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In the fall of last year, Metro's president and CEO Frank Wilson traveled to Orlando, Florida, for the annual convention of the American Public Transportation Association. It was a good week to be in Orlando.
The weather was sunny and clear during Wilson's five-day stay, with temperatures leveling out in the mid-80s, perfect if Wilson had wanted to shoot a round of golf on the course outside the Grande Lakes resort. Metro was putting him up there in a $350-a-night hotel room.
But there was more important business at hand. On Monday afternoon in Orlando, Ray LaHood, the newly appointed federal Secretary of Transportation, delivered a keynote speech.
"We're making meaningful investments in programs and projects that are going to change the way we live, work and travel," LaHood said. "For the better."
LaHood touted transportation officials in Atlanta for building bus canopies with solar-paneled roofs. Chicago, Denver and Dubuque, Iowa, got mentions for creating "energy-efficient, transit-oriented neighborhoods." Miami received LaHood's praise for building a ground transportation hub that connected the airport with "commuter rail, transit and intercity buses, and airport shuttles."
There was little mention of Metro or Frank Wilson.
But, by Wilson's account, it had been a pretty good year.
In March of 2009, for instance, Metro signed a $1.46 billion contract with Parsons Transportation Group to design, build and operate four new lines of light rail from downtown to different parts of the city. It was a real accomplishment, especially considering negotiations with another company had fallen apart at the last minute, after a year of work, because, according to Metro, the two sides were hundreds of millions of dollars apart.
A few months after the big Parsons contract was signed, Metro was awarded federal money for the first time. It was just $150 million, but a big step in getting $900 million from the federal government, key to Metro being able to pay for Wilson's rail expansion plan.
About a month before the Orlando conference, Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts told the Houston Press that the federal full-funding agreement — the $900 million — would come through by the end of 2009.
Despite these apparent victories, the roar from detractors was getting louder and louder.
For years, Metro had been the target of attacks from residents and politicians. Republican Congressman Tom DeLay, for example, secretly financed a private group that ran anti-rail advertisements, and even City Council members filed lawsuits against the agency.
Then, in a highly publicized mayoral election, Annise Parker campaigned by painting Metro as a rogue group that operated without transparency. She called for her opponent Gene Locke, whose law firm had billed Metro for close to $12 million in a couple years, to disclose his business ties with Metro. She eventually won the endorsement of a Metro employee union.
When Parker was eventually elected in December of 2009, she publicly called for Wilson's firing.
"[Metro has] left a lot of anger and bruised feelings," Parker told the Houston Chronicle. "Metro could have done a much better job of openness, transparency, accountability."
But Gilbert Garcia, the Metro board chairman appointed by Parker, insisted Wilson would stay at Metro because he was doing a good job.
"We want to stay focused on our mission; we have to stay focused on providing excellent transportation day in and day out," Garcia says. "We want to make sure we earn the public's trust, and we need to secure the federal finances to accomplish our mission."
Only things got worse, because in the months that followed, Metro would become involved in criminal investigations by the Harris Country District Attorney's Office and the FBI. A state district judge issued a restraining order barring Metro from destroying public records.
Wilson himself would become the target of two lawsuits for leading document-shredding sessions, then firing Pauline Higgins, one of Metro's top attorneys, as part of an alleged cover-up.
The lawsuit filed on Higgins's behalf states, "Wilson obtains, at taxpayer expense, the loyalty of a few fellow employees, so that he may circumvent checks and balances... Those who resist Wilson's maneuvers and insist on proper procedures and compliance with the law suffer retaliation."
In the midst of all the allegations and controversy at Metro, the Federal Transit Administration put Metro's federal funding on hold.
But back then, in Orlando, things were just beginning to boil; the latest set of troubles hadn't gone public. On Saturday, October 3, 2009, Wilson spent the day with Joanne Wright, his chief of staff. (Wright would later become the target of investigations, accused of being Wilson's girlfriend. Wilson allegedly spent taxpayer money on her illegally.) The pair had lunch and dinner together that day, dropping about $150 of Metro money on the meals.
In Orlando, things had seemed all right.
Metro was created as an independent, quasi-public agency in 1979. Using a voter-approved sales tax for operating revenue, it replaced the city-run HouTran, a fleet of about 475 yellow and white buses that had advertisements plastered on their sides for things like The Houston Post, Fannin Bank and the Y94 radio station.
A 1979 article in Texas Monthly about different transit agencies in Texas referred to the Houston system as "the pits."
"For Metro, 1979 was a disastrous year," Chuck Fuhs, who worked at Metro from 1979 to 1985, wrote in the book Houston Freeways. "Bus service collapsed in January when the transit agency ran out of spare parts for its barely functional buses, and nearly half of Metro's routes could not be served."
Fuhs continued, "There were between 100 and 200 in-service bus breakdowns on a daily basis. It was easy to find broken-down and abandoned buses on city streets."
A plan for rail came before voters in 1983 in a $2.35 billion bond election. It was rejected in a vote that wasn't even close.
Over the next two decades, Houston expanded its bus fleet into the largest in the country. Metro, in early publications, touted its transformation: "In two decades, the Authority has transformed a broken bus fleet into a comprehensive transportation system on a regional scale."
During the same time, other cities focused on rail.
In the 1990s, Denver, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and St. Louis opened light-rail systems. Dallas was pushing for rail, too.
Dallas's transit agency, DART, was created in 1983 in a narrowly approved sales-tax vote similar to Houston's. A year after its creation, Dallas, unlike Houston, selected light rail as its primary mode of transportation. In 1996, the city opened about 11 miles of rail, on time and on budget.
Back in Houston, at a Metro board meeting on March 26, 1998, while Dallas was preparing to break ground on more light rail to the suburbs, about the only thing that mattered in Houston was bus service.
During the public comments portion of the meeting, one woman "complained about a bus operator's behavior." Another talked about "a head injury she incurred on a bus."
And when the board approved Item Number 23, buried somewhere near the bottom of the board agenda, it was allowed to execute a contract with New Flyer of America, Inc., to purchase 243 40-foot buses.
Houston was the biggest city in the country that didn't have a single mile of rail line.
Reza Nouri's family has owned and operated Rosewood Flowers at the corner of Fannin and Rosedale streets — the heart of the Fannin flower district — since 1990. The Main Street light rail whips by, a few steps from his store, each day, all day long.
A mention of Metro sometimes sets Nouri off.
"This is the thing I don't like about them. They think they're above the law. They don't care," Nouri said.
A recent encounter between Nouri and a Metro Police officer escalated after the cop threatened to give an electrician a ticket for working on Rosewood Flowers' security lights near the rail line. Then Nouri saw the cop's cruiser parked in the flower shop's lot.
"I told him, 'Who the fuck told you to park here? That's my goddamned property,'" Nouri says. He adds, "They know me. They don't like me."
Nouri's animosity toward Metro has been common around the flower district since the rail line came through and decimated the area. More than a few shops around the corner from Rosewood have shut down.
"That's why I'm against them 100 percent," Nouri says. "When you're losing businesses, people, it's never better."
The origins of the Main Street line can probably be traced back to the 1997 mayoral election. According to a 1997 Press article, "Why Don't They Want This Man to Be Mayor?," candidate George Greanias campaigned with two pilot projects in mind: commuter rail on the Katy Freeway and a light-rail line from downtown to the Medical Center.
Greanias only pulled about 17 percent of the vote, losing to Lee Brown, but Brown, too, pushed the light rail. It was Brown's board, after all, that hired as its president Shirley DeLibero. DeLibero, who had also worked in Boston and Washington, D.C., and served as a deputy executive in Dallas, had spent the previous eight years as executive director of New Jersey Transit. She built rail in each of those cities.
DeLibero's Houston tenure got off to a more-than-shaky start after it was reported that she had wrecked her car leaving a party but failed to report the incident.
Worse, it was discovered that DeLibero lied on her résumé, listing two college degrees that she didn't have.
According to an article in the Chronicle, an executive search firm reviewed DeLibero's résumé before she was hired, and its report on DeLibero said, "Shirley does not have a bachelor's level degree, but has developed comparable or greater knowledge in public transit, government relations and management."
The firm never verified the two associate's degrees DeLibero listed on her résumé, which happened to be the two degrees she lied about. When DeLibero's lying was made public, the Metro board, which had never stopped supporting her during the investigations, decided to suspend DeLibero for 30 days without pay, and then she had to get back to work.
