R. G. Frey s Moral Standing, The Value Of Lives, And...

The focus of this paper will be R. G. Frey’s passage in â€Å"Moral Standing, the Value of Lives, and Speciesism†. The intended objection of the focus will be two moral theories, Kantianism and Act Utilitarianism. Act Utilitarianism being the rebuttal of the Kantianism view on the moral issue at hand. In this passage the central conclusion is that the value of life, whether that be humans or animals is contributed to the quality of life, the quality is related to its richness being related to the life’s capacity of enrichment. (LaFollette, Hugh. Ethics in Practice: An Anthology. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1997. Print.) Frey gives support to this conclusion by recognizing that not all individuals from a moral group are individuals that have lives with equal value or significance within both humans and animals. (LaFollette, Hugh. Ethics in Practice: An Anthology. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1997. Print.) In support this statement, Frey claims there are different moral standings of most human lives. Some examples were an infant with disadvantages, a disabled person and elderly person with a severe case of Alzheimer’s disease. Frey then supports these claims by saying that if we agree with these claims it is clear that we are not using species membership to determine the value and moral standing of an individual but instead as the quality of an individual’s life. An additional support of the central conclusion is that this view allows for animals to have more value than a human

Joyce Carol Oates The Cruelest Sport Summary - 1020 Words

American writer Joyce Carol Oates is an expository writer that provides a successful informative piece about the dangers of boxing. This sport has been shadowed by events that influence athletes to prolong their careers with dangerous intuitions. In â€Å"The Cruelest Sport,† Oates implements exposition, narration, modes, and tone to effectively persuade her audience of the threats boxing impose. First and foremost, Oates exposition in â€Å"The Cruelest Sport† implements direction for how her information is to be presented. Oates explains that, â€Å"It survives as the most primitive and terrifying of contests: two men, near-naked, fight each other in a brightly lit, elevated space roped in like an animal pen† (Oates, 623), which gives her audience an†¦show more content†¦By introducing this quote, Oates audience can reflect on the feeling of how daunting boxing can be and gives the persuasion to her audience of the dangers in boxing. In addition, Oate s introduces the social aspect of how sport has impacted Muhammed Ali, that shows her audience the external aspect of boxing is cruel as well. By providing the anecdote of Ali and his refusal to join the army, her argument becomes stronger, thus showing the shadowed aspect of boxing, â€Å"Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.† (Ali, 627) Ruth Cullham said it best, â€Å"Knowing what to write goes hand in hand with knowing how to write,† (Cullham, 554) explaining in his article the best way to present the best argument in a narrative and Oates format throughout her piece exemplifies this statement. In turn, Oates conveys her argument with narration throughout the text hence making her argument successful. Moreover, the implementation of having two well-known fighters such as Muhammed Ali and Billy Costello, heavyweight champion and lightweight champions respectively, provided reinforcement in Oates rhetorical modes. The use of pathos in Oates argument was integral and building a foundation on Muhammed Ali’s Parkinson’s disease proved to be effective. â€Å"Predate by a decade the long, grueling, punishing fights of Ali’s later career, whose accumulative

Bege-101 Assignment Session 2012 Solve Free Essays

DRAFT Meeting Agenda MEETING TITLE: Project Sponsors Council DATE: Friday, January 22, 2010 TIME: 10 a. m. – 12:30 p. We will write a custom essay sample on Bege-101 Assignment Session 2012 Solve or any similar topic only for you Order Now m. LOCATION: Washington State Department of Transportation, SW Region 11018 NE 51st Circle, Vancouver, Washington 98662 TIME 10:00 a. m. AGENDA TOPIC Welcome Approve Dec. 4, 2009 Meeting Summary 10:05 a. m. Conceptual Finance Plan Overview and Discussion 10:25 a. m. Tolling Study Committee Findings 10:55 a. m. Break 11:10 a. m. Performance Measures Advisory Group Report 11:40 a. m. Performance Measures Application Example 11:55 p. m. Hayden Island Update 12:30 p. . Adjourn TRANSIT DIRECTIONS from PORTLAND: From Downtown Portland, take C-TRAN Express Bus #164 to the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center. Transfer to Bus #80 (Van Mall/Fisher’s) eastbound to 49th and 112th Avenue. WSDOT SW Region Headquarters is 2 blocks north of this bus stop. TRANSIT DIRECTIONS from VANCOUVER: From Downtown Vancouver take C-TRAN Bus #4 (Fourth Plain) eastbound to the Vancouver Mall Transit Center. Other buses to Vancouver Mall are #32, 72, 44 and 78. From the Mall Transit Center, transfer to Bus #80 (Van Mall/Fisher’s) eastbound to 49th and 112th Avenue. WSDOT SW Regional Headquarters is 2 blocks north of this bus stop. For detailed trip planning, please contact the two transit agencies: C-TRAN, www. c-tran. com, 360-695-0123, or TriMet, www. trimet. org, 503-238-RIDE Meeting facilities are wheelchair accessible and children are welcome. Individuals requiring reasonable accommodations may request written material in alternative formats or sign language interpreters by calling the project team at the project office (360-737-2726 and 503-256-2726) one week before the meeting or calling Washington State’s TTY telephone number, 1-800-833-6388. Meeting Summary MEETING: DATE: LOCATION: Columbia River Crossing (CRC) Project Sponsors Council December 4, 2009, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm Port of Portland, 121 NW Everett Street, Portland, OR ATTENDEES: Adams, Sam Bragdon, David Garrett, Matthew Hansen, Fred Hewitt, Henry (Co-chair) Leavitt, Tim Pollard, Royce Stuart, Steve Mayor, City of Portland Council President, Metro Director, Oregon Department of Transportation General manager, TriMet Past chair, Oregon Transportation Commission Chair of the Board of Directors, C-TRAN Mayor, City of Vancouver Chair, SW Washington Regional Transportation Council S TAFF: Brandman, Richard Wagner, Don ODOT CRC project director Regional Administrator, Washington State Dept. of Transportation Note: Meeting materials and handouts referred to in this summary can be accessed online at: http://www. columbiarivercrossing. org/ProjectPartners/PSCMeetingMaterials. aspx Welcome and public comment Co-chair Henry Hewitt thanked attendees for coming and announced that PSC members co-chair Hal Dengerink and Secretary Paula Hammond could not be at today’s meeting. Due