COPs are Certificates Of Participation. Municipalities and other government entities use them as bridge loans to spend money when they know revenue is imminent. The San Fransisco based dBusinessNews has an interesting
article on the subject. Recommended reading offering rare insight into the process and way these COPs are evaluated. They do offer a note of caution:
Fitch balances these positive financial results with concern regarding the economic effects of the severe downturn in the residential housing market, which includes high rates of foreclosures, increased voluntary assessed value reductions by the assessor. The probable ancillary effects on the regional economy include reduced construction and real estate employment and declining permit fees and sales and property transfer tax revenues.
Other than that the article is generally upbeat. We'll follw this as it funds in a few weeks. Bets that they end up paying more than projected? Remember, I've talked about COPs before. These are weather birds for the local economic storms on the horizon.
COPs are Certificates Of Participation. Municipalities and other government entities use them as bridge loans to spend money when they know revenue is imminent. The San Fransisco based dBusinessNews has an interesting article on the subject. Recommended reading offering rare insight into the process and way these COPs are evaluated. They do offer a note of caution: 
128 comments:
First and Murst,
poor AHM looks like they are history.
Almost murst...
Almost murst? What your picture up there doesn't that make you definitely murst? ;-)
kind of makes me Moist!
So you're suggesting we can mine algae (caused by the sun) from Riverside pools as well...?
No, Riverside/San Bernadino algae is of far inferior quality compared to say Salt Lake city algae. SLC being closer to God gets better scum in their pools.
Seriously, these COPs are about as safe as you can get. They get paid second behind employee salaries/benefits. The IE is an absolute disaster and no one seems to see it yet. They should be cutting spending to the bone but they see ever increasing RE revenues off to the horizon.
There is an interesting statement.. The top 10 taxpayers represent just 2.2%. I suspect this is count of 10 not 10% (otherwise other math breaks). This is not diverse. What is the total population (including businesses as an entity) of Riverside County? 10 out of over 2 million not including businesses (note that they said taxpayers which includes both individuals and businesses). So 0.0005% of taxpayers contribute 2.2% of tax revenue base.. real good!! Twist numbers hard and you can make anything happen!!
I would like to see the distribution of taxpayers based upon source of income. If it is a person vs. a corporate entity, the source should be listed as the source of the income for their employer!
Overall debt totals about $2,900 per capita.. humm, I wonder how many people have that laying around considering they were using the revolving house ATM (any order of those three words works). BTW, $2,900 multiplied by the population of Riverside county (reverse the per capita) is $5.8Billion.. (divide by a significantly large enough number, you can make anything look small)
This is interesting too
AV increased an average of 15.5% per year, however the estimated gain in fiscal 2008 is 16% compared to 22% the prior year. In addition, permit values declined 26% in 2006 compared to 2005.
You know about the shark-cast, right? Casey is SINGING LIKE A CANARY. It gets stranger and stranger.
A pointer please, can't find it...
Oh, sorry: here.
Make sure you catch the first hour on the download later: it is pure-spun Casey gold.
@LMM
Thanks
Alas,
Some of us don't have earphones, and the twins go to bed (not far from the computer) shortly after the sharkcast started. So I must wait and read the comments or listen to it tomorrow.
I almost stayed late at work to listen to it on the computers there. But I don't think my wife would have appreciated it. You know, maybe she's holding me back from my dream of living in a van down by the river.
NR
Annies on!
::swoon::
Annie is a pontificating windbag. Jeez, STFU already!
Casey says he thinks Nigel is behind RCS. Throw everybody under the bus.
36 seconds of LossMit, that's all I could take. Another officious, nosey, control freak. That guy has issues.
Origin of "Props"
Yesterday a cute young lady answered my etymological question with...
"Proper Regards"
Good one, Skippy!
Has Pink Lips called in? I want to hear him say "Galinka" one more time.
OMFG. He still cannot let RE go. Asked if he was looking for a tech job or RE job the best he could manage was "both." The psych journals have an new addiction to document.
Seattle is in Canada?
Seattle is in Canada?
