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Recipe: Seared Lamb Chops with Rosemary
Makes 6 servings
12 rib lamb chops (about 3 pounds)
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Toss the chops with rosemary, oil, salt, pepper, and garlic, and let them stand at room temperature for up to 2 hours or refrigerate, covered, for up to one day.
Heat a heavy griddle or large cast-iron pan over high heat. Add as many chops as will fit without touching. Cook the chops, turning them once, until well browned outside and rosy pink in the center, about 3 minutes. (For more well done chops, add 1 to 2 minutes to the cooking time.) Repeat with the remaining chops, if necessary. As an alternative, the chops could also be grilled.
From www.lidiasitaly.com.


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Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO JUPEB (CCE Basic Studies) programme Admission Application Form for the 2016/2017 academic session Is Out. See How Get admitted into 2oo level with FUTO JUPEB Programme
Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for admission into a non-residential, one-year CCE Basic Studies programme of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri for the 2016/2017 academic year.
The CCE Basic Studies programme is designed to prepare students for the examinations conducted by the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board (JUPEB). Holders of the JUPEB certificate would subsequently be considered for admission into the 200 level of a Degree programme offered by the Federal University of Technology, Owerri through Direct Entry JAMB in the courses listed below:
- School of Agriculture and Agricultural Technology (SAAT):
- Agricultural Economics
- Agricultural Extension
- Animal Science &Technology
- Crop Science & Technology
- Soil Science & Technology
- Forestry & Wildlife Technology
- Fisheries & Aquaculture Technology
- School of Engineering and Engineering Technology (SEET):
- Agricultural & Bio-resources Engineering
- Chemical Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Materials and Metallurgical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Petroleum Engineering
- Polymer and Textile Engineering
- School of Management Technology (SMAT):
- Financial Management Technology
- Information Management Technology
- Project Management Technology
- Maritime Management Technology
- Transport Management Technology
- Management Technology
- School of Biological Sciences (SOBS):
- Biochemistry
- Biology
- Biotechnology
- Microbiology
- School of Environmental Sciences (SOES):
- Architecture
- Building Technology
- Environmental Technology
- Quantity Surveying
- Surveying and Geo-Informatics
- Urban and Regional Planning
- School of Health Technology (SOHT):
- Anatomy
- Physiology
- Biomedical Technology
- Dental Technology
- Optometry
- Prosthetics and Orthotics
- Public Health
- School of Physical Sciences (SOPS):
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Geosciences
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Science Laboratory Technology
- Statistics
- Agricultural Science/Biology/Chemistry (ABC)
- Physics/Chemistry/Mathematics (PCM)
- Physics/Chemistry/Biology (PCB)
FUTO CCE Basic Studies programme currently offers nine (9) subjects as listed below:
Management and Environmental Sciences
- Accounting
- Business Studies
- Economics
- Geography
- Agricultural science
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Mathematics
- physics
Candidates are required to have a minimum of five (5) credits in English Language, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology obtained at not more than two (2) sittings in the SSCE/WASCE, GCE O/L/NECO and NABTEB. Admission into the programme is usually through a University screening test. At the end of the programme, successful candidates of the JUPEB examination will be considered for admission into 200 level in various Degree courses in the Federal University of Technology, Owerri provided they satisfy the admission criteria for such courses.
Note: JAMB score is not required for admission into this programme. Candidates who took the 2016 JAMB can also apply as there will be no supplementary application for this programme.
Eligible candidates should pay a non-refundable sum of N15,500.00 (Fifteen Thousand, Five Hundred Naira) only via Remita payment platform.
Step 1 – Visit the University Website www.futo.edu.ng
Step 2 – Click on the "Prospective student" to view online application forms
Step 3 – Click on the JUPEB Application
Step 4 – Enter your telephone number and click on submit
Step 5 – Enter your surname, Firstname, Middlename and click on submit
Step 6 – Print out your invoice and proceed to the bank for payment
Step 7 – After making payments at the bank, Go through step 1 – 4
Step 8 – Fill the form online attach your passport with red background
Step 9 – The passport must be recent and the size should not be more than 50kb
Step 10 – Complete the form online and submit the application
Step 11 – Printout your acknowledgement slip.
- Applicants into 2016/2017 one year CCE Basic studies programme are advised to be checking our website from time to time for the actual date of the screening/Entrance examination and other relevant information.
- All candidates are required to register for 2017 Direct Entry UTME during the programme.
- All candidates are required to use valid e-mail addresses and personal telephone numbers.
- Applicants are to Note that the 2016/2017 entrance examination shall hold at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri.
- Candidates are advised to follow the Application instructions very carefully and ensure they select the correct subject combination as failure to do so may adversely affect the candidate.
- The same passport photograph used for the online registration will be used during screening exercise and for registration after the offer of admission.
- No complaints of wrong Bio-Data or blank photograph will be entertained after submission
- Candidates who up-load wrong bio-data will automatically be disqualified
- Candidates are required to come for the screening exercise with the following items:
- One (1) copy of the Federal University of Technology Owerri 2016 ONLINE registration form duly completed with the passport-size photograph printed in colour. Note: Only colour printout will be accepted
- Two (2) recent coloured passport-size photographs on red background (same photograph as the one used for the on-line registration) with the name and signature of the candidate on the reverse side of the photographs. These should be packaged in quarto-size envelope and labeled with the candidates name and department.
- HB pencil, eraser and sharpener
- No GSM handsets, calculators, four-figure tables or any other extraneous materials should be brought into the screening halls
Closing date for registration: Sunday, September 25, 2016
Date of screening exercise: Wednesday, September 28,2016
Venue for the screening exercise: Centre for Continuing Education (CCE), Federal University of Technology, Owerri,
Time: 8.00am.NGSchoolz Team

subset: commoncrawl


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Final Preparations Underway for Medieval Fair
Published January 21st, 2013
Loading Video...