to the large number of sign-ups for public comment, testimony will be limited to one minute per person. The Council will accept written comments, as well. Representative Tina Kotek, Oregon state legislator for House District 44 in north and northeast Portland: I support the project and have submitted written testimony from my comments at the state legislative hearings held Nov. 19 in Salem. If the project has additional questions to resolve, please do it quickly and don’t delay the project at the risk of missing federal funding. I want to thank the residents from Hayden Island and ask CRC staff to listen to them and help solve some of the livability challenges on the island posed by the proposed design refinements. Ed Garren, citizen co-chair of the Hayden Island Plan: I was always in favor of the bridge as it was proposed. It was a state of the art bridge, like a beautiful Lexis Hybrid. These refinements turn it into a 20year old Oldsmobile that needs a ring job. It’s going to be dirty, with pumps running 24/7 for a hundred years, and will destroy the livability of the Hayden Island community. You’re not following appropriate processes. It’s different from what we were sold by the CRC for two years. People are upset about the lack of input and this bait and switch. The impacts to Hayden Island are spread throughout the draft environmental impact statement, ambiguous, and difficult to find. Hayden Island is not well-served by this proposal. Shannon Palermo, StopTheCRC. org: My main concern is this continues to ignore environmental and social justice issues. The Coalition for a Livable Future and Bicycle Transportation Alliance recommendations have been completely ignored. There have been no recommendations for environmental justice. We can do this better in Portland. We need to make policy that accounts for peak oil and climate change. I would like a supplemental EIS that accounts for environmental and social justice issues and includes asthma rates in north and northeast Portland where I live. 1 360/737-2726 503/256-2726 WWW. COLUMBIARIVERCROSSING. ORG 1/25/2010 700 WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 300, VANCOUVER, WA 98660 DECEMBER 4, 2009 | MEETING SUMMARY COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING (CRC) PROJECT SPONSORS COUNCIL Donna Murphy, Hayden Island resident: I just moved to the island in June. We deal with a lot of noise from trains, planes, and autos, but we love living along the river. Mayor Adams, please imagine living there. We’re senior citizens. I’m going to do all I can to get our voices heard. We need a Safeway, a pharmacy, and our gas station. Roger Staver, chair of Hayden Island Neighborhood Network (HINooN): My group sent the project a letter regarding impacts of the refinement package on Hayden Island. As you consider suggestions in our letter, please remember that Hayden Island is the most impacted area in the project. It’s an island isolated by the channel and the river. The recently approved Hayden Island Plan had as a goal the ability of residents to stay on the island to meet their basic needs. The project refinements force us off the island. We cannot go to a neighborhood somewhere else; we have to stay on the island. Peg Johnson, Hayden Island resident: I have been very involved in CRC planning since 2005. We continue to support this project for the most part, but the refinement package makes things worse than they were in the first place. I’m asking you to keep Hayden Island and livability in mind, which means sustainability. If you go forward with refinements, please dedicate yourselves to making the most that you can of the situation on Hayden Island. Our letter reflects our specific points. Rex Burkholder, Metro Councilor for district 5, former member of the CRC Task Force: I urge the project to keep working on this. We need to continue problem solving and my letter contains further comments. I give you my support for your work. Kathryn Williams, business and rail manager for the Port of Portland: We have been supportive of the bi-state effort to improve I-5 and the related interchanges. We’re especially interested in how the refinements affect the Marine Drive interchange. We support the refinements in the package and urge you to move forward. Ginger Metcalf, Identity Clark County, Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, and Columbia River Crossing Coalition: The private sector continues to invest in infrastructure that allows job creation, but a corresponding public investment in transportation has been slower in coming. If we want to compete in the global economy, we must invest in our freight infrastructure. To build a culture of sustainable success, we need to make the economic connection between jobs and how the states spend money. The business community is behind you. John Mohlis, Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council: The project has been scaled down appropriately. We want to move this project forward, so if there are refinements that need to be made, please do that. The construction industry is in a depression, not a recession. Every month that this project is delayed, more people will lose their homes, their health insurance, their homes, and will cash in their 401k accounts to send their kids to college. Please work together and move this forward. Walter Valenta, Portland resident: I have been working on this project for a long time. This is an important milestone, but it’s one of many. This is the belt-tightening part. What’s important is that as we tighten it, we don’t sell out the core values of our community. We must make the land use and transportation system on Hayden Island work together. We can’t quit caring about design. We can’t assume that by making it cheaper we’re going to make it ugly. This bridge can represent the values of Portland. Marion Haynes, Oregon Business Association: Businesses around the state depend on this bridge. The need for it has been clearly articulated for a decade. We appreciate the staff responsiveness to scaling back the project size. There are more details to work out, but businesses around the state are counting on you to move this forward. Ed Lynch, former member of the CRC Task Force: Our forbears paid tolls on the ferry and bridges in the past. Tolls for bridge users ought to be paramount in addition to any other funds. Secondly, if we’re going to build the bridge, let’s build it right. Think of the Sydney, Australia bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge and Transbay Bridge, all built in the 1930s. They’re still in use today because they were done right. Let’s build to the full width and do it right the first time. Anonymous: I’m against any further spending on the CRC bridge. Why wasn’t the $3. 