After all, DeLibero was brought to Houston to build light rail.
In an interview with Community Transportation magazine, DeLibero said, "It was clear to me that if we were going to get a rail system built in Houston, which was [Brown's] directive, we had to go to the community and sell the concept of timesaving/clean air/economic development, etc."
At a board meeting on September 23, 1999, DeLibero presented her "professional recommendation" to build a rail line from downtown to the Astrodome. Original construction plans called for $65 million in federal funds to help with the $300 million cost of the rail. DeLay, who at the time served as the House Majority Whip and was one of the biggest opponents of Houston's rail, made sure Metro didn't get that money.
Metro decided to move forward with the plan anyway, using local funds. About a month before groundbreaking, however, Rob Todd, the youngest person at the time to be elected to Houston City Council, filed a lawsuit to stop construction.
Todd argued that building the rail should require a public vote, considering the project completely altered the city's transportation system. A judge issued a stop-construction order until the case could be heard in court.
The New York Times summed up the problems in a February 2001 article: "For a city that prides itself on its can-do civic image, Houston is having a hard time building a commuter rail line, even one less than eight miles long..."
As the story noted: "Last week Metropolitan Transit Authority officials pulled $130 million in contracts, bluntly leaving this city, which often boasts of having put a man on the moon, grounded again on light rail."
The judge's injunction on rail construction, the one that stemmed from the Rob Todd lawsuit, didn't last long. On March 9, 2001, an appeals court ruled that Metro could, in fact, move forward with light-rail construction without a public vote.
Four days later, after Metro officials spent the morning in court discussing Todd's lawsuit, a groundbreaking ceremony was held downtown.
The Chronicle wrote that "neither an unresolved lawsuit seeking to stop construction on the line nor a back-row heckler seemed to dampen the spirits of local politicians and [Metro] officials who came to mark the historic event by driving ceremonial gold-colored spikes into a section of silver-painted track."
At the time, Metro officials said the delays from Todd's lawsuit would make it almost impossible to complete the rail, which would run from downtown to Reliant Stadium, in time for the 2004 Super Bowl. But they would try, because the project was put on a fast track, meaning that the line would be designed and built simultaneously, almost on the fly.
An article in the Houston Business Journal listed a "video store, oil change operation, fast-food restaurant, pager vendor and a flower stand" as some of the businesses that were required to move so their facilities could be demolished.
The article added, "A 12-unit apartment building was torn down, as well as one single-family home...Also demolished were the vacant United Jewelers and Badge & Tags properties."
"They came in and gave us some flyers and a map when construction started," says Nouri. "They just started doing their own thing, didn't give a damn what we thought."
Youssef Nafaa, who owns Mi Luna in Rice Village and Mia Bella Trattoria downtown, told the Business Journal that light rail construction cost him "at least $3 million in sales."
Nafaa was part of a group of downtown business owners who started meeting to find ways to combat the Metro construction. They once put down sod on dirt piles in front of their businesses so customers could use them as putting greens.
Near Nouri's flower shop, a garbage truck crossing Main Street knocked down an electrical line that would power the rail. A Metro service man came to the flower shop, which still had electricity, and asked if he could turn off the store's power while crews worked on the line. Nouri was told, he said, the repair wouldn't take more than a couple hours.
"It took about a week," Nouri says. "We lost all our flowers and a few thousand dollars. They never tried to make it right."
In the midst of all the construction, the future of Metro and the city's transportation was being decided.
During the summer of 2003, the Metro board approved a proposal that would bring a huge expansion of Metro's service, most notably, more miles of light rail. This plan required a public vote.
In the months leading up to the November 4 referendum, a couple of political groups squared off to sway public opinion. On one side, Texans for True Mobility —DeLay's group — launched an attack against the rail. Its basic message was simple: Metro's plan "costs too much, does too little."
On the other side, Citizens for Public Transportation led a campaign to back the Metro expansion plan. In months leading up to the vote, reports came out that this group was backed financially by real estate developers and law firms that could potentially profit from the rail construction. Siemens Transportation, the company that sold Metro cars for the Main Street line, also contributed heavily to Citizens for Public Transportation.
One of the strangest developments in the back-and-forth on the debate came from the Houston Chronicle, after an internal memo was mistakenly posted on the newspaper's Web site. The memo, written by Chronicle executives, outlined suggestions for the paper to continue "our long-standing efforts to make rail a permanent part of the transit mix here."
The stories should focus, the memo said, on the relationship between DeLay and former mayor Bob Lanier, an "odd couple [who] is bound by the belief highways and poured concrete are the path to a profitable future for this area, and its converse — the belief that mass transit must be stopped in its tracks."
"This is a story in urgent need of telling, and an editorial position of equal urgency," the memo stated. "[Readers] need to know who has wielded the power to pour concrete, who still wields it and to what lengths the concrete pourers will go in order to stop rail."
In the end, voters approved light-rail expansion.
And on New Year's Day 2004, the Main Street line opened. And unlike the doubts of even some Metro officials, it opened in time for the Super Bowl. On February 1 of that year, the day of the big game, a record number of riders — about 64,000 — boarded the light rail. With the opening of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo a few weeks after that, Metro continued to bring in record numbers of riders during its first couple of months.
Things were looking great.
"I've built many light-rail systems, and this is probably the best started corridor I've seen," DeLibero told the Press when the Main Street line was being built. "It's got the Texas Medical Center and the museums and the Astrodome and Enron Field. When people say no one's going to ride it, I just don't believe it."
"I've heard light rail referred to as the Midas touch," says Gregory Thompson, a national transportation expert and professor of urban and regional planning at Florida State University. "But you can't stick a rail line in an impoverished neighborhood and expect the neighborhood to revitalize as a consequence of that rail line going in."
Six years after the Main Street line opened, the booming real estate redevelopments that were promised by Metro supporters during the rail debate haven't materialized. Other things haven't worked out as planned either.
Ridership numbers for the rail have steadily declined since the rail line first opened to huge crowds. During the first year, about 10 million people got on board, but over the past four years, according to Metro documents, rail has averaged between 2 and 3 million people each year. Bus service has also seen a sharp decline in ridership (see "Life Lines").
Perhaps the biggest problem for the rail, however, is that its trains couldn't keep from colliding with cars.
The crashes plagued the rail even before passengers started riding it. In the fall of 2003, during rail testing, there were five wrecks. And in the first couple of months of operation, there were almost 20 more collisions.
Ken Connaughton, a Metro spokesman at the time, told USA Today, "It's not a rail problem. It's a driver problem."
Houston drivers apparently still haven't figured out how to drive, because last year, the rail hit its 250th vehicle, and, along the way, set a national record of 62 crashes in one year.
The Discovery Channel even featured the Metro rail on its show Destroyed in Seconds. Using a When Animals Attack!-type voice, the narrator of the show says, "The Metro rail that snakes through Houston, Texas, has earned an unexpected distinction: It's one of the most accident-prone rail systems in the United States."
A couple of the most embarrassing crashes for Metro happened earlier this year when in February and March, in two separate incidents, a Metro bus and Metro rail hit each other at the intersection in front of Metro's downtown headquarters. Metro blamed the first crash on a bus driver running a red light, but hasn't placed the blame on anyone for the second one.
"We have to look very closely to see if there's any correlation with the last crash," Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts told the Press the day of the crash. "This could be just another unfortunate accident."
Nouri says he's witnessed close to ten Metro rail accidents at the intersection by his store since the rail opened in 2004. A crash last year involved one of his customers.
The man, who was visiting Houston from Louisiana and buying flowers, had just left Nouri's shop in his van when the van turned left off Fannin in front of a moving train. The rail operator was blowing his horn, Nouri says, but couldn't stop.
When Metro police officers arrived at the scene, Nouri complained to officers about all the rail crashes. Nouri says officers told him that drivers just don't understand the traffic laws. If a car is crossing the tracks, officers told him, the rail can't stop.
Unsatisfied with the explanation, Nouri asked the officers, "So if you see some dog crossing the street, are you just going to run over the dog?"
The 14-story Metro headquarters building in downtown, located at the intersection of Main and St. Joseph streets, is one of the crown jewels of Metro's Houston empire. The $41 million building opened in 2004, not long after the opening of the light rail that rolls past the building's entrance.
