Wondering on Wednesday 2/22/23

 

Ready... Set... Wonder!

A pregnant woman, jailed while awaiting trial in Florida, is suing to be released because her unborn child is being illegally detained. When you think of it, she's right, isn't she? If her fetus has personhood under Florida law, how can it be imprisoned when it committed no crime? I have to wonder - did any legislators consider this type of consequence when they rushed to assign personhood to a fetus? 

GOP Congressional leader Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-You Kidding Me?) has suggested we need a national divorce, in which we'd "separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government." She's also suggested that folks from blue states who move to red states should wait five years before being allowed to vote in their new state. Greene sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability. I'll let you do your own wondering on this.

2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump, never one to shy away from the cameras, traveled to East Palestine, OH today. The town, the site of this month's chemical-carrying train derailment, was the perfect place for Trump to stand behind a podium with his fundraising banner pasted on the front and tell people he's having plenty of Trump-branded water delivered to them, along with water of "much lesser quality." I couldn't help wondering if he brought any bottles of his swamp water to throw into the crowd; it seems he forgot to do that.

Comically, on the national news tonight, an anchor said that the train derailment in East Palestine "had become political" with Trump's arrival. Why is that comical, you might be wondering? Maybe because the coverage on all the networks and cables has been about the politics of it: what FEMA is doing (or not); what the EPA is doing (or not); what the Transportation Department is doing (or not); what the mayor, governor, senators, and congresspeople asked for (or didn't); what Norfolk Southern, the owner of the train, offered (or didn't) and so on. Throw in the names of Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, and Trump, all once and possibly future presidential candidates, and the politics almost overshadow the derailment and the related health and safety issues it may have caused.

Oh - one more name we need to throw into the politically derailed derailment? Mike Pence. He can't stop talking about it including saying that the Biden economy "derailed the economy of East Palestine long before that train came through...", He also said that he would have gone to East Palestine before he would go to Kyiv. If you're wondering, like I am, if Pence is running in 2024, the answer is yes. If you're wondering, like I was, whether Pence has visited Kyiv or East Palestine, the answer is no.

This last item?  I'm wondering how long it would take for the echo of right-wing screams to die down if Maddow had gotten the entire cache of the January 6th video. And I'm wondering, too, if the American people deserve to see what really happened, as the Congressional MAGAists have said, why the footage was exclusively given to a pundit, not a newsman. To a single network, not to every network. To Tucker Carlson, of all people.

What's on your wondering mind these days?

Grains of Salt (v53): Community Gridlock (Pt. 3)

Part 1 of this Grains of Salt series provided some history on the I-81 project and discussed Justice Gerard Neri's decision to prevent work on the viaduct but allow work on turning I-481 into I-81. 

Part 2  looked at the Micron project implications, even though that project didn't exist until long after planning for the viaduct removal had been done.

Today, some final thoughts.

Economic development considerations.

• What if the Destiny USA developers suddenly make a few billion on crypto and decide to build the whole Erie Canal/golf course/theme park thing? Would Neri or another judge require a new "anticipated population and traffic growth" study? 

• What about the new $85M aquarium project, and its promised half a million visitors? Should we postpone replacing the viaduct until we get a separate traffic study for that? 

• And if a currently unforeseen major project when the Micron projections are underway, would that trigger a complete stop and restart? Or, can the new project be a supplement to the supplemental EIS? And who owns that decision?

Legal questions. 

• What, if anything, will prevent some other aggrieved party from filing the next delaying lawsuit? 

• Are we soon going to see ads for this project based on the "abused by a priest?" or "did you drink the water at Camp Lejeune?" approach? I can see them now: 

Do you like speeding through the city of Syracuse on the I-81 viaduct?  Are you against having to get up earlier to get to work? Hate having to drive through Dewitt? Are you a fan of a giant viaduct soaring high above the city's streets?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might be an Aggrieved Party eligible to file a lawsuit to prevent the I-81 viaduct removal project from going forward! Call now!

