Press Releases and Newsletters
Power shift in the Senate good for urban areas? (NC Spin)
Nesbitt elected Majority Leader (NC Spin)
Asheville`s Senator Martin Nesbitt was elected by the Democratic Caucus to become Majority Leader, replacing Tony Rand. To understand the implications of this election we need some history.
Martin Nesbitt grew up on politics. His mother, Mary Cordle Nesbitt served in the House until her death. Martin was appointed to fill his mother`s unexpired term in 1979, serving in the short session of 1980 and standing for his first election in 1981. Nesbitt was part of what many longtime observers believe was the brightest freshman class to come of the legislature in many decades. Their ranks included Dennis Wicker, who became Lieutenant Governor; Harry Payne, later Commissioner of Labor and chair of the Employment Security Commission; Bobby Hunter, who is a Supreme Court Justice and Joe Hackney, current Speaker. All were young and bright. All wanted to be Speaker. Two of them were.
Nesbitt was bright, ambitious and eager to learn the ways of the House. It didn`t hurt that his father-in-law was Billy Watkins, a legendary power broker and gamesman. With Watkins as a mentor, Nesbitt learned fast and moved ahead, adopting many of Billy`s hardball tactics and highly partisan arguments. Martin rose through the ranks to become chair of the Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful positions in the House. He was a key player in drafting the budget and negotiating with the Senate. In the process Nesbitt got bruised and bruised others to the point where few thought he could ever gain his goal of being Speaker. His fate was cast when he challenged Speaker Jim Black and fell out of favor. His further rise in power was stymied.
Fate stepped in when Senator Steve Metcalf resigned his post. Blocked in his quest for ultimate power in the House, Nesbitt sought and received the nomination of his district Democratic Executive Committee and he was appointed to the Senate in 2004, to the consternation of some Senators. They knew Martin`s reputation from the House, knew he wasn`t well liked, had heard of his partisan outbursts on the floor and his willingness to take on those in power. With only 50 members the Senate was more of a “Gentleman`s Club.” Even if Republicans were not treated equally they were treated with respect.
Martin Nesbitt is nothing if not a hard worker and he came to work. He gained respect, if not popularity, in the Senate and it was known he wanted to rise in the ranks. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight`s ill health appeared to provide an opportunity for a future run for the Pro Tem`s job. Then fate stepped in again. Tony Rand mysteriously stepped aside as Majority Leader. Nesbitt was far from the most popular Democratic Senator but the bench of viable candidates was short. Dan Blue, while very popular, capable and charismatic, had only been appointed this year. David Hoyle is rumored to be retiring after this term. Dan Clodfelter had made far too many of his colleagues mad. A. B. Swindell was a good team player but dismissed by most for leadership.
Marc Basnight may be many things but no one will ever say he isn`t good at counting votes and knowing where his members are. It`s one of the major reasons he has stayed in power for so long. Even Republicans talk about how accessible and collegial Basnight can be. Marc seems to like the good-cop, bad-cop arrangement he has had for many years with Rand. It has worked well and Rand didn`t mind being the bad cop who had the support and backing of Basnight. Faced with the options we think Basnight had little choice but to select Nesbitt. Basnight sat him on the buggy, hitched up the horses, but Basnight kept the reins.
Who will Basnight assign as Rules chair? This has been a very powerful post under Rand, burial ground for many bills that never saw the light of day. Two names most frequently mentioned for the post are Clark Jenkins of Tarboro and David Hoyle of Gastonia. As stated before Hoyle is making noises that he won`t seek re-election. He lives in a largely Republican district and already knows the GOP is coming after him. One pundit remembered that the margin of Hoyle`s last election was thin and that there was a late-minute accusation against him that appeared to have traction.
Jenkins also has his problems. His district consists of a large minority population. He has had primary challenges but usually from two or more minorities. Word we get is that Frankie Bordeaux, a prominent and wealthy African American, wants the seat and can afford to finance a campaign. This could be trouble for the Tarboro Democrat.