The headquarters was named the Lee P. Brown building, after the former Houston mayor who led the plans for bringing the Main Street rail to Houston.
But Brown was long gone by the time his building opened, because in 2003, when Houston voters approved the big referendum to expand the rail, they also elected Bill White. After White appointed his new members to the Metro board, the agency needed a new president to replace the outgoing DeLibero.
Frank Wilson was hired.
Like DeLibero, Wilson came from New Jersey, where, for almost a decade, he served as the head of the New Jersey Department of Transportation. And like DeLibero, Wilson came to Houston with a shaky start. Just a few months after he arrived, an investigative commission in New Jersey released a report titled "The Making of a Procurement Disaster," which largely questioned Wilson's management integrity.
The transportation department under Wilson's leadership, the report stated, "unfolded against a backdrop of events and circumstances that evidence the taint of multiple conflicts of interest."
"One extraordinary and untoward event that occurred during Wilson's watch as NJDOT Commissioner was his acceptance of a job offer from an engineering company that [had done] considerable business with the State of New Jersey..."
Wilson was working for that firm, based in California, when he accepted the job at Metro. (Wilson later hired an executive from that company to work as a $2,400-a-day consultant to help Metro build light rail.)
But that baggage didn't matter when Wilson arrived at Metro, because he was brought to Metro, like DeLibero, to do one thing: get the new rail lines built in a town that was still wary of public transportation, and still very wary of light rail.
"Wilson was just a gunslinger who doesn't like to follow the rules," says Paul Magaziner, a Houston businessman who has become one of the biggest Metro watchdogs in the city. "They knew it when they hired him. That's why they hired him."
Over the last several years, Magaziner has basically transformed his Richmond Avenue printing business into a Metro war room. Few people in Houston have collected as many documents and information on the agency.
His crusade against Metro started after Wilson arrived and released his plan for rail expansion, which included four new lines, with an estimated cost of $2 billion. Like the Main Street line's goal of opening before the 2004 Super Bowl, Metro said it wanted the new lines built by 2012, leading many to believe that the city was using light rail as an attempt to draw the 2012 Olympics to Houston.
A huge part of Wilson's plan included $900 million in funding from the federal government. The money was key for cash-strapped Metro's ability to pay for the projects, but would also open the agency to more federal scrutiny. Metro struggled from the start.
Magaziner often spoke at Metro board meetings about the agency's inability to finance the big rail plans.
Sometimes Magaziner simply sums up Metro with, "They're broke," or more often, "They're fucked."
On January 27, 2010, Houston attorney Lloyd Kelley, who had previously served on Houston City Council and as the City Controller, filed an information request with Metro under the Texas Public Information Act.
Kelley asked for, among other things, expense reports from Wilson and Wright when they traveled. He also wanted e-mails that were sent between the two.
Kelley made news in 2008 when, as part of a lawsuit against the Harris County Sheriff's Office, he requested e-mails from District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal. In the e-mails from Rosenthal's county computer, Kelley found pornographic and racist material, as well as embarrassing romantic e-mails between the district attorney and a female co-worker.
Rosenthal resigned a couple weeks after the e-mails surfaced.
In the Metro case, Kelley alleged that Wilson had a relationship with Wright and that when the couple traveled together on Metro business, Wilson illegally spent taxpayer money on her.
Metro eventually sent Kelley the documents he suggested, but Kelley wasn't satisfied; he believed that Metro hadn't sent everything that was available, or, worse still, someone had destroyed the documents he requested. So, he filed a lawsuit against Wilson.
"Let's see the truth of the backup documents," Kelley's attorney, Michael West, told the Press. "I have no reason to trust them."
A criticism of Metro for years has been that the agency is unwilling to cough up public information, even to city officials. Roger Allen, a nationally recognized transportation consultant who has testified in several cases involving Metro crashes, has worked on cases with Metro where attorneys have requested documents that could be used to study crashes, and, eventually, make Metro safer. Getting the information was never easy.
"It frustrates me because I can't do my job, because of Metro hiding documents," Allen says. "It's like Metro says, 'Yeah, we got the documents, but you got to find it.'"
Turns out, Metro officials were shredding documents, but Metro contended that doing so wasn't illegal. At one press conference, Metro board Chairman David Wolff said, "The shredding had nothing to do with the Kelley documents."
But a judge issued a restraining order, stopping Metro from destroying any more documents before Kelley's lawsuit could be heard in court. It's scheduled for trial at the end of May.
In the midst of the Kelley lawsuit, Pauline Higgins, a top attorney with Metro who had been hired to "clean up" Metro's legal department, was fired. Oddly, Metro broke from protocol and publicly discussed the firing, contending that Higgins was terminated because, basically, she was a bad boss. Also, Metro said that Higgins used company time to plan a charity golf tournament.
Higgins also sued Wilson and Metro.
"This lawsuit involves cut-throat politics and cronyism at Metro," the lawsuit states. "Wilson himself rejected the document retention policy that Higgins designed to bring Metro into compliance with state law. Wilson asked [a former Metro attorney] to handle document requests, despite the fact that Metro had been breaking state law under [the attorney's] previous tenure as general counsel."
The lawsuit continues, "By refusing to let Metro, and individual employees at Metro, engage in unsupervised record destruction, Higgins was preventing criminal activity and protecting both Metro and individuals from potential civil and criminal liability. Wilson apparently did not share this view..."
Metro has refused to comment on the Higgins lawsuit, saying that it doesn't talk about pending litigation.
On top of these lawsuits, Wilson and Metro began to come under heavy scrutiny from the Federal Transit Administration. The first case was launched after KHOU reported, using documents that Magaziner had obtained, that Metro had lied to the feds when it was applying for federal funding.
The report revealed that Metro used out-of-date sales tax figures to make it look like it could pay for the light-rail projects it had proposed. Metro placed a video on its Web site that called the report inaccurate.
But it was enough for the feds. In response to the KHOU report, the FTA said it wouldn't approve federal funding on the light rails until, according to KHOU, "it can become confident the transit authority can afford to finish the jobs while still maintaining current service."
On top of that, the FTA was already investigating Metro about business that it was doing with a foreign company. Federal "Buy American" guidelines require a certain percentage of federal dollars to be spent in the United States. After Metro applied for the funding, saying it would comply with federal rules, Wilson and Wright traveled to Spain — in 2008 — to meet with a rail car vendor.
Wilson and Metro then asked the feds for an exception to purchase and build light-rail cars in Spain. The FTA refused the exception, but apparently, Wilson decided to move on the Spanish cars anyway. A letter from the FTA's chief counsel to Wilson stated, "Based on this information...I hereby initiate this review to determine whether or not Metro is complying with Buy American requirements. FTA's investigation procedures place the burden of proof on Metro..."
The investigation would be another hold-up to the federal funding that Metro desperately needed.
On March 19, Mayor Parker held a press conference at City Hall to announce the names of her appointees to the Metro board. Parker had just gotten back from Washington, D.C., where she had met with LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation.
Parker said the feds were feeling a little uneasy about handing over $900 million, considering all "the turmoil on this end."
"The Secretary of Transportation made it clear," the mayor said, "any changes would help any current uncertainties."
Wilson, perhaps along with the federal funding, was all but gone.
The special meeting was called by the Metro board on May 7, a Friday afternoon. The board met in the drab-colored conference room where Wilson had presided over Metro meetings for six years.
On that Friday, however, Wilson sat silently for a few minutes next to the new board chairman, Gilbert Garcia, before the board and Wilson went behind closed doors. When they came back, Wilson had resigned.
"I guess it was two days ago, someone asked me about legacy. They said, 'What do you think your legacy is?'" Wilson said after his resignation was announced. "It's not the projects. As much hope and promise as there is in the future of Metro Solutions and 30 miles of new rail, it's really not that. A legacy here is 3,000 employees we call Metro employees."
Then he walked out the door.
The last action the board took on Wilson's behalf was agreeing to pay any legal bills Wilson racks up while defending himself in pending lawsuits.
George Greanias, the former mayoral candidate who wanted to build light rail in Houston in the late 1990s, was named the interim president. He has no experience in the transit industry.
Along with new Board Chairman Garcia, Greanias has said that Metro's main goal right now is not to push new rail through Houston's neighborhoods, but to restore public trust in Metro, to operate with more transparency than the previous administration.