Volunteers are hard at work preparing for the 27th annual Hoggetowne Medieval Faire, kicking off this weekend in Gainesville.
Actors hosted a dress rehearsal Sunday for anyone who wanted a sneak preview.
Local volunteers have been practicing since last fall in order to put together the fair's live entertainment.
The fair begins Saturday, January 26th at the Alachua County fairgrounds.
For more information visit http://gvlculturalaffairs.org.
Related Stories
- Hoggetowne Medieval Faire Opens Saturday
- 27th Annual Hoggetowne Medieval Faire
- Hoggetowne Medieval Faire opens this weekend
- Preparations For The Hoggetowne Medieval Faire
- Dress Rehearsal for Hoggetowne Medieval Faire
- City of Gainesville, GPD increasing security at Hoggetown Medieval Faire
- Hoggtowne Medieval Faire Auditions
- Preparations underway for annual Olustee Festival & Reenactment
- Noche de Gala Preparations Underway
- Trip to Medieval Fair takes people back in time


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Once Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonizes the lungs of a cystic fibrosis patient, it begins transforming itself from a squatter into a fully-invested resident, eventually establishing a chronic airway infection. A study just released by mBio tracked the gene expression patterns of P. aeruginosa dur... Read More
This episode: Discovery of (rather pretty) giant archaea!
Unable to embed Rapid1Pixelout audio player. Please double check that: 1)You have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. 2)This web page does not have any fatal Javascript errors. 3)The audio-player.js file of Rapid1Pixelout has been included.
Parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii invade host cells, replicate and then must exit to find new host cells to invade. Traveling outside their host cell exposes the parasites to environmental stresses that limit how long they can remain viable while searching for new host cells.
The researcher... Read More
Researchers from the Australia's University of Ballarat have dispelled an urban myth by showing banknotes do not carry dangerous levels of bacteria.
But they found polymer banknotes, such as those used in Australia, carry the least quantity of contamination.
Australia's notes are manufactu... Read More
Global warming may have one minor but previously unknown benefit, scientists said this month: it may be cutting down cases of bubonic plague in the United States.
About 10 to 20 Americans catch plague each year, and 1 to 3 die of it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventio... Read More
Possible 'Persistence' Switch for Tuberculosis Found: Computer Model Finds Probable Genetic Mechanism for TB Dormancy
An examination of a portion of the tuberculosis genome that responds to stress has allowed Rice University bioengineers Oleg Igoshin and Abhinav Tiwari to zero in on a network of genes that may "switch" the disease into dormancy.
The bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB), Mycobacterium tuberc... Read More
The list of ways for life to make a living keeps getting longer. There are the obvious: like turning light into chemical energy like plants do. Or eating plants like many animals do.
Then there are more specialist methods: for example, pairing the hydrogen produced by radioactive decay with s... Read More
There's been a lot of talk recently about NDM-1, a gene that gives many bacteria a weapon against carbapenems, an important class of antibiotics. Because many of these bacteria are already resistant to other classes of antibiotics, NDM-1 renders them immune to almost anything we throw at them. ... Read More
Every choice has its trade-offs, and while the advantages of many choices are easy to discern, other situations require closer analysis. In a paper just released by mBio, scientists have modeled the economic trade-offs involved in putting genes in an operon, and they've shed some light on why i... Read More
TWiV listeners have spent their valuable time writing comments about the podcast on iTunes, and it's a shame that most people don't see them. I'm putting them here as a way of thanking them for their time, and for listening. This i... Read More
2nd favorite podcast right after twiv
Extremley Educational!
Even my 14 & 18 year old st... Read More
Three cheers for Dr. Racaniello!!!
by Camp Connell Steve - Feb 28, 2011
Dr. Racaniello has launched his third superb podcast! Having listened to all the This Week in Virology and This Week in Parasitism podcasts, I awaited with anticipation when he announced h... Read More
Basidiobolus haposporus. Adhesive spores forcibly discharged and attached to cover of a petri dish. Lactophenol cotton blue stain Read More
Parasitic worm colonies are known to invade and castrate a tiny California horn snail, spawning thousands of tiny soldiers that take up 25% of the snail's body weight. These tiny warriors could actually revolutionize how we fight infections in humans.
As much as these colonies are bad news fo... Read More
As scientists with the federal government search for the source of the salmonella that made thousands of people sick this summer and trace how it spread, researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are developing a new and more accurate method of acquiring the bacteria's identit... Read More
A flu shot can do more than just fight against influenza, a new study suggests. It may also fight against heart attacks.
Adults who take the flu vaccine may be less likely to get their first heart attack the next year, researchers say.
The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical As... Read More
New research on the immune system's response to plague could improve efforts to vaccinate the public against the world's oldest form of biological warfare.
Researchers have been working for several years to develop a vaccine for weaponized forms of plague, which is one of the world's deadlies... Read More
Scientists fear migratory birds may be spreading hard-to-treat infections after discovering seagulls can carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Portuguese researchers analysed 57 samples of droppings from the yellow-legged Caspian Gull Larus Cachinnans. They found that one in 10 harboured bacteria... Read More
Back in 1984, a young Australian doctor called Barry Marshall swallowed a nasty-tasting solution of bacteria. This was no accident. He did it to convince his peers that his suspicions about a highly prevalent disease were not as far-fetched as they thought.
In 1981, Marshall had met patholog... Read More
Childhood obesity is not only an epidemic, it may be an infectious disease transmitted by a common cold virus, a new study suggests.
Children exposed to adenovirus-36 were more likely to be obese than were children who had no evidence of infection, according to a study published online Septem... Read More


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Matthew Goddard brauchte ein neues Logo Design und hat einen Wettbewerb auf 99designs gestartet.
