Build It and They Will Come - Streetcars Model - ENCORE

Go Lean Commentary

“Build it and they will come” – Movie quotation from A Field of Dreams – See VIDEO Appendix below.

This phrase has been echoed many times … especially in the effort to justify big capital infrastructure projects. Think sports stadia, highways, shopping malls, airports (i.e. the new Denver International). This is tied to the “Law of Attraction”; see details here:

If You Build it, Will They Come?

What is the relationship between intent and outcome? Does the Field of Dreams quote, “if you build it, they will come” have truth to it? Not exactly, but it does allude to an important and true concept (which is likely why we still quote, and mis-quote, it today).

The truth is: If you build it, you increase the odds of them coming. In other words, if you put thought and energy you put into a project you increase the likelihood of success.

Field of Dreams as a Metaphor for the Law of Attraction

Metaphorically speaking, attention plants a seed, while effort, time, and action give the seed the best opportunity to grow and thrive. However, there is no certainty the seed will grow, what the plant will look like, or whether it will produce fruit (that’s all up to nature and luck). Planting the seed and tending to it increases the odds that it’ll grow something, but it doesn’t ensure it.

The inverse, however, has more certainty. If you pay no attention to an idea and make no effort to manifest it, you decrease the odds of it materializing. If it does materialize it will almost certainly come from someone else who dedicated attention and effort over time. The more time, attention, effort, and thought you apply to an idea the more likely it is that something will come of it. If we build a baseball diamond and never go there again there is less chance of people coming. If we put effort into tending to the field and we are more likely to attract an audience.
Source: Retrieved August 9, 2016 from: http://factmyth.com/factoids/if-you-build-it-they-will-come/

Previously, this commentary identified the streetcar project in the US capital city of Washington D.C.. The effort was designed to be an anchor for re-development of a blighted urban area.

How did it turn out? See photos in the Appendix below.

The project is now live for the 2.4 mile stretch of H Street.

There is a lot of construction ongoing, and more planned.

People, business activity and hope is coming!

This commentary is the 1 of 3 from the Go Lean movement on the subject of Infrastructure Policy. All of these commentaries are economic in nature; the other blogs detailed in this series are as follows:

Before & After – Washington DC’s Streetcars Model
Clinton vs Trump Campaigns – Politics of Infrastructure
India’s Model – $90 billion infrastructure projects

The original blog-commentary from November 1, 2014 on the Washington, DC Streetcar is ENCORED here; followed by new, yet related Appendices:

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Go Lean Commentary

The US capital city of Washington D.C. is now embarking on the deployment of a streetcar system … again. Between 1862 and 1962, streetcars in Washington, D.C., were a common mode of transportation, but the system was dismantled in the early 1960s as part of a switch to bus service.

One step forward, two steps backwards!

The District now embarks on a re-deployment, pivotal to a re-development of blighted urban areas. See story here:

August 4, 2014 – The Washington D.C. Department of Transportation will begin training streetcar operators in traffic for the first time this week along H Street and Benning Road in Northeast Washington. [The full system implementation is planned for late 2014].

The DC Streetcar is a surface light rail and streetcar network under construction in Washington, D.C. The streetcars will be the first to run in the District of Columbia since the dismantling of the previous streetcar system in 1962. The District of Columbia began laying track in 2009 for two lines whose locations in Anacostia and Benning were chosen to revitalize blighted commercial corridors. Initially, the system will be funded and owned by the District’s Department of Transportation (DDOT).

The D.C. government owns three Czech-built Inekon streetcars (destined for the Anacostia Line) that will serve the system; as of December 2009, they were in storage at Metro’s Greenbelt Rail Yard; [but now fully engaged in test runs]. Each car is eight ft (2.438 meters) wide and 66 feet (20.12 m) long, and each train consists of three car connected sections.

The City’s hope is that now with all the new bars and restaurants opening on H Street, this streetcar line will encourage people (residents, business commuters and tourists) to visit here. Mayor Vincent Gray states “what we’re trying to do is encourage people as a part of our sustainability plan to find other ways of moving around. Eventually, this will be a 37-mile system that will get people to every ward in the District of Columbia.”
WJLA Local ABC 7 TV News
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/08/d-c-streetcar-operator-training-begins-this-week-105726.html
Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia (Retrieved November 3, 2014) –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Streetcar

WJLA TV News Video: http://youtu.be/EY0d8E3304M

Why is there a need to re-start the streetcar system? Why did the streetcars end? Conspiracy theories abound. The following VIDEO portrays the story, and admittedly, there is a ring of truth:

In this excerpt from Stephen Talbot’s “Heartbeat of America” (1993), Christopher Snell explains how GM conspired with oil & tire companies to kill streetcars in cities all across America in order to create an inferior bus system that would guarantee the sale of tires, gas, and bus parts for an eternity.
VIDEO – Who Killed The Electric Street Car? – http://youtu.be/wFhsrbtQObI

The fact that Washington DC, and other cities (see VIDEO below of Portland’s effort), are re-deploying streetcars is proof-positive of the economic and logistical benefits of streetcars. Instead of gasoline or diesel vehicles, streetcars use energy-efficient electrified lines to power the vehicle up-and-down city streets. This is a win-win for all stakeholders!

