Dubious Eco-Promoter

Businessman offering financing for eco-infrastructure misrepresents connection with PRT company

©MMXI, MMXII, MMXIII The PRT NewsCenter

Major 'sustainable,' 'eco' and 'green' projects take place in the spheres of business and finance, so it has to be expected that the field is going to see its share of hustlers. Luckily, we are in an era of information-at-your-fingertips, so it is somewhat easy to catch them out.

Graham Cockroft is notable for his ubiquity in recent weeks, promoting his MaglevMovers.com site on Facebook, and of late on Twitter. Maglev Movers is trying to interest city governments in "social housing," waste-to-energy, wind and solar energy systems, maglev trains, and Personal Rapid Transit. But in at least one case Cockroft has misrepresented his business connections.

How not to advocate for Pod Transit

This is the You Tube page for a video called "Personal Rapid Transport System," and it reflects a really unfortunate attempt at messaging in support of pod transit.

(I will replace this video with a still when the video gets taken down which, I anticipate, will be quite soon.)

Visionless

The worst local news of the past week pertaining to urban livability comes from Seattle City Hall, where City Councilmembers thanked citizens for reelecting some of them by proposing to eliminate from the city budget the $1.5 million for planning streetcars and light rail requested Mayor McGinn.

Local planning is a prerequisite for federal grant applications. Therefore, applying for federal support to expand the rail network would be delayed by whatever amount of time it would take to marshal the will to fund and carry out such studies.

Seattle streetcar deal

It means jobs. Will it expand the official vision of which technologies belong in which corridors? Let's hope so.

Streetcar Network: Keep going

I just had an in-person gander at Sound Transit's Link presentation of its North Corridor plans, courtesy of the agency's public meeting at Ingraham High School. Nice job by the staff.

Now I want readers to weigh-in in favor of the (CLICK! >) L2 Main (solid line) Alternative option. Then I want you to think how to connect it to the Seattle Streetcar Network. I dare you to not get excited about the possibilities.