Felton Jam House Reporting

Seventeen - Jezebel

2009-06-15T22:37:00.000-07:00

Posted at the top of this list (for now) is a video that is a lot like the xmas in mexico video.

Sound is from the digital radio played on the hotel TV and recorded on to my camera.

I took that sound as a framework and then loaded the project with the folder of pictures and movies that I have been publishing or posting so far... with some editing after the fact though.

Auto Movie. Catch it - it's fun!

That's how the traffic conference video was made. Quickly; and I lost the WMNSSVBVS file, or whatever the extension is...

I hope you enjoy the music.

Sixteen - writing for DOT-Way

2009-06-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the article I wrote for the City of San Jose DOT Newsletter...

It is nice to have an editor - whew!

Transportation in Istanbul (not Constantinople)
William Harmon - Geographic Systems Specialist

Many people have asked me why I traveled to Istanbul on a recent vacation.

In short, I have a goal to travel to a different and unique place - someplace I’ve never been - every year for the rest of my life. Istanbul and the Republic of Turkey was a place on my list.

Istanbul is a lively city that continues to build upon itself and its several thousand year history straddling the Bosporus Straights - one-half in Europe and the other half in Asia. Islam is practiced there, but during the last century it has been tempered somewhat to encourage modernization and enable Turkey to become more contemporary. They have been negotiating, unsuccessfully, to become part of the European Union for decades. None-the-less, Islam is still a major part of their culture, with the call-to-prayer broadcast over loud-speakers throughout the city five times a day.

I found out by visiting there that while some customs may be quaint; hospitality abounds and Istanbul has a very modern infrastructure - particularly their public transportation system.

While sitting in airport traffic during the first part of my visit, I looked up and saw a billboard for the 2009 Intertraffic Conference:

http://www.istanbul.intertraffic.com/intertrafficistanbul2009/e

I later found out that it was not only happening close to where I was staying and at the same time, but that it was free! So I decided to go.

The first presentation, I somehow managed to understand, was a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analysis for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) projects – this despite not being able to understand the Turkish language at all. Let’s hear it for effective Power Point slides!

I then retrieved a headset for Turkish to English translation and watched a presentation by a traffic engineer from the Istanbul Electric Tramway and Tunnel (http://www.iett.gov.tr/en/). The IETT and its partner agencies are equivalent to our local VTA.

Despite issues with language translation, I could appreciate the challenges of a traffic engineer for a city of 15 million people (and a population density three to four times greater than the City of San Jose).[1] In one example, he described the ratio of signal devices operated per population, and then compared these figures to other metropolitan areas of the world. The ratio is something like 1: 3,000 for Istanbul (1 signal for every 3,000 persons); compared to 1: 1,000 for large cities in the U.S., like Los Angeles. San Jose, by comparison, has roughly 900 traffic signals for a population of about 900,000.

Next, he went on to admit another challenge: Regardless of how many signals and other safety devices there are in the city, they are largely violated or ignored by the motorists. (What did I find particularly un-nerving during my visit? Here, the motorists have countdown signals!)

Expansion and improvement of the public transportation system, according to the speaker, was the best solution. He explained that the construction of public transportation in the city has grown at a rate of about 75% since the year 2000. In fact, right in front of the Istanbul Expo Center, where the conference took place, they were excavating bedrock to build an additional line to their Metro system.

To augment growth of the public transportation system the speaker also cited the need for more Otoparks – an equivalent to our Park and Ride lots, but more like multi-story parking garages placed at key transit hubs.

After the speaker session, I went on the conference floor and checked out different vendor booths and activities. I noticed immediately, as with most of the transportation conferences I have attended throughout my career, GIS as a tool to better manage traffic was absent; except in sophisticated ITS software - which only comprised about one-quarter of the floor displays.

The majority of the vendors, it appeared, were focused on advanced signage, with state-of-the-art composition, reflective materials, and solar power and LED for street and signal lighting. Vendors were also displaying sophisticated road materials and markings application devices. Safety seemed to be a huge concern. I think they are already pretty green.

Outside, there were displays of hulking road construction, paving and striping trucks. Mercedes Benz also displayed several municipal buses that are apparently a standard brand in many European cities. Let me say that I did not ask any of the prices of these vehicles.

In my travels, I did have some thoughts on transportation at large in the city too. I really appreciate how they were able to implement and then integrate such large scale transportation projects and systems. According to the IETT website there are 16 different types of public transportation available in the city. I lost count at the six different modes I used on my trip - from ferry boat, to subway, to the famous dolmuş (shared city buses that stop anywhere along a fixed route and are usually stuffed with people – and yes, analogous to the Greek food with the same name). Not to mention, I did a lot of walking.

My other thoughts were about how amazing it is that they have the will as a society to be able to get things done. Like the previously described rail and subway expansions, or better yet, a tunnel that crosses under the Straights of Bosporus.

This conference was a memorable addition to a wonderful trip to another part of the world. Certainly things are different there than they are here in the Bay Area, but it is interesting to find the similarities. Next year the Intertraffic conference takes place in Amsterdam, where they have multi-story parking for bicycles - and other interesting things to check out.

Again, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip and wanted to describe this facet of it to you. If you are interested in hearing more about this travel, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,
William
[1] Comparison figures are derived from http://www.citymayors.com. While published figures show Istanbul at a population of nine to ten million; estimates among conference speakers and attendees, local media, and residents cite a population closer to 15,000,000.

Fifteen

2009-06-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

Winning the title of the cutest little boy in the country (of Turkey that is).

After lunch he came over, tapped me on the shoulder, and then gave me a piece of chewing gum.

He beat out the little boy with no front teeth that tried to sell me a Turkish newspaper. Doesn't he know that I don't read that language?

I gave him a Lira anyway...

Luckily this wasn't Chiapas.

The restaurant/cafe with this little boy (in the video) appeared to be run by he, his father and his grandfather. He followed his father around, chirping like a little bird. It broke my heart.

Fourteen - More "My Maps" Travel Maps

2009-06-07T07:57:00.000-07:00

View Istanbul Travel 4 in a larger map - Travel direction goes east to west.

I can't believe I tried to walk from the metro station to the hotel. I had no idea where I was going. General and pretty much vague - sound familiar? Later, find I was completely heading in the wrong direction!

As a geographer, lack of familiarity is the challenge to seek out. When there are maps, and you are somewhere, you're really not that lost. I had no maps though. It can be frustrating especially when you are on a schedule or something. Great way to make some people angry...
(funny too, because I can't hang with change so well...)

If there was any time I was frustrated with any of the travel it was today. I just couldn't walk any more. It was pretty hot too. 80's to 90's. Made me think of surfing in Costa Rica. After so many days you don't have any more energy to do what you've come to do.

Also, check the terrain on the western end of the day's travel. More hills. More fucking hills.

