Life as Edward Jensen

On her self-titled show, Rachel Maddow talks about why investment in US infrastructure is so critical now. But apparently it’s become rather political and Paul Krugman explains:

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

Extra video from Media Day, 26 December 2008:

if you cannot see the video, then stop by my blog to see it!

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

To great fanfare, Valley METRO Light Rail opened today after a decade in the making. Here are some highlights from the day’s events from the Encanto/Central Ave station:

if you cannot see the slideshow, stop by my blog to see it!

if you cannot see the video, stop by my blog to see it!

With METRO Light Rail now opened, getting between the Downtown Phoenix and Tempe campuses of ASU changes. This blog has reported the changes to ASU intercampus commuting so check that out.

With METRO now open, some of the fixed-bus service in Phoenix will change on Monday December 29. The major change is that bus trips that begin within the city of Phoenix before 5am and after 10pm on weekdays will be eliminated. Saturday service will mirror Sunday service.

Since free rides on METRO continue through 2am January 1 2009, I’ll see you on the trains!

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

Back in May 2008, this blog covered the bus changes in city of Phoenix after METRO opens its doors. Seeing how that magical day wherein METRO opens is tomorrow (more later), the bus changes happen on Monday.

The information from that blog entry is still accurate within the city of Phoenix but it didn’t cover the rest of the metropolitan area. Some highlights with updated information:

I. RED LINE So METRO Light Rail mainly travels along the route of the Red Line. The Red Line will end but bus service will still operate along where the Red Line once operated. Valley Metro has an excellent map of Red Line Replacement Routes (PDF form).

II. BLUE LINE The Blue Line will be renamed Route 39 (40th Street) and travel along the former Blue Line’s route from Central Ave/Camelback Rd up through Paradise Valley Mall and to the Mayo Hospital.

III. BUS SERVICE HOURS AND MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS All weekday bus trips that start within the city of Phoenix before 5am and those starting after 10pm will be eliminated due to budget reductions. Saturday service will be reduced to Sunday levels. Also, the final colored line, the Green Line, will be renamed Route 29 (Thomas Road).

IV. TEMPE TRANSPORTATION CENTER Also opening tomorrow is the new Tempe Transportation Center. Bus routes that serviced College Avenue will be routed instead to the Tempe Transportation Center, at Veterans Way and College Avenue.

For more information, check out the Valley Metro Rider Alerts page on December 29 service changes. Be sure to pick up the new Transit Book (the former Bus Book) that takes effect 29 December 2008.

If you are going to get in on Phoenix’s biggest party tomorrow, our good friend Nick Bastian of RailLife.com (your life is on the line!) has some notes of what to expect. Go check out his excellent article here.

All that’s left for me to say is: Happy METRO Light Rail Day! I’ll be at the Heard Museum tomorrow helping out with the Midtown Museum District Neighborhood Association, but I’ll get in the madness and see what’s going on. Stop by and say hello! (I’m the tall one with the hat.)

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

Merry Christmas to all!

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called: ‘Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’” (Isaiah 9:6-7 RSV)

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men which whom he is pleased!” (St. Luke 2:14)

Today Christ is born: Alleluia.
Today the Savior comes: Alleluia.
Today the angels sing on earth: Alleluia. Glory to God in the highest.

Merry Christmas!
Edward Jensen

Our good friend and supporter Nick Bastian of RailLife.com has been following METRO’s progress and is excited to see it open up in a week. He wrote an excellent post summarizing highlights of the Grand Opening and just today, he wrote another excellent post talking about hours of operation in METRO’s first week.

Some highlights:

• SATURDAY DECEMBER 27: Grand opening! METRO’s hours of operation will be 10a-8p with station celebrations happening from 10a-5p.
• SUNDAY DECEMBER 28: 10a-6p.
• MONDAY DECEMBER 29: Normal hours of operation, with the first train starting from either end at 4.40am and the last train leaving from either end at 11.00pm
• TUESDAY DECEMBER 30: Normal hours of operation (see above)
• WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 31: Normal hours of operation, but the last train will leave from either end at 2am January 1 to accommodate New Year’s revelers.