That issue still isn't clear with me. Did he say the original moneybags who paid for the trip to Australia was the same guy who paid for his trip back? Perhaps Casey misunderstood the question. Perhaps I misunderstood. The sound quality is horrible.
The person who paid for kc to go to Oz was specifically Canadian ($CA 1000 = $US 850.
Now that person is in Seattle?
I still can't figure out how it took Casey hours each day to maintain his blog. It takes hours to write a post? Most bloggers work full time jobs and many of them post more unique content than Casey ever did. What's difficult about blogging?
The Talkshoe service is really bad tonight. I hope the podcast quality is a lot better so I can actually hear it tomorrow.
M. SINGH, thanks for calling in. I gather you are a fellow debunker, but fervent believers in pseudo-science cannot be reasoned with. They believe it, that settles it.
And that's it.
No, Canada guy and Seattle guy are two different people.
The TalkShoe streaming died; it's still live for those called in by phone, apparently.
How about some highlights for people who do not have talkshoe user IDs?
I hope the download didn't also get fuxxored.
And so endeth (for now) the very first Internet soap opera. Waiting for the fat lady to sing!
Akubi (bless her heart) is just waiting for her pizza order (Super Jumbo with ham, pineapple & anchovies). Given that she brags that she's "a 300 pound..." we are all waiting..., although we have photographic evidence to the contrary.
FMW self-admits to tall & slender. (Mini-Skirt! Yea!).
Annie - we don't know about.
Stephanie J. Although she is generous to ducks with her attributes, doesn't admit to being a songstress. Nor fat.
Casey is neither fat nor a lady - but he sang!. (Proper casing, a sign of earned respect - at last).
Gotta be Pink Lips!
The End.
How about those Certificates of Participation?
@ wagga
Annie - we don't know about.
What did you want to know?
The download is up at Talkshoe. The first hour is pure jaw-dropping he-said-WHAT? gold.
Rob Dawg - SRS (ETF 2X inverse Dow Jones RE Index). Good idea?
Also - sorry to ask - but is there some kind of summary about how the whole Casey thing ended up? Is he turning himself in tomorrow?
Thanks all
Well, time to sit back and listen to the final scamcast as I peruse my email for golden nuggets and juicy deals!
Oh borther..what's next..THE MARRIAGE CODE? How to avoid a bad mnarriage, what not to do. Pure spuin bullshit..you know he is hoping Galina listens in on him and forgives him. Galina isn't talking to him, so this is his only way to reach her.
Oh man..what's next, THE DECENT HUMAN BEING CODE? Rot in hell Casey.
Listening to the final sharkcast. What's the word....attention whore.
Galina you deserve a REAL man and a REAL Husband.
lol he can't remember if it was a dinner date or lunch date but he still has the female's number? What a bunch of bullshit.
I btecha he know's the woman's credit score too..it was probably too low to make it worth pursuing...
Gold stocks. "Who knows if this thing will recover..."
We know, Casey.
Corporate Brokers. "The whole thing didn't work out."
What a surprise.
Just get the "SUCKER" tatooed on your forehead, and get it over with it.
OK, so normal rules, morals and ethics don't apply to this walking, talking shell corporation.
My Mommy has the gold coins.
This guy has got to be the BIGGEST moron on the face of the planet. He has learned nothing..he will always chase the shiny object, and he damn sure won't work. Now he not only screwed his wife...he's working on his idiot mother too..yeah she's an idiot...she's always been entrepreneurial ? Man, doesn't that sound familiar.
Seriously beyond all hope.
he should shove those gold coins and worthless stock up his ass and make a run for mexico.
Well, at least it's a recorded confession.
lol $285 for a corp atty! Casey can afford 3 mins..can you imagine that session?
"amigoingtogotojaildidicommitfraudcanyoumakeitlooklikeipaidmyself....."
Serious credit addict, among other things. No self control. Does he drink or do drugs? Anybody care to hazard a prediction? He already has run out of money for the lawyers. Not even sad, when you hear him. I search for the mute button, and hit close instead.
