Thursday, November 25, 2010

Jerusalem: No self-respecting welfare/warfare-state can be without LRT

Three years behind the promised completion date, the light-rail project in Jerusalem is preparing to open sometime (!) next year.  Of course, it is the "only solution" to traffic congestion, say a city spokesman.  It also has the incidental benefit of further consolidating Israeli control over the Palestinian eastern half of the city.

Like neighboring merchants in American cities who do not appreciate all the benefits which State monopoly rail projects will ultimately confer on them, Jerusalem business owners along the rail line are angry about the badly managed and delayed construction phase, according to Agence France-Presse:

On the ground, residents and shopkeepers along the tram's route complain of having suffered years of loud, dirty construction work.
"We had to live with the dust, we were assaulted by jackhammering, and as a result our customers abandoned us," grumbled one merchant in the city centre.

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