He also says that Metro will do whatever it takes to get the $900 million in federal funding and continue with the rail projects. Greanias has his hands full.
The 7.5 miles of rail along Main Street, which were in the ground before Wilson came to Houston, remain the only transit rails in town.
Life Lines
Metro bus service remains crucial to a diminishing number of riders.
On a hot afternoon in May, Kay Matimas and her son waited at a Metro bus stop along Harrisburg Avenue, not far from Eastwood Park, on the city's east side. Matimas relies on the bus as her main mode of transportation, and she's done so for about ten years.
She takes the bus to the grocery store and church and whatever other errands she has to run each day. Her son, who is mentally retarded, always travels with her.
"If we get a bus driver we know, and he knows my son, it's okay," Matimas said. "But sometimes we don't recognize the driver, he doesn't know us and he doesn't know how to treat my son."
A lot of riders might not know the bus drivers as well as they think.
In 2006, the Houston Press published a lengthy investigation about the way Metro handles its bus routes. In 1997, Metro privatized some routes, handing out contracts to Cincinnati-based First Transit. According to the Press article, the move allowed Metro, among other things, to conduct "no oversight of First Transit's operations. Metro neither oversees background checks on First Transit drivers nor ensures that they are properly trained."
Furthermore, Metro was "rejecting the safety recommendations of its own investigators" and "taking no responsibility for accidents incurred by First Transit."
In one case profiled by the Press, a First Transit driver rear-ended an SUV on US 290, causing the truck to burst into flames. A nine-year-old girl died in the fire.
The bus driver who caused the wreck had taken only one written driving test for his bus job and failed it. He later said in a court deposition that he wasn't disciplined or reprimanded by First Transit. In fact, he was later promoted to a supervisor's position.
"Things are not getting better," says Roger Allen, a nationally recognized transportation consultant who has testified in several cases involving Metro crashes.
Allen even has a family friend who was hit by a Metro bus while she was walking across the street near the University of Houston.
"They were in the crosswalk; they had the right of way," Allen says.
Because of the accident, the woman racked up about $300,000 in medical bills, which Metro didn't have to cover because state law limits the amount that can be paid out in a settlement.
"She ended up getting divorced after the accident because of all the medical problems she had," Allen says. "Metro said, 'Here's what we'll give you; that's it. It doesn't matter that we ruined your life.'"
In the meantime, as rail was supplanting buses as the main priority for Metro, the bus system was cutting service to people who relied on it the most.
In the spring of 2009, the Press obtained documents from the Federal Transit Administration indicating that Metro violated federal civil rights laws. Tom Bazan, an opponent of light rail, told the Press he had filed numerous civil rights complaints about the dwindling level of bus service to low-income areas in favor of pouring "precious resources" into light rail.
In a preliminary report from the Federal Transit Administration about the civil rights violations, other complaints included bus drivers not stopping for riders in minority neighborhoods and "particular concerns for the safety and welfare of women and children."
Bus ridership numbers also dropped dramatically, according to Metro documents, from about 80 million in 2005 to just a little more than 17 million during the last year.
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For Matimas and her son — they don't ride the rail — that information is bad news.
"Perfect for me would be a bus that gets here on time and we can ride safe," Matimas said. "This is the only way we have." — Paul Knight
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text:
I'm building a template for use when sending "abuse" notifications to ISPs, hosting providers, etc., for when attacks originate from their netblock.
Are there examples of templates used for this purpose that have been well designed or vetted or which otherwise reflect what is advisable/inadvisable to include in these notifications?
Put another way:
- What information should be included in such a notification
- What information should not be included in such a notification

subset: commoncrawl


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Home › Forums › Campfire › Post-Trip Reports › Pukaskwa: 160kms Around the Outside via Foot & Raft
- AuthorPosts
- Jun 8, 2013 at 11:50 am #1303960
The Coastal Hiking Trail in Pukaskwa National Park ("Puck-a-saw") is reputed to be one of the finer hikes in Ontario. It runs 57km (38 miles) of coastline in the NE corner of lake Superior from the north entrance of the park down to an arbitrary ending in the middle of nowhere. The common way to hike this trail is via a water taxi shuttle to the remote southern terminus, but to me this lacked the purity (and frugalness) of an entirely self propelled journey. I contemplated a yo-yo, but the project went on the backburner.
A couple years later I began dabbling in packrafting and my interest was rekindled when I realized that the floatable Pukaskwa River enters Lake Superior just 33km (20 miles) south of the trails southern terminus. Covering the 20 miles of terra incognita with the tools of foot and raft seemed feasible, and so a plan was hatched: Float 65km down the Pukaskwa river (3 days), spend 2-3 days traversing the unknown 33km of shoreline and then another 2-3 days on the Coastal Trail.
Thin red line is logging rd, then it's raft (blue), off-trail (red) and hike (green)
A better look at the route plan. Park boundary in thin bright green
Rob from BPL contacted me this past winter eager for some ambitious adventure, so we decided to team up for the Pukaskwa and plans fell into place for an early May trip. Spring is the only time of year to float the Pukaskwa, but this year winter was dilatory and snow and ice persisted as our spring time slot neared. Finally in the last 2 weeks before the trip the ice broke on the river and levels shot up. Our timing offered sporty water and a low chance of bugs in exchange for persistent snowpack in the woods and a cold initial forecast.
Day One: Pukaskwa River Headwaters to Fox River
We converged on the park on May 10, 2013 after much pre-trip help and guidance from Parks Canada's Lyn Elliot. We picked up our passes and completed the car shuttle by noon.
Water levels were high at 5.3m on the gauge and it was snowing lightly with temperatures hovering below freezing. We put in at 12:30pm, hoping to make it 18km to Fox River that day.
Show up and blow up
Crossing a pond before the fun starts
By any measure, day one was tough. Cold & snowing with splashy water and deep snow on the portages. This is about the least snow we found anywhere, as we commonly post holed thigh deep.
Thing got even colder when Rob took a swim attempting a gauntlet of cedars. A little too keen and not sure if Rob swam, I followed suit and joined him in the drink. Shivering ensued as we paddled hard to get less cold.
There's not many pictures from day one, as the camera's tend to disappear when you're more concerned with avoiding hypothermia. That became an increasing thought as Rob enjoyed his second swim – this time a lengthy and rowdy dip that added a new ventilation hole to his paddling pants.
Rob warming up after swim #2
After some jumping jacks, we carried on and enjoyed more of the coldest packrafting I've ever done.
Despite challenges from frigid weather, multiple swims and losing his hat in the river, Rob maintained his unwaveringly positive attitude, which is exactly what you need when the going is tough. We stuck with it and monitored each other to made sure no one was getting too cold. We arrived at our island campsite destination at the Fox River confluence at 7pm and we happily discovered the only significant snow free patch we'd seen all day.
Rob after day 1
I wanted to collapse into my sleeping quilt, but Rob was ambitious enough to be thinking about a fire despite everything being cold and wet. Purely on his own, Rob performed the impossible and started a blaze (shown below).
We didn't spend too much time around the fire as it was precipitating too much to dry anything, but Rob had the wise thought to tuck away some dry charred logs to get an easy fire going in the morning.
Day Two: Fox River the end of Pukaskwa Rapids
We awoke to frozen everything, but thanks to Rob's foresight we quickly got a blaze going and spent 2 hours drying everything before venturing on the river at 10:30am.
The morning was cold, but we warmed up with some paddling and eventually the sun came out. The great thing with a super tough first day is that whatever comes after is an improvement and you're extremely thankful for it. We made good time on day 2, as the snowpack thinned in the woods as we drew closer to the lake.
Day two on the river
At one point in day 2 we unintentionally got split off the main river into a narrow creek that didn't join up for miles. It was really cool floating through the fast windy creek. Rob enjoyed it, while I worried it would get choked with wood. Thankfully we had just enough water to float over countless beaver dams, and Rob deemed it a high point of the trip.
Hydro incognita – Our diversion from the main river
Almost nothing left of Lafleur's Dam
Searching for the perfect sleep spot
Day Three: Pukaskwa Rapids to Imogene Cove
The sun that appeared on day 2 stuck around to great us on the morning of day 3. We savoured the warm energy and "garage saled" our frozen gear from the cold night, again beginning our float after 10am.