It won't cost you a thing if we don't win!

• Let's say someone, with the benefit of 15 years of study and tens of thousands of public comments, determines that a tunnel would now be scientifically and economically feasible. Is that a valid reason for a new lawsuit and review?

• After review of the supplemental EIS, let's say Neri or someone else decides we need the Harriet Tubman skybridge viaduct. Will there then be a whole series of discussions on the best design for the skybridge? And if someone doesn't like the answer, can they sue to have the decision reconsidered?

• Who gets to decide who it gets named after? I mean, sure, Harriet Tubman is an icon, but what about Donald 'Nobody in the History of this Country Has Ever Known More about Infrastructure Than Me' Trump? He's an icon, too - can I sue to have it named after him, or maybe after Barack Obama? What's more iconic than being the first - and likely only - Black president in our country's history?

Helpful studies.

• Can we demand northern business corridor merchants commission a study to determine what would happen if they spent money advertising their businesses, instead of relying on free newspaper coverage and endless lawsuits? Where is the comprehensive marketing study on how exit ramp signage, billboards, TV/radio, print, and online ads could be used to help drive customers to these businesses, whether they use the grid and the original I-81 footprint north of the grid, new I-81, or a combo of I-81, I-690, and BR-81? 

• Can we demand those businesses provide detailed sales and occupancy data, including where the customers came from and the route they traveled, and have that independently audited? Let's be sure to look at pre- and post-pandemic data so we know whether they're really going to be impacted by the community grid. This should be required ahead of the NYSDOT doing a supplemental EIS.

• Similarly, can we demand comprehensive impact data from the eastern and southwestern suburbs?  Not just barstool stuff and fear-mongering, but actual data on the specific impacts? This, too, should be required ahead of any NYSDOT supplemental EIS.

If you're asking why anyone should be able to force private companies and suburban communities to provide this kind of data, here's a better question: why can private companies and suburban communities repeatedly force the state to spend our tax dollars jumping through their endless hoops? 

At what point does this end?

From what we've seen, it ends when there's a decision to stop the community grid, unnecessarily tear down dozens of buildings, and erect a massive viaduct that towers over the city. 

It ends when proposed development and investment in Syracuse - technology, housing, business, education, health, and more - are ground to a halt.

It ends only with a decision that defies the wishes of most residents who'd have to live with the monstrosity and those in the greater Syracuse area who cared enough to comment before the community grid decision was made.

It ends when the naysayers win.

One last thing about winning.

In 2018, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh gave his first State of the City address. Here's part of what he said about how we could all win with the I-81 project.

Instead of pitting our communities against each other, what if we stood together, unified, with a plan that creates wins for all of our communities? I believe the decision before us can and should be a source of deeper collaboration and a way to reconnect the economic interests of our City and our suburbs. 

Wouldn't it be great if that had actually happened? 

Grains of Salt (v53): Community Gridlock (Pt. 2)

In Part 1 of this series, I gave some background on the I-81 project, the current lawsuit, and state Supreme Court Justice Gerard Neri's decision to allow work related to I-481 - but not the viaduct removal - to continue.

In this post, I explore some of the implications of his decision, starting with his comments on Micron.

The Micron project is expected to be transformational for Central New York. Over the next two decades, the massive chip manufacturing facility, about 14 miles north of the viaduct, is expected to bring tens of thousands of direct and ancillary jobs. The company is promising a $100B investment, some of which is already flowing into the community.

In his decision, CNY Central reported, Neri said

Unless Respondents [NYS, City of Syracuse] are arguing that statements by the Governor and other elected officials are not factually supported, the Micron Project dwarfs the I-81 Project, much less anything this community has seen. It is just too massive to ignore.

He also referenced "projections from Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon that the community will grow by 200,000 in 20 years, as well as figures from CenterState CEO that 125,000 will come in the next decade."

