Monday, July 27, 2009

Support the Say NO to Drug Ads Act!

Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, has introduced a bill called the Say No to Drug Ads Act. It would amend the federal tax code to prevent pharmaceutical companies from deducting the cost of direct-to-consumer drug advertisements as a business expense.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

TransMilenio in Miami!!! We can do it if Bogota can!

Miami and the tri-county south Florida area need a real public transportation system that is the priority of the government and the people, not the neglected and not well thought out system we currently have. The government of the world are not really doing enough to combat climate change due to carbon emissions. Even Obama is not as aggresive as he could be. So it is up to us the people to demand to our leaders that they take the requisite measures. One such measure is to prioritize public transportation which can run on bio-diesel or diesel, and to de-prioritize and make a bit more difficult the use of private transportation. We all have to pitch in and deal with the change to our precious habit of transporting ourselves in a personal bubble. We have to step up and embrace this opportunity to keep the earth a livable place for the next few generations.

TransMilenio is the name of the public transportation system in Bogota, Colombia.

It is basically a train system but above ground and with no tracks! It has indoor stations and completely dedicated roadway space guarded by 2 foot high barriers. It is possible to foresee the fleet of diesel vehicles using bio-diesel and not creating any carbon emissions.

Miami has no truly functional public transportation system. Why can't i easily take a bus from South Beach direclty to the airport? There are so many inexplicable routes and so much room for improvement.

We need to prepare ourselves for the radical transportation shift that will be a key to our evolution in care for the earth. We all, myself included, must break free of our addiction to our own cars and put faith in the idea of a solid and working public transportation system in Miami. If these other very chaotic cities can do it successfully so can we for sure! We must!

We cant build a subway anyway so we can save the resources needed to build a rail line and direct them to the design and execution of the bus ways thru the city. The buses get all the priority, they never wait at traffic lights, they only stop at their bus-stops. All payments are done inside the stations to there is no delay in the boarding. The system pays for itself and creates lots of jobs.

Tolls should be enforced for driving your own car. It should be more expensive to drive your car than to take the public transportation. All of these measure also work to increase revenue for the county. This really should be a tri-county network. Every part of the tri-county area should be easily reached through the system of effecient buses.

On certain routes, double-decker london style buses may be possible.

If you would like to be on an organizing campaign with me with regards to this subject, please email me to fredb@miamiyoga.com and we can assemble a team and we can work together to uncover and navigate the way to its realization.

I have a strong feeling that when the time is at hand, it just takes a few dedicated and intelligent people to create that tipping point and turn the tide. Lets try. Even if it takes years, as i would expect it may.