Infrastructure

CINCINNATI - The Rev. Chris Beard is a theological conservative, make no mistake about it. He believes the Bible is the word of God. He believes the Holy Spirit speaks to him directly. He believes, as an article of faith, that abortion and same-sex marriage are wrong. Still, when a group of religious leaders in Ohio held two days of meetings in Cincinnati recently to talk about economic and racial justice, issues usually associated with the political left, there was Beard, a fourth-generation Pentecostal preacher with a disarming smile, a shaved head and a set of convictions that knock holes in the stereotypes about white evangelical Protestants.

Re "A divisive bridge," Opinion, April 27 Michael Kinsley makes an important contribution to the dialogue about equality versus market "values. " But at the root of this gridlock is a lack of community, as demonstrated by the under-investment in infrastructure in our country. We invest about 2% of our gross domestic product on infrastructure, far less than other western nations. This loss of mobility is especially insidious because our economic and social health depends on an ability to physically move to opportunities in all spheres of life.

The timing could hardly be better for "The Infrastructural City," a new collection of essays on Los Angeles edited by Kazys Varnelis, director of the Network Architecture Lab at Columbia University. A book with a title like that, unless written by Mike Davis or John McPhee, would typically have a tough time steering clear of the remainder bin. But in recent weeks, as the details of the stimulus package were being hammered out in Congress, the same few questions moved near the top of the political agenda not just in Washington but in cities around the country: In 2009, what is infrastructure, exactly?

The  House on Thursday approved a three-month extension of federal highway spending, daring the Senate to act before the government's authority to collect gas taxes lapses Saturday at midnight and disrupts transportation projects. Transportation officials are hopeful the Senate will follow suit rather than risk losing $110 million a day in gas tax revenues, slowing down projects and forcing the furlough of thousands of federal highway and transit workers. The measure, which passed the House 266-158, could come before the Senate later Thursday.

Compared with the epic approach of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, President Obama's economic recovery strategy could be summed up as: Think small -- in a huge way. FDR left a legacy of engineering marvels that still adorn the landscape: the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state, and New York's LaGuardia Airport and Triborough Bridge among them.

Bob Kahl slips in through a side door of the vast, abandoned hangar and looks at what's left of the assembly plant where he worked for nearly 40 years. He remembers the hum of power tools, the biting aroma of cutting oil, swarms of workers plugging away on a labyrinth of yellow scaffolding. All that's left is a few piles of broken concrete and a sea of colorless dust that coats a Palmdale factory floor the size of two football fields. "Welcome to the birthplace of America's space shuttle fleet," said Kahl, 60, smiling.

Re "A divisive bridge," Opinion, April 27 Michael Kinsley makes an important contribution to the dialogue about equality versus market "values. " But at the root of this gridlock is a lack of community, as demonstrated by the under-investment in infrastructure in our country. We invest about 2% of our gross domestic product on infrastructure, far less than other western nations. This loss of mobility is especially insidious because our economic and social health depends on an ability to physically move to opportunities in all spheres of life.

A healthy infrastructure--city streets, interstate highways, bridges, waterworks and sewer systems--is vital to business. But the United States is facing major infrastructure problems in the next decade and beyond that will make "business as usual" increasingly difficult. Many of the problems will be aggravated by demographic trends that also will affect business.

The citizens of California have watched in dismay over the years as their quality of life has dwindled away. Political leaders ignore the major reason: overpopulation. The population spiral has placed a large burden not only on the infrastructure, but also on our overburdened environment. Most politicians continue to promote growth as a panacea. As a solution to growth-related problems they now recommend higher taxes or additional bond issues, forgetting California's steep property and sales taxes.

Approval of a $36.6-million capital improvement budget for the 1994-95 fiscal year will be considered when the City Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The city has tentatively set aside $15 million for water improvements, $10 million for street improvements, $8.5 million for facility improvements, $733,000 for sewer projects, $325,000 for parks, $50,000 for traffic signals and $2 million for miscellaneous items.

