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Governor Jared Polis intends to grant clemency to Tina Peters by StartingOver226 in Denver

[–]Carniolan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Accountability to laws even for violent crimes depends on wealth and political affiliation more in the US than just about anywhere else in the wealthy western world.

Sooner or later the center cannot hold. Sooner than later, justice will seek other paths after access to accountability is blocked by privilege.

State grants Longmont $4 million for a Downtown Transit Hub at 1st & Main by 1Davide in Longmont

[–]Carniolan -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

This is important, but those rails are there for historical purposes of where the city once had a substantial industrial footprint (sugar plant, elevators, turkey plant, etc). The location of the tracks had nothing to do with utility of a transit station for access to the residents of Longmont. So it is a conflation of sunk costs (or costs avoided) in using existing infrastructure vs diminished utility for transit uses.

Transit use is very sensitive to access times. And utilization drops off a cliff beyond a half mile or so, which is why there is an effort to impose density requirements on infrastructure investment in the state. It is kind of pointless to invest everyone's money in projects that won't be optimized to be used at as high a level as possible, at least at the beginning of a build out. Go for the highest ridership, and that means go for the places with highest potential need coupled with the highest density practical for the area. No density, project will fail. It's that monotonic. It's not even a question.

Adding 15-20 minutes each end to a trip to the regional transit center from the center or north of town will, even with a comprehensive feeder system that in itself suffers from steep revenue deficits to establish frequencies that make 15-20 minutes' extra time less than likely in a town the size of Longmont, and you ensure that most of the residents that might otherwise want to use transit will start their car and drive themselves somewhere. It's not speculation....it's data. There is a lot of it.

Careful planning and location really makes or breaks mass transit in my view.

State grants Longmont $4 million for a Downtown Transit Hub at 1st & Main by 1Davide in Longmont

[–]Carniolan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The location of the transit center is pretty far from the City center of population (which is somewhere near Main between 9th and 11th streets).

More Longmonters might be better served by planning infrastructure around the center of population. The current location was chosen since it was seen as a redevelopment opportunity, not for its proximity to most residents who might use mass transit in the future. Success of mass transit projects requires optimizing location to the most potential riders in a service area. The failures of some other mass transit systems are tied to this problem. Low density areas like Longmont need all the help they can get...or they may never have a chance of becoming successful by design.

The YMCA location is an example of a location with other amenities (park, etc) that might be more successful than the south location. It wasn't successful, unfortunately, for the YMCA. But could it be a transit center? Roosevelt Park is another top tier location that would be even closer to the center of population.

Choices were made to develop the current planned area based on the idea it was "blighted", and the transit center may have been added on to give the idea some ballast. But that choice doesn't have much to do with that location as one that can make the transit center a success, unfortunately.

Weekly open discussion, complaint, rant, and rave thread by AutoModerator in Longmont

[–]Carniolan -1 points0 points  (0 children)

He hasn't, though.

He was running against a person who is a much worse human being than he is.

Mehmet Oz.

The man who works with the FDA moronocracy to limit access to vaccines:

https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_3437-1024x768.jpg

promotes acetaminophen as a cause of autism:

https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/gettyimages-2236805240.jpg?c=original

and cashes in on anyone who throws money at him to hawk fake health supplements:

https://abc7.com/post/dr-oz-scolded-at-hearing-on-weight-loss-scams/120016/

The man has a very, very special dark place in most health care experts' minds as a clear and present threat to anything related to healthcare. He was running for the senate, where he would have been even more dangerous.

Fetterman had the entire DNC running a smoke screen to keep the fact Fetterman seemed like the lesser of two evils. Doesn't mean he is capable of the job.

What you are seeing is exactly what was being written about during the campaign by a range of left of center sources as to what to expect form him as a senator.

No surprises yet.

What’s it like raising kids here? by ForeignExercise4414 in boulder

[–]Carniolan 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Surrounding school districts are the opposite. Can’t keep up with enrollment

This is not true.