The best part: ride METRO for free in 2008! Fare service begins at 4.40am January 1.

Thanks again to Nick Bastian for compiling all this for us! We can’t wait for METRO to open up!

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

If you’ve been remotely listening to news lately, you probably have heard that there is a bit of controversy over President-elect Obama’s selection to have Rick Warren deliver the invocation at the inauguration.

While most of the debate and discourse has centered around Mr. Warren’s viewpoints of same-sex marriage and how some of Obama’s supporters see this as a ’slap in the face’, I found an interesting letter from The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. While he brings up the same-sex marriage issue, he also talks about the worldview of Mr. Warren and how that is incompatible with basic tenets of Christianity.

The letter is online at the Diocese of Washington’s website. But I thought I’d post it for you all to read:

I am profoundly disappointed by President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to invite Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church to offer the invocation at his inauguration. The president-elect has bestowed a great honor on a man whose recent comments suggest he is both homophobic, xenophobic, and willing to use the machinery of the state to enforce his prejudices—even going so far as to support the assassination of foreign leaders.

In his home state of California, Mr. Warren’s campaigned aggressively to deny gay and lesbian couples equal rights under the law, relying on arguments that are both morally offensive and theologically crude. Christian leaders differ passionately with one another over the morality of same-sex relationships, but only the most extreme liken the loving, lifelong partnerships of their fellow citizens to incest and pedophilia, as Mr. Warren has done. The president-elect’s willingness to associate himself with a man who espouses these views as a means of reaching out to religious conservatives suggests a willingness to use the aspirations of gay and lesbian Americans as bargaining chips, and I find this deeply troubling.

Mr. Warren has been rightly praised for his efforts to deepen the engagement of evangelical Christians with impoverished Africans. He has been justifiably lauded for putting the AIDS epidemic and global warming on the political agenda of the Christian right. Yet extravagant compassion toward some of God’s people does not justify the repression of others. Jesus came to save all of humankind, and as Archbishop Desmond Tutu has pointed out, “All means all.” But rather than embrace the wisdom of Archbishop Tutu, Mr. Warren has allied himself with men such as Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda who seek to “purify” the Anglican Communion, of which my Church is a member, by driving out gay and lesbian Christians and their supporters.

In choosing Mr. Warren, the president-elect has sent a distressing message internationally as well. In a recent television interview, Mr. Warren voiced his support for the assassination of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. These bizarre and regrettable remarks come at a time when much of the Muslim world already fears a Christian crusade against Islamic countries. Imagine our justifiable outrage if an Iranian cleric who advocated the assassination of President Bush had been selected to offer prayers when Ahmadinejad was sworn in.

I have worked with former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to improve the relationship between our two countries as hawkish members of the Bush administration pushed for another war. He has spoken at the National Cathedral, which will host the president-elect’s inaugural prayer service, and I have visited with him several times in Iran and elsewhere. Iranian clerics are intensely interested in the religious attitudes of America’s leaders. In choosing Mr. Warren to offer the invocation at his inauguration, the president-elect has sent the chilling, and, I feel certain, unintended message that he is comfortable with Christians who can justify lethal violence against Muslims.

I understand that in selecting Mr. Warren, Mr. Obama is signaling a willingness to work with both sides in our country’s culture wars. I appreciate that there is political advantage in elevating the relatively moderate Mr. Warren above some of his brethren on the Religious Right. But in honoring Mr. Warren, the president-elect confers legitimacy on attitudes that are deeply contrary to the all-inclusive love of God. He is courting the powerful at the expense of the marginalized, and in doing so, he stands the Gospel on its head.

The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, D.D.
Bishop of Washington

Food for thought.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

I know you’re all sad that this is the last weekend in Phoenix without METRO Light Rail. I am, too. [end sarcasm]

The thing that is extremely hard to believe is that it seems like yesterday when Central Avenue was still 3 lanes with the fancy bricks running down the center. Or when construction started in front of my house. Or even when we hit the 100-days-to-go plateau. But it’s here, and the grand opening celebrations are in ONE WEEK!

