This had to happen. A column in the Glen Falls, N. Y. station says what many were thinking about the list of proposed Amtrak stimulus projects. Ken Tingley figures 19 people use the Fort Edward station every day.
He also dissects improvements at every small town station in New York state.
But Sen. Schumer seemed to think this is key to reviving our economy.
“This critical funding will ensure that our Amtrak rail systems across the Adirondack/North Country are safe, accessible and up to date for the people who depend on them,” Schumer was quoted in a press release.
You mean all five of them?
This is the type of stuff that drives me crazy.
This is the type of stuff that scares the living hell out of me when I think of all that stimulus money in the hands of people so ridiculously lacking in any common sense.
Some of this money is being spent on wheelchair lifts and disability access to make the train stations compliant with disability access laws, but is that what the stimulus money was intended for? Will it help turn our economy around?
Schumer has been here seemingly dozens of times, but I’m guessing he never arrived by train at Fort Edward.
Who has?
Some thoughts.
The list of Amtrak projects was compiled by Amtrak, so it seems a bit unfair to nail the Senator with it.
Maybe Mr. Tingley is in a wheelchair, maybe not. I am not and can not imagine what it must be like. There is an Americans with Disabilities Act. It was passed by the people’s representative body in the Congress and signed by (if I remember correctly) a Republican president (Busy 41(. ADA is the law of the land and I presume Amtrak was sued by somebody injured getting on or off a train without proper equipment. Hence, I am imagining that Amtrak is “on the hook” for these improvements.
I’ll bet the people who make those lifts think it is a stimulus.
Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics, Regional USA Passenger Rail
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