What about the future? Nesbitt is known to be friends with Blue and there was speculation that the two of them would form a leadership team if Basnight wasn`t going to run in 2010. That appears problematic now: Basnight is not only telling people he`s running, he`s also raising money. But this isn`t a bad place for Martin to be in the interim. Can the tiger chance his stripes at age 63? Can he become everyone`s favorite Uncle Martin? Could he get enough support to become Pro Tem? Can Nesbitt and Blue come up with a winning solution to hold power? Some believe Blue might even become Pro Tem with Nesbitt being his strong number two. Time will tell.
In the meantime there is work to be done. The budget is already 90 million below projections for the first quarter of the fiscal year. Mental Health is a disaster waiting to happen. If the legislature doesn`t take action soon, court cases will force them to do so. At every turn there is another crisis awaiting this legislature and on top of it all there are the 2010 elections which, if current thinking continues, would favor Republicans. (Read My Spin “Would Republicans Rather Fight than Win in 2010?”) As has already been mentioned frequently, these elections are crucial because the next legislature will redraw districts and the party in power will have more sway in those decisions.
There is one conclusion that is inescapable. Power is shifting in this state and in the Senate. Nesbitt is not only a partisan Democrat but a staunch advocate for the West and urban centers. Population shifts will cause new legislative districts with fewer Eastern members. Urban areas will have more power and the long dominance of the East is likely coming to a close.
Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee Nov. 17th, 2009
Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee Nov. 17th, 2009
Highlights
- NCDOT presented on North Carolina’s population growth, shrinking transportation revenues, and growing transportation infrastructure needs. They noted there are twice as many projects in the State Transportation Improvement Program than funds available over the next five years. They said the problem is not NCDOT’s alone, but a problem for the nation, state, counties, cities/towns, and communities.
- Updated the Committee on Executive Order #2 requiring NCDOT to change how they approve highway projects. BOT will approve a work program as a whole rather than approving individual projects.
- I-485 Update
- Interstate Maintenance – NCDOT advocated for saving money in the long run by investing in preserving Interstates. They are allocating $10 million to the effort and plan to increase it to $15 million or more in the future.
- Bridges – NCDOT maintains 13,000 bridges and is 10th in the nation with respect to most deficient bridges. 8,000 need to be replaced in the next 20 years. NCDOT is currently replacing 100 per year. They are working to develop and include maintenance, preservation and rehabilitation strategies in the bridge program, streamline the program to deliver bridges quicker and cheaper, and develop bridge replacement standards for the sub-regional tier.
- Revenues – NCDOT said we must develop new long range progrmas and resources in cooperation with all levels of government and transportation groups to achieve consensus and cooperation in moving our 21st Century state to a resionably resourced transprotation program instead of modal and regional fights over the allocation of an under resourced 20th Century transportation model.
NC governor: jobless to rise though economy better (AP)
NC governor: jobless to rise though economy better (AP)
GREENSBORO, N.C. – GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Gov. Beverly Perdue told elected education officials Monday that the state’s financial picture is improving but unemployment may keep rising in the short term.
Speaking to an annual meeting of the North Carolina School Boards Association, Perdue said she’s more hopeful than when she took office in January, when she had to close a budget shortfall that ultimately reached $3.2 billion.
Perdue and state lawmakers approved a state budget in August that required districts to find $225 million in cuts in grades 4-12. School officials were asked to tap into federal stimulus funds to replace state money.
“We were in tough times then. We have fought our way out,” Perdue said at a Greensboro hotel. “We’ve come through the hard rows … it will not — unless something wrong happens between now and (next) July — be the bleed-out that we suffered last year.”
Perdue said the state’s unemployment rate may reach 11.5 percent before going down as people who stopped looking for work return to the job market and are recorded again as unemployed. The jobless rate has been hovering around 11 percent since February.
State revenues for the first four months of the fiscal year ending Oct. 31 are 1.5 percent, or $95 million, lower than projected when the $19 billion budget was drawn up, according to the General Assembly’s fiscal research staff.
Perdue told school board officials she was hopeful that North Carolina could receive $400 million in federal stimulus from $4.5 billion in education innnovation grants for which states are competing. The state’s school districts would share in half the money.