It's frustrating no doubt to not be able to do what you wanted to do, or back off and mellow out, so I hailed a Cab and got it over with.

Shades of the bike trips I guess... You have to stop at some point. Or like the cat that I heard on NPR at sometime hazily last evening (his book: INTO THICK AIR: BIKING TO THE BELLYBUTTON OF SIX CONTINENTS).

He talked about how you can have the best and the worst conditions alternating constantly.

When it's good, it's really good; however, when it sucks, it can really suck. I was excited because this wasn't as bad. If it was 10 or 15 years ago, I might've cried a little bit.

I know now it was precisely because, then (when I was a green-horn), I wasn't sitting on a fat wallet with magical SJSU credit card and a few crispy hundred dollar bills and some Turkish Liras: Enough to give the cab driver a nice tip when I got back to the hotel.

And, when I got back to the room, I put the lounge chair right by the sealed-up floor-to-ceiling window and watched the freeway interchange; and watched kids fly kites, throw rocks and break shit in the "brownfield" for about two hours.

Thirteen

2009-06-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

Pretty fired up still - been home for almost a day.
Dave Lipnicke was right. It's a good high for sure.

Flight was brutal. Too tall, but could be much worse.

Got some good sleep in today - about four hours and then wake up going WTF? I love that. It reminds me, however, of the Oaxaca - Las Vegas Turn Around shit that I tried - see 2006 - or not.

Told Mom I got back. She worry, but her son still has his tongue and did not end up in a turkish prison - note to Father Jon and Adam Hughes. Although his judgement is questionable and will be (and should be) scored low on his next performance appraisal.

Actually, to go to Dedemon Sile (I hope it's no paranoia) I think they ran my passport through some kind of system. When I walked in, all sweaty with the back pack, they knew exactly who I was.

Some of the hotels I stayed at had metal detectors and would inspect the bottom of the vehicle with a mirror.

I guess I'm cool. Just a dumbass instructor at a state university in California.

Harmless.

--------------------------------------

Would I go back there? Yes! But, there are other places to go to...

--------------------------------------

Check the traffic conference remix #1

Twelve

2009-06-03T23:02:00.000-07:00

Gotta bail for now But here are pictures from the blue mos que This is for Obama and his enormous task today Let us all hope that reason prevails

Eleven - Foot Patrol ın Şıle - Actual

2009-06-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

So here`s what I actually ended up doing:

View Istanbul Travel 3 - Actual in a larger map

It was pretty much a fıgure eight of sorts.

I started out to check the beach and ended up heading further west - in the complete opposite direction. Yes, the potentıal for surf ıs high here. If I had a board I would have given it a shot today - no doubt. A long board would've been fun.

You need the right kınd of thing to kick off the waves though (there ıs no ground swell I don`t think), but as I saıd earlier, the beach ıs set up well. If the wınd swell was two feet higher today, ıt would have been really good. But that same wind - too localized, would have tore ıt all up? I don´t know. They say only fools predict the weather - the rest is instinct and timing.

Whoa! Surf Journal is at home now; I though this was Istanbul Journal?

Well, I did go for a swim ın the Black Sea (just lıke Lake Michigan at Indiana Dunes ın 1999). It was chilly, but very refreshing.

OK, so the walk was about 8 - 9 miles, add an extra mile for my walking ın circles while waiting for the bank to open (they close for lunch, god bless 'em). It was also pretty hilly. Swıtch to Terraın to see that. I got schooled by the local who I talked with briefly. Smart/local people use the benches that are placed every so many metres to rest. It reminded me of the Oakland Hills (and I wish I had Buddy to pull me up them!)

The town is awesome. If I said Buyukada was lıke Catalina, then thıs was lıke Balboa or Capitola. Swanky, to do people expecting German tourists (I counted five times that someone asked me 'Sprechen sie Deutsch?')

Following here are some basic pictures of the town (the famous lighthouse, for example) - followed by a picture of the beautiful women here:

----------------------------

So, in answer to Thomas' questıon of "whether or not the call to prayer (Adhan) is live or recorded?"

Well Thomas, they phone it in! At least the one I heard today sounded like it was. It was still good, one of the best ones that I heard so far - I sat and tripped on it and recorded it. Unfortunately, I didn't record the end when you could hear the phone (tone buttons) get pushed. Four in a row: beep, beep, beep, beep; then ıt was done! Ha ha ha...

Also, I've found hours of self amusement with the "put it in H!" joke.
Anytime I see an Opel, a Scoda, a car or truck I don't know of; when I almost get run over or see a near wreck, I say ıt. It hasn't gotten old - yet.

Well, today was the high period of and, now sadly, end of the epic walkıng for the trip. The rest of travel is now pretty much to get home on Friday morning. Kind of depressing so I tried to leave all the rubber on the road today. I'll be sore, but tomorrow I'll do maybe two miles and call it a day.

It'll do me just right.

Ten - Foot Patrol in Şile

2009-06-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

Today´s travels:

View Istanbul Travel 3 in a larger map

I am goıng to try to walk to the town from my Hotel. The Hotel ıt turns out ıs more of a resort and there are a bunch of people that work for Siemans who are doing management training. The Hotel ıs rather far from the actual town that ıt is named after.

Greg Brost tells me there ıs surf ın the Black Sea - as I mentıoned...
From my room I see waves, but ıt`s lookıng lıke Manresa in August 2006.

I do see killer potential, however - look at the river mouth and the sand bar (on the map). Plus, note that poınt that sticks out. That is my goal today. To make ıt to the famous Şile Lighthouse that warns sailors of that point.

Peace.

Nine - Pictures from Büyükada Island

2009-06-01T10:33:00.001-07:00

OK, I tried to post pictures here a few days ago and ended up crashıng the app. Let´s try agaın...

Büyükada Island doesn't appear to have any mosques. I saw two churches (with crosses).

It worked! but now I must go to bed. Blogging ıs such a harsh mistress Papa G - why??? Now I go back and write ın my paper journal.

Let me say my blessings.

I am stoked! I don´t want to start shit but I think ıs my time once again.

Final thoughts are wıth Air France...

Eight - Covering ground

2009-06-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Here is the travels I made today.

Key: Boat = Blue; Foot (and local transit) = Green; Bus = Purple

View Istanbul Travel 2 in a larger map

Final destination: http://www.dedeman.com/Sile.aspx

I got a deal for the empty Black Sea Resort!
I am - as I said earlıer goıng swank on the lodging, but low end on the transpo. The ride to the Dedeman resort was only 7TL (which is like 4 bucks US)!

So many people were cool to me today. From the guy that made my Amerıcano (and explained Beşıktaş futbol to me), to the driver of the bus that got me here. From the Cop that helped me fınd the rıght bus (139A in case you´re keepıng score), to the guy that sewed my jacket up for free (some thıng defy language). Thıs place ıs fucking awesome.

