OK. Suggestions for modern WPA and CCC projects.

[Dennis S]

After reading this thread:

http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?2,625473

if you had a say, what projects would you suggest?

Roads and bridges has been mentioned. I think fixing bridges would be a good place to start. What else?

[mikeylikesit]

We are no longer a labor intensive society. Put our brainpower to work. Develop new approaches to energy, fund and implement those new technologies using the workforce and stop the pigs from feeding at the Defense Department trough.

[Black Landlord]

Large scale highway deconstruction project.
Light/commuter/passenger rail expansion.
Large scale sidewalk widening in densely populated areas.

[cbelt3]

Construction IS a labor intensive activity, even as highly mechanized as it is today.

I would like to see:
1- infrastructure repair. Piping, bridges, sewer and water systems, electrical transmission systems.

2- Neighborhood cleanouts. Cleveland, for example, is at half of its max population. There are a lot of abandoned / burned out houses that need to be deconstructed and turned into parkland. Think New Orleans without the flood.

3- Energy projects- hydroelectric power, wind power, solar power stations.

4- Education. There are a lot of smart people who don't have jobs. Set them teaching others and bootstrap our economy by focusing on educating and retraining the workforce.

5- Clean up and build infrastructure in National Parks.

[OWC Jamie]

We need spies in men's rooms to expose all the toe-tappers.

[Mac1337]

cbelt3 wrote:
Construction IS a labor intensive activity, even as highly mechanized as it is today.

I would like to see:
1- infrastructure repair. Piping, bridges, sewer and water systems, electrical transmission systems.

2- Neighborhood cleanouts. Cleveland, for example, is at half of its max population. There are a lot of abandoned / burned out houses that need to be deconstructed and turned into parkland. Think New Orleans without the flood.

3- Energy projects- hydroelectric power, wind power, solar power stations.

4- Education. There are a lot of smart people who don't have jobs. Set them teaching others and bootstrap our economy by focusing on educating and retraining the workforce.

5- Clean up and build infrastructure in National Parks.

Look around yourself, family, children, friends. How many are the type that can or want to do these sort of jobs? Let's think outside the box, please.

[deckeda]

By all means, let's shoot down ideas and make assumptions as to what people would be willing to take a paycheck for.

We're already hearing reports of "regular people" like teachers and office workers falling through the cracks of society, losing their job and home and winding up in homeless shelters. Tell me some of them wouldn't be first in line for some of the types of jobs billb mentions.

Come Feb. my wife will be out of a job. Don't know about you, but she'd do any of that stuff for a paycheck. We'd like to KEEP our damn house.

[the_poochies]

The Northeast Corridor rail line between Boston & Washington was originally built in the 1830s. Past my house in NJ, it was elevated in 1914 and electrified as part of a New Deal project in 1935. Other than new locomotives and rail cars (most of which are nearly 40 years old, BTW), no major capital upgrades have been made to this line.

Someone should build a high-speed rail corridor between NYC and Washington. Europe and Asia have bullet trains...we get Amtrak and horrific airport delays out of NYC at the slightest hint of bad weather.

[Wags]

the_poochies wrote:
The Northeast Corridor rail line between Boston & Washington was originally built in the 1830s. Past my house in NJ, it was elevated in 1914 and electrified as part of a New Deal project in 1935. Other than new locomotives and rail cars (most of which are nearly 40 years old, BTW), no major capital upgrades have been made to this line.

Someone should build a high-speed rail corridor between NYC and Washington. Europe and Asia have bullet trains...we get Amtrak and horrific airport delays out of NYC at the slightest hint of bad weather.

A high speed passenger rail network around the country, starting with the east cost corridor that pooch mentioned with another priority being the west coast corridor paralleling Interstate 5. We desperately need dedicated passenger rail lines. Rail travel is the most efficient form of transportation, given the coefficient of friction of steel on steel and the slipstreaming - far better than jetliners and cars. The system now makes passenger trains give up the right of way to freight which makes it impossible for them to keep to a schedule. We also need to put some substantial effort towards improving the existing freight lines, which have degraded over the years and been largely ignored.

[Racer X]

"stop the pigs from feeding at the Defense Department trough."

Hey, that's how I earn my living!