Perdue also announced the development of a new Internet site that gives users more information about higher education courses they can take online in North Carolina.
The governor also spoke on Monday to Grimsley High School students who were working on college applications. She later visited the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem.
November 16, 2009 By The Associated Press GARY D. ROBERTSON (Associated Press Writer)
Mayors to launch new organization to promote growth planning (Greenville Online.com)
Mayors to launch new organization to promote growth planning (Greenville Online.com)
The mayors of Atlanta, Charlotte and Greenville concluded a two-day brainstorming session in Greenville on Wednesday by agreeing to help launch a new organization to promote cooperation in planning, infrastructure and economic development along the Interstate 85 corridor.
Mayors Shirley Franklin of Atlanta, Pat McCrory of Charlotte and Knox White of Greenville and others who attended the Mayors’ Megaregion Meeting also tentatively agreed on the name of the proposed organization: the Piedmont Alliance for Quality Growth.
Attendees agreed to meet again in January.
They included Jennie Stultz, mayor of Gastonia, N.C.; Robert Reichert, mayor of Macon, Ga.; and Neal Peirce, an author and columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group. Also taking part were city and regional planners, university professors and corporate executives along the I-85 corridor from Charlotte to Atlanta.
On Tuesday, attendees talked about the prospects of cooperation on such issues as water supply, transportation and energy. On Wednesday, they discussed how to structure the proposed organization and what its mission and name should be.
McCrory said he sees the organization as an alliance to build infrastructure — water plants, airports, roads — and suggested looking to the Emerging Issues Forum established by former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt as a model.
Franklin said she would raise $10,000 needed to pay for the next meeting.
“Without this kind of dialogue and collaboration, our region cannot expect to prosper,” Franklin said.
Attendees talked about how many people should be on the organization’s board and whether it should include governors or university presidents and what kind of “branding” would engage “Joe Six-pack.”
Discussions were led by professors Harry West and Catherine Ross of Georgia Tech’s Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development.
Ross is author of the newly released book “Megaregions: Planning for Global Competitiveness.”
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By Rudolph Bell
Staff Writer
November 19, 2009
Lawmakers Push for Second Stimulus (The Bond Buyer)
Lawmakers Push for Second Stimulus (The Bond Buyer)
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are pushing for a second economic stimulus bill, and transportation advocates hope it will contain funding for infrastructure without further delaying a multi-year surface transportation reauthorization bill.
The so-called jobs bill would follow the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to spur employment amidst stubborn jobless numbers.
Senate Environment and Public Works chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and ranking Republican James Inhofe, R-Okla., yesterday introduced a bill reauthorizing the Economic Development Administration at $500 million per year through 2013, to fund development grants in economically distressed communities.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., “will be working with his
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said yesterday during a briefing with reporters that he intends to bring such a bill to the floor of the House by Dec. 18.
The White House has announced plans for a job-creation and economic growth forum on Dec. 3, which will include financial experts and members of the business community. White House officials have not said whether the transportation sector will be involved. However, President Obama said the administration will consider “all good ideas to encourage and accelerate job creation in this country.”
The six-year reauthorization package proposed by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., has been pitched as a job-creation or stimulus measure by many transportation advocates.
Oberstar “doesn’t want any talk of the [second stimulus bill] to obstruct any progress on a six-year bill” to reauthorize transportation spending and revamp various federal transportation programs, said committee spokesman Jim Berard. But, he added, “if we could get the six-year bill and a stimulus, it would be like Christmas.”
The nearly $800 billion ARRA enacted in February originally started as a bill with about 50% of economic recovery funds directed toward highway, bridge, and other infrastructure projects that are under the jurisdiction of Oberstar’s committee. But those funds were whittled down to a small percentage in the final bill, Berard noted yesterday.
One congressional leader, Rep. John B. Larson, D-Conn., who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, said earlier this month that infrastructure jobs would be vital to economic recovery.