I’m probably going to be helping out that day at the Heard Museum (Encanto/Central Ave station) promoting the Midtown Museum District Neighborhood Association. I work with them as a community engagement partner for businesses, residents, and METRO Light Rail. So, if you’re going to be riding the rails that day (so to speak), stop by and say hello. (I’m the tall one.)

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

Every time I read an article on METRO Light Rail, I am shocked at all the negative (and naive) comments that readers post. I offer this open letter to everyone who is still vehemently opposed to METRO.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but METRO Light Rail is here and it’s slated to open up in 13 days. I know that many of you are opposed to METRO and think that through your persistent complaints on it that it’s going to go away and the investment will suddenly make Arizona’s budget crisis disappear. I know that $1.6billion is a lot of money, but it was spent when the economy was in fine shape.

First, some history. METRO was originally going to be a project just within the City of Phoenix. When the Transit 2000 bond in Phoenix passed on 14 March 2000, the original route was just over 13 miles long would have been METRO’s alignment from Christown (19th Ave/Montebello) to the Airport (44th St/Washington). Through many iterations, the process became a regional effort and METRO Light Rail (as we know it today) was born. The Transit 2000 bond called for a 20-year, 0.4% sales tax (or $0.04 in tax on a $10 purchase) with a federal match of $600million to METRO and $200million to the bus system. That bond passed and we are here today. In 2004, Maricopa County voters approved Proposition 400, allowing for a regional sales tax of 0.5% ($0.05 in tax on a $10 purchase).

Second, the art. Phoenix city ordinance requires that 1% of the capital construction costs of all publicly-financed buildings/projects go to art. For METRO, the artwork goes to the stations. In addition to the architecture of the station, each station has its own identity that individual artists have put into that station. The Heard Museum (Central/Encanto) station, for instance, has artwork inspired by the cultures represented inside the Heard Museum. The Downtown Phoenix/City Hall (1st Ave/Jefferson southbound) has a mosaic of Arizona’s own Sandra Day O’Connor because it is near the seat of Phoenix government. You say that the artwork will be defaced. There have been reputable studies by many institutions that artwork at a public gathering point decreases crime because it increases microregional (the area nearby) pride.

Third, the future. I know that the economy isn’t all that great now, but nobody projected this back in 2000 when METRO started. For every $1 put into capital improvements like light rail, the return is $3-$4. As a result of METRO, investment in the 20-mile corridor has been significant. When the economy rebounds soon, you watch what will happen along the route. When the price of gasoline goes back to record levels, won’t you want to be where you can live, shop, work, and play along the line? Or now: is sitting in traffic congestion to commute from the far exurbs of Phoenix to downtown Phoenix fun? I look at traffic congestion maps of the Valley during rush hours and I see more red than yellow or green. If your commute is 60-90 minutes each day one way, that’s 2-3 hours per day stuck in traffic doing nothing and breathing toxic fumes. If you lived and worked along the METRO line, that is an extra 2-3 hours per day with the people you love.

A quick note on crime: you say that light rail and public transportation will bring crime into your neighborhoods. Evaluate that statement. If I was a criminal, I probably wouldn’t take public transportation as my getaway vehicle! First, they’re not all that fast; second, you would be in close quarters with other people watching what you’re doing. This argument makes little sense.

I leave you with this: You say that public transportation is subsidized by taxpayer dollars. This is true; no system is completely self-sufficient. But aren’t your roads also subsidized by taxpayer dollars? What return do we get from those? Aren’t your schools subsidized by taxpayer dollars? What financial return do we get from those? What about your police and fire departments? Do we get a financial return from those?

I probably cannot speak for you, but I can speak for myself and all of my fellow residents who choose to live the urban lifestyle: we cannot wait for METRO to open up in 13 days.

METRO is reality and it is coming on 27 December 2008.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen

A couple of days ago, Gov. Mike Huckabee was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. They had a conversation on the same-sex marriage debate that is worth 7 minutes of your time. Both sides do make some great points, but with how Mr. Stewart frames his argument, it seems like marriage is something that should be enjoyed by all and not controlled by one religion or one sect:

if you cannot see the video, stop by my blog to see it!

Cheers-
Edward Jensen