.
So your commentary on japanese versus american road infrastructure was specifically related to your observations during a brief vacation in japan walking around in cites as opposed to actually using the road system to get anywhere. Pretty paint and all.
Nope, not the same thing. Sprawl implies that new housing is being built on un- (or under-)developed land. In this case, the towns and houses already exist but the jobs have been leaving in recent year as employers move from suburban corporate campuses to more urban facilities. These are wealthy towns -- sites of former pharmaceutical/biotech R&D facilities, Bell Labs, etc. -- with high-end housing that would attract a lot of NYC workers if there were decent transit options. But instead, people pay a fortune to live in the closer-in towns with good train service.
Also, I've seen reporting the the price of NYC apartments has been in a tailspin. One of the issues usually cited is the new tax laws.
Do you see the same thing happening in NJ?
I've heard that NYC prices have been dropping, especially at the high end, but "tailspin" is an overstatement. Everything I've read attributes it to lots of new buildings coming online, causing oversupply. I've never heard any mention of the new tax laws causing price drops.
In my NJ town -- one of the closest and most desirable NYC commuter towns -- the new tax laws don't seem to be having any effect on sales. Prices keep climbing and bidding wars get more extreme. Taxes that seem obscene to us locals are cost-effective to people moving from Manhattan or Brooklyn. I can't speak for parts of the state outside the NYC metro area, but those areas have lower property taxes so probably won't be much affected by the tax laws.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China 16,000 miles
This is where a lot of carbon pollution was added. In order to make concrete cement for the above ground HSR, you need to burn a lot of coal/fossil fuel to drive off the HOH from limestone. US wants to build highways. Gotta have a place for the asphalt produced from the heavy oil/bitumen
Nope. Lowest qualified bidder. You can't, with no expertise or experience in a given type of work, just throw in a low bid and expect to get a job. If there's a question, the contractor is brought in for a low-bid interview, and if necessary, the Owner moves to the next bidder.
In some cases, contractors have to undergo a prequalification process and then compete against a short list for the work.
My mom used to live in Perth Amboy. She stated she could see the NYC skyline from her second story window. Do people commute from this area?
Yes. I get on my train 30 minutes before it gets to Perth Amboy. It's on my line.
When your mother said she could see the skyline, she was talking about Manhattan. Perth Amboy is actually right across a small channel from New York City--the borough called Staten Island--and connected by a bridge that was built in 1928 and will be replaced in the 2020s.
I see this in NJ. Housing prices within reasonable commuting distance of NYC are insane, while towns beyond that range are emptying out and decaying. If we could improve our existing rail and extend it farther out in the state, it would solve a lot of problems.
This is not true. What towns in NJ are emptying out and decaying? For God's sake, we have nine million people in the state, the highest population density in the country.
Reasonable commuting distance? I have a nearly 2-hour commute to lower Manhattan from Monmouth County via two trains after I drive three miles to a station, and I know people who live past my stop and work in the city. People are cutting clear across New Jersey from Pennsylvania to work in Manhattan.
The trains go to Trenton, which is on the Delaware--the other side of the state. What about Dover?
The population is growing faster to places that never used to be considered "reasonable commuting distance" faster than the system can handle them.
This is not true. What towns in NJ are emptying out and decaying?
Err... Camden?
Population has declined 3.3% since 2010 according to the US Census Bureau. An astounding 38.4% poverty rate.
Atlantic City is down 2.9%. 36.6% poverty rate.
Newark is up 2.9%, Passaic is up 2.1%, Paterson up 1.7%. They're all around 30% poverty rate.
Those are the 5 highest poverty rate cities in New Jersey. I think it's fair to say that the South Jersey ones are emptying out and decaying. Philly isn't the NYC economic engine. New Jersey still has a large number of high poverty rate cities.
I haven't looked but I'll bet Medicaid is north of 25% of the state budget with state subsidy to failed city schools not too far behind.
I just looked it up. Yep. 24.2% Medicaid but that doesn't include CHIP kid Medicaid. 22.9% K-12. My point is it's tough to fund infrastructure when more than half of the spending is going towards the failed cities with generational poverty. Southern New England and the rust belt have the same problem. These are state programs so the people in generational poverty are locked in place. No labor mobility at all.
Nope. Lowest qualified bidder. You can't, with no expertise or experience in a given type of work, just throw in a low bid and expect to get a job. If there's a question, the contractor is brought in for a low-bid interview, and if necessary, the Owner moves to the next bidder.
In some cases, contractors have to undergo a prequalification process and then compete against a short list for the work.
In California we have different contracting for different situations... even no bid or no competitive bids... such as after the earthquake leveled infrastructure... contracts awarded to companies with proven track records and told ASAP with penalties for delays...
I knew an electrical contactor that would always come in with low bids and mostly got the jobs... he said he would go bankrupt were it not for Change Orders... sometimes the Change Orders are more than the bid
A small Mom and Pop was bidding county hospital work... he bid low to get his foot in the door... lost money on a few jobs but really wanted to get established... it did pay off for him as he became a preferred vendor and when Real Estate crashed his government jobs kept him busy.
I can’t speak for electricity, but having traveled to other countries with sophisticated subway, bullet, and train systems, it’s sad and embarrassing that we don’t have a nationwide bullet train system.
Yes our country is massively larger than other countries. Yes the airline lobbyists fight tooth and nail to prevent it, but we should still have it.
Hawaii is trying to construct a rail transit system to alleviate traffic now but it’s a disaster, should’ve been done a long long time ago.
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