6 billion cost part of the original proposal if it will accomplish the same thing as the earlier proposal? You seem unwilling to tell the public what it’s truly going to cost. If this is a regional transportation necessity, a regional gas tax is in 2 360/737-2726 503/256-2726 WWW. COLUMBIARIVERCROSSING. ORG 700 WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 300, VANCOUVER, WA 98660 DECEMBER 4, 2009 | MEETING SUMMARY COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING (CRC) PROJECT SPONSORS COUNCIL rder. If you’re going to toll the new bridge to reduce traffic, then tolling the current bridge for that reason should work too. Why not toll the current bridge? Least-cost options should be used first, not last. On I-5 there are approximately 300 cars for every truck. This is not a jobs program. We have lots of community needs that will cr eate long-term sustainable jobs. We shouldn’t borrow more money from Asia. Burdening me with debt does not stimulate jobs. Elson Strahan, president of Fort Vancouver National Trust: I also provided written testimony. I was pleased to support our final recommendation as a member of the CRC Task Force despite knowing of the impacts to our site and that it would require mitigation. Because of these impacts, mitigation is an absolute federal requirement as part of the National Highway Act and National Historic Preservation Act. We and the City of Vancouver have approved the design concept for the Community Connector. We look forward to it being integrated into the project. Paul Jeffery, Portland resident: I moved to Portland 10 years ago for its reputation as a place that does things differently. The proposed Mt. Hood expressway was blocked by citizens and that made me feel great about moving here. The CRC wants to turn Portland into another failed city. I don’t want that to happen. This is not a project for the 21st century; it’s rooted in a mid-20th century approach to problems. David Rowe, resident of Battle Ground, Wash. , and former member of the Clark County High Capacity Transit Task Force, speaking as a private citizen: In my letter to Gov. Gregoire, I asked her to imagine a morning commute to downtown Portland in a lounge chair with coffee and a view of Mt. Hood. You arrive at Portland Union Station. This is possible if the existing Columbia River rail bridge is modernized. This would be much cheaper than the current proposal. This kind of service is already in place with the Westside Express Service commuter rail in Washington County. Chris Rall, citizen of Portland: I am concerned about the resiliency of our transportation infrastructure. We don’t have a system that will handle increases in gas prices very well. This project is going in the wrong direction and is going to double the width of the freeway. As a taxpayer, I’m concerned about that kind of investment. I’d like to see least-cost options, phasing, and smaller projects that could meet the needs in that area. Todd Coleman, deputy executive director of the Port of Vancouver: The Port supports the refinements package. In Washington, one in three jobs is related to trade. While we prefer a six-lane option, we understand the need for compromise with a five-lane option for now. We’re also a member of the 75member Vancouver Freight Alliance, which supports the refinements proposal, as well. In the end, both sides of the river will have to compromise, but this option provides 90 percent of the benefits at 75 percent of the cost, so we recommend you move forward with these refinements. Jim Howell, an opponent of the Mt. Hood Freeway: It’s time to stop this one million dollars per month madness. The myth of 15 hours per day of congestion is a disingenuous scare tactic by the Oregon and Washington highway departments. It is based on the ridiculous assumption that nothing can be done to stem freeway traffic. Non-freeway solutions were never seriously considered. It’s time to go back to the drawing board. Chris Smith, citizen transportation activist: It’s important to get the Purpose and Need Statement right. It leads with congestion and doesn’t mention either global warming or peak oil. State and local governments have adopted strong policy statement regarding these. I urge you to amend the Purpose and Need and then do a supplemental draft EIS. Joe Rowe, Portland resident: I live two blocks from I-5 and Rosa Parks Way. I can see cars bumper to bumper during rush hour at Albina Street because drivers know that getting off the freeway is faster than staying on I-5. I hear politicians lie and say they’re environmentalists and say we need this project for the jobs. The cost does not include the cost of the bonds to buy this bridge on credit. It will become a $10 billion bridge because the cost of this bridge will double just like the tram. Richard Bullington, Clark County resident: How is light rail to Clark County a good use of public money? For 12 trains an hour, you move maybe 2,400 people per hour in the peak direction. To spend $750 million to serve that number of people seems a bit ideological. I rode the MAX to get here, so I’m a train guy, but please think about this. 360/737-2726 503/256-2726 WWW. COLUMBIARIVERCROSSING. ORG 700 WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 300, VANCOUVER, WA 98660 DECEMBER 4, 2009 | MEETING SUMMARY COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING (CRC) PROJECT SPONSORS COUNCIL Brian Gard, co-executive director of the Columbia River Crossing Coalition: I urge you to approve the refined package. Please see my lett er for more detail. Please consider the breadth of support for this project as reflected in our list of members. We ask that you keep this project moving forward. The work done to date is good work. The work to be done by 27,000 workers who will build the crossing will be good work, as well. Carl Larson, Portland resident: The bridge we have today is inadequate. As a bicyclist, I hate to ride across it. The way I get stuff via freight is stuck in single-occupancy vehicle congestion. But the $4. 