Attention whore Annie was the highlight of any otherwise disappointing talk-cast when she badgered Casey about his failing marriage. I can see drilling him over his business practices and future work prospects but to go on and on about his wife? Cheap shot and boring.
In fact almost the entire talk case was bullshit. “Who picked you up at the airport? I think you said you were in Canada but then said it was Seattle? Let`s talk about the beef your father has with Duane? What do you do during the day?" Fuck! As pathetic as Casey sounded the host, Annie and some of the callers were worse.
Who needs IAFF, when there is scambusters? Seriously, the guy has never heard of a search engine. He never checks anything. He falls for all of them, without ever checking. Plus everyone on the blog tells him these are scams. And he just does it. A lesson for all of us, somewhere.
@Rob Dawg
OMFG. He still cannot let RE go. Asked if he was looking for a tech job or RE job the best he could manage was "both." The psych journals have an new addiction to document.
I don't think it is RE per se. I think that with the Kiyosaki and other RE Guru "Rah Rah Rah"s, Casey got more emotional validation from RE environment (of the Gurus).
@Lost Cause
Listening to the final sharkcast. What's the word....attention whore.
Bingo. why else would someone not be able to stay away from the scene, even when the price of staying at the scene is the airing of your personal dirty laundry.
I decided to listen to the talkcast afterwards.. Posts made it look like Annie was taking the place of Galina when talking to Casey.
Man, the twerp still does not know when to stop trying to spin it.
@lawnmower man
The download is up at Talkshoe. The first hour is pure jaw-dropping he-said-WHAT? gold.
Casey was not completely honest.. it would have been more jaw dropping if he had... still listening..
@Annie
Whether you can sing.
Off-topic (but then, all the Casey stuff was off-topic):
Bear Hedge Funds File for Bankruptcy
"Two Bear Stearns Cos. hedge funds heavily exposed to the flagging mortgage industry filed for bankruptcy protection late Tuesday, two weeks after the company told investors one was essentially worthless and the other had lost more than 90 percent of its value."
Uh oh!
"The news comes amid media reports that Bear Stearns froze the assets in a third fund with exposure to the credit markets. A Bear spokesman was not immediately available to comment."
Uh oh!
Paulson sees subprime woes contained
"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Wednesday the repricing of credit risk was hitting financial markets, but U.S. subprime mortgage fallout remained largely contained due to the strongest global economy in decades."
*Whew*! Well, thank goodness the fallout is contained--I mean, if it wasn't, we might actually see real losses even in prime lending, a credit crunch threatening the private equity boom, financial institutions facing serious losses, investors dumping stocks--but not to worry, it's "contained"!
So he really did buy the gold stock (April Fool indeed) and seems to have 3 gold coins to show for many tens of thousands of dollars that he and his mother are obliged to pay back.
A major shady deal -- to overpay for a shell corporation whose only purpose is to borrow and waste money. And he almost wired it to another scammer. Is fraud too strong a word for this?
I think he is trying to convince himself that he is worthy and honest, with all his rationalizing. He doesn't have anybody else fooled.
You know that the 50k for the domain sale will not last long.
I agree: ADHD. Anyway, I was too disgusted to finish listening to this talkcast. Very sad. Adios.
35K went to Galina's cards which Casey had used to buy seminar crap. The fact that he wants to buy Galina a car now...sure there are no strings attached. Even as he paid of her debt he tried to weasel out and reverse the charges..so he could use the money on the 10% a month scheme and live off that instead of finding a job. The guy is a scumbucket..pure and simple.
The end of the show got kind of boring, except for Annie nailing him to the wall, particularly about the legal fees...she was correct in saying that he used the 500 dollars donated to replenish his own funds instead of paying it directly to the lawyer which he didn't do.
http://www.whofailedtoday.com/newbbs/viewtopic.php?pid=943635
the story on the 50K and he's still begging for more $$$$$
I find the GSPG the funniest. Doubly so because I actually own a couple hundred stock in a real PM mining company.
However, unlike casey, I know it's not the path to wealth. I only own so I can tell chicks I'm a part owner of several gold and silver mines.
