Complete Streets passes the Michigan House! (posted quickly for the 20-somethings who use the Series of Tubes!)

I was going to wait until tonight to post this, but then the office interns told me they read Mitten State. So, because 20-somethings who are savvy about the series of tubes http://bit.ly/a5ninQ expect their news instantaneously, here it is: (as an aside, the interns were discussing String Theory today. WTF? Shouldn't interns be discussing beer and sports?)

This afternoon, the Michigan House of Representative passed Complete Streets legislation: http://bit.ly/9NXWkI It requires road agencies to consider and plan for non-motorized transportation when building or reconstructing new roads. This is a big step toward creating the type of bike- and pedestrian friendly infrastructure that is such an integral part of thriving downtowns across the nation. And a step away from building roads that are impenetrable fortresses for people trying to get across city streets.

Kudos to the House of Reps. I will try and add the "yes" and "no" vote tally soon so you can see who the heroes and villians are.
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It's official: Asian Carp have breached the last lock

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Asian Carp: Welcome to the neighborhood: I know better than to ask you not to **ck things up. At the risk of sounding biased against certain species (is it because they look different from me?) I wish you would have stayed in a neighborhood that's "more appropriate" for your type. I'm not very happy about your appearance here. Nor am I happy with the folks who could have tried harder to keep you out, including President Obama.

Sincerely, Hugh

Where the !@#%! is Stevens Point, WI and how did we lose a water tasting contest to them?

It should have been some consolation that this year’s winner of the “Best of the Best” water tasting competition comes from our Great Lakes neighbor, Wisconsin: http://bit.ly/by9TA1  But then I learned that the winner, the city of Stevens Point, actually draws its water from the Mississippi River watershed and not from the Great Lakes basin.

Seriously? A bunch of Brett Farve worshipping cheeseheads are celebrating while Great Lakes water gets shut out again? (“We put up a banner on Highway 51, by the fire station…” said the town’s 32-year old mayor. How quaint. Hey, Stevens Point: Detroit elected a 30-something mayor too. You wanna know how that turned out?)

Stevens Point brags that its water is used to brew Point Beer (creative name) referred to by locals as Blue Bullets. Big freakin’ deal. We have (or used to have) Stroh’s beer, referred to by locals as “Stroh’s Beer”. And we have breweries in Bellaire, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Webberville and on and on. 

This should be a call to arms for Michiganders, whose lone entry in the water tasting contest, the city of Allegan, was dissed by some backwater town that draws its water from the aquifers of the Muddy Missippi River (pictured).  What’s worse, not one of  Michigan’s candidates for governor seem to have the guts to address this issue head-on, as we have seen nary a word about this on Twitter or Facebook. Even the right wing attack dogs have yet to blame the water tasting loss on Gov. Granholm, the mainstream media and climate scientists.

Allegan wasn’t the only town to get dissed. Stevens Point beat out New York City’s water from the Catskill Mountains, and water from Silverdale, Washington which uses water from an underground well so pure it pumps it directly to homes without treating it. Now that’s cool. But I’m still pissed.

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