Below are a few of my thoughts on the Micron aspects of Neri's decision.

Where are those 125,000 - 200,000 people going to live? We have no idea, really. Some may choose an urban lifestyle and live in the city of Syracuse. Some may opt for a quick commute and live in Clay or Cicero. Others may want to live a little further out in the east or west suburbs, while others may go to the far reaches of Onondaga County or neighboring counties. Depending on where they end up, the presence or lack of a viaduct may be meaningless.

There may not be a single 'Micron project' resident impacted by the I-81 project. People who have jobs find a way to get to work on time. I'd suggest this is true of Micron's future employees, just like it's always been true of folks who work downtown, in the suburbs, or in a different county. 

By the way, that happens every day in Central New York; just ask anyone who lives in Oswego, Jefferson, Cayuga, Madison, Cortland, or other counties and comes to work in Syracuse or the suburbs. They've figured out how to make it work, and they've been doing it for decades. Is it so hard to think that newcomers to our area wouldn't be able to figure it out, too?

The same may be said for commercial traffic, too. Micron isn't in CNY now; the company's US locations are in Boise, ID and Manassas, VA; the latter plant is about an hour away from I-81. Should we be required to project how trucks would move between the two plants? Or how suppliers would get from where they are to where Micron will be? At what point do the required projections stop?

What if the Micron project isn't fully realized? The company has been cutting staff and slicing executive pay as demand for their chips slows. Some people weren't convinced we'd see the whole project come to be, even before the cost-cutting measures were announced. But Syracuse will still be here, and the I-81 viaduct will still be past the 'death date,' already six years in the rearview mirror. At what point do we stop projecting and start working?

What comes after the traffic projections are made? Is merely submitting the report sufficient? Or, if the study Neri required determines that there will be an additional volume of cars using the community grid when the viaduct is taken down, what then? Who decides what the grid can support? City engineers? The NYSDOT? Justice Neri or some other elected official? And what criteria apply? Is it too many cycles through the traffic lights? The ratio of electric cars to the total population? How cold a cup of DD coffee gets while you wait?

More importantly, if the decision is that the grid can't support the projected volume, who decides which solution replaces or supplements the grid? Again, is that up to City engineers? The NYSDOT? Neri or some other elected official? 

Or - truly our worst nightmare - do we have to start the entire process all over again?

Grains of Salt (v53): Community Gridlock (Pt. 1)

Interstate 81 runs through the middle of downtown Syracuse on an elevated viaduct.  In 2017, the elevated portion of the highway reached the end of its useful life.

Before and after the viaduct's 'death date, ' multiple solutions have been considered, including fixing the highway until it falls down; putting up a wider viaduct that meets current safety standards; digging one or more tunnels; installing a below-grade highway; creating a street-level grid; some combination of those options; or something else we've not yet considered. 

Perhaps a blessing of unicorns should be an option?

Over the years, we've 'considered' this to death. My last post on the project was nearly four years ago when the state issued its final recommendation; here's an excerpt.

After months and months of fits and starts, including a call for a do-over from our Sonofa Gov Andrew Cuomo to consider a tunnel option, we now have the recommendation from the state, and they believe a community grid is the best option for the Central New York area. 

Since that recommendation was made, there's been no shortage of arguing and complaining, some of which has spilled over into the courts. The current suit was brought by a group called You Can Tear the Viaduct Out from Under My Cold Dead Car, You Sons of Bitches!  The group (its name is shortened to Renew 81 for All in court papers), is led by former Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler, County Legislator Charles Garland, and folks from the east, west, and north suburbs.  

The plaintiffs want a giant skybridge, much wider and higher than the current viaduct. This solution would preserve the northern business corridor - a partially-empty mall that gets much of its tourist traffic from Canada, and several hotels even further north of the viaduct than the mall.  Notably, the mall and the hotels would still be reachable using the same road we call I-81 today, which will be rebranded as Business Route 81.