Day three was just awesome boating. We portaged Ringham's Gorge and enjoyed some great swifts and white water including the excellent Class III Gorge rapid.
The scenery kept getting better
Arriving at the mouth of the Pukaskwa River
We arrived around 5pm at Superior to calm water and light winds. We didn't know what weather tomorrow would bring, so we opted to paddle an extra 3km to Imogene cove instead of fishing at the mouth of the river.
Out on the big water
Despite choosing to make miles over fishing, we had camp set up by 7 and had some extra daylight. Rob and I went fishing and on my third cast I pulled in dinner on my ultralight rod. Rob came over to lend me his expertise at landing fish and taking fish pics.
25" Steelhead
We had a great time on day 3. Fast water, beautiful scenery, joy inducing weather and good fortune. At the same time, the uncertainty of the miles ahead tempered any celebrations as we had completed leg one on an excellent note, but now had to focus on the ambiguities of the second leg.
Day Four: Imogene Cove to Swallow River
After months of wondering, today we would get our first taste of the unknown lands south of the hiking trail. We set off down Imogene beach and planned a 1.5km bushwack across a pennisula to the next cove (Bonamie).
Getting started on day 4 with more gorgeous weather
At the end of the beach we entered the bush. I knew most of this area had been logged early in the 1900's, so I expected thick wood and it didn't disappoint.
Thankfully we found the remains of a trail which allowed reasonable travel. It was rarely this good, but it protected us from the brunt of the thick bush
Blowing up at Bonamie Cove
The wind picked up a lot on day four – thankfully it was a perfect tailwind. It blew us right out of Bonamie cove and we landed on a pennisula just shy of the scary big water. The floating was easy but landing was getting challenging as the waves grew bigger and began breaking.
We stared across the next bay, thrilled at the easy distance we had just covered and wondering if we should tempt fate with a second more exposed crossing. The wind was stiff, but from the perfect direction. Option B was hours of bushwacking around the cove. One more exposed float would land us on the southern pennisula gaurding Otter Cove, which we could bushwack into and then paddle safely within.
We monitored the wind for a bit and it was stiff but steady. The direction was consistent enough that we felt confident we'd head for the right spot, but the waves were getting big enough that landing would be tricky with the crashing waves. We spotted a beach as our destination and a few other beaches as bail options. We asked ourselves what Hig and Erin would do and then decided to go for it.
We set out as the wind continued to grow stronger and the waves grew bigger. The float was several miles across a big bay. We flew, with the wind blowing us at 4km (2.5mph) + whatever effort we put in.
Pictures will never show it, but a tense windy crossing
Soon we neared our destination beach. I knew we would hit our target, but I wasn't sure I could make it past the break. I'd tried packraft surfing before and I knew it's really tough to stay straight (and avoid flipping) without a keel. Thankfully the water wasn't deep at the shore break. I went first and tried to sneak to shore between crashing waves. Alas it wasn't meant to be, as a big one caught me and gave the spin & dump. I stood up in waist deep water and hauled my boat into shore, wet but glad to be on firm ground. Rob had better fortune as he nailed the timing and made a big wave landing look easy.
To get across the pennisula into the protected waters of Otter Cove, we negotiated a short bushwack to Buchanan lake, paddled across and then bushwacked again into Otter Cove. It was relatively good walking and quite scenic.
Our route for the 33km of no trail shoreline
In the protected confines of Otter Cove the wind was gentler, so we blew up in mid afternoon and enjoyed easy miles with a tail wind out of the cove. We chatted about the big water ahead and deferred a decision, as we both agreed the last crossing was at the upper limit of sketchy. By the time we got to exposed waters, the wind had slowed enough that we felt okay heading out on the main lake. We were still nervous, but it was definitely less sketchy.
Easy miles on Superior
The wind faded to an excellent and relatively low-stress tailwind as we hauled down the coast line. The easy travel felt like cheating after months of mentally preparing myself for days of thick brush. The miles flew past as we paddled lightly and chatted. Our daily goal had been Otter Cove, but we revised it to Cascade Falls, and then Triangle Harbour and then to Swallow River. We were at Swallow River just after dinner and we decided to pull in despite knowing all to well that that we could make it the last 5 km to the hiking trail with just another hour on the water. We figured leaving those last 5km for tomorrow would let us get a short taste of the bush we had mostly floated past.
Rob taking the lead in the fishing derby with 3 more trout
Winding down at the end of day 4
Day Five: Swallow River to North Swallow River
If day four was cheating, then day five was self inflicted punishment. Those 4.8kms of easy lake floating we had casually declined yesterday would consume a 7 hours of tough slogging today. Day five was hard, but we finished with no regrets and a better appreciation for the woods and navigation.
The winds weren't too bad as we awoke (slight headwind), but we never seriously considered asking more from the lake after all it did for us yesterday. We headed inland to the bridge across the Sparrow river. Parks Canada had installed this bridge years ago (90's) when the original plan was to extend the hiking trail all the way to the Pukaskwa River. The bridge went in but the trail never did. Still, we were determined to hike the trail that hadn't been built.
Swallow River bridge to nowhere
The going was thick and slow. It was mostly crashing through dense young forests of balsam fir and spruce that were replacing the dying popular and birch trees that had grown post-logging.
Finding our position in a rare open spot
Triangulation with Rob's ultralight navigation kit (not our only map/compass)
Typical day 5 terrain
Mountain man Rob
After about 5 hours and 4km (2.5mi) we made it out onto a walkable beach a few bays south of our goal: the southern trail terminus.
Even still, the going wasn't all easy.
The trail lies just over that peninsula
Finally, we rolled into the cushy facilities at North Swallow which included a lovely new outhouse and a proper fire pit. We enjoyed our first intentional dips and washed our clothes. We had just arrived at the trail, but it felt like we had completed our trip.
Rob decided he needed a hat to replace the cap he lost on the river. He sewed this lovely crown to impress anyone we might meet on the trail.
Day Six: North Swallow to Oiseau Bay
We set off down the trail around 8am. An anthropogenic trail was a welcome and stark change from the previous days walking.
Rob puts on a river crossing clinic at North Swallow
Such nice walking
We rolled into Oiseau Bay around dinner and enjoyed another fire and down time. It was amazing how the good weather stuck around after day one, giving us sunshine and virtually no bugs. Rob and I combined for a total of 6 mosquito sightings over the first 6 days.
Day Seven: Oiseau Bay to Hattie Cove
Again we got on the trail around 8am and made good time with nice weather and almost no snow.
Rob stares down a moose
Wonderful sections of trail
Awesome sections of beach walking
We had planned to camp along the White River and finish in the morning, but we got thinking about soft beds and hot food so we pushed on to finish at Hattie Cove. We rolled in around 7pm and had a nice chat with the parks staff.
Overall it was an excellent trip. It's always uncertain to head out on a big trip with someone you've never met, but Rob was awesome trip partner both in skills and psyche. His ability to stay upbeat and positive was awesome during the frigid first day and the never ending bushwack on day 5.
Rob and myself at the finish
Jun 8, 2013 at 12:12 pm #1994632
Luke SchmidtBPL Member
@cameronLocale: Alaska
Dan very nicely done trip report. I enjoyed reading it. The map was nice since its an area I'm not super familiar with.
How did that custom Catalyst work out? I remember you posting pictures of it earlier. Does the hybrid cuben hold up well to bushwacking?Jun 8, 2013 at 12:40 pm #1994639
Ahh the Catalyst…I'll preface this by saying that a lot of gear damage went down that day. Rob took a hole in his pants and two holes in his pack (if memory serves), while I took several good tears in my shoes. Mid-afternoon Rob remarked how my Catalyst looked unfazed by the bush while his pack had a numerous signs of wear, and then we noticed a huge tear in the side my pack (~6"). The brush was unreal in some sections and I think what happened is that I fell sideways and managed to stab it with a broken branch, which turned a hole into a tear as I continued to move forward.
So the pack looks great except for one large tear. Thankfully it's in an easy spot to sew up and not a high stress area, so it'll just be a cool battle scar once I get around to fixing it.