2 billion plan to fix it still prioritizes single-occupancy vehicle travel. The cheap knock-off being proposed today does a worse job. We should go back to the drawing board and put our money where our mouth is. Chelsea Wright: I’m opposed to this bridge because there are better options that haven’t been onsidered. I’m a big fan of public transportation. If you have all this technology and the money available, why wouldn’t you consider other options? It’s obvious that a car-oriented culture is a destructive way of life. Please consider the effects to future generations. Mara Gross, policy director with Coalition for a Livable Future: We have long support ed a solution to I-5 that supports reliable transit, transportation, supports good land use planning and addresses global warming. Your proposal is a non-solution. You still have 12-lanes capacity and no plan for how to manage demand. Thank you to Mayor Adams and Council President Bragdon for their comments, and to Mayorelect Leavitt for his comments about low-income communities and communities of color. The refinement plan makes a decision with hundreds of millions in public dollars to avoid environmental review. We need a new plan that puts the values of this community first. Pam Naugle: I’m a 16-year resident on Hayden Island in the mobile home park. Sixty percent of us are disabled and seniors. Our Safeway store is our only source of fresh food and pharmaceuticals. You need to think before you tear down a store that is so vital to our living. For those of us who don’t own a vehicle and can’t afford lift services, please think this over seriously. Michelle Poyourow, advocate for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance: Our two primary interests in this project are that it include a great walking and biking route and that it foster healthy, bikable neighborhoods on both sides of the river. The CRC plan considered earlier and also today fails on both counts. It was only after two years that the BTA became an opponent of the project. It will take more than refinements of a plan based on flawed assumptions and weakly defined outcomes. Please start with a new vision for success that is a truly green project we can support. Jonathan Irwin: Those of you who are elected will be accountable for your decisions. Please rethink and redraft this plan with true public involvement and local control. Please keep the departments of transportation at the back burner since they’re just road builders. You need to more carefully consider climate, equity, public transit, walking and biking options. For everyone here today opposed to the bridge in its current form, there are 100 more who have to be at work or didn’t know this was happening. Ed Barnes, Vancouver resident, former member of the Washington State Transportation Commission and former co-chair of the I-5 Transportation and Trade Partnership: For the last 15 years, I’ve talked to hundreds of people on both sides of the river about this project. It may have some flaws, but overall it covers all the elements for bicyclists and pedestrians, freight, transit and commuters. You need to do something. Something is better than nothing. This project will also create jobs for the unemployed. Marcela Alcantar: I’m a small business woman. I’m concerned that there aren’t many people of color in this room today and in the past. I’m concerned about the lack of leadership on that. I believe in this project and that it will create jobs and sustainability. I’ve been asking for opportunities for firms like mine and I haven’t seen it happen. Please consider professional services like mine on this project. Ron Swaren: The problem with the CRC proposal is that it’s not realistic. Our metro area is slated to grow and having one or two crossings is not enough for this region. Our group has advocated a third bridge, which would be cost effective and incorporate solutions. Andrew Plambeck, Portland resident: I’m concerned about our tax dollars going to this project. Mayor Adams and Councilor Bragdon have released a very thoughtful statement. Redesign this project from the group up to reduce emissions and prioritize alternative transportation. Our city and region depend on it. 4 360/737-2726 503/256-2726 WWW. COLUMBIARIVERCROSSING. ORG 700 WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 300, VANCOUVER, WA 98660 DECEMBER 4, 2009 | MEETING SUMMARY COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING (CRC) PROJECT SPONSORS COUNCIL Tom Buchele, Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center at Lewis and Clark Law School: We represent groups like the Coalition for a Livable Future and others concerned with the NEPA process. The draft EIS was deeply flawed. There needs to be a supplemental draft EIS. Regulation 40cfr1502. 9c requires a SDEIS if there are substantial changes or new information, and we think $650 million is a substantial change. There is new information expected from the tolling study, so this shouldn’t all be dumped in the FEIS, as that would be a travesty of the NEPA process. David Thompson, Portland resident and retired physician: I encourage people to get their colonoscopies and cholesterol checked. We’re not going to meet our environmental goals with the way this project is designed. I read The Oregonian today saying we’re looking at the next hundred years with this project and I don’t believe it. When I jogged over here I was almost run over by a 16-year old in his brand new car talking on his cell phone. We have too many cars in this city, state and world. This is a good opportunity to figure out an alternative. Erick Reddekopp, co-chair of Hayden Island Livability Project, a grassroots group: You’re receiving over 600 petition signatures against the refinement package due to the impacts including the Safeway store and other restaurants and businesses on the island. It’s disturbing to hear that money and funding seems to be the biggest reason to do this refinement package now. I’m unemployed so I understand the need for jobs. But this is our chance to be a progressive city again. The refinement package has so many problems with it. Sharon Nasset: Thank you for not limiting public comment to 30 minutes. The PSC has not had a representative of the community and neighborhoods. You need an environmental justice representative to sit there from each side of the river. You haven’t followed the NEPA process with a full range of alternatives. There must be a supplemental draft EIS with the amount of changes proposed. For those who want to get more involved on a third bridge proposal or to stop this process, 5003 N. Lombard has a huge space and we’re glad to have people come work on this process. Herman Kachold: I’m involved with the Hayden Island Livability Project, a new grassroots group. We need more crossings, a bridge to the west of the rail bridge and one at 33rd Avenue. Spread the traffic out more. That would be a better approach. Tom Dana, co-chair of the Hayden Island Livability Project and former steering committee member for the Hayden Island Plan: It’s clear the comments here are 10 or 20 to 1 opposed to this proposal. This bridge is for 100 years. Let’s not cave in to immediate pressure just to get it done. Let’s go back and look at what really needs to be done. Kaitlin Hale, StopTheCRC Coalition, resident of SE Portland: I urge you to reconsider the revised plan you might be voting on today. We need transportation options for people, not more single occupancy vehicles. I urge you to solve traffic congestion, climate change, and the lack of employment in our region, and social and environmental justice by not rushing through with this plan and going back to the drawing board. Transportation infrastructure doesn’t just happen but exists in our cities and region and needs a bigger picture viewpoint. Dan McFarling, Portland resident: When this project was first initiated, the focus was on how to accommodate more motor vehicles. That’s a major flaw. Instead, how can we meet our community and transportation needs? If you would read the proposals in the Smarter Bridge brochure, you’d see that it provides better options for a phased, affordable project and a stronger economy. Pam Ferguson, resident of Hayden Island manufactured home community and member of the Hayden Island Livability Project: Thank you for allowing more time for public comment. I represent a group with over 1,700 residents, 60 percent of whom are seniors. They don’t drive off the island, which is a good thing. Please give Safeway or a grocery retailer special dispensation. Co-chair Hewitt thanked the commenters. 