NYC Cares About Water In Pennsylvania

The title may sound boring, but it truly is an important issue. Water is both a life-giving resource and a deadly, destructive force that can destroy neighborhoods and small towns. Flood waters around the Delaware have been particularly bad this time of year because New York wants the reservoirs full to make sure there's plenty of water in the summertime. Now after Governor Rendell talked to officials on our side of the river, things should be getting better.

From The Gothamist:

NYC has agreed to lower the water levels in some of its reservoirs that supply the city with its drinking water. The move came after pressure from Ed Rendell, the Gov. of Pennsylvania, who argued for reduced reservoir capacity to spare citizens of his state from the regular spring flooding along the Delaware River that results from New York keeping its reservoirs filled to the brim. When spring storms exceed the already-full reservoirs' ability to retain water, the Delaware River floods and Pennsylvanians suffer.

Under the new agreement, NYC said that it will reduce the levels of the Neversink, Pepacton and Cannonsville reservoirs to 97% of capacity after April 1st, in anticipation of spring rains. Pennsylvanians sounded barely satisfied with the compromise and characterized it as an insignificant gesture. Flooding of the Delaware River has claimed the lives of nine people and cost $70 million in property damage between 2004 and 2006. People who live along the river would prefer that the man made lakes upstream in New York State be maintained at 80% of capacity to prevent bridges and their homes from being washed away.

See, it isn't only the primary battle that we care about in the state to our south and west. Saving lives and property is far more important than making sure our water supply is as high as it can be. This isn't the western side of the United States, we have plenty of water to go around here and it should be used wisely.

Ron Paul Wouldn't Appreciate Bloomberg's Efforts

Our Mayor/potential candidate for President got together with Governor Ahhhhnuld and Governor Rendell to talk about infrastructure recently. Although their politics differ in many regards, apparently having good roads to drive on and rails to carry freight is something they all agree on. I wish that our current President cared, but we already know that he doesn't give a shit about anything. That goes for much of Congress and all of the Republican candidates for President, especially Ron Paul, who wants to do away with the IRS because, well, we survived as a nation before the income tax started in 1913. Um, Ronnie, you know you couldn't have driven across the U.S. at that point in time with any kind of speed or efficiency because there wasn't a national highway system at the time (funded by taxes in case you Paulites didn't know, roads just don't grow on trees). Ok, thats enough about Paul, its time to get down to business.

From The NY Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg attacked Washington politicians on Saturday for what he called short-sighted, politically motivated spending while the nation’s roads, bridges and airports fall apart.

“Infrastructure isn’t sexy or glamorous, and it doesn’t make for great headlines,” Mr. Bloomberg said in Los Angeles, “but it is one of the most important issues facing our country.

“And make no mistake about it, we have an infrastructure crisis.”

Joined by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, a Republican, and Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, the mayor announced the creation of a nonpartisan organization that will advocate for more, and smarter, federal spending on infrastructure.

The organization, Building America’s Future, will comprise elected officials and others, and it will be financed by the Rockefeller Foundation, a frequent collaborator with the mayor on pet projects.

Oh yeah, that asphalt is smokin! Of course it is even hotter to ride those rails. Thats where America's future should be built more and more.

Moving To PA To Escape The Fallout

Out of the many reasons to move to Pennsylvania, the last one would be because of a nuclear fallout. It is just something I do not think of (including moving to Pennsylvania, period). Sure, its a beautiful state and all, but as a New Yorker it isn't something that I would seriously consider. There is a group out there however that is planning for a nuclear attack on New York City, so that they can attract businesses to their area. I wish I was making this up, but let me introduce you to "Wall Street West."

From The Empire Zone:

Gov. Edward G. Rendell’s administration maintains that since the region is about 100 miles west of Manhattan, it is outside New York City’s theoretical nuclear blast zone. It is ideally situated, they say, to be a safe retreat from the metropolis, but close enough to be linked directly to the computers that run the banking and trading systems.

“We think we’re uniquely positioned,” said Catherine A. Bolton, project director of the Wall Street West consortium, whose goal is to lure financial companies based in New York to put backup facilities in a nine-county region in northeast Pennsylvania. “There are places in New Jersey, but they’re not outside the blast zone.”

Just because there is nothing going on in Northeast Pennsylvania does not give them the excuse to play on the absurd fear of there being a nuclear attack on New York. This is a case of greed that tries to capitalize on extremely remote scenarios.

The idea might have gained some traction back in the cold war, when many people did believe that Russia and the United States were going to blow each other up. Bomb shelter companies did very well back then, but business has dropped off considerably since the fall of the U.S.S.R. People like Rendell need to stop playing on people's fears and look for other ways to improve regional economies.