Daily Archives: 01/19/2010

(Community Matters) No doubt about it, independent voters are angry and disappointed, certainly most crossover Rs – even some Ds.  We all need some sleep and reflection.  Competition makes us stronger, and presidents have done quite well with even fewer Senate votes.  Sometimes early wake up votes save us from ourselves.

(Community Matters)  The Beast: 75 worst commutes: I-35 Austin (northbound) is #4 (behind #1 Hollywood Freeway, #2 H1 in Honolulu and #3 the Beltway in DC)

Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 460
Worst bottleneck: Northbound, Riverside Dr
Length of worst bottleneck: .92 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 47
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 16.2 mph

The expert opinion: “It’s the most traveled stretch of roadway of Austin and in the state,” says Joe Taylor, traffic reporter for News 8 Austin. “It’s quirky. It was designed for a small town, and we’ve grown into a very large city.”

Hat Tip: Rob Oppegard

(Community Matters) ReadWriteWeb: Never Mind the Valley: Here’s Austin

This blending of unique industries in Austin is just a small part of what makes the city unique from other entrepreneurial communities like Silicon Valley.

(Community Matters) quick aggregated update from HelpHaiti partners:

@PiH_org: Outside of Port-au-Prince, PIH’s hospitals continue to see overwhelming volume of patients, especially for surgery.  PIH emergency surgical and medical teams are currently located in  St Marc, Cange, Hinche, and Belladere.  These sites are being supported by medical teams and supplies coming in via the Dominican Republic.  PIH Medical Director happy to report additional field hospital site open in PAP – a total of 13 operating rooms up and running, and they now have electricity so can operate over night.  Three more plane loads of surgical teams and supplies arrived on Monday.

@Concern (changed from @ConcernWorld): Water distributions (for 50,000 people), clean-up campaign (a cash-for-work program), soap distribution (15,000 people), temporary latrines (15,000 people), and shelter (tents and plastic sheeting for around 25,000 people)

We are continuing to look at aid in three stages: 1) save the living, bury the dead, 2) short term and intermediate humanitarian aid & relief,  and 3) reconstruction, rebuilding and growth.

double your Haiti donation here- HelpHaiti

(Community Matters) Just now, driving the four blocks to pick up a Starbucks, I remembered one of last night’s dreams. Kevin Tuerff and I were in a car.  We had a relatively minor accident, though because I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt, it was quite major.  I remember thinking, okay, this is bad for me (I was the one badly hurt), and it’s really bad for others because of me.  Just now, driving the four blocks to pick up a Starbucks, I buckled up.  I’d been developing a bad habit of not doing so for such a short ride – usually at 5:30 in the morning.

(Community Matters) Just reviewing traffic stats – grr, drop off, though climbing back, since moved to WordPress platform (must have something to do with search).  I’m floored one of my most popular postings of all times is the First Kiss story.  Warmed my belly to go back and read.  And, btw, folks sure search for Amanda on here 🙂