Are streetcars being considered for Caribbean deployment, especially as these member-states report very high fuel costs and feature old-narrow streets?

Absolutely, yes! The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts transportation solutions that include streetcars, light-rail, natural-gas powered vehicles and toll roads to empower the region through mass transit (Page 205).

Why not autonomous (driver-less) streetcars? This vision is one of intensive remote monitoring, plus unified command-and-control to mitigate security/safety concerns. (Think Disney World’s Mono-Rail). This is the future that is being planned, developed and tested now. The experience of the last 100 years is that those doing the planning, developing and testing for futuristic technologies are the ones that profit most from the economic gains.

The book, Go Lean … Caribbean, therefore extols the principle that R&D (research and development) activities are necessary to profit from advantages in technology. We want to do R&D here in the Caribbean. This is a mandate for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU. This technocracy will assume oversight to optimize the region in the areas of:

(1) economics
(2) security
(3) lean government

This vision of an autonomous streetcar aligns with the scope of Self-Governing Entities (SGEs) throughout the Caribbean region. On these bordered grounds (technology bases, industrial parks, research campuses, theater districts, medical centers, etc), only CU federal regulation and jurisdiction apply. This allows for the nimble environment to develop, test and deploy autonomous vehicles. This is the benefit of lean governmental coordination, so that a launch of these initiatives becomes possible and probable.

Though not written with this particular initiative in mind, the Go Lean roadmap anticipates such opportunities, as pronounced in the Declaration of Interdependence, (Pages 12 & 14):

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

xxx. Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.

The CU mission is to implement the complete eco-system to deliver on market opportunities of streetcars, autonomous or driver- operated as sampled in the foregoing article. There are many strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies that will facilitate this readiness; a sample is detailed here:

Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Economic Principles – People Choose because Resources are Limited	Page 21
Economic Principles – All Choices Involve Costs	Page 21
Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Money Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research and Development	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Ways to Improve Negotiations	Page 32
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Emergency Management	Page 76
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of State – SGE’s	Page 80
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up – Command-and-Control	Page 103
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ	Page 104
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Improve Energy Usage – Electrified Buses/Trains	Page 113
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Natural Resources	Page 183
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Transportation	Page 205
Advocacy – Ways to Develop the Auto Industry	Page 206
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living – Transit Options	Page 234

The world is preparing for the change for more efficient mass transit options and also to deploy more autonomous systems to do the heavy-lifting of industrial engagements. A new ethos to prepare for this change has now come to the Caribbean.

This blog/commentary touches on many related issues and subjects that affect planning for Caribbean empowerment in this transportation industry-space. Many of these issues were also elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:

http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2750	Walt Disney World’s example of an SGE – Their Florida Resort features autonomous “monorails”
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2338	Mitigating the Dreaded ‘Plutocracy’, as GM practiced in the US in the past to quash the thriving Streetcar enterprises throughout the country
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2259	The Criminalization/Abuses of American Business – Applying the many Lessons Learned
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping the Global Job Market
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1487	Here come the Autonomous Aircrafts/Drones … and the Concerns
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1277	Google Self-Driving cars to mitigate highway safety concerns
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1214	Fairgrounds as SGEs and the CU as Landlord for Sports Leagues – Great need to move masses (thousands) to stadia/arenas in short time
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=915	*Go Green Caribbean* – Streetcars are electric, less carbon footprint
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=829	Trains and Trucks play well together
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673	Ghost ships – Autonomous cargo vessels without a crew

Re-deploy, re-develop, and re-boot…

All of these verbs are germane for this Go Lean roadmap. The Caribbean needs help…with transportation solutions, jobs, growing the economy, and motivating our youth to impact their future here at home… in the Caribbean.

Therefore the people of the region are urged to “lean-in” for the changes/empowerments as described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The benefits of this roadmap are too alluring to miss out: emergence of an $800 Billion single market economy, 2.2 million new jobs and relevance on the world scene for R&D. 🙂

Let’s all Go Lean!

Download the e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – free … now!

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VIDEO – Portland’s Streetcar revival – Federal aid has helped spur the construction of modern U.S. streetcars for the first time in 58 years. http://youtu.be/BIcVlCB0er0