“We desperately need a transportation plan that provides a vision for the future of American infrastructure and puts the American people back to work realizing that vision,” he said. He suggested that such investments should be paid for with a “small transaction tax” on stocks and derivatives and Troubled Asset Relief Program funds that are returned by banks.
A short-term extension of federal funding — including for transportation — expires in mid-December and must be renewed or replaced. The adjournment dates for Congress have been pushed back gradually as health care legislation drags on. Hoyer said last week that the House would be in session through mid-December and potentially through Dec. 22.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
By Audrey Dutton
US Industry Groups Urge Multi-Year Highway-Spending Bill (NASDAQ.com)
US Industry Groups Urge Multi-Year Highway-Spending Bill (NASDAQ.com)
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- A consortium of asphalt and concrete industry groups are urging Congress to pass a new transportation bill soon because states won’t commit to highway construction without a long-term federal spending plan.
In a letter sent to federal lawmakers Wednesday, the consortium asked Congress to enact a new, six-year highway-spending bill instead of extending for a second time the previous one that initially expired at the end of September. Congress extended the previous bill to the end of the year.
“The current lack of funding certainty in the federal highway market is having a devastating effect on the transportation construction industry,” wrote the consortium, which include the National Asphalt Pavement Association, or NAPA, the American Concrete Pavement Association, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association and the Portland Cement Association.
The vast majority of U.S. roads are made out of asphalt, and production of the road material is expected to be down 15% this year. Producing liquid asphalt is a small business for even the small independent refiners, but it has been a profitable niche at a time when most refiners are posting quarterly earnings losses.
NuStar Energy (NS) Chief Executive Curt Anastasio said he is “more bullish on demand going into 2010” for the company’s two East Coast asphalt refineries based on the stimulus money and tighter supply of asphalt. But Anastasio and other asphalt producers say a sustained recovery will depend on a multi-year highway bill.
Congress has no solid transportation plan to replace the previous bill; both houses of Congress only have proposals to extend the old one.
The House of Representatives has proposed a three-month extension while a bipartisan group of seven senators on the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee sent a letter Tuesday to the committee’s leadership to extend it by six months.
The Senate committee held a briefing on Wednesday with Department of Transportation officials that revealed states are receiving 30% less highway funding than last year, said Jay Hansen, vice president of NAPA’s government affairs.
Senator Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), who supports the six-month extension, also called on the Obama Administration to submit a highway plan with a way to pay for it.
Hansen said NAPA would support a six-month plan if the time is used to write and pass a comprehensive bill: “States are paralyzed;
The floodgates for federal stimulus spending on highway projects are expected to open in 2010, but that represents just a fraction of the billions more states need for new roads and repairs, Hansen said.
Out of the $787 billion stimulus package Congress passed early this year, $ 27.5 billion was earmarked for highway and bridge construction. Roughly 10%-15% of that money will be awarded by the end of 2009.
The stimulus program “is fairly short lived, it’s a finite amount of money,” said Neal Hickerson, spokesman for Holly Corp. (HOC), which earns about a fifth of its revenue from liquid asphalt. In recent weeks, construction firms Vulcan Materials Inc. (VMC) and Granite Construction Inc. (GV), among others, were pessimistic about their near-term prospects during their earnings conference calls.
Road construction accounts for 85% of the asphalt demand in the U.S., with the rest coming from roofing. Almost two-thirds of the funding is driven by federal, state and local governments, with the rest coming from the private sector.
In the long run, there is a great deal of pent-up demand for building roads, but the near-term emphasis is going to be on performing maintenance rather than big projects because of budget constraints, said William L. Thorpe, senior vice president of Alon USA Energy Inc.’s (ALJ) asphalt division.
For instance, California, which has been struggling with budget shortfalls, estimated that more than a third of its roads are in poor condition and need $6 billion for repairs, Thorpe said. California was allocated less than half that amount under the stimulus package. Thorpe doesn’t expect trends to improve until late next year.