Aus 72 Designs von 17 Designern wurde eine Gewinner gewählt.
UX Exchange
I'm Matt Goddard, I've started a user experience Q&A website (UXExchange.com) based upon StackOverflow.com and am looking for a logo to use.
UXExchange is a free UX Professional Q&A site but i want it to look professional. I intend the logo design to influence the accent colours of the templates site.
The philosophy behind UXExchange is a labour of love for me. I'm passionate about spreading knowledge about user experience, usability, accessibility, information architecture. I believe it should be open to all.
User experience community
I would like a website logo and favicon that can be used on UXExchange.com
Logo: 250px X 56px
Favicon: 35px X 35px
I would like the logo to contain an icon (perhaps this can be used for the favicon) and the site name.
The icon should embody user experience perhaps taking influence form JJG's Elements of the user experience diagram (a google search should bring it up).
However, I'm open to any good suggestion and good designs.


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After successfully exploring methods to produce low cost graphene the new miracle material Carbon Sciences is now focused on the research and development of
graphene-based devices to enable ultrafast fiber optics communication in Cloud computing infrastructure.
By applying the high speed optical and electrical properties of graphene, we believe graphene-based fiber optic components, such as optical modulators and photodetectors,
can help unclog the speed bottlenecks in the Cloud. Thereby, enabling a global era of high resolution video on demand, high fidelity music streaming, high volume e-commerce
and many more Cloud-based services.
Carbon Science recently announced its growth-by-acquisition strategy to extend its presence in the $3.8 trillion worldwide information technology (IT) market. The services sector
alone accounts for approximately $1 trillion of the total worldwide IT market.
We plan to grow by acquiring profitable IT services providers specializing in areas such as managed services, consulting, and cloud computing, that serve the needs of customers in
various industries. Our plan is to aggressively increase the number of customers that regularly depend on these services, and ultimately become a substantial IT services business.


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Archive for MTA Economics
Known Unknowns, or why does everything cost so much?Posted by: | Comments
In addition to a lack of political support from Albany, the highest barrier to MTA expansion efforts concerns costs. The one-stop 7 line extension clocked in at $2.3 billion, and the only subway expansion effort in the world that's more costly is the first phase of the Second Ave. Subway. The MTA is spending nearly as much to rebuild the South Ferry station as it did to construct it, and the East Side Access price tag is comically high and ever increasing.
In a vacuum, the probably isn't just the costs alone. We know everything costs so much, but we do not know why. Over the years, observers and experts have blamed everything from stringent federal regulations regarding emergency access, a costly and litigious environmental review process, corruption in the construction industry and the uncertainties of digging up old New York City streets. To me, this reeks again of New York City exceptionalism as these are issues facing most developed nations. Somehow, some way, other countries aren't spending $2.7 billion per new subway mile.
In the latest issue of Capital New York's monthly magazine, Dana Rubinstein went in depth on the cost issue. For long-time readers of my site (or infrequent and new readers), Rubinstein's piece is a succinct look at an issue that New York City must solve if it is to meet the demands of its population. Without a handle on costs, the money to expand nets fewer and fewer improvements.
Rubinstein frames her piece around the idea that transit agencies have a rich history of low-balling costs to get money to start a project only to return, cap in hand, for more to finish. Robert Moses deployed this strategy to great effect throughout the city, and the MTA and Port Authority have essentially done the same with their recent construction binges. Think, after all, on how Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway should have cost $3.5 billion or how the Port Authority WTC station was originally budgeted at under $2 billion. Once shovels are in the ground, it's hard to stop, especially if federal grants are involved, and local politicians are forced to fork over the dollars.
What I found even more intriguing though was this excerpt that shows how few people are engaged in this issue:
How New York City's megaprojects compare in cost to those in similarly developed countries around the world is a question that is, somehow, very rarely studied. Stringer's spokesman said the comptroller relied for his numbers, in part, on a mathematician named Alon Levy, who's now completing his post-doc at the Royal Institute of Technology, and who notes, in his blog Pedestrian Observations, that, mass transit is a "side interest" for him and "entirely unrelated to my work."
The experts at the Regional Plan Association, who are looking into the problem of megaproject cost overruns as part of their latest survey of regional infrastructure, directed Capital to a blog post by Levy, too. The post, from 2011, reported that the Toei Oedo Line in Japan cost $560 million per mile. The Berlin U55 cost $400 million per mile. The Paris Metro Line 14 cost $368 million per mile. New York's construction costs blew all of that away, the study found. The Second Avenue Subway is coming in at $2.7 billion per mile. The 7 train extension to the far West Side? $2.1 billion per mile.
David Schleicher, an associate professor at George Mason University School of Law, has analyzed Levy's numbers and says that his analysis basically confirms Levy's. Barone, of Regional Plan Association, said, "The question is always why, why, why is it so expensive?" said Barone. The answer always seems to come back to a limited universe of issues, in varying combination: labor costs, work rules, managerial incompetence, the spaghetti of infrastructure tangled beneath Manhattan's streets, a political firmament without incentive to tackle hard issues.
I've never met anyone who's had reason to doubt Alon's numbers (and you can read the post in question right here on his site). What's surprising is how few comparative studies have been done to highlight these cost disparities. For its part, the MTA talks about a design-build process that's supposed to mitigate costs, but working hand-in-hand with the parties responsible for the high costs (that is, the contractors) won't lead to meaningful reform.
Meanwhile, it's Chris Ward, a former head of the Port Authority, who has seized on this issue. "It is time to recognize that the delivery model for big projects is broken and fiddling on the margins will not build the kind of projects the region needs," he said to Rubinstein. Without a better handle on costs, the MTA's request for $15 billion in capital funding is a tough one to stomach, and future megaprojects are doomed to an expensive limbo at a time when the city and its current and future residents need them the most.