Anway, he's screwed. He's never going to get in the black from that. He should sell and take the capital loss. LOLLERCIRCLES.
Most amusing Casey statement from the whofailedtoday.com exchange mentioned above:
Mike, your questions are not simple. I don't want to tell you details about the blog sale or the status of litigation because I don't know you from adam and who knows how much of it is going to get leaked.
OK. So many, many, many people live on $50k for a year or more, not to mention the billions in the third world, and Casey has managed to deep six that amount in a few days. Blink.
@LostCause
Don't forget the 4500 he spent on penny stock..he did that in 1 minute. The gold coins, another 3 grand..2 minutes.
I'm really glad that I didn't send the shithead money during the begathon...just think, he was begging for money to pay cashcall while he was spending 7 grand on more get rich quick ideas.
If he had any brains at all, he would have shorted stock in his own lenders.
Talk about lack of self awareness.
It's a shame he's going to go under the radar. I suspect that good money could be made betting against casey. He's like Bizzaro Buffet.
@harold saxon
Actually when he started talking about that gold stock I pulled my money out of the stock market and saved a 20+ net gain (in two weeks)from becoming a negative 10K net loss. When he started talking about alternative energy I should have loaded up on oil dammit.
As for buying that timeshare..jesus christ does this guy have any business sense at all?? What's next..swamp land in Florida? Toxic waste dump sites for development?
oh man Matt Roloff from little people big world got his 2nd DUI last month? These damn reality tv people....guess the stress from making so much money just having your life filmed is too much for them to handle.
IAFF has started slipping on Google. Kinda neat to see how fast google reacts. IAFF is now below www.realtytrac.com when you search for 'foreclosure.' One more movement and IAFF will slip off the front page and then it's buh bye sweet traffic . . .
Mr. Krowne paid for what? And why?
I don't get it.
I don't believe for one second that Casey got 50k for the domain. Aaron Krowne states he bought the blog but not the cost. casey says he got 50k. I can see him embellishing that figure. Is there any other source?
It is so sad that the parents didn't step in and stop this kid as he fell for every scam (there are more out there he miseed) as it it amazing as he is not stupid. But what a mess.
Hey Kidz,
It's time to vote for the 6 Degrees of Casey Serin to The Cat in the Hat Win-Win Winner! Woohoo! Win-win! Vote!
*This is not spam*
$10,000.00 for two hours work negotiating a preforeclosure flip?
Check out my youtube videos
http://youtube.com/profile?user=goodbyeforeclosure
He must have gotten 50K because he HAS paid of Galina's debt. His last post said he had already spent 39K of it, and with the rest he wants to bu Galina a new car with 'no strings attached'. Hey Casey you nitwit, seeing how your mother cosigned for your citibank and Amex loans and you've already spent 25K of that on stupid shit, how about using some of that money to pay off THAT debt instead of a hail mary get Galina back purchase of a new car? Don't forget you are also into cashcall for like 20K plus now too. Criminal defense lawyer..don't bother..just go to jail and do your time...you are screwed three ways from Sunday, and deservedly so. Galina is already out from under you and meeting new potential mates that are in a higher income bracket..last guy she met I believe has his own paper route:-)
Well, I am going to open up a $100,000 credit card account, and then wire all of the money to someone who promises 15% per month.
Seriously, the FBI could wire Casey, and not run out of work busting scams for the next few years.
I guess there is no law against being stupid.
FBI won'r bother small fish and children.
Never will no laws against stupid is correct.
I have to admit his entertainment was just great!
I have watched this all the way I'll miss it!
@Legion: "His last post said he had already spent 39K of it"
I must be missing something--you can't possibly believe him based on his word alone?
@PV
True, he is a lying sack of shit, but his last cast showed that even Duane had confirmed he had paid of some debt..of course he tried to reverse the charges...and that post was to someone who he was trying to beg some money from for his legal costs...I've never sent the turd a dime..even with his begathon..so I really don't care if he's lying or not..it won't sway me either way.
