Comments on: Morning Metro: DeKalb Shortens Summer Break, Online Tax, and Extreme Energy Conservation in Japan

By: At Home in Decatur

At Home in Decatur — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 20:29:25 +0000

“Balanced” schedule for DCSS: See today’s AJC article. Just like CSD parents, parents there are more likely to be against it. For the sake of all the parents who work in one system but have kids in the other, I sure hope the that DCSS schedule is in balance with CSD’s.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:36:04 +0000

What’s interesting is that, while accidents and fatalities at car/train crossings have decreased significantly in the past 20 years, trespasser or train/person accidents and fatalities have increased by a larger proportion to the point where more trespassers are killed than drivers/passengers.

By: Bijoux404

Bijoux404 — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:32:42 +0000

RR whistles warn cars and others that trains are approaching. Maintenance on RR signals in this country has been unreliable and the subject of a lot of litigation, and cover-ups by RR companies. It seems logical to me that eliminating an important warning signal is a terrible idea.

The laws on quiet zones recognize that there is more risk caused by prohibiting train whistles. http://www.fra.dot.gov/downloads/safety/NewNSRT122910.pdf

Union Pacific states that it does not support quiet zones because they compromise the safety of their employees and the general public, and notes the possible tax burden it places on locales pursuing quiet zones.
http://www.uprr.com/reus/roadxing/industry/process/horn_quiet.shtml

If you’re interested in some history about RR maintenance, litigation, cover-ups, etc., you can read this Pulitzer Prize winning series of articles from 2005:
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/national/deathonthetracks_index.html
If you poke around on the internet, you can find lots of examples of cases since then that say, at least to me, that nothing has changed.

I live near tracks. I knew there was a lot of horn blowing when I moved near them in the 80’s. The horns may be annoying but they keep us safe. Let’s keep them, please.

By: Daydreamer

Daydreamer — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:36:13 +0000

I thought it was interesting during the TSPLOST debate that they had wonks figuring out the facts and figures right down to the penny of how much time sitting in a car could cost, but never bothered to share a dollar figure estimate of what the tax would cost a household, so people could make a more informed decision. I’m sure it was just an oversight.

By: TOK

TOK — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 19:44:12 +0000

But taxing brick-and-mortar businesses and not on-line retailers distorts the market in favor of on-line businesses.