CBC calls for an end to truly unlimited MetroCardsPosted by: | Comments
I love my Unlimited MetroCard. I've been using one for years, and it makes using the subway essentially free. I pay once per month — in my case, on a pre-tax basis — and get a card that simply tells me to "Go." I can swipe in at Grand Army Plaza and take a 2 or 3 to Franklin Ave. without thinking about the cost or a subsequent card purchase. I can hop on a bus without a thought, and in fact, the more I ride, the better a deal I get from my unlimited card.
In a very real sense, as I wrote half a decade ago, the Unlimited MetroCards ushered in a revolution in New York City transit history. As then-Gov. George Pataki noted in the late 1990s, "The goal" with these MetroCards "was very simply to empower the rider. Empower the person who takes the subway and the person who takes the bus by giving them the broadest possible range of options as to how they want to choose to use the mass transit system."
And it worked. The average cost per ride a subway rider must pay declined precipitously, and only recently, through aggressive fare hikes, has the MTA clawed back revenue it lost to these unlimited cards. Still, the MTA drew in more in inflation-adjusted dollars in 1996 before unlimited ride cards were introduced than it does today. Furthermore, ridership has spiked — to over 6 million per day at times during peak ridership seasons last fall — and the MTA's fare discounts push ridership.
But has the unlimited ride card outlived its useful life? That's the question New York City's Citizens Budget Commission posed recently. The independent group argues that, with ridership up and demand greater than subway supply, the MTA could incrementally rollback the incentives from the unlimited ride cards. After all, in the 1990s, the agency had to incentivize riders to return to a restored system, but today, the system sells itself. By capping unlimited ride cards at levels beyond the reach of all but the power users, the MTA could, they argue, draw in an additional $93 million a year.
Here's their take:
The need for increased fare revenue need not be met exclusively through current practices of raising base fares and adjusting discounted prices. The MTA can generate revenue by capping the number of rides permitted on the 7-day and 30-day passes. Unlike recent fare increases hitting nearly every straphanger, the caps would provide needed revenue while affecting fewer riders, many who now enjoy very deep discounts, and would still retain heavily discounted fares.
Based on data provided by the MTA for October 2013, riders used 7-day passes for 45 million rides per month and 30-day passes for 66 million rides per month. These rides can be attributed to an estimated 2.8 million 7-day passes and 1.1 million 30-day passes. At a price of $30 the break-even number of rides for a 7-day pass was 13; for a 30-day pass at $112 the number was 48 rides. (Both calculations use the $2.38 fare available with a volume discount.) Rides above these numbers are effectively "free" for the pass holder.
Each "free" ride represented $2.38 in foregone revenue assuming the unlimited passes were eliminated and passengers purchased volume discount rides instead. The monthly number of "free" rides on the unlimited passes is estimated at 28.4 million. This equals about $67 million in foregone revenue monthly, or $807 million annually. Since a significant share of unlimited pass purchasers does not actually use the cards enough to reach the break-even point, these "unused" rides are extra revenue for the MTA. If this extra revenue was also foregone, the net gain from eliminating the unlimited passes would be $619 million annually. But eliminating unlimited passes would be a radical change, causing hardship for many straphangers and undermining the sense of convenient mobility the passes are intended to promote. A fairer strategy is to cap the number of rides on these passes at a number above the break-even point.
The CBC acknowledges that the MTA hasn't made enough information available to assess the proper cut-off for unlimited ride cards, but they assume a hair over three swipes per day, an exceedingly high volume of rides. Limiting pay-per-rides to 22 swipes per 7 days or 92 per 30 days could lead to eliminating nearly 4 million rides that are free — that is, they are taken after the breakeven point on MetroCards. The unlimited ride cards would still be a great deal, but the MTA would capitalize on very high volume users (and those who try to defraud the system by selling swipes) to the tune of $7.8 million a month.
Part of me hates this idea. The psychological benefits of a true unlimited ride card encourage transit use at a time when New York City's transit advocates should do all they can to keep residents out of private automobiles. It cuts against the grain of environmental advocacy, congestion pricing proponents and Vision Zero efforts to add any new psychological barrier, albeit a small one, to transit use.
But on the other hand, it's hard to deny that revenue is revenue. The CBC estimates that only 60,000 30-day card users and around 415,000 7-day card users would exceed their lofty cap, and those figures are only 15 percent of all 7-day card users and 5 percent of 30-day users, relatively small percentages overall. It's an idea that warrants some debate and discussion. As the CBC says, "Unlike general fare increases affecting nearly every straphanger, the caps would provide financial benefits while affecting only the relatively few riders who use their 7-day and 30-day passes most heavily and would still benefit from discounted fares."
An obvious point from DiNapoli but one that bears repeatingPosted by: | Comments
When I read New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's release about his latest report on the MTA, I rolled my eyes a bit. DiNapoli, picking up on the MTA's $15 billion capital funding gap, noted that while the MTA's finances are better, the riders could wind up shouldering a huge portion of the next five-year plan, and the Comptroller said, riders shouldn't be expected to pay for everything.
We could debate for hours whether or not that last statement is true, but DiNapoli's point isn't a new one. "The MTA is in better financial condition thanks to its own efforts and a stronger economy," DiNapoli said yet again. "Over the coming months, the MTA will have to work closely with its funding partners to close the $15 billion gap in its capital program. Additional borrowing could increase pressure on fares and tolls, and while the MTA should look for opportunities for savings, deep cuts could affect the future reliability of the transit system and jeopardize expansion projects."
Overall, DiNapoli's report regurgitates MTA talking points. He notes that subway ridership has hit highs not seen since the late 1940s and that the MTA's debt burden will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. He highlighted the new labor deals, unfunded pension obligations and steep fare hikes. It's basically a summary of the last six months' worth of news. (You can read it here as a PDF if you need a primer.)