The water bill at Maria Arizmendi's home in Bell has gotten so expensive that she's cut back on gardening and started using paper plates. Often, when it's time to shower, she heads over to the home of a friend, who is served by a different utility. Arizmendi, 70, said she pays about $50 a month for water, but her friend pays roughly $20 every two months. "There must be something that's not working right," said Arizmendi, a retired L.A. County employee who lives alone. "It just doesn't make sense what they put in these bills, and when you call, you can't get them to pick up, or you can't get an answer.

When Jeffery H. Moran goes to work each day, he swipes his security badge, passes into an airtight chamber, opens a bombproof door and enters a lab full of deadly toxins. As chief of the counter-terrorism laboratory at the Arkansas Department of Health — one of 62 such federally funded labs in the country — he heads two dozen chemists who are on constant alert for the release of pestilence or poisons in the United States. Armed with $2 million worth of new equipment, Moran concocts gruesome tests to keep his team sharp.

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Austin Beutner took aim at "the barnyard called City Hall" on Thursday in a speech intended to outline his economic vision for the city — and distance himself from the lawmakers now governing it. Beutner, a former investment banker who served as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's "jobs czar" for 15 months, said city leaders, and particularly the City Council, have dragged their feet on key infrastructure projects, including...

Rome dominated the ancient world. Paris starred as the cultural diva of the 1800s. And New York soared as the steel-and-glass incarnation of the American Century. So what metropolis best defines our restless, rickety present age — Shanghai; Mumbai, India; São Paulo, Brazil? In his first book, "Instant City," Steve Inskeep , co-host of NPR's "Morning Edition," constructs a compelling case for bestowing the title on Karachi, Pakistan, a destination that usually rates higher among battle-hardened news correspondents than pleasure-hunting tourists.

John Pérez and I have been talking about the government and politics of California for 13 years. Some aspects of that conversation have changed: In our early conversations, he was the executive director of the United Food and Commercial Workers States' Council; now, he's the Speaker of the Assembly. Our first discussion was over bagels at a Silver Lake coffee shop. Last week, it was in the back room of the Pacific Dining Car, which Pérez says he appreciates for the privacy. A 28-year-old outsider when we met in 1998, he's now in his 40s, and he's at the center of what he once observed from a distance.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that the next provision up for a vote from President Obama's jobs package was urgently needed but gave it long odds for passage in the Senate next week, citing Congress' highly polarized atmosphere. The measure, which would provide money for hiring workers to repair aging bridges and roads, is not likely to get the 60 votes needed to end debate and pass it, Feinstein said during a wide-ranging luncheon appearance at Town Hall Los Angeles.

A blast that killed one firefighter and injured another this week in Westchester was a freak occurrence and indirectly the result of the decaying underground infrastructure, officials said Friday. Firefighter Brent A. Lovrien, 35, was fatally injured Wednesday when a spark ignited combustible smoke behind an electrical panel door that he was trying to open with a circular saw. Smoke had migrated into the electrical room from the underground burning of a conduit 200 feet away.

Gov. Jerry Brown says President Obama should embark on an FDR-type public works program to stimulate the economy. Excellent idea. And Brown should follow his own advice in Sacramento. The Brown administration is sitting on $9.1 billion in infrastructure bonds that have been sold and are costing the state a ton in debt payments. A rough estimate is $630 million a year. But the borrowed money is stashed in various drawers throughout the bureaucracy instead of circulating around California creating jobs.

China's flashy new airports, rail lines and highways are often cited as symbols of the country's inexorable rise. But a pair of violent rail incidents are changing that narrative as more Chinese question the value of economic development that some say is coming at the expense of safety. About 270 people were injured Tuesday when two subway trains collided in Shanghai, paralyzing parts of the country's financial capital. The accident came just two months after 40 people were killed when two high-speed trains collided on a viaduct in a rural section of the southeastern city of Wenzhou.