5 360/737-2726 503/256-2726 WWW. COLUMBIARIVERCROSSING. ORG 700 WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 300, VANCOUVER, WA 98660 DECEMBER 4, 2009 | MEETING SUMMARY COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING (CRC) PROJECT SPONSORS COUNCIL Draft refinement recommendation Mayor Adams inquired whether PSC will be asked to vote on a recommendation at today’s meeting. Cochair Hewitt said he doesn’t foresee a vote and cannot anticipate outcomes of the meeting. Discussion may require more time and another meeting. Hewitt introduced the CRC presenters. Staff presentation Richard Brandman, CRC project co-director, said the project has been working hard for the last six months to refine the project design, reduce costs, and address issues raised previously and again this morning in public comments. The project wants to achieve nearly the same benefits as the previous proposal, and still meet the purpose and need goals, but at a lower cost. The refined design has been reviewed with the CRC’s senior staff advisory group, the CRC Performance Measures Advisory Group, the freight community, and others. There is a lot of technical documentation behind the proposals and staff can share those with PSC if desired. Staff has analyzed the five-mile project area from one end to the other using the purpose and need goals — such as transit, freight and safety — as well as standard value engineering techniques and a consideration of what elements can be deferred or reused. The revised cost estimate range is $2. 6 to $3. 6 billion, with a likely cost of $3. 2 billion. Kris Strickler, deputy project director, gave an overview of the proposed design refinements, starting from the Marine Drive interchange at the south and going north. Marine Drive is the largest freight access interchange. The staff recommendation still includes a single-point urban interchange with one traffic signal. Moving north, the North Portland Harbor bridge would be reused and the highway mainline profile would be lowered on Hayden Island. For the river crossing, Strickler said, some of the cost savings came from having more information about soil conditions and liquefaction characteristics. Other savings come from a proposed 10-lane bridge with standard shoulders, rather than a 12-lane bridge. It’s smaller than the original proposal by 16 feet total (eight feet per bridge). In Vancouver, two areas would be refined: The northbound lane from SR 14 to SR 500 would be reduced and the SR 500 north ramps would be eliminated. In the future, SR 500 has several intersections that would be converted to full interchanges. There are elements that staff proposes not be included in the project’s initial capital investment; a discussion about that would happen for future prioritization. Patricia McCaig, CRC communications, said staff has presented information on the design refinements to many audiences over the last several weeks. A key theme staff heard was the desire, especially from Hayden Island residents, for an opportunity to provide comments directly to the PSC, which is why an extended public comment session was included in today’s meeting. For the freight community, the proposals for the Victory Blvd. braid and Marine Drive interchange were cause for concern; they were afraid it would impede traffic performance for freight. But, she said, they ultimately understood that the refinements meet the initial needs and urged the project to move forward. Mayor Adams, she added, has been very clear about the importance of Marine Drive and Hayden Island. The intent of the Hayden Island Plan and the CRC’s involvement has been to improve the livability, safety, and access on the island. The refinement was hard for many people to hear because they had spent so much time working on the Hayden Island Plan. But there is a growing appreciation for the benefits of the refinement coupled with real concerns about the potential for losing the Safeway grocery store and effects to access on and off the island. Today, connectivity on the island is very difficult. Staff believes that the refinement proposal improves this by including the new east/west Tomahawk Island Drive connection. There is support for this new road but concern that the refinement proposes recessing it below grade in a way that might discourage that connectivity. There is also concern about potential detrimental effects to commercial and retail space on the island. Hayden Island residents also want to see improved bike and pedestrian connectivity. McCaig directed members to their packet of materials, which contains about 20 letters and emails with a mix of views, from those who support the refinements to those who don’t, and those in the freight community who accept the refinements but believe that moving from 12 to 10 lanes is shortsighted. 6 60/737-2726 503/256-2726 WWW. COLUMBIARIVERCROSSING. ORG 700 WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 300, VANCOUVER, WA 98660 DECEMBER 4, 2009 | MEETING SUMMARY COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING (CRC) PROJECT SPONSORS COUNCIL There is widespread understanding, she concluded, of the fundamental need to reduce the project cost and still protect its fu nction and benefits. Discussion The discussion below touched on the project schedule in relation to federal funding deadlines, as well as each PSC member’s views of the proposed design refinements. In addition, a guiding policy statement proposed by Mayor Adams and Council President Bragdon on Dec. (see appendix) informed the discussion. Co-chair Hewitt said some PSC members are ready to adopt the refinement and others are not. He suggested scheduling a meeting in January for a fuller discussion not only of the refinement but also of the performance measures, effects to Hayden Island, and more. He added that the right partner agency staff should be co-located at the CRC project office and integrated with CRC staff to work on issues that need to be addressed. But, he said, we should applaud the work completed to date. Mayor Adams said that is