-By Naureen S. Malik, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-4210; naureen.malik@ dowjones.com
By Naureen S. Malik, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Sens. Boxer, Inhofe make push for short-term transportation bill extension (The Hill)
Sens. Boxer, Inhofe make push for short-term transportation bill extension (The Hill)
Two senators at odds on climate legislation are joining forces to push for a short-term extension of the highway bill.
“One of the best ways to spur job creation and economic recovery is through infrastructure investment,” Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, respectively, wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky.
“That is why a longer-term extension of the surface transportation program is so important to maintaining our nation’s vital bridges, roads, public transportation and other related infrastructure, restoring our economy and creating good jobs for American workers.”
Five senators joined Inhofe and Boxer in signing the letter: Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).
For Boxer and Inhofe, the transportation bill offers an opportunity to come together after recent tension over climate legislation. Inhofe led a boycott of the committee markup of the bill sponsored by Boxer and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) that would cut carbon emissions by 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
Republicans said they wanted a fuller analysis of the bill’s potential costs from the Environmental Protection Agency. Democrats said GOP members just wanted to stall the bill.
Congress has been unable to agree on how to extend the existing highway bill. The House has pushed for a new $500 billion, six-year transportation bill, a big increase over the current authorization.
Boxer, Inhofe and others in the Senate have pushed instead for an 18-month extension of the current transportation legislation. At an impasse, Congress has maintained transportation programs through short-term extensions in continuing resolutions.
“Short-term extensions mean less money is available for states, and do not provide states the certainty they need to keep crucial transportation projects moving forward,” the letter states.
The senators are now pushing for a six-month extension of the current highway bill.
The cooperation between Boxer and Inhofe went beyond roads and bridges. The two were among a bipartisan group of senators that released the Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2009 on Tuesday. The act would reauthorize the Economic Development Administration, which provides development grants to communities with high levels of economic distress, at $500 million per year until 2013.
By Jim Snyder – 11/17/09 05:33 PM ET
Source:
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/68195-boxer-inhofe-make-push-for-transportation-
Mayor Joines and Mayor Elect Foxx Appointed to Gov.’s New Innovation Council
Spontaneity of innovation, meet govt (News and Observer)
The creative and instinctive nature of innovation will now be channeled through, yes, a government agency.
Gov. Bev Perdue, by executive order, established the state’s first Innovation Council on Monday. The group’s mission is to: coordinate public and private investment to promote innovation, help move ideas faster from the lab to the marketplace and improve the collaboration between business, academia and government.
Perdue announced the creation of the council during a visit to the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem.
The council will be chaired by Al Delia, senior adviser to Perdue, and Steve Nelson, managing partner of the Wakefield Group.
(Dome wanted to provide a link to the Wakefield Group’s Web site but found the site was down and has been for months. Nelson said the firm was receiving too many unsolicited business offers over the Internet and doesn’t need to market itself on the web.)
Submitted by markjohnson on November 16, 2009 – 5:01pm.
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NCDOT Sec. Conti Writes about the Charlotte Loop Impact on the Triangle Expressway
NCDOT Sec. Conti Writes about the Charlotte Loop Impact on the Triangle Expressway
Dear Mayor Weatherly:
Your questions to Ed Johnson of CAMPO about the I-485 project in Charlotte came to my attention. I would like to offer some perspective on your comparison to the Triangle Expressway.
The two projects are similar in that they both reflect the challenges of trying to fund our major infrastructure needs, particularly urban loops, with limited resources now even more drastically constrained by the economic decline. Those conditions have forced us to come up with innovative approaches tailored to each of the two projects.
In the case of the Triangle Expressway, the solution arrived at – in collaboration with CAMPO – was to use tolling, a first in the state’s modern history. That approach enables the project to be moved up by as much as a decade. In the Charlotte situation, we are able to use the design/build/finance tool – also a first in the state – to accelerate the project by five years.
Let me make some other observations that frame the comparison differently:
1. The Triangle Expressway is a $1 billion project covering 18.8 miles, while completion of I-485 is a $340 million project covering five miles. TriEx required a much larger source of revenue, in this case tolling.
2. In addition to the toll funding, Triangle Expressway also benefits from a new infusion of state dollars: $25 million a year in gap funding, over 30 years.
