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In downtown Portland, Tri-Met's busily whacking down half-century-old sycamore trees to make way for their new light-rail line to Milwaukie, and dumping cement into the Willamette River to build a new bridge for light rail and streetcar lines.
They're also getting set to remove some $8,000 of new signs which tout their status as “#1 Transit” because...um...well...they're wrong. OOps.
And now another little problem has come to light: Buy America is a provision in U.S. law to “ensure that transportation infrastructure projects are built with American-made products.”
And John Porcari, the Department of Transportation deputy secretary, says he’s the man who signs the waivers allowing companies to buy materials outside the U.S.
As it turns out, there are no American companies that produce girder rail - which is what light rail and streetcar trains roll on. Every square inch of it comes from overseas. That's some serious green.
Gollllleeeeee! Genius At Work!
Posted by: Sam L. | September 29, 2011 at 07:39 AM
As the O-Force crows: JOBS!
Posted by: Max | September 29, 2011 at 05:33 PM
JOBS! Just Our Bull Shit!
Posted by: Sam L. | September 30, 2011 at 08:31 AM
"In downtown Portland, Tri-Met's busily whacking down half-century-old sycamore trees to make way for their new light-rail line to Milwaukie..."
Once you put on the union thug hat, it all makes sense: light rail is a 19th century technology and the sycamore trees are only a half-century old. The electric train has seniority; therefore the trees must go.
From the linked article:
...Porcari acknowledged that winning the American girder rail business doesn’t come cheaply.
“Existing steel companies in America would have to make a very large investment, on the order of over $100 million, for this production line,” he said. “We’ve said [to the steel companies] ‘there’s enough demand to justify that investment. And if you take that risk, if you make that investment, we’ll never sign another waiver.’”
Again, wearing the union thug hat: What's not to like? More money for unions, more money laundered to the Democrat party. Everyone wins.
Posted by: fallingpianos | October 01, 2011 at 12:27 AM
I'd completely overlooked the seniority issue, and that's an excellent observation.
Posted by: Max | October 01, 2011 at 03:29 PM