Aside from that, the pack was excellent. It did a great job keeping the water out (and not taking on weight) while rafting and it carried very well although my pack wasn't much over 30 lbs by the time we were hiking.Jun 8, 2013 at 1:18 pm #1994650
Nathan VBPL Member
@junkLocale: The Great Lake State
Great trip report Dan, looks like you guys had an awesome adventure. That tear in your pack is just a badge of honor, that will remind you of the trip whenever you look at it.Jun 8, 2013 at 1:22 pm #1994651
Jerry AdamsBPL Member
@retiredjerryLocale: Oregon and Washington
Great report
I think I'de call that "type 2 fun". Very strenuous trip.Jun 8, 2013 at 1:52 pm #1994660
John WhynotMember
@jdw01776Locale: Southeast Texas
Great trip and report. Thanks for the pronunciation tip (Pukaskwa = "Puck-a-saw"), a little local knowledge always helps…Jun 8, 2013 at 5:04 pm #1994713
David ChenaultBPL Member
@davecLocale: Queen City, MT
Awesome route, awesome trip, awesome report. Well done.Jun 8, 2013 at 5:10 pm #1994715
Andrew FMember
@andrew-fLocale: San Francisco Bay Area
Thoroughly enjoyed your report Dan. It's so rare these days to find an adventure that you can't thoroughly dissect on the internet beforehand. It's special when you do find one – kind of like doing a first ascent when climbing. I've got a few pieces of "terra incognita" out here that I'm planning on exploring this summer.Jun 8, 2013 at 5:41 pm #1994726
Ike JutkowitzBPL Member
@ikeLocale: Central Michigan
That is one seriously sick trip, and one of the best trip reports I've read in a long time. Thanks for putting it up.Jun 8, 2013 at 8:27 pm #1994779
Steven ParisBPL Member
@saparisorLocale: Pacific Northwest
Awesome. Just . . . awesome. I love learning about places I've never even heard of.
I was just trying to follow your trip on google maps. In satellite view (although the river isn't named) you can see the "bridge-to-nowhere" you crossed over.
Here: 48.175430, -86.080703Jun 9, 2013 at 10:51 am #1994937
Eric BattyBPL Member
Strong work and a awesome trip report!Jun 9, 2013 at 11:06 am #1994942
M GBPL Member
@drownLocale: Shenandoah
I grew up on the North Shore of Superior and can only say Kudos for pulling it off. Look up the National Film Board if Canada's films by Bill Mason canoe camping on the shores during storms. Very impressive stuff and strong parallels. I'm envious. Would love to do a big trip like that in the region, perhaps starting near White River .Jun 9, 2013 at 11:27 am #1994947
ManfredBPL Member
Thanks for the great trip report. Dealing with the unknown makes these adventures even more exciting.
You got me now even more interested in pack rafting.
ManfredJun 9, 2013 at 6:00 pm #1995087
rOg wBPL Member
@rog_wLocale: rogwilmers.wordpress
deletedJun 18, 2013 at 11:08 am #1997716
Trevor WilsonBPL Member
@trevor83Locale: ATL -- Zurich -- SF Bay Area
Awesome trip and trip report! Thanks for sharing.Jun 18, 2013 at 3:32 pm #1997781
Dave TMember
Ok… that's bad ass. Great trip, and way to persevere under some tough conditions (and to weigh risks and make good decisions).
Right on!Jun 18, 2013 at 4:53 pm #1997803
Tad EnglundBPL Member
@bestbuilderLocale: Pacific Northwest
Totally Envious-
Except this "Despite challenges from frigid weather, multiple swims and losing his hat in the river" , I could do without that. Though it makes for a complete adventure.
Dan, did you use you MYOG PFD on this trip also?Jun 19, 2013 at 10:19 am #1998053
spelt with a tBPL Member
@speltLocale: SW/C PA
Awesome all around.Jun 19, 2013 at 6:07 pm #1998197
Thanks for the kind words guys. If anyone is ever heading down the river shoot me a PM and I'll send you the rare out of print guidebook for it. It was super nice to have accurate beta for the upcoming rapids, and more importantly where to find the barely there portage trails.
Ted, I may have had my MYOG PFD along in 10 lbs float setup ;)Jan 6, 2014 at 2:32 pm #2060960
Sam HaraldsonBPL Member
@sharaldsLocale: Gallatin Range
Missed this TR until someone alerted me to it via Dave's Bedrock & Paradox TR contest. Spectacular looking link-up, you two!
SamJan 6, 2014 at 6:00 pm #2061027
Clayton MauritzenSpectator
@glacierramblerLocale: NW Montana
Missed this the first time around too. Impressive. I'm starting to think outside of mountains for wilderness trips, and I'm loving the creativity and drive you guys put in on this one.
Fueling the juices for the coming year. Much appreciated on every level.Jan 8, 2014 at 4:46 pm #2061692
Thanks guys. It's fun looking back at the pictures. Definitely a memorable trip.Feb 12, 2014 at 5:11 am #2072540
Dana SherryBPL Member
@dsherryLocale: Southwest
Agreed- sweet report. Could inspire me to purchase a packraft. There are adventures to be had with them. I've kayaked the shore and hiked the trail, would be excellent to link the 2 trips together and finally bag the Pukaskwa river as well.
I am in Marquette if you have future trips in mind.
DanaFeb 15, 2014 at 7:05 am #2073754
Tom ClarkBPL Member
@tomclarkLocale: East Coast
Bbrrrrr…definitely a trip report I prefer to read than write, and I suspect that "type 2 trip" comment someone made was close to the mark.
TomMar 13, 2014 at 6:21 am #2082392
Jeff McWilliamsBPL Member
@jjmcwillLocale: Midwest
What a trip report! Thanks for posting.
I'm planning a yo-yo trip for this year with a small group of friends of varying skills levels.
I was a bit surprised to read that you covered the 30.5KM from Oiseau Bay to Hattie Cove in a single day. Are the recommended daily hiking distances in the visitor's guide THAT CONSERVATIVE? It contains lots of warnings about how rugged the trail can be.
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|2012-01-07, 11:42
|Link #121
Join Date: Oct 2008
Etsuko Yakushimaru was not credited for the OP, just the ED.
But, you're right, music is subjective. When you said this OP is barely a song and Denpa Onna's is brilliant, expressive etc. though, that's where the line is drawn. An OP is an OP. It should introduce viewers to the show. Nothing more. You can say it's expressive of a character, but 1) the character hasn't been introduced yet when you watch the OP for the first time and 2) it's in Japanese.
It's not whether one's better or worse. Kill Me Baby's OP gave me a good impression of the show. Denpa Onna's did not. That's all. Feel free to disagree.
|2012-01-07, 11:49
|Link #122
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
|2012-01-07, 17:10
|Link #123
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: U.S.
Yuru Yuri isn't a 4-koma, as Utsuro no Hako mentioned Working! is and there are a lot of 4-Koma in past few years that had tremendous success and most are arguably better than their manga original. This fact doesn't bode well for Kill Me Baby as comparision even though first episode isn't bad.
which doesn't bode well for Kill Me Baby as comparision even though first episode isn't bad. K-On, Lucky Star, Working!, Seitokai Yakuindomo, GA Art Design, Sketchbook, and not to mention the grand-dady that started this trend, Azumanga Daioh.
Compare to those I felt episode one as a whole didn't really live up to my expectation, but it was a decent episode.
|2012-01-07, 22:36
|Link #126
Megane girl fan
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
Age: 51
The OP was a bit annoying to me. I liked the ED though. Although the art and design isn't really my style, the jokes made me chuckle a few times.
Maybe this will be a good change of pace for me.
Endless "Hygienically cautious" Soul
|2012-01-07, 22:56
|Link #127
Join Date: Jan 2007
Age: 19
As for this anime - I can't say I've ever liked a 4-koma adaptations (or the originals) much, but this is worse than usual. At least they could have made a new anime screenplay based on the original material, but instead, they kept the choppy 4-koma pacing that does not work on the screen.
|2012-01-08, 13:55
|Link #128
Longtime Lurker
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: The Inland Empire
Age: 35
Watched episode 01 last night and I rather liked it. I will admit, I think I like the ED a lot better then the OP.
|2012-01-09, 20:21
|Link #132
We're Back
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Redgrave City
Age: 30
As a person who absolutely loves Denpa Onna's OP, and was even addicted to both of Jinn's songs (Raion and Kaidoku Funou), even I would be knocked out if I tried to listen to the OP more than once a day
|2012-01-10, 14:11
|Link #139
Join Date: Mar 2008
Sure, I know there is a lot of horrible stuff in this show, though most of that can simply be blamed in having the same budget as a flash anime, the good thing is taht this is a comedy anime so it does not suffer, and while the jokes are kinda dumb they are very fresh for the genre.