I really like the way that he calls mooching from people "being sponsored". I mean c'mon, begging Marty to sponsor his trip to australia two days prior to leaving, asking people to sponsor his legal costs...asking people to sponsor his cashcall payment..the guy is a homless beggar with a computer..and soon, no internet access.
ghd111 said...
--FBI won'r bother small fish and children.--
Exactly. It`s hard to believe many here actually think he’s going to do jail time. This is the guy the FBI sends away not Casey:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/01/BAG2QRASPQ5.DTL
Heh;
Well...if he's to be believed, I had the little Hobbit pegged all along.
I still think that him and Mom will grab a night flight to Uzbekistan rather than pay the piper, but at this point it seems that the only thing left is the "click-click" of the handcuffs being applied.
(Ask 'em to double-lock the cuffs, Kid, otherwise they'll ratchet down tighter and tighter).
"...the only thing left is the "click-click" of the handcuffs..."
I tellya man, that danged ol FBI..with the badges and the cuffs and the click click click them danged old cuffs get on there with the clickie and the tight an all... danged old cuffs, man.
Wow, just got around to listening to last nights talk cast; I used to think that KC was just an idiot. But now I realize that he was/is a world class IDIOT!
I don't think there is enough stupid in the world to explain him.
At 8:36 AM, Peripheral Visionary said...
*Whew*! Well, thank goodness the fallout is contained--I mean, if it wasn't, we might actually see real losses even in prime lending, a credit crunch threatening the private equity boom, financial institutions facing serious losses, investors dumping stocks--but not to worry, it's "contained"!
I know Rob likes old SF movies, anyone remember the "Heavy Metal" movie. The Scene where the Gov'ment expert is explaining there is no such thing as aliens, just before being vacuumed up by them.
Maybe it's just me, but I've always thought that Paul Kangas on Nightly Business Report appears to eat far too much meat. I imagine he consumes bacon for breakfast, ham sandwich for lunch and jumbo steak for dinner.
Chipotle Mexican Grille is quite active.
@akubi
Lay off Paul Kangas. He is as old as Methuselah. He started off his career as an old man, and then got older. If anything, he is a testament to the value of preservatives.
Lost cause,
Yes, it does seem he’s been around forever and I respect him for that, but I’ve always thought he looks as though he suffers from an unhealthy red meat overload.
BTW Wagga, my semi-vegan diet does not include ham on my pizza. (Ham is good for Dr. Seuss, but not me). Fish is the only meat I eat.
You are really old if you remember Neil Cavuto as the pimply faced Italian kid reporting from the crapp locations for the NBR.
Have a pleasant tomorrow.
@Dawg,
Please translate that Neil Cavuto (as you well know I hate FoxNews) comment for the rest of us...
Regarding:
What your picture up there doesn't that make you definitely murst? ;-)
I'm not that tall and my hair is straight.
Chipotle Mexican Grille is quite active.
Truth. I have never been to my local Chipotle until I heard Casey talk about it. It is good. Except I question how healthy it is. I know it is organic and all, but it's still a 2-pound solid brick of tortilla, rice, beans, meat, salt and fat.
Stilleto cop boots?
anyway, back when the Earth was young Paul hosted the nightly business report unsindicated for PBS. Neil was like a summer intern and wore baggy overcoats to trim his figure. He was amazingly ignorant of the subjects he covered. Now at least he talks the talk.
http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/about/history/history/
That's the sanitized version.
Baja Fresh. Ummmm.
@ All,
Today is my late day so I can get you guys caught up on the gossip.
As you all know I raise LLP's for the Oil Business and we have an office in an Orlando High Rise, with a view of course.
I told the Office Administrator to get out of any financial investments related to REIC about two weeks ago, and the day before TSHTF, Monday, she was out.
She and I watched the Home Mortgage melt down here and at HP, in real time on the 27th .
Well, turns out they hold/held a lease on two floors in my building, and the Mortgage Brokers were always complaining about how slow things were.
So, at noon on the 27th, said Mortgage Brokers were all told to call all of their customers with "pending and approved loans" and tell them their financing is canceled! Then both entire floors of the building were shut down and every one was sent home and told they were no longer needed.