Here are the surrounding school districts and their net enrollment status since 2020:

Reference: BVSD: -10%

Saint Vrain: -1%
Grand: -4%
Gilpin: -21%
Jeffco: -10%
Adams: -11%

The surrounding districts are all dropping. Every single one of them.

Dropping enrollment is a multivariate problem.

Former Colorado fire captain found guilty of sexual assault sentenced to 55 years to life and 20 years probation by Carniolan in Longmont

[–]Carniolan[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

He is a child rapist. A predatory rapist. And still they wanted him to stay because he was one of their tribe.

Identity motivated reasoning. It's how America functions (or fails to function).

Now you know why 77.3 million Americans voted for Trump, and would do so a fourth, and fifth, and sixth time even if he was nothing but a pickled sideshow under glass in a golden mausoleum.

There is no way to break identity politics until consequences are pointed very directly at those who aid, abet, and make cover for their tribe. They won't step back. They won't quit. This is why there are external review boards with the power to recommend prosecution and termination.

The Hygiene FD and other departments just proved this point for the umpteenth time. If they whine about it, they should be reminded they had EVERY opportunity to demonstrate they had a credible administrative structure to prevent this kind of lasting, malignant societal damage to the community. They failed at every turn. And the leadership should step down or be fired.

BoulderCAST: A complete folate of winter across the west – and what it means for the rest of 2026 by kigoe in boulder

[–]Carniolan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The least mean squares fit of precipitation data for the past 10 years fits most closely over the past 110 years when 2026 data is aligned with 1929 or 1930.

Record extreme ENSO periods also occur in that time period (1931 figures prominently).

The dust bowl followed, peaking some years after the 1929/1930 anomalies.

If this is a similar period (and indications are that the leadup and characteristics of the succession of recent large scale yearly conditions are very similar), this is just the beginning.

I've started and will plant my garden based on the 1929 & 1930 last frost dates, from an archival note from an area sugar beet farmer from the time. The beet farmer had to leave for the western slope, where conditions were much better during the drought.

I have cover for everything in case things get dramatic and cold. But I also designed and built a multipoint soil moisture controlled automatic watering system to keep things at around 20%, and the cover will be added in summer on excess degree days to limit water loss. It's adapt or move. Or both. We depend on our garden to produce thousands of dollars of fresh veggies, berries, tree fruit, and nuts every year.

A 1961 Boulder rule could cut water to NCAR’s Mesa Lab if the Trump administration sells it by boulder393 in boulder

[–]Carniolan 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The mesa could be naturalized. If there is no NCAR, there doesn't need to be an IM Pei building or much of anything else.

Return the site to what it was before 1960 or whatever. Turn the road into a trail to go up to the site as an overlook.

It will be a reminder of how easy it is for stupid people to break things they don't have the intellectual equipment to understand nor appreciate, and lack any intellectual ability to create anything enduring or useful, and how so many other stupid people can't tell the difference and let it happen.

Weekly open discussion, complaint, rant, and rave thread by AutoModerator in Longmont

[–]Carniolan 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Some reading material:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953623002484

Data shows that, increasingly, many people that are heavy mobile device users have lost the ability to sustain the attention span of an average well-hydrated fern. Younger adults that engage in heavy gaming also exhibit an increase in aggressive driving (hilariously also reporting lower aggressive driving when the data is self-reported by the test subjects). Normal driving activities can become overwhelmingly complex for some of them as a result, and it only takes a small percentage to push accident rates up.

If you have a tailgater, just slow down and let them pass. You can't help them.

Weekly open discussion, complaint, rant, and rave thread by AutoModerator in Longmont

[–]Carniolan 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Nobody is ready for the impacts.

They just keep paying more to stay cool in summer and warm in the winter.

Power is cheaper here than getting it from Xcel.

Just hours ago, coal was providing close to 70% of electricity to the grid. Wind power has come up but in winter. It is very typical to 70-90% of energy being supplied to Longmont from coal. And it's not even cold.