a very useful suggestion. The issues PSC needs to discuss merit more frequent meetings for a period of time. Mayor Pollard said he would like to remind everyone of the constraints from federal funding deadlines. Richard Brandman clarified that the project is on course to complete the final environmental impact statement in summer 2010 and have a record of decision by the end of 2010, which would allow final design in 2011, followed by transit funding, and the start of construction as early as 2012. Mayor Adams said the Obama administration has pushed back by 18 months the federal transportation funding reauthorization. For the public’s benefit, he said, there isn’t a firm deadline that would block the funding application. He asked for clarification whether there is any agency deadline. The urgency is real, he said, but we do have more time than today or next month to address these issues. Director Garrett responded by saying it’s a very fluid conversation and we can’t rely on that 18-month time frame. We need to continue communicating with the federal delegation. While there’s not a specific calendar, he said he would be very nervous to say we have 18 months. The project needs to move forward. The federal government is going to move forward, we just don’t know when. Mayor Adams said he is not suggesting a delay of 18 months, but he does not think a decision about refinements is needed in January. Director Garrett said there is time to engage this issue. He highlighted the importance of articulating what outstanding questions still need to be answered. There are jobs, he said, not only through the laborers but also the design work. Mayor Adams said there are opportunities for more jobs in the short run with professional service firms. Metro Council President Bragdon said that when the project does move forward, there needs to be broad support. Let’s look at a budget, he said, in terms of fiscal capacity, not just a specific price tag. What’s a realistic assessment of the funding prospects in the two state legislatures? We should start with what’s our foreseeable revenue, he said. Co-chair Hewitt: We’ll include financial information on the next agenda. Mayor Adams said he provided half a dozen questions via email to CRC staff regarding design refinements and still needs some follow up. Mayor Adams provided PSC members with copies of the project’s initial written responses to these questions and an internal memo written by the city attorney’s office (see appendix). Mayor Pollard said sometimes staff doesn’t know what PSC members want and that members need to make it clearer to staff. Regarding decision making, he said PSC wants staff to keep doing analysis that moves the project forward. For the proposed design refinements, he can accept the ones in Vancouver, but hopes some accommodations can be made for Hayden Island. He said he has been working on this bridge for more than 10 years. The Vancouver City Council voted unanimously over a year ago for a 12-lane bridge. Anything other than that is unacceptable for the City of 7 360/737-2726 503/256-2726 WWW. COLUMBIARIVERCROSSING. ORG 700 WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 300, VANCOUVER, WA 98660 DECEMBER 4, 2009 | MEETING SUMMARY COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING (CRC) PROJECT SPONSORS COUNCIL Vancouver. There is a letter dated Jan. 27, 2009 from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), outlining the agency’s support for a 12-lane bridge. The bridge isn’t being built for single-occupancy vehicles from Vancouver. It’s for the economy of the entire region and the West Coast. Please look beyond the short term. Everyone in this room has an agenda, but our positions should be based on the future needs of the region. Through all these meetings, he said, we agreed on certain things: Portland wants light rail and tolls, Vancouver wants highway lanes. What does Vancouver get out of this deal? A 10-lane bridge that doesn’t meet the needs of the future. I understand it could be striped for 12 lanes in 10 or 15 years. But who is going to give that exception? Probably FHWA. How do we know they’ll look favorably upon it? That exception is needed now for the future. If it can’t be provided, the Vancouver City Council probably won’t support it. Who in this room is looking out for those people not born yet? We talked about making the most environmentally correct bridge. We can do that. General manager Fred Hansen said there are obviously going to be studies forthcoming regarding performance measures. TriMet has embedded staff at the project office. The Hayden Island Plan is very important. TriMet staff has been working very hard to preserve and enhance the island’s livability. The refinements make that a challenge; we must wrestle with that. How can we use transit-oriented development funding tools to create the vision for a whole range of services on the island, including grocery stores and pharmacies? Station area development around the light rail station is a catalyst to achieve that. We all recognize that any large project like this is difficult to move forward without consensus and I trust that we’ll get there, he said. Director Garrett thanked Mayor Pollard for his leadership and long-time participation in the project. He said there is staff embedded at the office but it’s incumbent upon PSC members to be specific with their concerns because their questions have a cost. He said he has told Council President Bragdon that he is struggling with concerns about the pathway for funding because the project is walking down the same pathway as any other project. Director Garrett said he appreciates the passion and concerns of the Hayden Island residents; none of that is lost on ODOT or the CRC project. He said the CRC project can help to grow a community with transit-oriented development on Hayden Island, which will happen only because of the project. He said he wants something to bloom there and that the catalyst is the CRC project. Councilmember Leavitt said that from the C-TRAN perspective, they’re trying to meet the needs of the 21st century. He doesn’t see lanes getting widened south of the project area. But he’s very optimistic about the project. Over a year ago, the C-TRAN board of directors agreed that public transit is a vital part of the project. C-TRAN is committed to improving transit access, including with express buses. The project needs to achieve social, environmental, and fiscal equity. We want to be ready to jump when federal funding is ready, he said. Today is another step forward in a dynamic and evolving process and he is looking forward to staff working closely together. Commissioner Stuart said there is a reason why he’s wearing his University of Oregon shirt today. He has lived in both states and cities of this project. He said we talk about a vision for the future, but