That is a lot of empty office space, and more fallout, and a LOT of surprised jobless people.
Around 3 or 4 pm that day Home Mortgage filed bankruptcy.
We had our popcorn and a front row seat, and I can not believe these people did not see it coming!
Bloggers knew about this pending drama Friday night and the coming contagion for the last two years.
Love oil!
*************************************
@ Akubi,
re:
Maybe it's just me, but I've always thought that Paul Kangas on Nightly Business Report appears to eat far too much meat. I imagine he consumes bacon for breakfast, ham sandwich for lunch and jumbo steak for dinner.
*******************
Yea, me too. The guy with the swollen face, and puffy eyes, and a round gut. Even John Travolta had that, "I eat steak and a LOT of diary." look there for a while. Just puffy.
You look at them and think wow this guy likes his meat, cheese and milk.
Beer, on the other hand is healthy.
Nothin personal guys, not trollin & just agreeing with Akubi.
Me, I will not eat red meat AT ALL.
And no dairy, rice milk only, no sugar, etc, for 11 years now.
_________________________________
@ Dawg,
Now all of our bridges are death traps because they are old and the infrastructure is crumbling.
Talking Heads are on location from Florida Bridges built in the 50's and inspected every 5 years.
Ghezz.
that bridge in Minny is about 1 mile from where I work.
MN. We don't need terrorists, we can kill ourselves thank you very much.
How about we stop spending so damn much on social services and start repairing some infrastructure?
@ Game Over,
I am really glad you were not on the bridge when it fell at rush hour.
What a terrible and un-necessary event.
This would be the Canary, imo.
ps, I know how you feel with American Home Mortgage imploding in my building.
No one killed, but lots of people hurt.
One Hundred And MURST !
I will freely admit to having no interest in any of the various competitors in the "who can build the biggest burrito" contest. It takes zero culinary ability to pack an oversized tortilla full of beans, rice, shredded meat, and "salsa fresca" (a rather fancy term for a bunch of chopped up onions and tomatoes). The main reason Chipotle & Co. are doing well is because people can walk in and eat a ridiculous amount of food and convince themselves that they aren't overeating because they've only eaten one burrito.
Of course, some spoil-sport nutritional publication will eventually come along and demonstrate that one solitary over-sized burrito really has 12,000 calories and 450% of the RDA of salt and fat, and the jig will be up. And, of course, there will be surprised and hurt looks all around--I mean, who would have guessed that a five-pound burrito isn't good for your health?
Should have used Google--looks like the nutrition spoil-sports have already rained on the "fresh Mex" parade:
Fresh Mex: Not Always Healthy Mex
"First of all, says CSPI, fresh Mex-restaurants offer a lot of things fast food restaurants don't. Fresh veggies, grilled seafood and chicken, salsas, and beans abound. It's certainly possible to get a healthful meal relatively low in saturated fat and high in dietary fiber. But some menu items can easily top 1,000 calories--and just about everything has too much salt. That's more calories than the vast majority of sandwiches or fast-food burgers, according to CSPI."
. . .
"Baja Fresh, a Wendy's-owned chain, has much more than burritos. Its chicken, cheese, or steak Quesadillas average 1,230 calories and have a nearly two days' worth of artery-clogging saturated fat. That's like having three Quarter Pounders with another half-day's sat fat thrown in, according to CSPI. Baja's Nachos are even worse. With a day's worth of calories (2,000) and sodium (2,890) with two days' worth (39 grams) of saturated fat, the average order of nachos (made with steak, chicken, or just cheese) is worse than four Quarter Pounders."
. . .
"'You get a lot of good things at a fresh-Mex joint that you won't find under the golden arches," Jacobson said. 'But it's a shame Chipotle and its ilk can't show more restraint with the fat, salt, and portion sizes--especially since none of these chains posts calorie information on menu boards.'"
Saw an interview with Paul Kangas. The guy still drives around in his rusted out 1978 oldsmobile.
He really walks the walk and saves his money instead of spending it trying to look important.
