Obama supports high speed rail to Philly from Pittsburgh (York: spring break, school)

[pman]

Bush had nothing to do with the Keystone Corridor upgrade. PennDOT funded 2/3's of it, the project was initially ok'd under schweiker, postponed under rendell (first budget "crisis" then finally ok'd. the rest was paid for by Amtrak. Rendell certainly cares not about pittsburgh though he certainly hasn't done much for rail in the east either....rather Philly is getting an $800 million expansion of its convention center. Rendell even admitted it wasn't the best use of the money. I tend to think the next governor will be from the west. Penn did pay for a study for service west of harrisburg, improving trip times and adding service frequencies. the price tag was quoted at $110 million which isn't unreasonable. had the state pushed ahead with that project, we'd now be sitting pretty looking for money to upgrade some sections to 90 or 110 mph and perhaps east of to 125 mph.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by pman

Bush had nothing to do with the Keystone Corridor upgrade.

I didn't say that he did. A previous poster remarked that we couldn't have expected much during the terms of the prior administration and I was simply commenting that this did not stop the service upgrades to the East.

It was a question of will on the part of PennDOT and the fact that Southwestern Commission is made up of politicians each of whom wants to protect their little slice of the pie and for most that means roadway improvements and the Mon Valley Expressway and, as a result, we get no coherent transportation policy.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by pman

I tend to think the next governor will be from the west.

Please, not Onorato. The guy is a Republican pretending to be a Democrat so he could get elected (small government, no new taxes, corporate giveaways). As controller he was completely blindsided by the $40 million County budget deficit as well as the deficit at PAT which arose during his tenure.

I'll be glad when he is out of office, here, but I wouldn't wish him on Pennsylvania.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by JoeLeaphorn

A previous poster remarked that we couldn't have expected much during the terms of the prior administration and I was simply commenting that this did not stop the service upgrades to the East.

To be precise, I claimed there was "almost no chance of significant federal funding for projects like this in the prior federal administration," and I stand by that claim.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

To be precise, I claimed there was "almost no chance of significant federal funding for projects like this in the prior federal administration," and I stand by that claim.

My point was that Keystone Corridor improvements were made during the Bush presidency but not to the West of Harrisburg. I didn't say anything about Federal funding. What I did say, and I will stand by this, is that Pennsylvania never took the 2000 amendment to the Federal HSR Corridor designation, seriously, in the 8 plus years, since.

[pman]

Originally Posted by JoeLeaphorn

Please, not Onorato. The guy is a Republican pretending to be a Democrat so he could get elected (small government, no new taxes, corporate giveaways). As controller he was completely blindsided by the $40 million County budget deficit as well as the deficit at PAT which arose during his tenure.

I'll be glad when he is out of office, here, but I wouldn't wish him on Pennsylvania.

I tend to think Pennsylvania needs a Republican governor next, I also think it's a myth that Republicans never support rail projects. One candidate, Gerlach, has long been a supporter of the reading-Philly project. there's really nothing wrong with being for small government and no new taxes, that's a plu sin my book. last thing we need is someone who isn't skeptical of new programs and taxes, just look at new jersey.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by pman

I tend to think Pennsylvania needs a Republican governor next, I also think it's a myth that Republicans never support rail projects. One candidate, Gerlach, has long been a supporter of the reading-Philly project. there's really nothing wrong with being for small government and no new taxes, that's a plu sin my book. last thing we need is someone who isn't skeptical of new programs and taxes, just look at new jersey.

I'm not saying that we couldn't use a Republican Governor. I happen to think that Tom Ridge was one of the best governors in recent memory, certainly much better than Rendell. But to be Republican in ideology but switch parties because you have a better chance of winning as a Democrat, well, look what happen to Specter?

A Pittsburgh Magazine profile of Onorato stated that he was a Republican until he told his wife that he wanted to run for office he needed to switch parties because Republicans don't get elected much in Allegheny County, so he did.

Sorry, but that is hypocrisy to me.

Moreover, he hasn't proved to be a good fiscal steward, either as Controller or as Executive. Both PAT and the County had budget shortfalls during his watch. His solution to the County's shortfall was to trim the number of County employees but there was a problem with that, namely, than the plan encouraged the most senior and most experienced people to take the buyout. In addition, that plan plays to a common misconception that the County payroll was too fat and government too big. The truth of the matter is much more complex.

Since letting go of staff, key functions like food safety inspections, air quality enforcement, bridge, road and highway inspections, have lagged. No serious attempt was made to look at services delivered across the board and make surgical cuts. Instead, a broad-based buyout was offered. That is not always the smartest thing to do when you are in the business of delivering civil service but, like much of Onorato's policies, it is the most expedient.

I also don't like the way that he plays class warfare. The drink tax is an example. It is easy to tax "sin" but it isn't always fair. People I know who work in the hospitality industry have told me that they have definitely been feeling the pinch, especially in the take-home pay for service workers. It would have been fairer to implement a tax across the board and shared by everyone than to balance the budget on the backs of those who patronize restaurants.

But the most egregious wrong is his using taxpayer money to fight court ordered property reassessments by trying to suggest that most people would see a tax increase of 10% or more. He is spending our tax dollars to delay the implementation of a plan which would restore parity to property taxes and not because he wants to keep taxes low but because he only needs to stall until he gets the party nomination for governor. In the meantime, tens of thousands of property owners, many retired or in lower socioeconomic classes, are paying more than their share while those who can afford to pay more are paying less.

Someone with that kind of moral compass as governor?

[pman]

sorry I misunderstood you. Rendell was a better mayor than governor IMO.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by pman

sorry I misunderstood you. Rendell was a better mayor than governor IMO.

I agree. That is, in part, because Philly, Pittsburgh and Chicago (among others) are cities with strong political machines where consensus is built outside the Mayor's office. That's also why Rendell does stupid things like appoint buddies to state office during a hiring freeze and provide jobs to convicts like Fumo. Part of it is payback and part of it is that he can get away with things like that in Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania legislature, on the other hand, includes large rural areas that are significantly more conservative than Philly or even Pittsburgh, and they mostly don't give a you-know-what about whoever is governor. One of the reasons that I think that Ridge managed to be somewhat effective is that he was a small town DA and was seen by many rural and small town Pennsylvanians as being more atuned to their interests.

[pman]

not only could he get away with it, it was expected. you need to do those things to get your projects through, building consensus as you call it. moreover, much of what he did was fix small things. the sidewalk seating law was genius, it not only added to the city's vitality, but it added value to any business with a liquor license. mind you, it's not rocket science it's been done plenty of places, but it was small things like that. additionally, he cut the budget, forced the city unions into their first compromise in decades (they're still bitter about it), began cutting the wage tax (then at 4.95%), and utilized private money to build a new convention hall, among other things. you could almost say his rule as governor as been the opposite. increased the budget, raised taxes, signed off on irresponsible pension increases, used state money for inadvisable projects (mind you, he did have some big misses as mayor such as the Disneyhole), sold off the right to sell wine, and began small but constant cuts to the corp income tax he'd be viewed alot differently. the most damaging thing he did as mayor was to endorse john street as his successor, who barely won by less than 2% of the vote, and was a two term disaster. second worst was that he didn't go further in cutting into the city workforce.