America needs repair

[mellowtigger]

I missed this CNN article when it first came out. It talks about America's failing grade for its infrastructure.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/28/infrastructure.report.card/

The group doing the grading is the American Society of Civil Engineers. Their recent report cards are as follows: (i = incomplete or not graded):

category	2009	2005	2001	1998	1988
Aviation	D	D+	D	C-	B-
Bridges	C	C	C	C-	C+
Dams	D	D	D	D	i
Drinking Water	D-	D-	D	D	B-
Energy	D+	D	D+	i	i
Hazardous Waste	D	D	D+	D-	D
Inland Waterways	D-	D-	D+	i	i
Public Parks and Recreation	C-	C-	i	i	i
Rail	C-	C-	i	i	i
Roads	D-	D	D+	D-	C+
Schools	D	D	D-	F	i
Security	i	i	i	i	i
Solid Waste	C+	C+	C+	C-	C-
Transit	D	D+	C-	C	C-
Wastewater	D-	D-	D	D+	C
Levees	D-	i	i	i	i
estimated 5-year cost	$2.2 trillion	$1.6 trillion	$1.3 trillion	i	i

Note that the current estimated cost is 3X the massive spending bill passed by congress this month. As a solution, some people are proposing bringing back the Depression-era organization called the "Civilian Conservation Corps". In this program, people (men) lived in work camps and were housed, clothed, and fed by the government. They were required to send 80% of their earnings (which were small) back to their families. Their projects included forestry, roads, parks, phone lines, and flood control.

I think of it sort of as a homeland version of the Peace Corps but much bigger. The proposal this time is to include women in their ranks. If they recreate this group, then I hope they'll also consider old men like me. I think it's a project worth leaving home to join.

The conditions were harsh, and their unofficial motto was "We Can Take It".  Some people hoping to recreate this group have their own website with good history and other information.
http://www.wecantakeit.org/

The massive spending bill just passed is only a small part of what's needed to help America succeed.  For much too long, we've diverted precious resources from national investment into personal investment (war profiteering, house profiteering, etc), and it'll take a long time to get ourselves out of this problem.  We first have to muster the intention to do so.

You can help notify Washington DC of your support by signing the petition to recreate the Civilian Conservation Corps.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/national-petition-for-the-reactivation-of-the-us-civilian-conservation-corps

Comments

Re: WPA

[mellowtigger]

Works Progress Association? I hadn't heard of that one before either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration

Yeah, it's a long term problem that I see with our society. We've moved away from craftsmen to contracts. I saw it happen within my own job several years ago.

I was a programmer who was solely responsible for a particular system. There was nobody else. If users wanted a feature, they came to me. If something didn't work correctly, they came to me. I was the craftsman, and I could create new abilities for them if they came to me with hand-scribbled notes on wrinkled paper (and they did).

But then the legalese started. We wanted to become ISO certified, and that meant signatures and oversight and documents about terms of service and sign-offs by people who had no real contact with the system. I was a slave to contracts instead of being a craftsman. *sigh* I was not at all disappointed when they eventually shut down my system (after paying a 7-digit dollar figure to contractors to build a new system and then leave) and end my job.

I think craftsmen are better. Responsibility to go with skill. Leave people to do the things that they're good at, and they'll perform better than any micro-managing contract can require them to do.