Despite the mundane nature of DiNapoli's report, one part is worth a deeper dive. His report "cautions that every $1 billion borrowed would increase debt service by an amount comparable to a 1 percent increase in fares and tolls." Thus, if the MTA needs to borrow that $15 billion to cover its capital funding costs, it could do so simply by raising fares by an additional 15 percent. That's a big fare hike. The MTA's current plan for 2015 — once it gets released some time after Gov. Cuomo's upcoming Election Day — calls for only a 4 percent hike, down from an originally planned 8 percent.
So while it's easy to dismiss DiNapoli's report for being nothing more than a news aggregator, the point he makes about the fares is a political chit for the MTA. If no one steps up with a different funding scheme and the MTA is serious about this $30 billion plan, the riders will be footing the bill for a substantial portion of it. Maybe that's OK; maybe the people who use the system should pay for more of it. But now we know it's a choice that Albany will make willingly. Is it the right one? I don't think so.
The Commercial Transformation of Columbus Circle
The MTA's rehabilitation of the Columbus Circle subway stop was an odd project. Like many before and after it, it took far longer than the MTA budgeted and ended not with a ribbon-cutting or even an announcement but with a whimper. One day, it was under construction, and the next day it wasn't. It's still not quite finished either as the corridor underneath 8th Ave. remains simply that.
As part of the original plans, this corridor was to become a commercial space with high-end tenants. It was, then-MTA head Jay Walder told me, to be the first of a new breed of MTA real estate. Instead of dingy newsstands and off-beat shops, Columbus Circle was to pave the way for a re-envisioning of subway real estate. It could be popular and a destination in and of itself.
Now, years after the renovation wrapped, that dream is inching closer to reality, Matt Chaban wrote in The Times this week. Chaban profiled Susan Fine, the current head of Oases Real Estate and the former MTA exec who was in charge of the rebirth of Grand Central, as she works to draw in tenants at Columbus Circle. Beginning 2015, 30 storefronts will line in the corridor as a set of shops called TurnStyle. These stores will include grab-and-go options such as Magnolia bakery, some electronics and high-end shopping spots, and larger upscale fast food types.
If Fine is successful — and that's not a given as she has to convince New Yorkers to dine in a subway station — the MTA could bring this public-private commercial partnership to other subway stations with high foot traffic and open spaces. Taking up residence in the 7th busiest subway certainly won't hurt the cause. "The trick was really figuring out strategies to slow people down," Jessica Walsh, one of Fine's partners, said. "If we can make it an interesting space with its own identity, we're pretty confident we'll not only catch commuters, but tourists and even people on their lunch break. Deep down, we all love the subway."
CM Rose lead Staten Island calls for transit investments
As the MTA's next five-year capital plan has come into view, complaints from Staten Island have increased. I wrote about the isolated borough's complaints last week and pinpointed politicians as the leading cause of their problems. To be fair to Staten Island, though, not all of their politicians are as opposed to transit improvements as others, and this week Council Member Debi Rose flashed her credentials.
In a piece for the Staten Island Advance, Rose made the case for more transit investments for Staten Island. Not satisfied with the new ferries or the promise of new rail cars for the Staten Island Railway, Rose argued for some use for the North Shore and West Shore rights of way. She isn't wrong, but her piece highlights the political problems here as well. Rose admits that the city doesn't invest enough in transit, and although she rails against fare hikes and toll increases, she doesn't propose a solution or a funding scheme.
As I've said before, the answer here is simple: Put your money where your mouth is, and the MTA will listen. If Rose wants BRT for the North Shore ROW, all she has to do is find a way to pay for it. But would she risk alienating Staten Island drivers, a strong constituency who will not be the first to support a congestion pricing plan? I doubt it. Without leadership that leads to dollars, nothing will happen.
The Man-Spread Blight
Finally, a more whimsical piece from amNew York that delves into one of the most egregious breaches of subway etiquette: the man-spread. We've all been there when some guy next to us is sitting with his legs spread far wider than any normal human would ever need. Perhaps it's overcompensation; perhaps its ego or obliviousness; perhaps it's a combination of all three. Whatever the cause, it drives me nuts.
In an amNY piece, Sheila Anne Feeney tried to get to the bottom of this phenomenon, and her article will in turns amuse and infuriate you. The perps and defenders act so righteous — "Men need space," one person said — while those trying to find seats get glares or worse.
A four-year budget with a lot for the workers and less for the ridersPosted by: | Comments
When the MTA started moving off of its net-zero labor demands a few months ago, we knew how this story would end. The MTA's economic picture would improve as the region's economy grew stronger, and the unions would demand a greater share of the pie. They would get their slice while the riders would get the scraps. Now that the MTA has sealed the deal with the TWU and LIRR unions, the financial picture for the next few years has taken shape, and lo and behold, riders are getting the bare minimum in service increases and biennial 4 percent fare hikes while the labor deals will cost $1.5 billion over the next four years.
As presented by the MTA on Monday during its monthly Board meetings and as later broadcast in a press release, the MTA anticipates that the new labor deals will result in annual increases in expenditures of $260 million. They swear, though, that the money won't come from higher-than-anticipated fare hikes. Rather, the MTA will "reallocate" resources to pay for these labor costs as well as some service enhancements while maintaining pay-as-you-go funding for $5.4 billion worth of capital expenses for the next five-year plan. Without meaningful work rule reform, this is indeed a pyrrhic victory.