Since I tend to watch at least one comedy show per season, rewatching the same jokes always makes them lose impact so what made the deal for me in this anime was that thenjokes felt free, even fi they are jsut based on a combination of violence (sonia), dumb characters (yasuna) and being weird/oportunistic (agiri).
|comedy, manga time kirara, seinen
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So much awesome
What would you do with this super paper? There are so many possibilities. Imagine paper books and printouts that don't pick up germs, or a backyard pool lined with gaudy wallpaper. You may not even need magnets to stick your kid's next report card up on the fridge. Raves will undoubtedly have a party with florescent-lined paper.
Most of all, could this finally lead to the dust-proof paper we were promised in Back to the Future? We certainly hope so.
(Image via)


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Analysis: Obama's speech takes on divisive issues
President Barack Obama is pledging to respond to what he calls "the threat of climate change." He says that failing to do so would be a betrayal of the nation's children, and of future generations. (Jan. 21) AP
For the first time in U.S. history, an inaugural address endorsed same-sex marriage. Obama also talked about climate change.
WASHINGTON — Less hope. More opportunity.
Barack Obama's first inaugural address to an unprecedented 1.8 million massed on the National Mall was buoyed by exuberance over the historic moment of swearing in the first African-American president — but it was also defined and limited by the unfolding financial crisis that dominated his first term.
In his second inaugural address Monday, his crowd was less than half the size, the breakthrough that his presidency represents has become more familiar and his own words promising a post-partisan era have been tempered by the confrontations of the past four years.
FULL COVERAGE: The presidential inauguration
Even so, the opening for President Obama to shape his own agenda and his ability to push it through a resistant opposition may well have grown.
In his first four years, top White House concerns were determined in large part by the economic crisis and the two wars he inherited. With a recovery now underway and U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan headed home, he is in a better position to set his own priorities — not to mention he may feel liberated by the fact that he won't be running for office again.
In his 18-minute address on a cold day, he embraced more divisive issues and drew sharper lines than in the speech he delivered in 2009.
MORE: Obama takes oath, delivers inaugural address
For the first time in U.S. history, an inaugural address endorsed gay rights and same-sex marriage; Obama said "our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law." He vowed action on climate change (a hot-button phrase he didn't utter in his 2009 address), saying no one "can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms." He alluded to the school shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn., that has prompted him to add gun control to his agenda, saying children there and elsewhere should "know that they are ... safe from harm."
And he drew a bright line on the spending issues that are about to erupt on Capitol Hill as automatic spending cuts and a bill to continue funding of the federal government are debated.
WORD CLOUD: Obama's inaugural addresses
"We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit," Obama said. But "the commitments we make to each other — through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security — these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great."
The contemptuous reference to "a nation of takers" was a slap at Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who was videotaped during the campaign as dismissing the "47%" who were "dependent upon government," and at his running mate, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has contrasted the country's "takers versus makers."
As he did four years ago, Obama decried the capital's grinding partisanship. "We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate," he said. At his first inaugural, he said he had come "to proclaim an end" to the "worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics."
This time, however, he didn't argue he would be able to reconcile the warring sides or bring a new kind of politics to Washington. Rather, he seemed to be braced for waging those partisan wars — winning them, he hopes, by marshaling public support across the country.
His words were more unyielding, his manner more confident than four years ago.
"If the first inauguration was the coming-out party for the post-partisan politics that he ran on in 2008, today's inaugural was the announcement of a more fierce realism and recognition of deep, unbridgeable partisan differences," said Lawrence Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota.
Jacobs noted how often the president used the word or cited the idea of coming together in pursuit of American ideals. Obama grounded his arguments on government regulation and spending to the promises of the Declaration of Independence.
"Our journey is not complete," Obama said five times. Five times: "We the people." Seven times: "Together."
Obama's re-election has validated his first victory. A two-term president can't be dismissed as an historic aberration, the way the one-term Jimmy Carter sometimes has been. While second terms are often difficult and scandal-ridden, it has given Obama another chance to pursue issues such as immigration and climate change that were sidelined during his first term.
Republicans have hardly been vanquished. Navigating issues like gun control and energy through the GOP-controlled House of Representatives looms as a huge challenge. Still, an hour before the inauguration began Republican aides said the U.S. House would vote Wednesday to raise the debt ceiling — postponing what could have been an early and bitter standoff over spending.
"This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience," Obama declared. "A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America's possibilities are limitless. ... My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it — so long as we seize it together."


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Four Kapiti museums not to be missed
Culture and heritage abound on the Nature Coast.
You could spend a whole week visiting a different museum each day. We're renowned for our transport museums and heritage trails around the district. Many locals are passionate about their history, and are only too happy to share it with you.
Combine your museum visit with a short walk or picnic, or head to the beach for a dip in our lovely safe swimming beaches.
Wellington Tramway Museum (Paekakariki)
Take a round trip through the region's premiere coastal park on a genuine old-school Wellington tram.
Southward Car Museum (Paraparaumu)
The Southward Car Museum is home to the largest private car collection in the southern hemisphere. There are more than 400 automobiles, plus aircraft, bicycles, vintage tools and other vehicular memorabilia.
Museum of Aviation (Paraparaumu)
Overlooking the the airfield runways, this museum was opened to preserve New Zealand aviation history, and in particular the aviation history of the Kapiti district. Photos, models and collections pay homage to our national air carrier as well as some of our small airline companies.
Kapiti Coast Museum (Waikanae)
Housed in the old Waikanae Post Office, the Kapiti Coast Museum is home to extensive displays of everyday life from the pioneering era.


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$10K Blueprint PLR Review and Bonus by Sajan and Justin – Best New Method How to Make $10,000 Per Month and Developing your List Building Plan
$10K Blueprint PLR REVIEW
$10K Blueprint PLR is an exclusive, completely created from scratch, and absolutely New PLR Monster Package, contained with a Premium Quality Sales Funnel on one of the hottest niche which your buyers can edit however they want, sell it under their own name or brand name by using a complete set of ready-to-install, and of the Best Quality Marketing Tools, and keep all the profits for themselves!.
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– $10K Blueprint PLR Review –
WATCH THE DEMO $10K Blueprint PLR HERE :
$10K Blueprint PLR Review and Bonus by Sajan and Justin – Best New Method How to Make $10,000 Per Month and Developing your List Building Plan
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10K Blueprint ebook is a unique and completely updated 10,000 + words Training Guide. it's up-to-date, informative, and includes the most useful, cutting edge information on Success. You can rest assured knowing that this eBook was written by a fluent, native U.S. writer who holds a Certified English Degree, and was chosen based on industry expertise.
What Is Included?
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As you can see, the training guide is a high-end report filled with useful instructions, excellent advice and up-to-date information. If you look on Amazon and Clickbank, selfhelp is one of the most IN DEMAND topics…When you put this in front of the right audience, they will not only buy, but thank you for giving them an amazing resource to online success…Heck, even beyond selling this course, you will likely get a few things out of it yourself…
Attractive Chapters and Sub-Chapters Images Included!
MODULE 2 – Cheat Sheet
The cheat sheet is an excellent tool for your customers. It simply and effectively breaks down each and every aspect of the training for them into easily actionable steps. This will allow them to more quickly master the process. This will help to keep your customers happy, which keeps you happy as well. This is a free bonus which makes the whole offer more enticing.
MODULE 3 – Mind Map
This mind map outlines everything your customers are going to be learning throughout the training. It'll show them the steps and make it easy to follow along with as they're going through each part, in order to allow them to absorb everything more smoothly.
MODULE 4 – Resource Report
Here you will have access to a complete niche research report showing you the best tools, training, blogs, forums, and infographics. All centered on selfhelp/success
MODULE 5 – Ready Made Sales Letter & Thank You Page
- We hired a top notch copywriter to create an amazingly high converting sales page for this funnel.
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MODULE 6 – Hypnotic Sales Video Promo
To make promoting your front end offer and making sales even easier, we're giving you 2 videos to choose from.
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These videos are extremely popular because they work…People love them, and when you combine this with your professional sales page, you'll be making sales right out of the gates.