a lot of times it’s a different vision. We’re trying to bridge not just two states but two visions. With the proposed design refinements, there is a path to success. It involves a lot of what Council President Bragdon and Mayor Adams have put forward with the use of performance measures to guide the process. If we can show that it’s from a sense of priority and the parts of the vision we share, he said, it’s going to require us agreeing on key performance measures. We let the experts do their work to run the data. If we can get to that, he said, he sees a good chance of moving forward in a way that is right for both sides of the river. He said he sees the path forward; it’s just going to take a lot of work to get there. Co-chair Hewitt said he has letters from Co-chair Hal Dengerink and Secretary Paula Hammond, endorsing the design refinements and asking the project to move forward. Council President Bragdon said he thinks the group agrees on some common goals, but the flaws in the design refinements are the same flaws he sees in the original proposal. The common goals have not been applied in the refinements. In the case of Hayden Island, the project is supposed to make it a better place, but that objective has not been met. We have to be very sophisticated and look to new methodology, not that which was state of the art 20 years ago. Going forward, he said, let’s link hands on the broader values we agree on. He said he respects the discipline of traffic engineering as much as he 8 360/737-2726 503/256-2726 WWW. COLUMBIARIVERCROSSING. ORG 700 WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 300, VANCOUVER, WA 98660 DECEMBER 4, 2009 | MEETING SUMMARY COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING (CRC) PROJECT SPONSORS COUNCIL does physicians or accountants, but we need to bring more to bear on it. He said he cannot vote for any more blank checks on this project. He has asked for information and independent audits. We need to work much more closely together. If we do that, we’ll have something we can be proud of. Co-chair Hewitt disagreed with Council President Bragdon about abandoning the goals and said the refinements are consistent with them. But, he said, we’ll have to discuss this more in forthcoming meetings. Mayor Adams said he wants to lay out why now is the right time to pursue what he and Council President Bragdon have put on the table in the form of their guiding policy statement (see appendix). Since March, Adams said, he has been part of a climate action planning process and has become smarter about what it means to plan for climate action. As a result, some of the questions have become more compelling in the last 7-8 months. He looks forward to working with Mayor-elect Leavitt, but the question of tolls is on the table and it’s a fundamental part of the project’s purpose and need. Mayor Adams said he is accountable to bringing the right project to his city council, and if future trips gridlock in the City of Portland, we’re in big trouble. Because of his work on the Sellwood Bridge, he also fears that CRC could consume future available funding for other projects. He said CRC will have to be the most actively managed transportation system in the U. S. it’s the least-cost approach. Lastly, Hayden Island is a feisty, wonderful group of Portlanders who have worked with the City on the Hayden Island Plan. There will be no net loss of local services on the island, he said, and whatever we move forward with must have a solution. Co-chair Hewitt clarified some of the PSC’s next steps: To reco nvene in January and possibly more frequently; to continue integrating staff in the project office so there is a transparent relationship; to continue working on details of the design refinements and performance measures and how they connect; to have a more specific understanding about how refinements fit nto a realistic budget; and to talk about Hayden Island, the environment, and livability issues; and to continue the discussion in a collegial and positive way. He said Councilmember Leavitt will be attending the next PSC meeting as the Mayor of Vancouver. Cochair Hewitt thanked Mayor Pollard who, he said, is a man of great character. He has always been constructive and has held the best interest of the community in mind. Tolling study update This agenda item was not covered and will be discussed at a future meeting. Performance measures update This agenda item was not covered and will be discussed at a future meeting. Next meeting Friday, January 22, 2010 | 10:00 a. m. – 12:30 p. m. Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) 11018 NE 51st Circle, Vancouver, WA Appendices Appendix A Columbia River Crossing: Road to Construction, December 2, 2009 Policy Statement from Council President Bragdon and Mayor Adams Appendix B Email correspondence between Catherine Ciarlo of Mayor Adams’ office and Richard Brandman, CRC project director, November 30, 2009 Appendix C Memorandum from Terence Thatcher, Deputy City Attorney, o Catherine Ciarlo, Office of Mayor Sam Adams, December 4, 2009 9 360/737-2726 503/256-2726 WWW. COLUMBIARIVERCROSSING. ORG 700 WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 300, VANCOUVER, WA 98660 APPENDIX A Columbia River Crossing: Road to Construction Policy Statement for Council President Bragdon and Mayor Adams December 2, 2009 I. Guiding Policy Statement A change in direction is needed for the Columbia R iver Crossing Project to be successfully accomplished. The current proposal is mired in financial challenges, and the region risks missing critical federal deadlines unless we change course. The project refinement recommendation before the PSC would defer or remove certain elements of the proposed project and result in a cost reduction of $515 – $650 million, or roughly 15% of project capital costs. We believe that this is a step in the right direction, but more fundamental change is required to: †¢ match the scope and scale of the project to realistic federal, state and local revenues (including tolls), essentially designing the project to budget †¢ design the project to achieve specific performance measures †¢ make essential, urgent project decisions in collaboration with members of the Project Sponsors Council and their staffs daylight the project’s internal decision making to ensure an unrestricted flow of information to make all of the above possible In addition, it is important to underscore that we reject calls from project opponents to cancel or â€Å"restart† the project, as too much solid work has already been done. II. Refin ement Action Requested at December 4th PSC Meeting We believe that an informed endorsement of any project changes by the PSC is critical to advance the project However, the materials provided for the December 4th meeting do not include adequate analysis of â€Å"refinement† impacts to support a