by Alex Marshall, Editor, Spotlight on the Region
Flying with 800 other people in a plane the size of a shopping mall is not a particular desire of mine, but if it were, I would have to do it on the new Airbus A380, whose completion was announced with great fanfare in Toulouse, France this week. The aircraft can carry more people - up to 800 - than any plane in the world, and it can carry them farther and more cleanly than ever before.
I prefer fast trains to large planes, and if I wanted to take one, I would also have to head for Europe. There I can travel from Amsterdam to Seville almost entirely on swift, smooth trains that travel up to 200 mph.
I'm also fond of driving in the best conditions possible. If I go to Germany, I can drive in an environment where heavy trucks are tolled on the highways using onboard computers, with the tolls adjusted for the truck's weight and traffic conditions. A similar system operates in Switzerland. These systems rely on the American-built Global Positioning System, but we have nothing similar here.
While some might not like to admit it, it's clear that Europe is better than the United States at some things. Although generalizations are always just that, in general the European Union, despite being composed of dozens of countries with different native languages, plans, finances and sticks with big projects better than we do.
Four countries - France, Germany, England and Spain - had to cooperate for many years to produce the Airbus A380. Turning Airbus into a leading commercial aircraft supplier took an even longer time, more than three decades of commitment. Similarly, producing the high-speed train network across Europe, which like Airbus started in France, required a similar commitment to work for a long time on a complex, expensive project. The funding and control of these projects were complicated affairs that involved a mix of private business and government spending, control and oversight. While the jury is still out on whether the Airbus A380 will be a commercial success, there is no denying that it is an ambitious and noteworthy effort.
We here in the United States historically frown when there is open collusion between government and business. It goes on here, but usually out of the public view. In Europe, it's understood more that business profitability is built on the back of government investment, ranging from transportation to appropriate education to scientific research. There's no shame in such cooperation, as there should be no surprise that Europeans expect the rewards of such cooperation to be distributed fairly.
At times it seems the only place where business and government cooperate openly in the United States is on defense projects. And it's no accident that many of the business fields where the United States leads the world, from the Silicon Chip, to the Internet, to the Global Positioning System, were developed first by or for the military. While we often accuse Europeans of subsidizing business development with government funds, they accuse us of subsidizing business development with defense spending. In truth, both are right.
What does all this have to do with us here in the Tri-state region? These European success stories come to mind because in the same weeks that Europe is triumphantly announcing a new plane, vital projects like the 2nd Avenue subway and East Side Access, each more than a half century in the making, are still languishing because of a lack of a commitment to a project that requires money and patience over a long period of time. And these projects are just two of many.
Much or even most of the business community is aware that modern infrastructure is vital to the region's and thus their own future. But they seem to have had a more difficult time of translating that awareness into effective action.
Historical patterns aren't set in stone. In the late 19th century, the business community united with government to finance and build the city's first subway line, which was publicly-built but privately run. (Contrary to popular belief, private companies operated the early subways under long-term leases, but did not own them or finance them.) Politics were thick at every step of the way, but the system got built.
So rather than citing historical patterns as an excuse for not doing something, I cite them to open a door to change them.
Flying with 800 other people in a plane the size of a shopping mall is not a particular desire of mine, but if it were, I would have to do it on the new Airbus A380, whose completion was announced with great fanfare in Toulouse, France this week. The aircraft can carry more people - up to 800 - than any plane in the world, and it can carry them farther and more cleanly than ever before.
I prefer fast trains to large planes, and if I wanted to take one, I would also have to head for Europe. There I can travel from Amsterdam to Seville almost entirely on swift, smooth trains that travel up to 200 mph.
I'm also fond of driving in the best conditions possible. If I go to Germany, I can drive in an environment where heavy trucks are tolled on the highways using onboard computers, with the tolls adjusted for the truck's weight and traffic conditions. A similar system operates in Switzerland. These systems rely on the American-built Global Positioning System, but we have nothing similar here.
While some might not like to admit it, it's clear that Europe is better than the United States at some things. Although generalizations are always just that, in general the European Union, despite being composed of dozens of countries with different native languages, plans, finances and sticks with big projects better than we do.
Four countries - France, Germany, England and Spain - had to cooperate for many years to produce the Airbus A380. Turning Airbus into a leading commercial aircraft supplier took an even longer time, more than three decades of commitment. Similarly, producing the high-speed train network across Europe, which like Airbus started in France, required a similar commitment to work for a long time on a complex, expensive project. The funding and control of these projects were complicated affairs that involved a mix of private business and government spending, control and oversight. While the jury is still out on whether the Airbus A380 will be a commercial success, there is no denying that it is an ambitious and noteworthy effort.
We here in the United States historically frown when there is open collusion between government and business. It goes on here, but usually out of the public view. In Europe, it's understood more that business profitability is built on the back of government investment, ranging from transportation to appropriate education to scientific research. There's no shame in such cooperation, as there should be no surprise that Europeans expect the rewards of such cooperation to be distributed fairly.
At times it seems the only place where business and government cooperate openly in the United States is on defense projects. And it's no accident that many of the business fields where the United States leads the world, from the Silicon Chip, to the Internet, to the Global Positioning System, were developed first by or for the military. While we often accuse Europeans of subsidizing business development with government funds, they accuse us of subsidizing business development with defense spending. In truth, both are right.
What does all this have to do with us here in the Tri-state region? These European success stories come to mind because in the same weeks that Europe is triumphantly announcing a new plane, vital projects like the 2nd Avenue subway and East Side Access, each more than a half century in the making, are still languishing because of a lack of a commitment to a project that requires money and patience over a long period of time. And these projects are just two of many.
Much or even most of the business community is aware that modern infrastructure is vital to the region's and thus their own future. But they seem to have had a more difficult time of translating that awareness into effective action.
Historical patterns aren't set in stone. In the late 19th century, the business community united with government to finance and build the city's first subway line, which was publicly-built but privately run. (Contrary to popular belief, private companies operated the early subways under long-term leases, but did not own them or finance them.) Politics were thick at every step of the way, but the system got built.
So rather than citing historical patterns as an excuse for not doing something, I cite them to open a door to change them.
@RegionalPlan