MODULE 7 – Legal Pages
You are going to need a professional looking minisite if you want your customers to take you seriously. I've hired one of the best designers to make this website look like a million bucks!
MODULE 8 – Full Set of Professionally Designed Graphics
You're going to get the complete set of professionally designed graphics, including any CD/DVD covers, artwork necessary to sell the product, and a whole lot more. This will make the training more presentable, and much easier to sell. You'll be given the image files in PSD format, so you'll be able to edit them however you want, and make them all your own. Add any logos or images you want to any or all of them. You'll also get PNG files as well, so you can upload them as is, you choose to do that instead.
MODULE 9 – 10 High Quality & Unique Article
Getting articles of this type from a ghostwriter would cost $25 per article or more, but here you can have it for free.
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MODULE 11 – 5 High Converting Promotional Email Swipes
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MODULE 12 – 10 High Quality eCovers
eCovers really bring a digital product to life. It's proven that having high-quality, life-like eCovers for your digital products increase buyer confidence and conversions. That's why we're going to include 10 beautifully designed eCovers that you can use in any way you wish. If you hired a designer to create beautiful eCovers like this, you could easily find yourself spending hundreds of dollars…Today, you can get them at no additional cost when you grab this PLR package…
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With Facebook, Instagram, And The Other Social Media Sites Getting Bigger And Bigger, The Opportunity To Engage With Your Audience And Drive Traffic Is HUGE. That's Why We're Going To Include 10 Beautifully Designed ECovers That You Can Use In Any Way You Wish. Take Any Of These Social Media Images, Upload Them To Facebook Or Instagram And Watch The Traffic Roll In. This Gets Engagement And Will Lead To Opt-Ins And Ultimately Sales.
MODULE 14 – License Pack
And of course, you'll get the private label rights, master resell rights and resell rights licenses for all the above modules.
Here Are Some Money-Making Ideas WITH THIS PLR PACKAGE
- Build A List By Offering 10K Blueprint course (Or Just One Of Its Modules) As A Free Gift.
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$10K Blueprint PLR Testimony
The quality of this course blows me away and I'm not only talking about the information. Each page is professional designed, all the copy is written to convert like crazy. If you're looking for a high quality PLR product to sell as your own and make massive ROI starting today I highly suggest picking up this course. All of Sajan's products absolutely rock. Great Job! – Kevin Fahey
Sajan's sales funnels with PLR is different. And the reason it is different is because Sajan is different. He is not your typical fly-by-night Internet Marketer. He is an upstanding man, with strong values and morals, who actually cares about the success of his students. And this shows in the quality of his PLR products and in the responsiveness of his post-sale support when it is needed. I don't do very many product testimonials. But I am proud to promote Sajan and his product to you. It is truly top notch. – Josen Ruico
Sajan and his team always produce supreme quality PLR products and this is not exception because you have everything "Done for You" that you need to succeed with the topic covered. Their high quality PLR packages truly saves you time, money and solve the product creation headache. Well done Sajan for bringing out yet another fantastic product. – Dr. Amit Pareek
YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES At This Point…
OPTION #1 – Create Your Own Product
Although there's nothing wrong with creating your own product, it can be extremely time-consuming or expensive if you decide to outsource everything…It can easily take 100 hours or more to create a product, write the sales copy, do the graphics, and get it all online…And that's if you know what you're doing! If you decided to outsource the project like most marketers, you'll pay hundreds of dollars for product creation, hundreds of dollars for expertly written copy, and hundreds of dollars for graphic design…The cost to create a high-quality product with sales copy and graphics can easily exceed $2,000…
OPTION #2 – Invest in 10K Blueprint With FULL PLR RIGHTS
You'll get a professionally created, up-to-date product that people want and need that you can start selling TODAY…No spending weeks creating a product or waiting for your contractors to finish the job…You can be live as soon as you click the button below, and for MUCH, MUCH less than what you'd spend if you outsourced the whole thing…
$10K Blueprint PLR Bonuses :
Fast Action BONUS #1 – PLR Master Class
"How To Build Authority And Profits Using PLR"
Veteran Internet Marketer Charles Harper goes beyond the surface to talk about those things that truly determine your success in any niche. In this Special Presentation he explains WHY things work in internet marketing along with WHAT works.
- Results From Survey of Internet Marketers on Their Most Common Concerns.
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- Why Time Is the Most Important Element In Internet Marketing.
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Fast Action BONUS #2 – PLR Sales Funnels
"Sales Funnels Training Set Up"
Of course, we won't leave you alone. We really want you to make money with this as quickly as possible. For that reason, we are proud to offer this amazing, hot bonus that will get you up and running selling your product in no time. Here we're talking about a detailed video training that will show you every detail you need to know to set up your killer sales funnel in the shortest time possible. It's almost like having your very own coach who shows you exactly what to do – "go here, click this, do this" and so on. We made sure every step was crystal clear so that there's no doubt in your mind how to set up your PLR package.
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And Of Course…THERE'S NO RISK WHEN YOU TAKE ACTION TODAY…
And of Course…There's No Risk When You Take Action Today…Let's be frank.money back There's a lot of garbage PLR out there.I don't want your fear of getting stuck with something that's not good quality prevent you from making one of the best decisions you'll make in 2017. Because I know you'll be blown away by the quality of this PLR, I'm going to give you a full 30 days to make sure you're happy with it. If for any reason, or no reason at all, this isn't for you, just send me an email, and I'll process a refund of your tiny investment…No Questions Asked!
$10K Blueprint PLR : FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What are the PLR Rights?
You get full rights to add your name and claim the content as your own. You are free to sell the course anywhere or in any way that you see fit. Pretty much the only thing you can't do is pass on the PLR rights to your buyers.
I need PLR Videos of this training, what should I do?
You can grab the videos in the upsell page (you'll be lead to the upsell page after this purchase where you get videos along with another awesome modules.
How much for all of this?
It all starts at just $7. This is structured as a dime sale, so the price is increasing…After 4 days,
the price will be $27-$37 (which is still a GREAT deal)
Are there any ongoing fees?
Just a one-time investment is required to get started.
What does this focus on?
The course teaches marketers how to profit with 10K Blueprint, one of the hottest topics of 2018. Every marketer knows they need to build a list to be successful… 0K Blueprint is an
A to Z course that gives a marketer everything they need to profit with 10K Blueprint in 2018.
What if I'm not technically savvy?
It's incredibly easy to set everything up. You'll receive detailed instructions that make setup a breeze.
I've bought low-quality PLR in the past…what makes this different?
This PLR was created by a team of professionals to ensure a high level of quality. All of the content was done by a native English speaker, and the content is up-to-date with what's relevant in 2016.
Is there a guarantee?
Yes. 30-day, no questions asked, money-back guarantee. There's NO risk.
Why should I get this today?
Because it's one the highest quality PLR offering being offered online…one sale pays for itself, and the course is packed full of goodies that you can use to profit with yourself.
How do I get started?
Click the button below to get INSTANT ACCESS…
GRAB $10K Blueprint PLR HERE :
$10K Blueprint PLR Review and Bonus by Sajan and Justin – Best New Method How to Make $10,000 Per Month and Developing your List Building Plan
$10K Blueprint PLR REVIEW
Unlike Many PLR Products Out There, This PLR Product Is Well-Written By A Native English Speaker And Focuses On One Of The Most In-Demand Topics Online Today. I say investment, because this thing pays for itself with just one sale! Not only can you learn a lot from what's inside, but you'll be able to make your money back over and over and over again…But hold on…For this special introductory offer and to celebrate the launch of this PLR product, I'd like to offer it to you at a 75% discount. So what are you waiting for? Click the button below to get instant access to the entire PLR package today.
"Yes, I'm Ready To Get Started Making Money Today!" Getting started is easy…Simply click the button below to get INSTANT ACCESS to 10K Blueprint in a Box…You can have it all setup and be making money as soon as today! Take advantage of this special offer right now. Don't wait any longer. This special offer could be taken down at anytime. If you aren't completely satisfied with the PLR package, you pay nothing. It's that simple. You're 100% protected by our 30-day money back guarantee. Click the Buy Now button above to get instant access to everything.
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$10K Blueprint PLR Review and Bonus by Sajan and Justin – Best New Method How to Make $10,000 Per Month and Developing your List Building Plan
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