Word: rails
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...subways and light-rail systems whoosh off drawing boards...
Mass transit is on the move. Baltimore's sparkling Metro is just the most recent result of a boom in urban rail-system construction. "There is more development going on now than in the past 100 years," exults Jack Gilstrap, executive vice president of the American Public Transit Association (A.P.T.A.). Since 1972, when San Francisco cut the ribbon on its high-tech headache, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), six other U.S. cities have opened new rail systems. Six cities currently have lines under construction. Thirteen other systems either have been proposed or are on the drawing boards...
Part of the allure of these new networks is, simply, prestige. "I call it the Hyatt Regency mentality," says David Prosperi, assistant professor of planning at the University of Cincinnati. "Many cities think they have to have a rail system to be a first-class city." Underneath the arriviste attitude, however, lies a persistent conviction, not always well placed, that mass transit can reduce congestion in traffic-choked downtowns, spark commercial growth and control pollution. Says A.P.T.A.'S Gilstrap: "When businesses decide where to locate, they look for a city that works well. Good mass transit is both evidence...
...action was a meticulous paring of U.S. Steel's capacity to make, forge and finish steel. Mills, foundries and blast furnaces in such famed Big Steel locations as Gary, Ind., Fairless and Homestead, Pa., and the South Works in Chicago will be shut down. Plans for a rail mill in Chicago were dropped, despite union work-rule concessions and tax breaks from the Illinois state government. Mining and chemical operations will be pruned, along with fabricating facilities in some eastern states...
...United States. He directs the daily flow of legislation and has been known to condemn the initiatives of those he dislikes to infamous "Siberian" committees where bills are left to die, forgotten by all but the sponsors. Those bills that meet with the Speaker's favor are often rail-roaded through the chamber without debate or objection. McGee holds all the patronage strings necessary to command loyalty; as Speaker he dispenses office space, regulates staff size and even hands out parking privileges. For those on his good side, the avenues of advancement are wide open and unlimited; for those...