Rants

Biannual End DST Rant

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Admittedly, “Fall Back” is the least objectionable of the annual DST time changes, but it still messing with my system and is less than desirable. This time <pun intended> I’ll late the CATO Institute do the heavy lifting and explain why DST leads to “Dead Children” in their #EndDST article here. And again, Indiana is the poster child for why the energy savings justification is debunked. When Indiana adopted DST in 2006, energy use went up…

There is still active legislation trying to eliminate DST on the Federal level. Contact your Senator and Congressman and ask them to push this! Marco Rubio has been pushing this for several years.

As usual, the CATO Institute has a great article here with lots of great charts, facts and quotes, but John Oliver still wins the award for the funniest take… “If it doesn’t benefit our energy bill, our health or even our stupid, stupid cows… Daylight Savings Time: How is this still a thing?” Enjoy!

Culver Plan Commission September MIA?

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Just a mini rant… I was a bit upset to find out that the September Plan Commission meeting was cancelled because there wasn’t anything on the agenda. (Per the Building Commissioner) I know it’s a mostly thankless job and that the pay is poor. ($0: They’re volunteers) I was still disappointed that the commission didn’t take the opportunity to catch up on some of the things that they don’t have time for because their meetings are usually busy. Here’s a short list off the top of my head:

  • The Comprehensive Plan – Most of the Plan Commission has not been involved in the production of the new comp plan, having delegated it to Culver Crossroads. Only one Plan Commission member has been an active Culver Crossroads participant. While the production has been delegated, passing of the plan will still fall on them and this would have been a good time to familiarize themselves with the current draft before the required public meetings. As it stands, they are going to have trouble answering public input questions, since they are not familiar with the new document or the decision making process that went into it.
  • The Solar Ordinance – They have discussed the need to move this forward quickly as the moratorium passed by the Town Council has left property owners in limbo. This would have been a good time to start assembling names of potential subcommittee members.
  • The Zoning Ordinance – We have been talking about cleaning up the mistakes from the last go around for several years. Just taking a section at a time in slow meetings would move this forward.
  • The Dunes – This too will be coming before the Plan Commission as a subdivision request. The planning for this is an important function of the commission.
    • Related to The Dunes, we are about to start the process of establishing the biggest subdivision (that I know of) since Culver established zoning in the 50’s. I don’t know when the last time the Subdivision Ordinance was updated, but it has been more than 20 years. It references old standards and doesn’t include things like the Complete Streets Ordinance, which was passed 4 or 5 years ago.
  • Beste Property – The Planned Unit Development zoning district for these parcels has been undone and the property has gone back to its previous zoning designation, S-1. There has been discussion that there should be a change to this, since the property has been annexed. The property is on the market, so giving some guidance to future buyers would be appropriate.

That’s my short list… With a little thought, I’m sure I could double it, but there are hours and hours that could be spent related to the five thing above.

I give volunteers a lot of respect. I’m not going to come down hard on them for taking a breather. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t important things to do.

Electronic Sign Update

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Culver Sign

Well, following up on my previous sign posts (Pun Intended), there was some improvement around graduation with some good info on schools and congratulatory posts, but that ended rather quickly. We’re back to Date & Time, Affirmations and the Farmer’s Market.

I didn’t see anything about LaPaz’s Sesquicentennial celebration last weekend. There’s been nothing about the Mayor’s Months of Music kicking off at River Park Square in Plymouth. I know there are a lot of other things going on throughout the County we could share.

Locally we have a concert at the park on Saturday. The Park has a movie night on June 23rd. We have calls for Miss Maxinkuckee entrants. The library has programs almost weekly. It’s never too soon to start promoting Lakefest coming up July 14th. There is no reason to ever see the Date & Time on that sign! Ha!

Kids Rule

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It often comes up that Marshall County is disadvantaged by not having public transportation. This is one of many “Save the Planet” initiatives and often called out as a CC problem. But I can’t help but wonder how effective it would be when we don’t use the one that’s already in place? I’m talking about School Buses…

I’m not picking on the current generation in school (except for Greta), because this has been an issue for decades. The number of kids on the buses continues to dwindle as the parking lots at schools continue to grow. There’s some justification in the older kids that have extra curriculars and maybe after school jobs, but it doesn’t negate the fact that we have a working public transit system that is largely being abandoned.

To some extent, this appears to be a trained response. Schools are forced to accommodate the “car line” phenomenon, where increasingly, kids at younger ages are dropped off and picked up by a parent. Despite new accommodations, there are still traffic jams around schools in the mornings and late afternoons as parents line up to pick up their kids. Watching from the outside, I don’t see many cases of carpooling in these lines either.

I know a few school administrators that would probably shoot me for pushing more bus use, since they are constantly looking for drivers, but allowing for the personnel problem, the rest of the system is already in place and budgeted. Are there options for creative scheduling to at least accommodate the extracurricular things? Would promoting school bus use for students help stem the tide of personal vehicle use? Could school buses be repurposed during non-school delivery times to serve as public transportation, saving the creation of new infrastructure?

Honestly, I’m not sure how viable public transportation is for rural areas; school buses or otherwise. Even at the size of Plymouth (10,000), I’m not sure there’s sufficient mass to justify the cost, let alone for all of Marshall County. But my point is, if we’re not weaning the next generation off individual car transportation, then it’s not going to matter. If we continue to cater to them, acting as personal chauffeurs for 5-year-olds, and making personal car ownership a right of passage at 16, then the trend won’t be broken. Kids Rule…

++++++++++++++++

For more of my thoughts on school buses, try Commuting Observations.

DST: Marco Rubio for President?

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The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

It’s another grumpy Time Change Monday. I guess on the positive side, I beat the DST Heart Attack spike. (24% on the Monday after the Spring time change.) I think I beat the 8% spike in strokes, but since I’m a bit groggy today, I’m not as confident about that one!

My lurkers know that I’ve written (bitched) about DST here before. My stance against it hasn’t changed. Some of my past posts have exonerated Ben Franklin’s culpability in this, Exonerated Cows in this, shown that DST is not universal and celebrated Marco Rubio’s championing of ending this.

I have read that the Sunshine Protection Act passed the Senate unanimously last year and then stalled in the House. I understand it passed the Senate again this year and is now in the House. If Senator Rubio declared his candidacy for President and promised to ditch the DST time change, he’d rocket to the top of the heap in my estimation. I know, as much as I liked Governor Mitch Daniels, I still curse him for his part in pushing DST for Indiana.

Not much to do at this point, but suck it up and muddle on. It will be better in a week or so. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though…

If you want some history on DST, Accuweather has a nice write up here.