I am stoked today as I walked up the the Dedeman Şıle wıth my pack on from the (only) Seven Turkısh Lira bus rıde that went 60 kilometers!

Who knew ıt was so forested out here?

PEACE!

Seven - Spent the nıght on thıs Island:

2009-06-01T00:37:00.000-07:00

View Büyükada in a larger map

good stuff and good for sleepıng

I wıll throw up some pıctures of ıt at next post. Very charmıng place and walked up and down some pretty steep hılls. No cars - only bıkes and horses. The Catalına Island of Istanbul?

Apparently Trotsky stayed (hıd?) here for four years? Check it out

Today wıll be one of my bıggest travel days - except for the aır travel of course. I take the ferry back to The Asıan sıde of the Bosphorus and then catch a bus to Şıle on the Black Sea. Some one told me that there ıs surf there; and I have read that the Black Sea ıs turbulent (I saw a warnıng about dangerous surf and sneaker waves).

Seems lıke - and as ıt ıs on thıs Island - everyone ıs gearıng up for summer (the whole two months of ıt!)

Peace tıl the ´next tıme. (Hopefully I wıll fıgure out how to post pıcs dırectly here wıthout an applıcatıon crash - MyMaps crashed just as I embedded ıt ınto thıs page.

To go further backwards - Click here!

Six - call to prayer

2009-05-31T01:22:00.000-07:00

Five - today's travel, I hope

2009-05-31T00:14:00.000-07:00

Today I am supposed to go to the Princess Hotel on Buyukada of the Princes' Islands.

Check out the embedded map below:

However, due to mis-communication, I think that it might be the Princess Ötel in the Asian side of the city...

We'll see.

Destination is the Princes' Islands still and taking my chances. I don't know if it is Princess or Princes' (but thank the lord that the apostrophe key works!)

There are other spots to stayout there too and I have no set reservation. Sounds like fun. Just about time to pack up and leave, but I'm going Ross Gellar and staying until 11:59 AM. I even snuck of some food from the breakfast buffet today.

Leaving this part of the city will suck. It is pretty live here and I am getting used to it, but, time to move on. Back to foot patrol. While I have done swanky hotels, I am traveling on foot and public transit only - that and the hotel shuttle one day. Today will be nice. The weather is mild. Good for walking and maybe good for photos.

While I must go, I want to post about some of yesterday's travels (Friday was too trippy for me I think; and got too tired to write about it...).

Yesterday I went to see my buddy Ali at the Islamağlu bakery in Zeytinburnu Belediyesi (province, dıstrıct...). I figured I could parlay some good faith into them allowing me to take pictures whıle I drank more coffee and ate their pastrıes... (I am doing one swanky hotel meal a day, the rest is outside.)

Ali wasn't there, but his partner Mustafa was - just as cool a fellow.

This part of the city is out side of the old city walls so everything is much newer. The area contains second rate clothing stores when compared to the Bazaar Quarter and shops lıke "Gizia" who do not let you cut through to yur hotel. I saw one called Manım or somethıng lıke that. Whatever - they usually have fucked up maniquins outsıde; and these maniquins - wearing conterfeit Ed Hardy t-shirts - usually have their noses busted ın, or the sıdes of their heads covered ın brown packıng tape. Next time I see some dude in saıd Ed Hardy T-shirt back ın the L-gizzle (Los Gatos) I will laugh ever so Ed Hardily (ed hardy, har, har, har...)

Anyway - here is a link to pictures of Ali at the ribbon cutting ceremony with the president of the Zeytinburnu district, along with some other pictures from this bakery (please see the link, I can't seem to upload images without crashing the application - damn you ie!)

After that and a series of bargaining (read "dickering") sessions at the Covered Market (...had to get some Pashmina Tapestry for Mom), I went back down to Hassan's Carpet distributorship.

You see, this was my issue with Friday. I did some serıous back alleys all afternoon and this guy caught me off guard and wary as he invited me back to his shop - which was off the main street and actually in a very nice section of the city. All of a sudden there are lush trees and the streets are closed to vehicles. Hassan repairs carpets and is more of a wholesaler than front line salesman. I went back today because I felt bad to misjudge his hopsitality (yes, I am socially awkward - you think?).

I brought Hassan a beer (Efes Pilsen) so that I could

Learn about Carpets! (the Local Economy)

See the picture links again please - sorry this isn't working out Papa G... (Papa G is the Editor)

Anyway, gotta bail for now... but, check one more post of hopefully embedded video...

Post four - nothing to say for now...

2009-05-29T00:08:00.001-07:00

...so here is a quick movie I made from said transportation conference...

Look for it on the video page you get sent to.

Third post from Istanbul

2009-05-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

Intertraffic 2009

Yes I went there.

"...Be there for the rap battle, It's going to be interspectacular. Fantabulous, it'll blow your socks off. It's one of those things where Machine versus man, Man versus woman, Woman versus your mother. Be there. The Intergalactic rap battle. It's instupituous..."

OK, it wasn't like that, but if I had to present, I would've talked about the artwork on the Metro gently warning riders, "don't be a dumbass!"
http://www.hayaletkalem.com/poster%20sinirlandirilmis.html
(Is it the buck-teeth that connotes stupidity? We'd never see anything like this in the US, someone might get offended...)

I asked the people at the Istanbul Transit booth about these posters, but was simply handed a bunch of literature that I secretly left behind because I don't want to carry too much shit. (They didn't understand that...)

I took a bunch of movies; trying to capture the hottness of the brunette trade show women of Eastern Europe. I also saw a few presentations which were translated through wireless headphones. These would distort whenever someone took a cell call or text message.

The translation was brutal - alot of "ahs" and "ums," "ITS is, a... helpful, and... yes, that is what it is..." When I saw the translator afterward, he knew enough english for me to tell him that I didn't envy his job... He looked thrashed.

The skanky german chic with the tatoos gave me the international "whatever, loser" sign when I asked that she take my picture while wearing my ESRI t-shirt. The other woman was quite charming though...

Two presentations. One, some dude busting out a SWOT analysis of what, I don't know (didn't have the translation earphones yet). The second, a guy talking about the challenges facing traffic mangement for a city of 10+ million people; admitting that they have problems with pedestrian safety, and that basically the whole thing is off the hook. He said something like, "Only 10% of population uses the public transportation; although train lines have doubled over the last five years." The 2023 plan: Pretty exciting (be there!)

On the way back I hit a textile district and had baklava and coffee with Ali (My Buddy). He thought I wanted a whole pound of the stuff, but I only wanted one piece and a coffee. We sat and talked where I commenced the sugar high washed down with turksh coffee so I could walk around and take pictures. This is what I imagined doing on this trip. Thanks Mom.

He was funny and friendly with his arm around my shoulder, "Sit down, please." He spoke english very well. I asked of his travels and he told me that he'd been to England and Mozambique. That in England he saw a Manchester game, so naturally he was a fan and was dissapointed at the outcome of yesterday's game.