The skybridge would also preserve life as it's known in the eastern and western suburbs, where I-81 isn't; provide an opportunity to name the bridge after a historical figure (Harriet Tubman is the current choice); and require tearing down some 40-odd buildings in Syracuse forcing businesses, social service organizations, and more to relocate, or close. 

The @SyracuseHistory Instagram account featured the buildings that would be sacrificed in Tubman's name. 

Last November, state Supreme Court Justice Gerard Neri halted all work on the project; in December, he allowed paperwork - but not physical work - to proceed pending a January hearing. This week, we got his ruling. According to reporting from Syracuse.com, 

Neri agreed with Renew 81 that the environmental review of the project was incomplete. Among other details, the (justice) said DOT must account for traffic that will come from Micron Technology’s planned chip fab in Clay, which is expected to bring a surge of population growth to the area. He also ordered the state to study the potential for new air pollution along the suburban route of Interstate 481 if the viaduct is removed and traffic diverts to 481.

His decision allows work on I-481 (adding lanes, updating on- and off-ramps, etc.), which makes up the early phases of the project, to continue. But before the viaduct can come down in a few years, WAER reported, Neri wants a supplemental EIS that includes future traffic projections to reflect Micron’s "anticipated population and traffic growth," air quality monitoring on I-481, and a final plan for stormwater runoff submitted before the viaduct is removed.  

In Part 2, I'll look at the possible impacts of Neri's decision. 

Sunday School 2/12/23

We'll start your Sunday School lesson in the State of the Union classroom, where Jake Tapper talked with Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

Here's Turner's take on classified documents. 

I just don't get this, Jake. I don't get it with Biden, Pence, or Trump. All of them keep finding documents that are classified, stuffed places. I just -- I have no understanding of it. I can tell you that members of Congress who, like me, deal with highly classified information in the Intelligence Committee, the Armed Services Committee, the Foreign Affairs Committee, we're all just stumped. We don't understand how this could be happening. We don't understand how all three could have been so lackadaisical about this.

He said there's legislation "that will make it even more difficult and give different penalties to be able to enforce mishandling classified documents."

Turning to Ukraine, he's "very disappointed" in folks on both sides of the aisle who think we've done enough.

The majority of Congress understands that this is crucial. We are fighting on the front lines of democracy. The fact that Zelenskyy has been -- as president, they -- will rally his country to fight against Russia, and we have been able to arm them, it is really unprecedented that a nation like that could stand to a superpower like Russia. But they're doing so with the commitment to keep the sovereignty of their nation. And Russia's atrocities are just appalling. Anyone who sees what Russia is doing in killing innocent civilians, destroying the infrastructure there has to be moved to want to support the Ukrainians.

In the MTP classroom, What's-his-name talked with Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) about our relationship with China, especially if the recent objects we've shot down turn out to be theirs. Himes said we need to be careful since we don't know yet what those objects were.

I think it's fair to say that the Chinese are probably pretty embarrassed that they let a surveillance platform – the first one – go over the United States. It became a, you know, 'cause célèbre' around the world. We now own it. That's not a comfortable thing for the Chinese. And, of course, we canceled the trip of the Secretary of State. So my guess is that the other two objects are not Chinese, that China is doing everything they can right now to keep as low a profile as possible. But, who knows? We won't know for – I guess, until the administration fully briefs on what these things are. And to be fair, remember, Chuck, when you go by one of these things in an F-22 or an F-18, you're moving pretty fast. Until you actually pick up the pieces on the ground, there'll be some uncertainty.

It'll be fun to watch this unfold, especially since we shot down a third one after the show aired. 

In the This Week classroom, George Stephanopoulos talked with David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, about the difficulties in getting aid to Syria after the devastating earthquake last week.  

There are several issues, not the least of which is that part of Syria is rebel-controlled. Miliband said 

there is news from the United Nations that the Syrian government is going to allow aid to go into this rebel-held area from the government-controlled side. But, frankly, that’s an indirect route, and it’s caught up in politics.

