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Editorializing
December 23, 2006
“City workers apparently (emphasis added) cleared streets as promised during a recent storm that dumped several inches of snow and caused dozens of injury accidents” – the lead sentence from an article on the front page of The Oklahoman on Sunday, December 17, 2006.
Who can point out the reporter’s editorial point in this sentence?
The word APPARENTLY!
The article states that, after using a geographic mapping system (GIS) to analyze City snowplow data, that the City did indeed plow according to its plan. How nice.
Most Public Works vehicles now have GPS monitors installed. Each vehicle’s movement can be tracked either real time, if a person has access to the City intranet, or after the fact, as in the case of The Oklahoman analysis. Public Works gave the newspaper access to this data, and using GIS, they analyzed the City response to this season’s first snowstorm, and, lo and behold, the City delivered as promised.
What really grinds my gears is the way the article, a front-page article, no less, was led. The data confirmed what the City told people after the storm – that the roads were plowed as timely as possible, and according to the City plan. That should have caused the reporter to eliminate his prior premise and run an article reporting on the facts. Instead, he still added a hint of blame/accusation at the City by running with the word APPARENTLY at the beginning of the article.
A second recent Oklahoman article really caught my attention. The devoted a front-page article to an even more ridiculous topic – the size of parking spaces at local malls.
A few excerpts:
“Want to tset the laws of physics? Try backing a Hummer H2 out of a nearly 14-foot long parking spot without plowing into another car… She had been stuck in one of many parking spots that are smaller than Oklahoma City parking code require.”
“At Penn Square Mall recently, some cars in the parking garage’s compact spots were less than 6 inches apart.” NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The Mayor gets special treatment?!?
Just outside the zoning office, most of the spaces in the lot between the city municipal building and an office building at 420 Main St. are smaller than the required at 8 feet, 1 inch wide and 17 feet, 2 inches long.But some spots in the lot have plenty of room, such as the mayor’s 10-foot-wide reserved parking spot and City Council members’ 8 foot, 7 inch wide reserved spots.
“I’m very confident that he (Mayor Mick Cornett) has not asked for a larger parking spot,” said David Holt, an aide to the mayor. “I’m sure it was unintentional.
“If any one wanted him to make his spot smaller, I’m sure he would oblige — but that would probably cost more money than it’s worth,” Holt said.
(Actually, the City Manager’s spot happens to be 12 feet 1 inch wide… since my esteemed boss went out and measured it herself after the article was printed - good research, Mr. Staff Writer.)
Well, I’m sure glad someone is looking out for our needs like this. Because, really, there’s nothing worse than bad parking spots. No homelessness… no kids without food in Oklahoma… no crime problem… everything is hunky dory here!
“People then have wrecks and there’s door dings. No-body wants door dings.” Hell no, we don’t!
Oh, and by the way, John Estus happens to be the Staff Writer on both of these stories. Hmm.
Posted by paul at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)
Heartland Flyer to Tulsa?!?
December 11, 2006
On the heels of yesterday’s NewsOK article (and possibly a News 9 story, since The Oklahoman and News 9 combined their stories for NewsOK), KFOR.com today noted an interesting development in the future of the Heartland Flyer.
It seems that Amtrak senior director of government affairs Ray Lang has recently started telling people in the know that it would be a good idea to expand the Heartland Flyer service from Oklahoma City to Tulsa. According to the article, Mr. Lang says doing so would make the Heartland Flyer “more relevant” to Amtrak’s system as a whole.
The article states that Tulsa is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the country without dedicated rail service.
Quite interesting. Unfortunately, one big thing that would throw a wrench in this is that the necessary upgrades to the rails for this route (already owned by the state) would have to be paid for by the state.
Here’s hoping!
Posted by paul at 05:41 PM | Comments (1)
Oklahoma Flyer?
