[sustran] PRT Promoters Stuff World Streets Ballot Box/PRT and the Public Process

[eric britton]

This just in from Ken Avidor who has been following the PRT trail for some
years in the public interest. I share this with you all since it shows
something about this embattled community. I particularly like their
plaintive  call: 

 

.         "Please don't forget to cast your vote and ask your friends to
cast one  in support of PRT here. It seems to be a biased discussion here
and  PRT will need your support."

 

And we have indeed noticed and shall be able to deal with that without a
problem. 

 

The rest follows:

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Avidor [mailto:ken.avidor at gmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, 29 April, 2011 20:00
To: editor
Subject: PRT Promoters Stuff the World Streets Ballot Box/PRT and the Public
Process

 

Eric,

 

Thanks for a fair discussion about PRT.

 

PRT promoter Peter Muller posted an email he received from the Director
International Development for Capita Symonds  on a forum for PRT
aficionados: http://bit.ly/jIjg1e 

 

"Please don't forget to cast your vote and ask your friends to cast one  in
support of PRT here. It seems to be a biased discussion here and  PRT will
need your support."

 

Peter Muller is a self-styled "PRT consultant". Muller's Twitter handle is
"PRT Guru": http://twitter.com/#!/PRTGURU/status/63962273324085248 

 

There is also a "PRT Princess": http://twitter.com/#!/PRTprincess 

 

On You Tube, Muller is "Podcar Guru"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2cu4Jh_rJ8 

 

The shenanigans of the  pod promoters  would all be a very silly joke if it
weren't for their insistence that the public fund their schemes. I have an
editorial published in the Winona Daily News about how the public is nearly
always shut out of the decision-making about PRT: http://bit.ly/d04gat 

 

Ken Avidor: Let the public have a voice in PRT

 

Boston Personal Rapid Transit promoter Lawrence J. Fabian in his Sept.

23 letter chided the citizens of Winona for their lack of enthusiasm

for the PRT plan proposed by the city of Winona.

 

"If Winona wants to think small," scolds Fabian.

 

An interesting criticism when you consider that Winonans never really

had an opportunity to comment or ask questions in a public forum about

the PRT project.

 

According to a Jan. 20 article in the Winona Daily News, a meeting

where the public could have asked questions was for Winona City

Council members only, "While there was little discussion of PRT during

the meeting, the vote came after council members examined the system

during a pre-council informational session that lasted more than one

hour."

 

I recall a similar PRT "informational session" for Minneapolis city

officials only on March 26, 2005. When a proposal for a PRT project

later came up for a vote in committee, the PRT promoters failed to

show up and the matter was tabled. More recently, public officials in

Daventry, England, complained that PRT promoters would not show up at

public forums to answer questions. The Minnesota Department of

Transportation held a "PRT workshop" Aug. 18, which cost $50 to attend

and was not a public meeting. Why are PRT promoters avoiding the

public?

 

When the city of Winona revisits the issue of PRT, as it has recently

indicated it would, I would suggest they hold a free, public forum and

invite critics as well as promoters. I would also suggest inviting

experts in the field; transit engineers, transit advocacy groups and

environmental groups. But most of all, I urge Winona city officials to

invite the public.

 

Grassroots support for any big public project is essential. For it is

the citizens who will end up paying for it- and if built, living with

it.

 

----

 

Thanks again,

 

-Avidor