The UN says the "most direct route to help people is across the Turkish-Syrian border, north to south, opening up more crossing points." 

People haven’t gotten food. They haven’t gotten medicine. They haven’t gotten basic hygiene supplies. The water and sanitation is in ruins. So this is a community for whom the earthquake was one massive hit. But the grave danger they face now almost affects more people.

He also explained that borders are effectively blocked for survivors and that people are afraid to go into government-controlled areas.

They fear being prosecuted or recruited into the army of President Assad. Many... about one and a half million to 2 million of those trapped in northwest Syria have fled from other parts of the country because of the fighting. And the Turkish border is also blocked for them. So, these people are caged in, effectively.

The US needs to lead - diplomatically through the UN,  financially, and by ensuring that the Syrian people aren't forgotten, after the dozen-year civil war.

The world has moved on. But the crisis has not been resolved. And a forgotten crisis is not a resolved crisis. What happens is that people on the edge, left on the edge where natural disasters strike that pushed over the precipice, and that’s what we’re seeing now.

I heard a report from the BBC this morning that two additional border crossings have been approved for international aid to flow into the rebel-held part of the country; up to now, there had been only one. 

Sunday School 1/29/23

In this week's Sunday School, I've got recaps of a few discussions on the Tyre Nichols case and on policing more generally. 

We'll start with Dana Bash and her panel in the State of the Union classroom: Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), author/CNN pundit Bakari Sellers, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and CNN's Scott Jennings.

Lee said people talk about public safety, but "where we stop short every single time is talking about, how do we invest in communities that have been underinvested," and mentioned education and jobs as the kind of investments needed.

We have data. We know what makes communities safe. But, every single time, we defer, we kind of go back right to, well, 'policing in and of itself is public safety.' Public safety doesn't begin or end with policing.

She said the conversation needs to move a lot more quickly than it is right now, and that 

We need to start "looking deeply into our culture, looking deeply within ourselves and figuring out why we make policy decisions that we know have adverse impact on these communities, that we know are setting communities up for failure." 

Jennings had many more questions than answers after seeing the videos. He said, "we have an epidemic of hard hearts in this country." Among his questions?

how these officers were hired. And what were the standards? Where do they come from? What was the testing? And what kind of people are we putting with such power in our communities that they feel like they could drag you out of a car and beat you to death? I mean, these -- this is not protecting and serving. This is not law and order. 

Sellers said even if police reform legislation had passed and everything had been implemented, it wouldn't be enough.

(W)e still... have to have a conversation about culture because what we saw and the conversation that we have to have is about the nuance around systems in this country. And systemic racism is a word that people don't want to hear... we're so anti-intellectual that they clench up when they hear it, but it's a conversation that we have to have.

Police have been given more training, resources, and equipment- which didn't prevent this from happening. He said we need to have a real conversation, 

whether it's a 'hard heart' conversation, or a 'cultural conversation', or a... 'black folk don't get the benefit of their humanity' conversation, this is where we have to have this difficult conversation. 

Sellers draws a "direct line" from this incident to things like the lack of safe drinking water in black communities, poor and unsafe schools, and healthcare disparities for blacks, saying, "That is systemic racism across institutions."

Kinzinger acknowledges that we need to have "real conversations" but hates the term. You start the discussion on how to fix things, he said,

And then what happens is the online kind of profit machine kicks up. And, on the right, it's all the sudden, like, we have to back the blue and not talk about any reforms. And sometimes, on the left, it ends up being basically -- you saw it to the extreme, defund the police. And then you end up hating each other, not talking about it, not solving problems. This is a moment where I think, if we can actually be like, OK, look, neither side is going to get exactly what they want in policing or in reform, but we can make a huge difference, sort of like the Justice for George Floyd Act, we can make a difference. But everybody's got to get away from just default(ing) to their corners.