In fact, it may not even be a victory. The MTA will still take $80 million away from those PAYGO funds each year and simply have less to spend on capital projects. That's one of the reasons the MTA faces a significant capital funding gap. Here's the agency explaining other sources of money:
The plan makes several long-term trade-offs to ensure revenues meet ongoing obligations. Over the four-year period, supplemental contributions to an LIRR pension plan totaling $110 million will be eliminated, though all actuarially-required contributions will continue. Also, $254 million will be withdrawn, and additional contributions totaling $533 million will be suspended for four years, from a discretionary fund for future retiree health benefits which has no mandatory funding level. The plan also reduces pay-as-you funding for the MTA Capital Program by $80 million per year, which is equivalent to a $1.5 billion reduction in Capital Program funding capacity.
And how about the rest of us? Tell the people what they've won. For $15.5 million, we're going to get….weekend J train service to Broad St. some time in mid-2015, extensions of service to Gateway Center II along the B13 and B83 bus routes, and added service along the Bx5. Staten Island residents will enjoy more frequent SIR and bus service to lineup with the increased overnight ferry service, and we'll get two more Select Bus Service routes next year. Transit is also planning to better respond to signal problems in order to cut down unplanned service issues during the day.
Now, I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it's easy to see who gets the better end of that deal. This is the fiscal reality we live in though. The unions outlasted the MTA's economic downturn, and the rest of us get saddled with a disproportionate amount of the costs without enjoying a similar share of the benefits. Less money for capital expenses; service improvements that raise just barely above the "token" level and more delays for future expansion and technology infrastructure projects — it's all just part of the same old song and dance.
DiNapoli: Where's the (capital) money, Lebowski?Posted by: | Comments
OK, OK. Maybe there's no Jeffrey Lebowski to ask for money, but New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli can't seem to find around $12 billion for the MTA's next capital plan. This is hardly a breaking piece of news for anyone who's watched the recent politicking behind the MTA's looming need to present a new five-year spending plan, but DiNapoli's report drives home the fact that the MTA has to spend a lot of money it doesn't have to keep our trains and buses running smoothly.
"Millions of New Yorkers rely on the MTA transit system and while it is in far better condition than it was 30 years ago, much more needs to be done," DiNapoli said in a statement. "The MTA has to find a way to finance improvements without putting the financial burden on riders. This can be achieved only by working closely with the federal government, New York state and New York City to develop a long-term financing program and by using resources effectively and efficiently. Otherwise, needed repairs will be pushed even further into the future, and fares and tolls could rise even faster."
DiNapoli's main point isn't necessarily that $12 billion is missing, but rather that $12 billion in funding will not materialize without sending the agency further into debt. In his short report, the New York State Comptroller analyzes the spending needs for the MTA and concludes, as we know, that the next capital plan isn't a sexy one. Unless the MTA is aggressive in requesting funding for future phases of the Second Ave. Subway or work beyond the never-ending East Side Access plan, the capital program will fund much-needed signal and infrastructure upgrades and rolling stock purchases.
That's not to say that these aren't 100 percent necessary for the future healthy of New York City; they are. But when it comes to headlines, few New Yorkers are going to read about signal modernization and long delays caused by the work with any joy. This is stuff we never see even if our daily rides depend on it. Still, says DiNapoli, despite 30 years of investment, the system is not in a state of good repair and may never get there without considerably more investment.
As DiNapoli notes, this funding gap was a problem with the last five-year plan, and the MTA "solved" this problem by cutting expenditures and bonding out its obligations, thus adding more debt to the ledger. Debt service in 2018, notes the Comptroller, will be three times what it was in 2005. How long can this go on?
Ultimately, then, the issue isn't that $12 billion is missing from the MTA's capital budget. Rather, the issue is that the MTA will have to continue to go into debt to cover the funding gap. Can they add another round of debt to their finances without beginning to impact service? As debt counts against the operations budget, already riders pay for this debt as fares go up to cover operating obligations. DiNapoli doesn't offer a stark picture for the future, but the meaning is there. Someone will pay for that $12 billion. Either the MTA doesn't perform work or somehow it gets paid. Either way, without direct contributions from outside sources, riders alone will foot that bill.
How much is that labor agreement in the window?Posted by: | Comments
For the past few years, through the tenures of three different MTA heads, "net zero" had become a mantra. Without a net-zero labor increase, the MTA's budget would be deeply in the red with the costs expected to fall on the riders in the form of service cuts, fare hikes or both. As late as February, the MTA warned of steep fare hikes if they couldn't toe the net-zero line. The Citizens Budget Commission has long since endorsed the approach, and the MTA and TWU were at war.
Then, suddenly, it was election season, and the MTA and TWU were, with the help of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, shaking hands and best buds. Without exacting much in the way of labor reform — and certainly without anything close to net-zero — the MTA gave the TWU a new contract with only a few concessions. The raises — 8 percent over five years — are deserved, and there are some givebacks. But ultimately, the MTA's labor costs are going to increase by $411 million through 2016. That ain't net-zero.
In a document released yesterday to bond investors [pdf], the MTA offered the public its first glimpse at the ramifications of the deal. The Memorandum of Understanding won't be released until after the TWU votes on it, and such a vote isn't likely until after next week's MTA Board meeting. So what we know is that the MTA is on the hook for a lot of money. The deal includes retroactive payments of $126 million and a current bump in labor expenses of around $55 million. In 2015 and 2016, the MTA expects to spend $116 million and $114 million respectively, though some experts — notably Nicole Gelinas — believes these estimates to be low.
To cover some of the costs, the new deal includes an increase in the amount of employee contributions to health and other benefits as well as a new "wage progression schedule." Still, someone has to come up with $411 million, and MTA Chairman and CEO Tom Prendergast insists it won't fail to the fare paying public this time around. So how is the MTA going to pay? Read it (and weep):
MTA anticipates that the onetime payment for retroactive wages in 2014 will be funded from monies derived from released 2013 general reserves budgeted for voluntary deposits to the MTA Long Island Rail Road Plan for Additional Pensions that would have reduced the unfunded liability and future expenses. Increases in current year and annual ongoing costs are anticipated to be paid from funds budgeted for voluntary deposits to the MTA Long Island Rail Road Plan for Additional Pensions, and a portion of monies earmarked for voluntary deposit into the OPEB trust for future retiree healthcare costs.