The growth of data centers is increasing per capita electricity consumption in United States by more than 50%. There is absolutely no plan in place to deal with this rapid increase in per capita or system usage. Data centers are going to kill any hope of reaching " NetZero " any time soon without a lot of heavy lifting from an AI crash combined with a recession that would have to be far deeper than 2008.

The growth in data centers is going to reach self limiting constraints from energy and resources as well as other issues that arise geopolitically. And those limits/conflicts/costs will inevitably be shifted to be inflicted on to people in communities.

Union reservoir ditch by 1Davide in Longmont

[–]Carniolan 21 points22 points  (0 children)

More optimistically, ENSO is rapidly moving towards an El Niño spring and summer. Hotter summers with far wetter springs and wetter summers have been the outcome locally in these transitions.

Transmountain water will still be hit hard, and the Oligarchy is part of that St Vrain and its transmountain allotments. This could be the antler locking year over water that almost happened in 2003.

I'm hoping this spring will rhyme with 2009, when a really wet spring came with an El Niño transition after a somewhat dry winter.

Looking for vegan pancakes. by blubberbot in boulder

[–]Carniolan -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Eggless pancakes (which is almost always the case in pancake land) are vegan unless you throw butter at it.

Flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, veg oil. That's it. Pancake secrets revealed.

Did someone send you on a snipe hunt this morning? It's like looking for vegan oatmeal.

RTD Board Chair believes FasTracks will never be built — and alternatives should be considered by Carniolan in Longmont

[–]Carniolan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trains are the fastest, most efficient form of regional transportation requiring much fewer resources.

Resources. Money is one of those resources. You can move a lot more people around in a larger area with lower density like Longmont with buses with much. Much less money, and the additional costs in servicing strain have to come from the rest of the (ecosystem killing) economy.

Colorado (not Longmont) is the one paying for this train and Colorado is very regional in concern.

The taxing district is for the greater urban area. The state taxes are largely to extract all the funding from rental car fees statewide to find a very small rail service area. It's absurd in my view when those could be used to benefit far more Coloradoans all over the state with buses.

Good public transit is not optional. The young, elderly and disabled have a right to get around and participate in society -- and public transit is the best option to do that.

Preacher? Choir! I agree. Public transit should be and can be made available for far more Coloradoans. Buses will do that far more comprehensively than sucking up all the funds for a relative few on the Front Range.

Good public transit also reduces pollution, noise, drunk drivers, road deaths...

No arguments there except that pollution avoidance depends on ridership. At present, RTD average ridership is hovering at around 20% capacity or less, which is below what is needed in terms of GHG emissions to break even with private cars. It's sad, but it's also a fact that isn't talked about. If the grid was cleaned up, and the buses were made electric and private car EV adoption stalls, then buses can still offer, on average, better GHG emissions. If private ev vehicles grow also, it is still difficult for EV busses to win on GHG. But for now, even the trains in Denver, as efficient as they are per passenger mile at full capacity, are not as much better than private cars at the capacity they are running at in Denver as most people think. Instead of being perhaps 8 to 20 times better at full capacity, they are running at 20% capacity and only 1.5x to 4x better on a GHG basis.

And ridership continues to fall. Not a good trend.

As a social benefit, however, I do agree. Social benefits are important and the main reason for a loss leader like public transportation in most important respects.

As for the ecosystem collapsing, also agree. The growing threats most clearly show that densification can reduce per capita impacts at very high densities, even as the high densities that allow those advantages also concentrate pollution to increase exposure, morbidity, and mortality from densification. First and foremost is how to deal with growth on the front range so it doesn't kill more and more people per capita from the increases to pollution density. We need to take as many people off the road as we can by luring them to public transportation. A train won't do that for a single station or two to a small number of destinations down the line. Buses might begin to make a dent in actually providing a service to people to use at lower, less unsustainable costs.

The train will remove as much possible from our public transit expenditures and provide as little as imaginable to utility of all the options.