Old time common sense & values is what I want to listen to. Not some wack job get rich quick preacher like Crammer.
Jim Fix ate well and ran ever day practicing for his marathons. Wrote a book about it. He died.
Uell Gibsons ate only organic food. He is worm food too.
I am willing to bet a couple of those poor souls who lost their lives on the bridge yesterday were on diets or vegans. Ya just never know when the big guy is going to recall your number.
Bottom line: You are going to die sooner or later, so enjoy life. What good is an extra 4 years if you are 89, not getting laid, and stuck alone in a nursing home because all your buddies already are dead? Heck your body parts are too old to transplant.
There you sit thinking:
-I might have
-I could have
-I should have
Life ain't windows. There is no reboot button Bunkie.
Make a note to get out and enjoy this weekend. This train wreck is over folks.
- Move along.
- Enjoy the moment.
- Shut off the frick'n PC and get out and have some fun.
H.
(who has a case of beer chilling on the boat awaiting the weekly race with half dozen of his buddies tonight).
not sure how to get it to all of you but I do have a Chipotle Excel sheet that will calculate the calories based on what you pick...
Hit me up @ gameover1980@gmail.com if you want a copy.
I've been able to find all of my family, and most of my friends. This bridge will really effect traffic for the next several years. The home prices in Northeast Minneapolis and in North St. Paul (Roseville, etc.) are going to go down hard!
I know a lot of people who need that bridge and the other routes are just not going to cut it. Many people can't even think of other ways to travel between those two sides of the river.
Anyways, that bridge has been scary with the top layer stripped. I was so uncomfortable driving on it. It always feels like your getting pulled to the other lanes or to the ditch or to the guardrail. And add to that Hwy 36 is completely closed right now!!!! My friends in Roseville don't know what to do. They both cross the river every day, but luckily they are renters, but they can't fathom moving yet.
they can build that bridge back up by next spring ;)
Looks kinda dead around here without me Rob.
The pause that refreshes. Deliberate. Goodthingsarecoming. For us, not you.
Jake
Tell your friends to hang in there.
I bet there is a solution by the time the snow falls.
Once they have retrieved the bodies and done their investigation, they will cut it up and haul it out of there in no time.
Then they will whip in a temporary bridge. These are like erector sets. I have seen "temporary" mean 15 years as a city did not have the money to complete the new real bridge.
Long lead times are usualy because of funding and over-planned resources. Whenever there is a major F-up on such govt structures, the money flows like water & the fix is put into place.
I know of one bridge that blew out it's bottom. Solid concrete & overbuilt in the 1930s etc.
They had it removed in 30 hours because of the embaressment of having gotten a good inspection report weeks earlier (how they did it would piss off any ecology professor). A temp bridge was in it's place in 2 weeks, though the river spanned was not as large as yours.
What they will do is see what bridge was suppose to get a similiarily sized temporary bridge next to it for maintenence purposes and tell them that they are going to be delayed as they need the bridge elsewhere.
Remember the feds have a lot of pull as they fund the majority of most bridge projects.
You may be down to 2 lanes each way, but it looked like you were there before the colapse.
And remember, to rebuild I30 north of New Orleans took only 13 months and that was miles of wreckage.
H.
Lowell, MA has a 'temporary' bridge that has bee up almost 30 years.
It is in much beeter shape that most of the permanent ones.
They did repair one a couple of years back - after it was condemned and shut down, screwing many commuters for at least a year. Better than being dead, I guess.
Tammy
Bingo! That is the one I alluded to. And example of how to properly use a tempoary bridge is just upriver in Tyngsboro. The lowell bridge was suppose to be there only 2.5 years originally.
As for Minn, well it looks like their congressman is either going to rebuild the new one twice as fast, twice as strong, or else the kickbacks will be flowing:
A MnDOT timeline for construction projects had slated the bridge for a replacement sometime between 2015 and 2023, at an estimated cost of $122 million, according to a 2008 transportation plan posted on the agency's Web site.
Rep. Jim Oberstar, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said he will introduce legislation Thursday to direct a minimum of $250 million to Minnesota to help replace the bridge
http://www.startribune.com/10204/story/1338808.html
...