December 10, 2006
Oklahoma City rail lovers have one choice when trying to travel by rail. Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer to Fort Worth, Texas. From there, they can catch the Texas Eagle northward to Chicago or southward to San Antonio (with connection to Los Angeles).
However, if a train went north from Oklahoma City the same distance as the Heartland Flyer to Hutchinson, Kansas, travelers could then hop on the Southwest Chief to Chicago or Los Angeles.
Another option, which I hadn’t thought of before, was recently mentioned on the NewsOK website. Officials in Missouri might create a St. Louis to Springfield, MO Amtrak train. AND, officials in Oklahoma are interested in extended that route from Springfield to Tulsa, and possibly Oklahoma City.
This would create a smooth route whereby a rail traveler could knock off hours from their journey from Oklahoma City to Chicago. St. Louis has three daily connections to Chicago. It would be fantastic.
Here’s hoping!
Cool sites to check out:
Posted by paul at 07:31 AM | Comments (0)
Weathergasm
December 09, 2006
From today’s Holland Sentinel:
Miss: Hype and cliches on winter weather. Winter weather has barely begun, and we’re already tired of the TV meteorologists’ hype that makes every coming storm sound like Armageddon. We’re also sick of people saying that people “braved” the cold to do something or other. There’s nothing brave about going out in 30-degree or 20-degree weather if you’re dressed reasonably. For goodness sake, this is Michigan.
It’s just like Oklahoma… every spring storm is treated like some new phenomena that each weather guy has never seen before. I’ve seen the locals weather guys stay on air for 6 hours in a row tracking possible storms. We call them weathergasms.
Also, it’s a function of where we live, just like the Sentinel says. It’s Michigan. Deal with it. Or, this is Oklahoma, it’s going to be hot and stormy. Deal with it.
Posted by paul at 07:44 AM | Comments (0)
Chessie
December 06, 2006
Christa and I spent a couple hours at the OKC Train Show on Sunday. My what fun we had.
Unlike the model railroad shows of my youth, this show was packed full of railroad-related antique dealers, actual model railroad equipment manufacturers, and art dealers. It’s amazing. Add to that the large modular layouts being shown off, and a model railroad fan, or any railfan, would be in heaven.
We ended up buying a few original magazine adds for the C&O Railroad. We’re going to frame them as a tribute to our Chessie… too bad there’s no railroad associated with Lace (the other cute cat).
We also bought a print of a B&O train at a station in winter… nice for framing and putting up in the train room. Upon inspection at home, I realized that the print is signed by the artist - kinda cool.
Seeing all of the model railroads and all the modeling equipment made me jealous of the owners… If I had tons of disposable income, I might get back into it, but it’s darned expensive. Especially when we’re trying to focus on our house.
One of the coolest new things in technology to affect model railroading is LED technology. Manufacturers are now marketing little LEDs for even the smallest scale. Couple them with new control technologies, and you can model a railroad complete with working signals… it’s amazing.
We also bought a book from a dealer from out of state. It was either buy it from him, or buy it from the American Meteorogical Association… buying from him was much easier. The book is called Railroads and Weather. It’s awesome. If you ever want a rail-related book, check out Railroadbooks.biz. He’s got anything and everything you need. I found an amazing, two volume history of Michigan railroads in his booth. It retails for $150 for the pair, and it’s an incredible study of any and every railroad that operated in Michigan. Alas, the cost was quite prohibitive at the time… and, really, unless you want a copy for your library, there isn’t much to do with it. It’s not reading material, because all it contains is business ledgers, route miles, etc.
Posted by paul at 07:05 AM | Comments (0)
Fun with Christmas Trees
December 02, 2006
Does anyone know a good way to keep cats from climbing the Christmas tree?
We purposely put the fake tree up this year, so that we can train these two beautiful cats… Other than using a water mister to spray their faces, I really have no clue.
Christa and I love having a Christmas tree. There’s got to be a way to make this work. Heck, my parent’s taught Smokey.
Comment, please!
Posted by paul at 03:49 PM | Comments (2)