Good stuff, I want to go back there and take more pics of him and his bakery.

Good wandering today; no doubt. That's what I'm in it for.

Tomorrow, the Fall of Constantinople* - Be There!

"Ladies and gentlemen, check out the rap battle of the century. The intergalactic rap battle. The battle of all battles. Don't forget! Man vs. Machine. Machine vs. Computer. Computer vs. Woman. Woman vs. Child. Be there, be square. Make sure you see the intergalactic rap battle 3030." Deltron 3030

*I hope to write on this event and the information, or lack there of, that I have seen.

Until tomorrow morning's 4:00 am call to prayer wake-up call,

PEACE!

Second post from Istanbul

2009-05-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

Back again from the Bazaar Quarter - Reporting from Crown Plaza Boutique Hotel.

Coming to you live after ignoring street vendors and suspiciuosly friendly people...

What can I say?

A picture says a thousand words! (click here for photo journal)

I'm staying well, but traveling funky. Yesterday I hacked my trip to new hotel room by using a combination of Hotel shuttle, Metro and foot patrol through neighborhoods west of and through Askaray. (I like to get lost.)

Some of the neighborhoods are quite awesome. If there isn't a place to put a mosaic tile on a wall, then they'll find one.

Pretty cool stuff - me walking into a 5-star hotel with my backpack on and all sweaty while at the concierge.

Went in, took a nap and then went back out for foot patrol. Ended up out there for two hours. Zoned in on taking pictures of mosques - yes just like the California Missions project. In my happy place...

Here's a funny story for y'all (now that the apostrophe key works!): Today I am going to a transportation conference. Intertraffic 2009 (you know!)

I saw it while sitting in traffic like the picture on the photos page. Researched it and found out its free! You know the saying...

Somehow the exhibition center where this conference is was the first stop of the Hotel Shuttle and second to last stop for the metro system (they have killer art work and style I hope to share with you all - today will be my photo splurge on the train system - geek out!, work while on vacation? Is it work if you enjoy it? "Isn't that the issue here? About having a good time..."
Helmer will trip that I went to this thing...

Anyway, beautiful women at the check in counter and at the Mercedes Benz display. However, my badge says that I am from San Jose, Georgia! Ha ha... God bless 'em.

Signing out for now, but again, let me comment on the young hot women here. Geez! They remind me of Selina. All I got to say to them, despite the Muslim thing, and that two of the most attractive women I have seen so far were wearing their head scarves ever so modestly; all I have to say to them is keep watching those Lady Gaga videos!

Peace!

2009-05-26T23:47:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Back on-line - Live from Istanbul.

Get out your Nazar Boncugu because there ıs stink eye for sure when you are a slum voyeur.

Somehow my first foot patrol is back in a neighborhood in the west (Mahmutbey), where they don't get many tourists. Kind of industrial, under development.

Let me say, the kids here have stones developed at a young age (I guess they have to) - they get right up ın your face when you are wearıng your floppy vıetnam hat.

I guess only the women cover theır heads ın muslım countrıes? (and the men only wear shorts when they play futbol).

Whatever, good stuff to check out and hope to post more.

I know it has been 3 years since my last blog post...
You think I was depressed and sad then? (read about my thoughts on water)
In the interim ıt was far worse.

Hopefully I hıt rock bottom and changed my trajectory. Just like my hopes for the global economy...

Papa G, I hope to follow through for you here. Somehow, however, I cannot get apostrophes to work on a Turkısh keyboard. Also, I guess there ıs a dıfference between ı and i. Who knew?

So yes, I am in Istanbul, Turkey and hope to continue with this thing even while I am keepıng a paper journal as well. I like that better anyway, but I wıll post a few pıcs here and there; and some comments no doubt. Plus thıs wıll gıve me somethıng to do using the hotel business center or internet cafe.

Also, I've thought about posting the written pages - while knowıng that ıs a blog flop faux pas for sure.

Who fn' cares though?

No-one reads this shit anyway. The September 2006 blogs about ımmıgratıon from Central Amerıca got hıt wıth comments; but they were from super-trollers...

Check them out though, because they are funny.

Someone saıd I was a good wrıter, but then proceeded to try to sell me a condo ın Jaco Beach, Costa Rıca.

Your uncle stump sıgnıng off for now, peace out!

More on Labor Day 2006

2006-09-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

Immigrants of all kinds work hard, deserve respect
By Jon Pedigo (Mercury News - 9/7/06)

In our daily work with immigrants through legal services, social services, education, health care and pastoral care, we see too many immigrant workers who labor without sufficient rights or protections while the children and families they seek to feed and protect become the primary scapegoats of the broken immigration system.

We understand the fundamental reasons why people leave their country of origin -- survival, safety, freedom, work and hope for a better life for their families.

Yet the inherent dignity of migrants, regardless of their immigration status, is not respected. We see the degradation of immigrants through the daily border deaths, divided families, and decadelong waits for legal residency and citizenship -- like the Filipino veteran of World War II who is still waiting after 20 years for the federal government to let his family join him in America, or the woman from El Salvador, still seeking asylum after 13 years, who saw her family killed and raped in front of her.

We also see the devastation wrought on families living in the shadows: isolation, low literacy levels, low wages, domestic abuse, lack of access to health care, substandard housing and poverty.

Yet these same immigrants work hard, pay taxes, fill needed jobs and help create jobs. During the 1990s, half of all new workers were foreign-born, filling gaps left by native-born workers in both the high- and low-skill ends of the spectrum. Immigrants fill jobs in key sectors, start their own businesses and contribute to a thriving economy.

As Alan Greenspan pointed out, 70 percent of immigrants arrive in prime working age. That means we haven't spent a penny on their education, yet they are transplanted into our workforce and will contribute $500 billion toward our Social Security system over the next 20 years.

Because of our firsthand experience of these hardworking immigrants and because of our daily assistance to families at the mercy of complex, punitive and bureaucratic federal regulations, it is natural for us to call for a more rational, humane and comprehensive immigration reform plan. Neither the House nor the Senate has proposed adequate legislation.

We call for a more comprehensive approach that will provide effective means for earned legalization, citizenship and naturalization, border security, worker protections, due process and family reunification. Only a bill that addresses all the broken aspects of our immigration system will begin to turn what is perceived as a crisis into an opportunity for America.

At the same time, legislation is only one part of the solution. We need our hearts and minds converted, to welcome the stranger who brings us the bounty of the harvest, who prepares the feast at the table, who cares for our children and our parents, and who builds the houses that shelter us. We are saddened that too many forget our common American heritage as immigrants. Past immigrants, with or without papers, came and made America stronger, just as the immigrants today are making America stronger.