3. The Charlotte area also is entering into the tolling arena to finance two other major projects, the $777 million Monroe Parkway southeast of Charlotte, and the $911 million Garden Parkway from Charlotte to Gastonia. Both are, like the Triangle Expressway, projects of the NC Turnpike Authority.
We think the Triangle community and CAMPO made a wise decision to choose the tolling mechanism to finance part of its loop, and we look forward to working with you and the other communities in Wake County to serve the area’s transportation needs.
Sincerely,
Gene Conti
Secretary of Transportation
Western North Carolina train plans take back seat (Asheville Citizen Times)
Western North Carolina train plans take back seat (Asheville Citizen Times)
A long-stalled plan to bring passenger trains to Asheville could inch forward in the next few months, but it lags other rail projects as a top state priority.
Faster train rides through major population centers will stay at the top of state officials’ wish list.
North Carolina has applied for more than $5 billion in stimulus funding for rail, ambitious considering the federal government is allocating just $8 billion nationwide. But a fraction would go to bringing service to the mountains.
The project isn’t on a high-speed corridor and isn’t yet shovel-ready, said Shirley Williams, environmental and planning director for the state Rail Division.
So the only stimulus money it qualifies to receive is $3 million for engineering and environmental study that it would have to split with a planned Raleigh-to-Wilmington expansion.
Supporters of westward expansion remain optimistic.
“I think it’s going to get done,” said Judy Ray, longtime chairwoman of the Western North Carolina Rail Corridor Committee. “We appear to be closer to getting the engineering study done and some of that behind us, and then we can get on with working on the service.”
Big price tag
The plan is for a 79 mph Amtrak route from Asheville to Salisbury, with fare-paying travelers and state taxpayers picking up the tab for running the trains.
Long before the first train leaves the station, though, it will be a costly project.
Rail must be straightened, elevated, rerouted to avoid some roads and double-tracked in places to allow passenger trains to pass plodding freight trains. New signals are needed.
The project was once estimated at about $130 million but now would cost closer to $200 million, Williams said.
That doesn’t include a projected $30 million to build and expand train stations along the route.
Old Fort, Marion and Morganton renovated their historic stations in 2004 and 2005, joining Statesville, but stations have yet to be built at stops like Valdese, Black Mountain and Asheville. And all the stations need new platforms.
Officials have picked out the site for an end-of-the-line station in Biltmore Village.
Williams hopes the federal government, which is now weighing how to distribute an unprecedented amount of rail funding from the stimulus, could chip in for WNC as well. There’s talk in Congress of more rail funding in future years, she said.
“I guess I’m hopeful that with the interest in having an alternative transportation system, that rail is going to get more funding,” she said.
For now, though, just $2 million in state and federal funds would be spent on the Asheville line, if the Obama administration chips in its share.
Main routes take priority
Passenger rail to Asheville began in 1880 and eventually linked the area with cities like New Orleans, Chicago and New York, according to a Department of Transportation study. The routes were popular with wealthy families who headed to the mountains for summer vacations.
Norfolk Southern Corp. ended regular service to Asheville in 1975. The company has said the trains had too few riders outside of peak tourist season.
Today, Asheville is the most-requested destination that Amtrak doesn’t serve, Williams said.
First up on the state’s priority list, though, is fast-tracking existing rail service. Most of the $5 billion requested would upgrade track from Charlotte to Greensboro to Raleigh and points north.
The goal is for trains to zoom along at top speeds of 90-110 mph between Charlotte and Washington.
Rep. Ray Rapp, a leading advocate in the General Assembly for expanding rail to the mountains, said the state needs to improve its main “arteries” before tapping new “veins” like the one to Asheville.
“I think it will eventually happen, but what we’ve got to do is put this system together piece by piece,” said Rapp, a Mars Hill Democrat.
Ray said a growing North Carolina requires more rail.
“We can’t keep laying concrete roads,” she said. “We can’t keep putting more and more cars and trucks on the road, so what better way to go than on the train?”
November 13, 2009
By Jordan Schrader