It gets better. If other unions that do not have contracts in place sign similar deals, the MTA would have to find another $300 million. This money, the agency says, will come from voluntary deposits into the OPEB trust and a reduction of PAYGO capital funds of approximately $70 million. To say this doesn't fall on the riders is sleight of hand accounting. In fact, this entire budget is sleight hand accounting.
But now we know: The MTA is robbing future riders to pay for the present. It doesn't bother Cuomo because he'll be gone from Albany before the bill comes due, but for the rest of us, this isn't a good deal. We may not pay now because the MTA will keep those looming fare hikes low, but give it a few years. We the riders will be paying then or else the system will suffer.
Cuomo seals the deal for a $30 million transit raidPosted by: | Comments
For a little while, it appeared as though Albany would stop Gov. Andrew Cuomo's latest raid on transit funding, but when the budgetary dust settled this past week, the status quo remained unchanged. Despite an initial plan to grab $40 million that didn't pass the New York State Assembly or Senate, state legislators ultimately accepted a budget that diverted $30 million in transit funding the state had previously agreed to issue. With fare hikes on tap for 2015 (and every two years after that), the diversion is a stark reminder of the way Albany treats New York City's transit riders.
"The sacrifice of dedicated transit funds will mean less money available to provide subway, bus, Metro-North and Long Island Railroad service. Taking away transit funding at the state level has a direct impact on levels of service, which still have not been restored to 2010 levels, and on fares, which continue to rise every other year," a group of advocates including the Straphangers Campaign, the Riders Alliance and TSTC said in a release this weekend. "Sadly, our elected leaders have sent a clear message that the State can—and will—use the MTA as a piggy bank, siphoning dollars out of the pockets of transit riders."
What made this year's raid a bit more galling were words from MTA Chair Tom Prendergast essentially supporting it. I don't expect Prendergast, who sits atop the MTA at the pleasure of the governor, to speak out forcefully against the actions of his boss, but the MTA seems more resigned to this budgetary fate than we'd like. "Our needs are being met," Prendergast said to The Daily News. "It's as simple as that."
Even as the MTA says its needs are being met, though, are the needs of the riders being met? The $30 million, as many have pointed out, won't lead to massive service cuts or an increase in the planned fare hike, but it's money the MTA doesn't have to invest in service or debt payments. It's money the MTA doesn't have when the budget inevitably takes a nose dive in a few years. It's money the riders won't see re-invested in a system that could use every dollar it can find.
Over the past few years, we've seen Cuomo repeatedly reject efforts to make transit raids more transparent as he has vetoed a lockbox that would require impact statements when funds are diverted. He's taken the credit for good MTA news and none of the blame for the bad. So this latest raid isn't shocking. Yet, it's still a reminder that transit riders, even as they fill the system in record-setting numbers, are the ones left holding the short straw year after year once the budgetary dust settles.
Ravitch: Verrazano toll vote a breach of 'fiduciary responsibility'Posted by: | Comments
Throughout the course of his career, Richard Ravitch has been something of a jack-of-all-trades in New York and an on-again, off-again savior for transit. He's served as the Lieutenant Government of New York, and he authored a plan to revive the MTA's finances during the depths of the agency's financial crisis. He also served as the authority's head during the start of its revival in the early 1980s. When he talks, New Yorkers generally listen.
On Wednesday, Ravitch unexpectedly took the microphone during the MTA's Board meeting, and he had some strident words on the morning of a controversial vote. As you may recall, a few weeks ago, out of the blue, Gov. Cuomo announced a rollback of the Verrazano Bridge toll. In a move that would cost the MTA $14 million in dedicated revenue, Cuomo forked over a discount on the toll. Although the state will reimburse $7 million, this move comes without any corresponding aspects of Sam Schwartz's traffic plan, a move to compensate transit riders or a nod to the MTA's labor or economic situation.
Thus, when Ravitch took the microphone Wednesday morning, he did not mince words. Noting first that New York law requires MTA Board members to represent the MTA first, he leveled serious charges toward board members. "The law made it very clear that you, as members of the board of a public authority, have as your fiduciary responsibility an obligation to the mission of this authority," he said. "That is your overriding obligation."
Even though Gov. Cuomo, who ostensibly can control the board through a decent number of votes, wanted the toll plan, Ravitch believed it shouldn't have made it past the vote, and he pointed to all the right things. "You are in the midst of two labor negotiations in which you are undoubtedly asserting, and properly so, the financial constraints that make it impossible for you to meet the demands of the labor unions. That argument is inconsistent with voluntarily reducing the revenues of this authority," he said.
In the face of Ravitch's words, the MTA Board still approved the toll decrease, but it was a divisive vote. Ted Mann, covering his last MTA Board meeting while on the Wall Street Journal's transit beat, covered the turmoil:
One board member, former New York City budget director Mark Page, abstained from the vote, explaining that he didn't believe the toll rebates were "an MTA initiative," and hadn't been subjected to the authority's usual decision-making processes. "I don't believe if the question were being asked solely of the MTA and this board that we'd be taking this action ourselves with our resources at this moment," Mr. Page said…
But that position wasn't embraced by the board, even as members prepared to vote in favor of the plan. "Why do lower bus fares not have an equal claim on the MTA's finances?" member Norman Brown asked, noting that the city also provides Staten Island Ferry service, free of charge. "I live in a little place called Brooklyn," he said. "We're the ones that pay the toll that you're always citing as a horrible toll."