Let us remember and tell each other the stories of our own immigrant parents, grandparents or great-grandparents who came to America fleeing oppression and poverty and seeking freedom and the opportunity to work. We cannot let this issue disintegrate into polarization, partisanship or legislative paralysis. Let us bring the undocumented workers out of the shadows and provide an avenue for accountable legal presence. Let us labor now to welcome them as our co-workers and neighbors.

Reporting from the Field - Labor Day 2006

2006-09-04T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the Immigrants Rights March in San Jose.

September 4th 2006.

It wasn't nearly as big as May 1st, but it was still an event.

Traffic was stopped. Cops on Motorcycles told people to stay on the sidewalks.
Exit lanes from 101 at Alum Rock were closed. Some people didn't really like the traffic jam.

I went out there myself to 1.) Check it out, 2.)Observe the management of the situation - from the PD and traffic management standpoint, 3.) See how well this community mobilizes - why can't we do this for the war?, and finally, 4.) These guys need support and solidarity. Our society runs on these folks and we slap them in the face with anti-immigrant BS. I am tried of it. Tired of it all and will work to make a change. Not that I got my shit together, not in the least, but it's time to start trying again.

The cool thing was, I ran into Fr. Jon and a professor from Santa Clara University. I ended up walking with them the rest of the way. That was cool because I was alone for the first part of the march. I sort of felt that I didn't belong. But I did, and I had a good time. It's neat to feel part of something, and I remember the year that I went to the Anti-war protest and the MLK parade all in the same weekend. I felt connected and felt that change was possible. That was a good year for me too.
I did some things that year where I was able to use my imagination. Good things happened.

Here is picture Fr. Jon took of me where I smiled.

Check out this picture from down in the march.

Final 296C Class

2006-03-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

So this will be my last post on the Emergency Management Class. Unless I go to the way back machine and pull out some other writings about it that I haven’t yet posted. As I said, I wrote after every class so that I could remember what I learned. Too much information to take serious notes… Sometimes it was also better to just listen.

I finally gave my presentation at tonight’s class. It was on Transportation as the Cause and the Glendale Train Crash as an example of that. Truthfully, I am so glad that it’s over. I am very tired of reading about it. It’s interesting to know about, but it just seems to speak to our human conditions – good and bad, you decide.
There was a guy writing “I heart my family” in blood on the pavement. Fat investigators. No it is not like Hollywood… These guys sit around and wait for something to happen. The press, looking for the story… The press and the detectives alike have slow days. People dying, people injured; lawyers sniffing around.

One thing I do know is that I could’ve done a much better job with my paper and presentation. I started working on it too early I think. I had my spiel and most of my slide show done two or three weeks ago. I spent the last few days doing my paper. But I don’t think it was entirely effective. If you read about the event – please read it briefly before reading this next part - some of the problems/solutions I described and some of the places I failed are as follows:
1. The location of the event being both good and bad. While the trains collided at a unique place, it occurred near an early morning weekday empty Costco parking lot so accessibility was excellent and allowed command and triage centers to be established quickly. The local businesses also provided help and food/goods – Costco Pizza, Starbucks Coffee, Topanga Lumber. What I forgot to say or think about, however, was that this whole thing probably had a negative effect on local businesses – no business at all or business shut down for 3 days.
2. I overlooked the impact to people’s lives as the train line was shut down for a week, but I did describe the drop in ridership.
3. Did I understand if the event was SEMS compliant, or was an ICS structure used? No, I am bad at understanding that part of the events. This event was handled very well however.
4. I did point out that I think mitigations would be best put to redesigning grade crossings and educating people about them; and that, emphatically, this fellow Juan Alvarez could’ve been caught and helped ahead of time if it weren’t for our shitty social safety net. Again, it’s interesting to know about, but it just seems to speak to our human conditions – good and bad, you decide.
5. I think the metrolink railroad should be able to continue with their push-pull configuration despite litigation. I think they should be shielded from any lawsuits in that regard.

To make things challenging, the whole videoconference system that we use, as the class is state wide, was down. They thought the schedule for the class was done so we were not programmed to drop in. Despite all my efforts in PowerPoint (I had a semi-animation of the crash) I was not able to show my show. I had to read off on the phone – we were all on phone conference only at that point. They did have my printed pages though on the other end. Side note: next time I take a class at this place I am going to attend remote sites, Oakland, Monterey… Why not. I may soon also have to be taught a class from a remote sight anyway. Eventually, half way through the Pentagon attack presentation which was shared by two students who were as nearly as distant as possible (LA/Redding), the communications system finally came on. (These technical problems hounded us all night).

Yes, the next topic – 911 at the Pentagon and at the World Trade Center presentations came along and overshadowed my presentation of course.

Everywhere I looked online about the pentagon attack; all I got was the conspiracy sites. Here, however, are people taking this very seriously. Unfortunately as the communications system was down the gal in LA didn’t get to speak much – but she was talking about how the perps got on the plane even after failing the metal detectors. Then the communications system finally came on and we got the second half of the pentagon slide show with the American flag background by the dude up north and his discussion of incipient Islamo-fascism that apparently none are immune to...

I guess the emergency response at the Pentagon wasn’t so good. A common command system was ignored. Many reported immediately without checking in and many units responded without being asked to respond. This is my fear of this event and ones like it. Too many people trying to show how patriotic they are, arrive and don’t pay attention. They want to be heroes. Chaos was the rule. Something crazy happened there that day – regardless of conspiracy or whatever.

Our professor closed the class by describing the World Trade Center Attacks. I saw a lot of pictures and diagrams that I’ll probably never see again. I still don’t know what I think about this event. All I truly know is that it is an emotionally powerful event that can be seen and used in various ways. I saw one of my classmates wiping tears from their eyes. I watched the slides intently this time as I remember I tried not to watch any TV of it at the time it happened. In fact, the first time I saw the thing collapse was at the Asti in Santa Cruz the following weekend, through a very thick haze of Saturday night alcohol. They seemed to play it over and over again and again on the TVs above the bar. Many “bros” were going to kick some serious terrorist ass. They were going to drive home drunk, in their excessive contractor trucks and wonder why anyone would be pissed at them in the first place.

Here is this event that is ingrained in our national psyche now and forever and a long time. Where were you when it happened? Did you feel nationalistic? Well, then, why not?

It was an amazingly tragic thing that happened. But, it felt real. It felt like life. Not knowing what would happen, who/where would be next. Everybody was nice to one another – well except to a few Muslims that got harassed or even killed. But, remember for that brief time when this wasn’t politicized and everybody loved one another and everybody made sure they told one another how much they loved one another for fear that they may never see them again.

It’s interesting to know about, but it just seems to speak to our human conditions – good and bad, you decide.

Even More 296C

2006-03-16T11:07:00.000-08:00

Class # 9: More Transportation as the Victim

The presentations given tonight were:
1.) The London Train Bombings of last summer (July 2005), and, 2.) Two hours devoted to Katrina and some of Rita – you know those gals… of course you do! Stars of the big screen – creating the phenomenon known as disaster fatigue, making us forget about the Tsunami, making us not care about the Earthquakes in Pakistan.

