Trolleys

A Vision For Santa Cruz
What Santa Cruz has now is many, very large buses, running mostly empty, on circuitous routes, at infrequent intervals, throughout the county. We also have a railroad right-of-way lying idle through the middle of the most populous section of the county. That’s what we have. What we could have is e- powered trolley cars running at frequent intervals on the rail line, with small e-powered shuttle buses running at frequent intervals on the principal cross streets that intersect the tracks, picking up riders and taking them to the trolley where they can ride to another cross street and catch another shuttle bus to their eventual destination: school, work, shopping, dining, or entertainment. The critical part of this vision is the rail line, in place and usable. It would take multiple millions of taxpayer dollars to replicate (as Los Angeles is discovering), but we have it already, like money in the bank. All we need is the rolling stock which can be procured through a leasing company like General Electric; working capital which can be obtained through a small IPO, and drivers who are probably plentiful right here in Santa Cruz. The only missing ingredient is the decision to move ahead, and a capable person to bird-dog the whole deal, including the formation of a public/private corporation capitalized to support the leasing contract and attorneys fees and provide working capital while ridership is building up. No additional taxpayer money should be needed. Also, no funds should be diverted from any other program.
Bear in mind, that trolley cars are completely compatible with pedestrians and bicyclists, as demonstrated throughout the rest of the world.

Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com

Congress! Do your job!

[ED: this is an alternate to my previous submission on the same subject]
The most disheartening aspect of the present sad situation is the number of people who still support Donald Trump’s presidency. A few hotheads, here and there, are to be expected, but thousands? Congress, for heavens sake, do your job!

Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>

conflict did

Can anyone tell me why educated, thinking adults, in view of all that’s happened the last three years or so, continue to register and vote with the Republican Party? Some things stand out among the hundreds: the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, child separation at the border, the tax giveaway disguised as reform, repeated references to having “won the election”, and so on, and so on, and so on.

Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com

Prop 8

Tell the people at the SEIU about an easier way to cut into the profits of the dialysis “profiteers”. It is quite simple, really. Just get some fat cats to put up a few million dollars of seed money, buy some dialyzer machines (I’m not sure how many thousand dollars each one costs), recruit some really good nurses and technicians by paying them half again as much as they are getting now, rent some space in the area where there are already dialysis centers run by the “profiteering” company. When all this is set up, send a letter to every nephrologist within 50 miles or so notifying them of your lower prices and better staff. Be sure to get your relations with Medicare, Medicaid, the insurance industry, and the Veterans Administration established ahead of time. Price competition is one of the quickest ways to build market share.

Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>

Let down

The Brett Kavanaugh nomination, itself, demonstrated a careless disregard for the quality of justices we select for our Supreme Court. Obviously, only those with the right politics need apply. The confirmation process, likewise, is so skewed toward rubber-stamping that multiple sources of relevant information are either ignored or purposefully prevented the opportunity to testify. Right up to the end, we held out the vague hope that enough Senate Republicans would understand that this is exactly the kind of person we Do Not Want on the Supreme Court of the United States, and then vote accordingly. Sadly, we must be prepared for more instances where what matters most to Republicans is not what fits the country’s needs most, but how they can maintain political control, which is what they just did to what was once a highly respected institution, but is now a five- to-four boys club for what ever mischief Trump might cook up.

Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>

Trump was never elected

“Trump’s election” is an oxymoron. Trump was never elected. He lost the 2016 presidential election by almost three million votes. That is a big margin !. He was elevated to the presidency by an indescribably undemocratic process known as the “electoral college”. Presumably, this alternate to the popular vote was set up to prevent small-population states, mostly rural, from being overwhelmed by large-population states, mostly urban. It was a fluke, but it happened the way we have always feared it would. It put a racist bigot in the White House with almost three million fewer votes. So, please do not keep referring to Trump’s “election”. He was “selected”, and a large part of his own party is now trying to find a legitimate way to correct their massive, horrendous, mistake. Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>

Republicans

As if any further examples were needed, we now know from direct and relevant experience how the Republicans act when they have complete and total control of everything. If nothing else, we are continuously discovering that the Republicans know nothing about governing, nothing. Brett Kavanaugh is not merely an appeals court judge in line for a seat on the Supreme Court, going through the normal appeals court process (which, by now has become more like Kabuki theater). Kavanaugh is a conservative (right wing) ideologue and, as such, is exactly the kind of man (not woman) Republicans want in order to pack the court with sympathetic, or right-leaning, judges. Also, the way two senators, Grassley and McConnell are acting in their positions of power in this melodrama is giving new meaning to the word “villainy”.
Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>

Don’t expect anything to change

We have seen 28 mass shootings this year so far, 28! (
with 126 dead). So, how would it be if all murder weapons (handguns, military style rifles, etc.) were outlawed, AND anyone possessing such weapons would be facing serious jail time? The ex-Florida Governor, Rick Scott, said: “something’s got to change.”… Reality, on the other hand, says: “if we don’t get rid of the murder weapons, nothing will ever change. Nothing.” Background checks may prevent an occasional gun sale, but will do nothing to prevent future use of some of the millions of weapons already loose in the countryside; against which we have absolutely no defense. None!
Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>

New library?

It is easy to see why there might be a group of people advocating construction of a new multi-use building for parking, library, and other uses in a space now occupied by a parking lot shaded by large, you might call them “heritage” trees. An awful lot of money gets spread around in a major construction project like this. But first, should we not ask the fundamental question: What is wrong with what we have now? The library is in a good location, there are already plenty of parking spaces downtown, including two multistory garages and a two level structure, plus what is on the street and in designated parking lots around town, and this one is a perfect spot for the weekly farmers market. Again what needs to change? What is wrong with what we have?
Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>