The six-dollar residential discount rate is "already a substantial" discount, Mr. Brown said. "Do the math." Another board member, Jeff Kay, said the MTA should remind state officials later in the year, as the authority lobbies for financial support for its operating and capital budgets in Albany, that the authority has acceded to demands from the legislature about how it levies tolls. "I really do hope they're taking ownership of our funding decisions," Mr. Kay said, adding "Guys, we're doing what you asked us to do."
Staten Island representatives were quick to defend the measure. "This has gone though a lot of permutation, and overcome many obstacles in the last two years to get this done," Allen Cappelli said. "We eliminated the obstacles, got Albany on board. This was well-discussed and well thought out, and we've finally come to this day. I feel like doing the dance of joy."
It's not an easy issue. As I noted to Ted Mann on Twitter earlier in the day, while the rest of the MTA region got nothing in the vote, we do enjoy one-seat train service into Manhattan on a regular schedule. Staten Island's been waiting 80 years for that, and such a plan isn't on the horizon. But Cuomo's giveaway was just that, and everyone else is going to pay as the various interest groups angling for a piece of the MTA's pie load up for a fight.
From Cuomo, another raid or just accounting moves?Posted by: | Comments
After Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed the lockbox bill, New York's transit advocates worried that it would open the door to another raid. Now that the governor's budget is out, there are concerns that Cuomo has again reappropriated transit dollars in a way that leaves the MTA without money it expects, but the details are a bit hazy. The missing money, in fact, may not be from a misappropriation but from a decision made over a year ago to roll back some of the payroll mobility tax.
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign brought this issue to light yesterday. In Cuomo's budget presentation, the Governor notes that "the Budget will use $40 million in surplus mass transportation operating assistance funds to pay for a portion of the debt service associated with previously issued MTA service contract bonds."
The $40 million is barely a drop in the bucket for the MTA, and it's not enough to avoid, say, any future potential fare hikes. But politicians are casting a wary glance. As the Daily News notes, one Brooklyn assembly rep has objected to the budget. "It's a grab and he shouldn't do it," James Brennan said. "There are many possible uses of these funds that would benefit the riding public, from improved maintenance to restoration of service to mitigating fare hikes."
The governor too defended the move. Suddenly, the same people who are always concerned with the MTA's debt obligations are objecting to an effort to slowly pay it down. Cuomo has upped state contributions to the MTA's operating budget and called the debt payments a "legitimate transit purpose." I can't get too worked up over this one.
But there's another item TSTC highlighted that bears further examination:
While the Governor's budget includes $310 million from the State's General Fund to the MTA to compensate for lost revenue resulting from the rollback of the payroll mobility tax (PMT) in December 2011, this flat amount (which has been included every year since 2012) could be actually shortchanging potential revenue. The New York State Department of Labor estimates that 218,300 jobs were created in the downstate MTA region from November 2011 to November 2013, which means that additional PMT revenue likely would have been generated from these additional jobs, in excess of the $310 million. This additional revenue may have been enough to offset the proposed four percent MTA fare increase in 2015.
It's not clear what, if any, effect the PMT would have on job-creation numbers, but it wouldn't have led all downstate companies to freeze employment expansion. It seems clear the MTA is getting shortchanged here, and that was always a concern when Cuomo rolled back the PMTA. That, and not the debt payment issue, should be the real concern.


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Cadillac Escalade, EXT and ESV Forum - 2007-2014 Discussion, ESV Wouldn't Start!! in Cadillac Escalade Forums; I stopped to get gas. When I tried to start it the key just turned and the lights went out ...
- 12-11-11 08:08 PM #1Cadillac Owners Fanatic
- Automobile(s): ESV
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Posts
- 361
ESV Wouldn't Start!!
I stopped to get gas. When I tried to start it the key just turned and the lights went out but it didn't do anything.
On the 3rd try it started. When I got home I tried it twicw and it started ok.
Has this happened to any of you?
Thanks for help in advance!
- 12-11-11 08:30 PM #2Cadillac Owners Member
- Automobile(s): 2007 escalade , 87 GN
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
- Location
- Toronto
- Age
- 55
- Posts
- 38
Re: ESV Wouldn't Start!!
This happened to me a few times and after reading some threads on the forum alot of owners have discovered problems with the factory crimp on the battery terminal cables. It's kind of hard to diagnose because visually they look fine but the crimp can be weak and the connection becomes compromised. Luckily I discovered mine because mine did the exact same thing at a fuel stop , I got out and twisted the ground cable on the battery side and it started up. The positive side can do the same it causes all sorts of warnings and error messages to go off as well if the connection gets interrupted as your driving down the road. Hope this helps.
Re: ESV Wouldn't Start!!
Yep that is where I would start
- 12-12-11 08:07 AM #4Cadillac Owners 10000+ Posts
- Automobile(s): 2012 Escalade, 2014 SRX
- Join Date
- Apr 2003
- Location
- H.V., Pa/Town of Webb, NY
- Posts
- 13,307
Re: ESV Wouldn't Start!!
As said could be a battery issue, cable issue, have seen issues when not 100% in park, looks like it's in park but a touch of the shifter would allow starting.
Re: ESV Wouldn't Start!!
I would start there as well. Your local GM dealer will be able to diagnose this for you as well. Keep us updated.
Cadillac Customer Service
Re: ESV Wouldn't Start!!
I am going to work on it today and see what I can find. I hope it so I don't have to worry about.
Thanks guys


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'"Sixty-million bucks was $2 million a team. If we're worried about $2 million a team, we're looking at it completely the wrong way. I think we should be looking at a national TV contract of $400 million, not $60 million. I think we can get there. I really do."'
Sabres tune out impact of lost TV pact
June 8, 2005 Submitted by
Via: Buffalo News


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