My god, what a year!

To tell you the truth, the emergency management class is causing considerable disaster fatigue for me too. Especially now, with these recent, high profile events and their high casualties; and that they could happen now because they’ve happened within the last year. There is a certain denial.

Next week’s class – and the final class: Transportation as the Cause.
This is when I give my little talk. My presentation deals with a car/train collision – and some are now saying the Train was the cause too. But it is relatively minor compared to the events that we have covered in the last few sessions. More on that next time though - as I work the presentation thing myself next week. I tried to go tonight actually, but glad I didn’t. I’ll do much better as learned the answer to the Zen question, what is the sound of one hand clapping? – a slap in the face!

The London Train Bombings of July 7th and July 21st were interesting topic for us. Again the certain denial caused me to radically day dream (or night school dream if you will), but I was also surfing the web about the event. Needless to say, my account may suck, but I’ll try to describe the things I thought were interesting about it and the other events that we discussed.

On July 7th 2005 four suicide bombers attacked three subways and one bus. 56 people died including the bombers and 700 or so were injured. The subway explosions happened in the London Underground (the “tube”) and apparently this confined space increased the effect of the explosions. It also made it harder to get to in response. It got very hot down there because of the resulting fires. Some chaos ensued, but I guess the Brits are rather orderly about these sorts of things and so it was minimal. Some discussion was made of their attitudes being forged by the Nazi bombings during WWII, and the IRA bombings of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

Funny thing was that many people distributed real-time information via their cell phones. Yes, camera-phone pictures of the event as it were happening. (Meta-society. Jet Blue?) Blogs were used and more reliable than other media sources it turns out. This is how people communicated that they were alright to their families. You’d think they were Greg or something… ITS was used too, as far as road signs telling people to not used the subways or avoid parts of town, but the public/commercial information sources out-performed the government’s systems of communication. We learned this would have a bad effect on a closed site criminal investigation.

Later that day a fourth suicide bomb went off. One of our readings was of the descriptions of this dude’s last minutes/hours. “He tried to call the three others – repeatedly. He ate at McDonalds. He went to a drug store. And then boarded a double-decker bus and blew the top of it off – ‘like a sardine can’.”

The investigation was eventually successful, and the suspects and other accomplices were described via cameras installed at the subway terminals capturing them on their test run. But it was flawed. The bombers motives are funky. Al-Qaeda cells are transient. Scotland Yard was used to IRA bomb threats that were rather friendly by comparison:
“Hello, yes we’d like to blow your train up, but, want to make sure no one is on it. It will happen here and at this time. Ok, thanks.”

Instead, these guys are 18 year olds, who spent less than 5,000 bucks for the whole thing. However, their tracks are weird. They paid up parking for the whole day; they bought long-term/round-trip tickets…

Unfortunately, the investigation and frenzied state following yet another attack on July 21st (by another entirely different population (though not as effective)), caused considerable panic. Again the Brits didn’t waver at riding the subway after July 7th, but the bombing on the 21st caused rider-ship to drop comparatively.

On July 22nd a perceived suspect was shot on site after failing to heed police commands. Read about it. Turns out he had nothing to do with any of it. But suicide bombing suspects are sniped because they are assumed to have switches to detonate upon death or pursuit. Not shot in the torso as it used to be, but in the head as the chest is the assumed place for explosive devices.

I don’t know – read more about it at the hyper-links.

The rest of the class focused on Katrina mostly. Everything you’d want to know and then some. The whole thing that Kanye West said about Bush. He said what he said and didn’t care what the implications would be – he spoke. Poor Mike Myers though. Such a Cheeky Monkey. If you could see the look on his face! At least he laughed about it later.

Again, you know mostly what happened. The storm that everyone feared finally came. I’ll discuss, as I usually try to, what I thought was interesting, but it is so much that did happen.
First of all, the guy who gave the presentation was in New Orleans at the time. His daughter was a freshman at Tulane, so he was actually there helping her move in. He also lived there for some time and worked on the city’s public transit system.

Unlike many of the other parts of the gulf, particularly Biloxi where the hurricane and storm surge caused damage, it was the flooding and breaking of the levees in New Orleans that caused the damage there. I’ll talk about Mississippi, later, but want to describe what happened with the levee system. Two, or three, ways the levees broke was the spill over the top of the levees and the falling water scouring out the base on the dry side until they eventually collapsed; and the depth of the levees concrete walls being weakened by moisture and then toppled by wing and waves – they weren’t deep enough. The third way a levee broke was a barge slamming into and breaking a levee wall.

We all know about the chaos ensuing there too. You saw it all on the news – people at their best and Geraldo Rivera reporting on it. People fired guns at FEMA cars… “You loot, we shoot!” was spray painted on plywood boards…

You also know about brownie, chertoff and bush; about ray nagin and kathleen blanco.

Are you prepared for what may happen here with a gnarly earthquake? Some have said that we’re not physically ready, but more importantly, not emotionally ready.

The whole thing fell apart. The city is screwed as 1 and ½ million people have left the area and many are never coming back. The region’s tax revenue will suffer – especially once the recovery crews leave (they are propping up the local economy). New Orleans gets 40% of its tax base from tourism. This last years Mardi Gras was two-thirds or ½ what it normally was.

In Mississippi, the already devastated economy had turned to legalized gambling boats – which of course got destroyed. The region now suffers from drug-use and a massive meth epidemic is brewing. Apparently the same thing that sprung up in Japan after our Atomic bomb attacks.

The local oil economy was disrupted too. There are plants there that turn oil (hydrocarbon) products into plastics – like the water bottles, coke and milk bottles. The milk industry has reverted to cartons and the idea of using less safe plastics is being agreed upon. To enlighten how integrated oil is in our society, read on Katrina and Rita’s effect on the Oil Industry.

I don’t know what else to say. Except turn you on to the links: (especially the google images search)

Katrina
Katrina Pictures

More 296C Notes

2006-03-10T16:27:00.000-08:00

Class # 8: Transportation as the Victim

Tonight’s class had student presentations about each of the following events:

• Pan Am 103 Plane Crash

• Madrid Train Bombing

(Each item in the bullet list is a link to their Wikipedia entries.)

The student presentations were good. I especially liked one student’s description of the Kobe Earthquake, “it looked like a bunch of models being kicked around.”
I have my laptop, and the classroom is wireless so I look online at a Google search of the event as they’re talking about it. 21st century! I could look at those pictures and yes, he was right. All the Godzilla movies… (I’ve heard it said that Godzilla was a metaphor for Hiroshima and Nagasaki.) The port at Kobe was damaged and closed it long enough for Yokahama to take its place as second next to Tokyo.
Kobe (Hanshin) has a bunch of filled islands (like that airport in Hong Kong) and they got pretty wrecked. There are some similarities to the Bay Area for sure, the topography is alot alike.