Peter Siddons, a senior vice president at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, was heading north over the bridge toward his home to White Bear Lake when he heard "crunching."I saw this rolling of the bridge," he said. "It kept collapsing, down, down, down until it got to me."
Siddons' car dropped with the bridge, and the nose of his car rolled into the car in front of him and stopped. He got out of his car, jumped over the crevice between the highway lanes and crawled up the steeply tilted section of bridge to land, where he jumped to the ground.
"I thought I was dead," he said. "Honestly, I honestly did. I thought it was over."
....
@Jake
This collapse and the way he is describing it..was he talking metaphorically about the home mortgage crisis or something else?
As for him thinking "I'm dead, this is it" that may still come true...
And that's also why I think he shouldn't have done that interview. :D
Torsional Buckling. I can see the final engineering report already. Everyone is correct, like most clusterfucks there is no one thing to blame unlike say a military airplane crash where it is pilot error or at the least pilot training error that left him unable to cope with conditions.
Concrete has not strength in bending or tension. When they took all the load off axis and then started removing concretethat was already under tension they exposed the steel to loads but didn't give them the stability or shear of the concrete. No doubt spalling and water intrusion will also contribute.
The region has poured a billion bucks into The Hiawatha Line light rail fiasco since 2001. IIRC it serves less than 1 lane equivalent of the bridge. Ahhh priorities.
Jake, we just might have to have a Twin Cities Haterz Happy Hour!
http://www.startribune.com/10204/story/1339911.html
Not that i think we need NEW taxes, just start spending the money in the right places...
and yes Sprezz, I am too lazy to follow your clicky tutorial!
lastly
http://flickr.com/photos/eb78/sets/72157601157131324/
scary thing... the MN bridge was rated as "structurally flawed" in the USDOT Bridge Database.
There are 150,000 bridges across the United States that have that designation.
Drive safely.
I think we need one of those periodic adjustments in the Excise tax. I prefer that it go more to States so I propose 6 cents Fed and 6 cents State with the state option of paying 1/2 cent less Fed for every cent above 4 cents approved up to another 6 cents. Thus low end 6/6 and high end 3/12. That's a lot but defered mantainence is expensive, we've been underfunding for 2-3 years now and inflation is high and I hope not to revisit this for another decade at least. I do not want inflation indexing and I do not want any transit earmarks.
case of beer chilling on the boat awaiting the weekly race with half dozen of his buddies tonight
*******************
Beer tasts better on a boat Homer.
I am so jealous, and a GU or I would invite myself and my bikini.
I've been sick as a dog for two days, lying around home, so I got to listen to the Sharkcast. I was originally a supporter (many months ago), then a hater. I'm feeling a bit of pity now, though, because the possibility of prison is so daunting (even if it is unlikely).
Two points to make about the Sharkcast. Casey has always been blind about money and work, but I was amazed just how blind he is about Galina. She has practically tattooed on her forehead "Go away Casey" and yet he makes all his plans to carefully include her input. The other point is a quote from Oscar Wilde that was in today's newspaper: "Good resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account."
Best wishes to all,
(The slowly recuperating) NR
@ Nothern Renter,
Get well soon.
FMW
@Gameover
We should do that! Twin Cities Haterz Happy Hour for all!
Oh, and I agree about the taxes. Before we raise them, I want to know how the current money is being spent.
king friday the 13th said...
scary thing... the MN bridge was rated as "structurally flawed" in the USDOT Bridge Database.
There are 150,000 bridges across the United States that have that designation.
************************
Hi. Where are you getting the figure from? Do you have access to the NBI database?
Thanks FMW.
(Already Getting Better) NR
From: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070803/D8QPDKKG0.html
[q]
At least 73,533 of 607,363 bridges in the nation, or about 12 percent, were classified as "structurally deficient," including some built as recently as the early 1990s, according to 2006 statistics from the Federal Highway Administration.
[/q]
... which is half of the figure that someone else posted with no link to back it up.
:-)
Post a Comment