TenTonCloud

TenTonCloud t1_jeeuvbw wrote

Reply to comment by JPenniman in Amtrak shares renderings of rebuilt Baltimore Penn Station by DfcukinLite

As I’ve seen some people mention, the renovations will include upgrades to the rails at the station to allow HSR travel through as well as having it be part of a larger upgrade to the rail system between Baltimore and NYC that causes so many of the bottlenecks for the rail.

It’s still a far cry from anything like Bullet train level speeds going up and down the coast but it does seem like they’re genuinely taking the necessary steps to making rail travel between these major cities actually attractive enough to see increased use and attention.

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TenTonCloud t1_jbcbj24 wrote

Reply to comment by rockybalBOHa in Group backed by Sinclair Broadcast Group chair likely to push for referendum to allow Baltimore recall elections by aresef

As others have pointed out, there’s nothing wrong with recall votes inherently. The issue arises and seems to be the case here when the mechanism for these kinds of tools for democracy is abused and used for purely selfish political reasons, not any kind of specific reform or interest.

A recall vote suddenly creates the need for campaigning by any of the incumbent candidates in the government, which means less time to be spent towards actually trying to do any work for the sake of the city. Now, this could certainly be as malicious as trying to stop the government from doing work to help the city and be popular, or it could be as self-serving as to prevent the government from pushing forward with politics that certain groups disagree with.

Again, a recall vote isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just important that we look at the incentives that any one group may have to drive their actions and ask if it’s for the good of many or for the benefit of those with money and interest in causing trouble.

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TenTonCloud t1_j8tjcc9 wrote

Reply to comment by eblackman in Do you like the idea of the proposed Bus Rapid Transit system as an alternative to a rail connection in Columbia? Or would you rather see a full-fledged passenger rail connection in the area instead? by [deleted]

It would be absolutely remarkable to see a train system between Columbia and Silver Spring. To be able to potentially ride rail all the way from here down into DC would be incredible.

It would also be huge for the potential linking of Baltimore and DC by a devoted direct rail that would help clear up the road traffic between the cities and possibly help drive interest in further rail development elsewhere.

As nice as a BRT system would be I can’t imagine it surviving massive cuts and lack of public interest to end up as anything more than them adding a few new bus stations and having most of it just use the existing roadways for stretches. Thus, we end up with the great new transit project only adding to and suffering still from traffic.

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