Although Wikipedia has been very helpful here in this class (a nice compendium), it still doesn’t refrain from what you’d expect. For example, the entry that describes the Madrid Train Bombings by saying, “… the “dumb ass mutha fuckin” attacks came exactly 30 months after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.” (See that entry under the “Responsibility” section – it may not last long (as of Friday March 10th it was gone).

And, yes there is more coincidence going on here. When talking about Kobe Earthquake, for example, it happened one year to the day following the Northridge quake. Or, the sportswriter’s (where I first learned the meaning of the word hyperbole) prediction that the Giant’s and A’s world-series would result in an earthquake before game 3 and could therefore never be completed.

There is also an alternative entry about the other reasons for Pan Am 103 to be taken down and that site has a picture of Oliver North at it.
Pan Am 103 had some famous folk who would’ve been on the flight. The Four Tops (or, the Four Tops of that time), Johnny Rotten too... Another story talks about some dude who checked in for the flight, also checking his bag, so he went to the bar, but stayed a little too late. Fortunately he missed the flight, but he became a suspect because he wasn’t on board while his bag had been loaded on the plane. Ironically, PanAm charged passengers an extra $5.00 to "carefully screen baggage" prior to this event taking place.

Yes, these events have complexities beyond just Transportation as the victim. Obviously, yet, that’s our focus… For example, Hwy 17 was closed for a month after Loma Prieta – one way to keep the valley from surfing! This earthquake news inspired each of us to ask, “How many bridges do we cross everyday?” Another one is waiting to happen...
Just yesterday, for example, a Google Earth Tour of the Hayward Fault was released.
More on the bay fill - both SFO and Oakland Airports are on bay fill, so they aren't expected to last... San Jose, however, is allegedly more stable.
In the coming months we here in the bay area will get creamed with stories about San Francisco 1906.

Again, check out the Wikipedia links, especially the links that come from them…

More 296C Notes

2006-02-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

Tonight’s class was about “transportation as the cause” of emergency.

The three events we reviewed were 1.) The Texas City Shipboard Explosion, 2.) The Dunsmuir Rail Accident and Chemical Spill and 3.) Alaskan Airlines Flight 261 Crash.

The Texas Shipboard explosion was quite an amazing event. It started on April 16th 1947 as ships were being loaded with goods to send to Europe for post WWII construction. Among the goods loaded on the ships SS Grandcamp and SS Highflyer was Ammonium Nitrate. This as a fertilizer can also be used as an explosive. Under certain circumstances can be quite dangerous. ANFO? Is used in strip mining, I just learned, and was used to explode the Ryder Truck in front of the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. Notably, by cigarette smoking, a fire was caused on the Grandcamp. This fire was treated poorly as dock personnel weren’t clear on the characteristics of the fertilizer. They felt that they could stop the fire by sealing the ship’s cargo hold and adding steam to extinguish the fire. This pressure and the increased heat and carbon from the burning of cargo materials caused a huge explosion. An explosion felt up to 150 miles away. The explosion apparently even reflected off a cloud to send the shockwave to nearby Galveston and cause damage to windows and knock people over. Of course the explosion caused unbelievable damage to Texas City. And because of the fire, many people gathered around the port to see what was happening; while fire and police personnel were descending on the scene to help put out the fire – a fire that evaporated the water that was sprayed on it to put it out. With the gathering crowd, came this explosion. It basically vaporized people at the nearest point (100 people never found), while other were knocked dead by the immense soundwave – the spectators. This crushed people’s bodies, flattened buildings. Because of this incredible explosion, many thought that this was the end of the world – a nuclear attack, an attack by the Soviet Union (our new enemy). The explosion also created a 15 foot Tsunami in the ship harbor. This shifting water caused the SS Highflyer to move in the harbor, occupying the former dock of the Grandcamp - which basically disappeared when it exploded. In the shifting waters and slamming into the dock, the Highflyer was damaged and then caught fire. In addition to holding more Ammonium Nitrate, it was also packed with Sulfur. With even more resources descending to help – it exploded just as violently as the first ship.

What were we supposed to learn about the event? Well, in some cases it speaks to the need for more careful regulation. Nobody realized the dangerous nature of this material at the time. But, treating the fire, when you assume it is normal cargo, by “suffocating it” makes a lot of sense. From what I understand, ammonium nitrate was not really very well understood or regulated until April 1995 – after Oklahoma City. And how strange that it was so near that same date? Though I guess intimately tied to Waco which was the same month (hey Texas). Another interesting point; that the “amateur” nature of McVeigh and Nichols somehow meant that the bomb could’ve been made to be much worse. The only time before that raised peoples concerns about regulation of materials like this was Bhopal India – some 40 years later.

Another lesson learned was the idea that land use regulations and zonings can help shield communities from danger, but this is the Texas Gulf Coast – either you think it is real nasty or that people have more economic freedom… there is not much land use regulation and impact reporting – that’s for the freaks in Cali; “it must be nice, a luxury,” they’d say.

The second presentation was about the Dunsmuir Train Derailment of July 1991.
I don’t think anybody died, but the damage done was intense non-the-less. A 97 car, six-thousand foot train (yes, more than a mile) was traveling up a slight grade with mostly empty cars trailing behind. The configuration had the engine at the front, along with a few cars carrying metam sodium (a “soil sterilizer”) and cars carrying scrap metal at the rear (http://www.orgonelab.org/). That page says 84 empty cars were connecting in between. Sometimes I guess they’ll add extra engines as “helpers” in cases like this, but not this time. Traveling up the grade and at suspended sections above the Sacramento River along sweeping curves (that try to lessen the grade) the physics don’t allow for much slack along the train. So imagine that the line [a string] of train cars got pulled very tight along this winding section. It caused the train to derail and cars to start to plunge in to the river. The engineer cut the cars loose as the crew did not want to tumble into the river with the engine. Metam Sodium – as described by the student did weird things when it contacted with water. The plume spread along the flow of 45 miles of the river. It either killed flora and fauna instantly, or through the food chain more slowly. Recovery efforts scoured and stripped the river bed from top to bottom and hauled away the debree. TO quote the professor, “it looked like a poorly managed construction site.” It also killed a local tourist economy based on trout fishing. Of course, the local economy used to be the railroad – before transporting such disastrous materials could even be imagined. 45 miles down the river would lead to Shasta Lake – the top end of our states drinking water system. See the link and do the Geography: http://www.water.ca.gov/maps/allprojects.cfm

What could be done here? Well, the RR (SP at the time, now UP) could agree to more of the requirement to follow rules and regulations without playing the commerce clause. Don’t forget, they haul a lot of stuff that wouldn’t be (or we wouldn’t want) on our highways. And like the B&O tunnel, they are the only game in town. (see the previous post about the Baltimore RR tunnel)

They also built protective railing around these steep and curving sections of grade, but I was informed by another student (Amtrak employee) that that would not do any good to stop train cars and especially engines from falling. Just to appease somebody, if I can paraphrase him.

