Curb ramp improvements happening all over Idaho Falls

The curb at the corner of Yellowstone and A Street

Whether you're a driver, bicyclist or pedestrian, it's been hard to impossible not to notice the number of curb ramps being poured this summer in the city of Idaho Falls.

There is no single plan or grant behind all the activity, just a renewed focus on the part of Idaho Falls and the Idaho Department of Transportation, said Chris Frederickson, city public works director.

The Idaho Transportation Department is overlaying various state highways within the Idaho Falls city limits this summer, including:

• Broadway from Bellin Road to Yellowstone Highway
• Yellowstone Highway from Sunnyside Road to Lomax Avenue
• U.S. 20 from Saturn Avenue to Science Center Drive

This work includes new pedestrian ramps at various intersections and milling and overlaying the street section. Frederickson said it only made sense for the curbs improvements to be integrated into the projects, to bring access up to the standards of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Work has been going on seven days a week from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., but some of the work has taken place during the day, causing delays and lane closures.

On Channing Way, there is a new water line going in and new curb ramps being put in.  On Thursday night, the City Council approved a $250,000 state-local agreement providing for more curb and sidewalk improvements, primarily on arterial and collector streets.

The city now maintains a road construction map on its Web site, which it updates every Monday.

http://gis.idahofallsidaho.gov/Construction/

Meet the Beetles

There are a lot of tires to kick this weekend out at the EITC parking lot on Hitt Road.

I'm going to admit it right up front: Even though I'm not driving one now, I have always been partial to Volkswagens. I've owned a Rabbit, a GTI, a Golf and a Jetta, and as far as I'm concerned they offer great European car performance at the most affordable price (although the bargain basement Bimmer I scored for $1,100 was probably the most amazing thing I've driven when it came to simply eating up the road.)

Anyway, I don't normally plug car sales on this blog, but Teton VW's Best Thing Ever Sale is being held this weekend at Eastern Idaho Technical College and the money they are paying for the lot is going toward EITC scholarships, which I think is a noble thing. Check out the 200 new and used cars on display. The sale ends Monday night at 8. There are 13 models that get better than 35 mpg on the highway (my first Rabbit got 36; that was back in 1981). Make sure you ask about free Idaho Falls Chukar tickets.

Museum of Idaho, Chesbro Music announce Great Guitar Giveaway

The Fender Stratocaster and amp that are going to be given away Aug. 31 at the Museum of Idaho.

So you wanna be a rock 'n' roll star? In connection with "Guitar: The Instrument That Rocked the World" at the Museum of Idaho, MOI and Chesbro Music are holding the Great Guitar Giveaway.

Enter for a chance to win one of two prize packages:

1. A red Fender Stratocaster with original contour body, Mojo custom retro tweed deluxe amplifier (15 watts w. Jensen speaker), Harman/Digitech istomp downloadable effects pedal, Fender deluxe gig bag, 10-foot Fender instrument cable and CMC stand. Sponsored by Fender, Mojo, Digitech, Chesbro Music and KBEAR 101.

2. Teton acoustic guitar, case and stand. Sponsored by Chesbro Music Co. and KBEAR 101.

Tickets are $1 or 5 for $6. Winner for the first prize package will be drawn Aug. 31. Entries not selected to win the first prize package will be automatically entered into the drawing for the second prize package, which will be Nov. 22.

Tickets are $1 apiece or $5 for 6. They are available at the museum and Chesbro Music on Broadway. Being a guitar gear geek of the first order, I want to check out this amp and also ask whether the Stratocaster can be exchanged for that Thinline Telecaster reproduction I was drooling over the other day. Not that I have anything against Strats, I just like Teles better.

Putt Past Poverty Golf Tournament set Aug. 24

Catholic Charities of Idaho is hosting a golf scramble Aug. 24 at Sage Lakes Golf Course. The organizers are looking for people who want to play and for team sponsors.

All proceeds from the tournament will directly benefit participants in the Individual Development Account Program.

Individual development accounts are matched savings accounts that help people of modest means save towards the purchase of a lifelong asset, such as a home or education and job training. Accounts match the deposits of low-income participants into special savings accounts. In addition to earning match dollars, participants learn about budgeting, saving, and purchasing an asset.

Compared to peers not participating in an IDA, research on the outcomes of IDA programs show that participants are:

• Twice as likely to attend college
• 35% more likely to own home
• Less likely to receive public assistance
• Less likely to go into foreclosure 

To find out more about the tournament and CCI, visit this link: http://ccidaho.org/golf2013/

Is growth ending? And if it is, how do we adjust?

While waiting for phone calls to be returned, I ran across this article on the New York Magazine web site.

The Blip

As a baby boomer and student of history, it's a subject that interests me. The questions it asks is "What if everything we've come to think of as American is predicated on a freak coincidence of economic history? And what if that coincidence has run its course?"

I wrote some comments in response to it, which I'll share below. But I'd recommend you read the article first.

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Our expectations of growth and prosperity are based on what happened during a very brief period of history, 1948 to 1973. During this time, Japan and Germany were rebuilding from the rubble they'd been bombed into during World War II. Our main competition was military and ideological, Communism in the Soviet Union and Red China. We enjoyed a fantastic standard of living. Business and organized labor were essentially partners in the great scheme of things.

Things began to change in the early '70s. Suddenly Germany and Japan had new factories and infrastructure, while ours was aging. To cover the costs of Vietnam and the Great Society, Nixon floated the dollar, undoing the Bretton Woods Accord of 1944. Automation became more prevalent. Americans began feeling the pinch.

No one likes to give up gains they have made. Our reaction was to pitch headlong into borrowing. Who had a credit card in 1970? Businessmen with expense accounts mainly. By the end of the decade they were being pitched to everyone (my first Bank Americard, in 1979, had an astounding limit of $500.)

In addition to the extension of credit came the decline of manufacturing and the embrace of consumerism as the economy's driving engine. Baby boomers entering the workforce embraced easy credit as essential to their standard of living.

That was as unsustainable as the postwar prosperity was, and 2008 was when it finally hit the wall. We were like a single engine plane flying up a mountain canyon. The higher we got, the thinner the air got and the less pulling power the plane had. If the head wall is too tall, you smack into it.

I would say the American Century was essentially 25 years, 1948-1973, the same quarter-century the Baby Boomers were born and raised. We expected to live twice as we'll as our parents and borrowed recklessly to sustain the illusion that we were. Younger generations I believe are going to have more tempered expectations, and that's probably a good thing.

I liked this quote in particular: “I strongly believe if we understand the end of growth, we can make provisions for the economy we actually have.”