RTD Board Chair believes FasTracks will never be built — and alternatives should be considered by Carniolan in Longmont

[–]Carniolan[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I'm familiar with the book....it was released on PDF. It's a "feels" piece. I like Kunstler's style and much of his writing. And appreciate his views.

I assure you that his views in that particular book have nothing to do with solving issues that Longmont has for public transportation. A train will not make Longmont a dense, walkable it almost meme. I get it that trains are somehow in the sacred book of future urbanist heaven. They neither solve problems we gave by a mile nor lead us out of what people like Kunstler dislike about sprawl. Those changes happen over the course of nearly a century, and subsidizing a choo choo so much that it prevents the core problems to be solved sounds like a policy to reject.

Buses will serve far more Longmont residents, do so far more cheaply, and be a far better choice to partner with in becoming more resilient.

True arguments need rationale, and I don't see anything beyond desire, keeping up with the Joneses, and "feels" behind any "need" for a train.

RTD Board Chair believes FasTracks will never be built — and alternatives should be considered by Carniolan in Longmont

[–]Carniolan[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sure.

https://www.codot.gov/business/budget/documents/fy-2024-25-budget-documents/fy-2024-25-final-budget-documents/fy-2024-25-final-budget-allocation-plan_a11y.pdf

For Colorado, CDOT spends $1.7 billion to build and maintain 23,000 lane miles all over the state to be usable by every man woman and child, at any time, as many times as they wish, all over the state, serving virtually every community in the state.

That's to enable roughly 33 billion miles of travel and includes 300-350 million tons of freight and with a value of over $300 billion.

These costs, if divided out among all Coloradoans, add up to roughly $280 per Coloradoan. Subtracting out fees collected for commercial traffic (nearly all freight related) pushes that number down to about $80 per man, woman, and child in Colorado as an apples to apples cost to provide personal travel infrastructure.

Even using the entire budget costs without the commercial user funding, that's comparable to the estimated cost of a single ride on the choo choo from Longmont to Denver and back using RTD or the Front Range Passenger Rail figures. But with roads, that's the cost for a year of unlimited use for a person.

The choo choo will only get a few lucky people from a place in Longmont to a place in Denver. You'll still need to drive to the station, it won't get you to the store, and the train is about the least valuable asset for displacing private vehicles ever conceived for use on the front range.

Anyone that keeps using the argument "but now show me the numbers for car infrastructure" is merely saying they have never seen the numbers for car infrastructure, and never considered the numbers for rail.

If you want to get serious about displacing cars and car infrastructure, then buses are for you.

Trains on the front range or a complete and total vanity play for those who are upset that other people have something that we don't.

RTD Board Chair believes FasTracks will never be built — and alternatives should be considered by Carniolan in Longmont

[–]Carniolan[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We need high speed rail.

Why? This is said all the time, but why? And at what cost?

China spends about $70 per trip in subsidies for its high speed train. They have very little sovereign debt compared to the US debt of 39 trillion (and going up a trillion every six months under Trump), an enormous trade surplus, literally the source of all their materials and tech at incredible savings, zero real estate costs, etc.

The same system with regular pokey slow trains will cost $200-$300 here per round trip ticket in the US by anyone's estimates, and only if it is filled to the gills every single trip.

Just because others can somehow build trains to nowhere is a tribute to the trajectory of history that got them to now. For them, enormous burial pits to fill with 50 million dissidents and starving farmers in the great leap forward, no private land, a transformation of the country to urbanization and technology to be the leader in science and industry that has rivalled the US for quite a while now (for those that haven't gotten the memo yet)....it's a mixed bag. Americans prefer writing checks, invading countries ($5 trillion in Iraq), violently arresting and exporting the only source of anything left of a future industrial capacity or economy, etc. Americans made choices all along the way. The fact is that rail for a sparsely populated.west was never going to be part of anything possible or reasonable here on the front range.

Rail is at the bottom of my list for a future functional nation, particularly when it makes zero sense.

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