I like the idea of the extra engines or more consciously placing loads along trains, but I suspect this is a way to watch the bottom-line – or sometimes physically impossible. Probably the best move is to eliminate these kinds of materials and their transport altogether.

The final presentation was about the crash of Alaska Airlines flight 261 during January 2000. This plane, a Douglas plane, went down in the Pacific in the Santa Barbara Channel Just north of Anacapa Island. It struck me when I saw the crash as that I had been out there where it crashed just 6 months before. 88 people died as the plane lost vertical control because of a jacked jack-screw. The plane had trouble when it took off from Puerta Vallarta (bound for Seattle) related to this and apparently missed 9 opportunities to safely land it before deciding to land at LAX. This decision came after a rapid drop of almost 10,000 ft. The plane stabilized and the Pilot seemed very calm – they say even to the end. After seven minutes of relatively stable flight, the plane then plunged nearly vertical into the Ocean from 20,000 ft. Another pilot watched the whole thing.

Apparently this event was well managed as the nearby Port Hueneme and the Navy helping in the recovery. The military base allowed keeping the press at bay and respectful to the victims (the surviving families). This was also the first implementation of a federal emergency plan that would try to comfort the families as much as possible. The other positive outcome is that it highlighted the need to properly maintain the jackscrew and increased its maintenance schedule.

Doing some web surfing on this event I found the following:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blflight261.htm

http://www.ntsb.gov/Events/2000/Aka261/jackscrew.htm

I don’t really know what else to say about this event. It is rather chilling and brings about a certain denial.

Emergency Management 296C

2006-02-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

While realizing that I do some pretty extensive journaling, there is some that I'd like to share, and obviously some I'd hope you never see. For instance, I wrote 25 pages in a word document during a recent trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. I'd rather you see the pictures though... You know what they say

I put so much down, but it seems to go no-where...

In the last semster of school, I have been taking a class in Emergency Management as I am trying to become more of a transportation specialist in the field of Geography. The subject area is interesting for sure and I think of the days that I made super highways with my cousin across the Creek behind my Grandma's house in Kentucky. Guess what?, he works in trasnportation too! Is transportation important? You bet... Do folks take it for granted? Sure, quicker than you can say Harley Davidson. Do people really understand "distance" in all its forms? I'm not quite sure myself sometimes...

What I'd like to do is post some of the journal I write when I get home from class, open a beer and spill my mind on the page about what I've learned that evening... It seems like the only way to remember. Some of the things I have learned are quite profound and sometimes strange things happen on the way home too.

-------

Class #6

Tonight’s class was pretty good. Our focus was “transportation as the site” of an emergency.

However, we first had to do more of the student papers #2. Someone did my same paper as I did last week. The gal from Orange County. This guy Zoyd (self described as an agitator) did a neat article review about the planning for transportation in light of terrorism. It was really good and talked about the importance of gaining control back after that type of event. Short Term and long term control - case study, I think, 9/11. In my mind I wonder about the political aftermath that we now face - did it make us stronger, more resolved, more dignified? I don't know... Seems like a bunch of dudes finally came out of the closet after the thing happened and now are super patriotic and going around telling everyone else how much they aren't... Who could've imagined that'd be the outcome?

---

Tonight's Student presentations were the following: 1.) The Long Island Rail Road Massacre, and 2.) The Baltimore Rail Tunnel Fire.

The long island rail road massacre was in Dec. 1993. This cat Colin Ferguson, a Jamaican immigrant opened fire on the train – 100 rounds… He killed 6 and injured 20. When he went to trial he fired his attorneys and the judge let him defend himself. He cross-examined the people he shot at. He asked questions to witnesses like, “so, where were you on December 7th 1993?” “I was running from your gun!” Mr. Ferguson asks, "Do you see the perpetrator in the room?, “Yes, pointing directly at him, “it was you!” I know it sounds crazy. Our focus however, was the emergency/disaster response. For example, the area was too crowded to get response vehicles in. There was no decent triage for the “green” people (green people are those with no physical symptoms, but mentally traumatized – in shock (susto) maybe. I also learned about ABC – Airway, bleeding – scraped (scabby), veinous (pumping Low BP), arterially (draining High BP) and Consciousness. Usually, “greens” should be separated from the recovery scene so they don’t have to see the trauma over and over again. Our other focus was on the very large circles of people that were affected… Maybe even family who watched TV – having a family member not showing because they can’t get through the transit system and then seeing them on TV – just standing around but maybe with blood splattered on their face. The press monster that must be fed and sometimes doesn't take greater or more solemn responsibility. And of course the trial where the victims were subject to cross examination by the perpetrator! That's crazy...

The Baltimore Rail Tunnel Fire happened during the summer of 2001. Under the streets of Baltimore is a crucial single rail line in an old tunnel. Supplying anything and everything to the northeastarn United States. It was built more than 100 years ago by the B&O RR, and it almost bankrupt them. Now it is run by CSX. 40trains a day with 50 to 100 cars! On July 18th 2001 the train derailed in the tunnel and then a fire started. In the cars were some hardcore (and unpronounceable) chemicals. Hydrochloric acid, and the main culprit: tripropylene. These things burned, along with freight cars containing wood and soy oil, to a high temperature of 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. The fire also burned fiber-optic cable that was strung in the tunnel, cutting communications to various parts of the world. It shut down the city, they sheltered in place at first and then evacuated, closing the city for 5 days. They really didn’t know what to do. The heat of the fire, also, broke a water main which then flooded the tunnel and therefore stopped the fire. But, the water flooded the city streets and spread the chemicals about. Somehow though, I don’t think there were any deaths. Though official still are not very certain, the tripropylene, apparently seeped up into storm and sewers. At some point a month later, in August, when they thought all was back to normal, an underground explosion happened blowing "300 pound" manhole lids up out of the street.

Of the two, I think the Baltimore Rail tunnel fire was more interesting as it has implications to things that we can do. We can build new Infrastructure in the US – we need to. We are a hoopty nation sometimes I think. Can you say weak link? Trying to make a buck we fuck ourselves. It was also neat to read that this points toward the Yucca Mountain thing. And I don’t think that storage is the bad thing (I really know little about that), but it is getting the stuff there that seems scary. Especially when what happened in Baltimore was that some of the “special canisters” opened due to the high heat. The guy coming on the train and shooting is preventable from a mental health standpoint, but it seems less likely than the rail crash chemical spill thing. I mean, shit, you could live next door to a meth cook! The problems of the rail transit and the single pinch point of goods, makes me think of Monterey Rd and Blanchard project and the UP train through there. But, death is also a trip in the transit tunnel – it would be very claustrophobic.

I don’t know.