decision. The PSC has previously requested that the project team use the performance measures being developed by the Performance Measures Advisory Group to guide the project refinement process and assess the effect on key interests and stakeholders, such as the freight industry and the ports. We have not yet seen analysis of potential refinements according to those specific measures. While we understand the need to move the project forward, the likely 18-month delay in federal transportation bill reauthorization gives us a window to make sure we get the project right. We believe the current proposal contains incomplete and potentially flawed assumptions underlying the original proposal, particularly assumptions about demand forecasts, tax and toll revenues available for the project, and what those revenues can buy. In addition, we need to see performance-based criteria used to guide reconfiguration of the project, as the PSC has requested. The Project Sponsor Council needs to see clearly how the project – and proposed refinements – stack up against those criteria, including cost. APPENDIX A We are proposing that PSC agency staff work directly with CRC project staff in a short, defined window to continue the current refinement work to create a realistic road to construction that includes: 1. A reliable budget based on realistic revenue projections; 2. A realistic assessment of the relationship between tolls, updated demand forecasts, desired land use patterns and size of the CRC facilities 3. Project elements that are firmly based in performance outcomes 4. Recognition that the interstate system must function in concert with local ystems In short, we believe the Project Sponsors Council needs to make decisions about the many attributes of the project based on how different options perform, for the goals we all agree on. We need to have that information before us so we can realistically evaluate options and buy the best product which available resources can buy. APPENDIX B APPENDIX B APPENDIX C APPENDIX C APPENDIX C The conceptual finance plan below shows a range of CRC P roject cost estimates based on the proposed project refinement recommendations and the latest results of the Cost Estimate Validation Process (CEVP). Costs and revenues are shown in year -ofexpenditure dollars. The finance plan is preliminary; refinements are in process based on the recent results from the toll sensitivity, CEVP, and other analyses. The finance plan may be adjusted based on legislative, DOT, FHWA/FTA, public, and PSC reviews. Preliminary Finance Plan Scenarios In Billions of Year-of-Expenditure Dollars 60% Probability 90% Probability Highway Transit $2. 40 $0. 79 $2. 65 $0. 89 Total $3. 19 $3. 54 $1. 15-$1. 29 $0. 75-$0. 85 $1. 15-$1. 19 $0. 40 $0. 75-$0. 79 $1. 25-$1. 49 $0. 90-$1. 00 $1. 15-$1. 39 $0. 40 $0. 75-$0. 89 $3. 19 $3. 54 Cost Revenues Tolls ODOT and WSDOT Federal Highway Transit (New Starts) Total The plan calls for securing $400 million in Projects of National and Regional Significance funding from the upcoming federal transportation reauthorization act. While the toll rate structure for the CRC Project will not be established until after tolling is authorized by the Washington legislature, the range of financial capacity from tolls that are shown above are based on the Tolling Study Committee analysis, which found a variety of rate structures capable of providing the amounts shown; no specific toll rate structure is assumed in the finance plan. The amount shown for the DOTs is subject to an intergovernmental agreement between the DOTs allocating cost responsibility and legislative approvals of the required funding, and could vary depending on final disposition of other elements of the f inance plan. The New Starts funding presumes the recent statutory language secured by Senator Murray, and requires FTA approval of a Full Funding Grant Agreement based on the New Start rating regulations. Appendix C – CRC Tolling Study Committee Report Travel Demand Forecasting, Revenue Projections, Determination of Net Revenues, and Financial Capacity Analysis Travel Demand Forecasting Regional travel demand models are used to forecast how people may choose to travel in the future given projected growth patterns for population and employment as well as future transportation facilities. The Portland-Vancouver area regional travel demand model used for the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project was developed jointly by the Portland-area Metro Regional Government (Metro) and the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council (RTC). The model, run by Metro and peer-reviewed by a national panel of experts in October 2008, applies a four-step process in estimating future travel demands: Step 1: Person-trips are estimated from adopted regional growth projections and adopted regional transportation plans. Growth projections include population and employment forecasts throughout the metropolitan region. Transportation plans include future transportation facilities, including roadways, transitways, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Step 2: Predicted person-trips are then distributed to zones across the metropolitan region. Over 25,000 network routes, or â€Å"links,† are used in the model, as well as over 2,000 transportation analysis â€Å"zones. † The model predicts how many people will want to travel from one zone to another via different links. Step 3: Person-trips between each of the zones are broken down by mode of travel (drive alone, carpool, transit, bicycle, walking) based on each option’s attractiveness when considering travel time and cost, as well as each traveler’s socioeconomic characteristics. Travel costs include parking fees, transit fares, tolls, and automobile operating costs. Step 4: The model assigns each trip to a specific routing in the model’s network. For the CRC’s tolling analysis work, the model predicts how many people are projected to cross the Columbia River on I-5 and I-205 via automobile and transit. The model is used to predict weekday peak period vehicle volumes across each bridge, which are later used to develop daily traffic demands. The regional travel demand model is appropriate for comparing the relative weekday effects of travel across the Columbia River for different tolling scenarios. The model used for tolling analysis purposes allows relative generalizations to be made about I-5 and I-205, including vehicle and transit trips, and the duration of vehicular congestion experienced along each river crossing. Daily and hourly traffic volumes in 2030 would vary for the I-5 bridge and the I-205 bridge with different tolling levels. Based on information included in the model regarding how much people value their time for different types of trips, lowering or raising toll rates affects how many people choose to pay the specific toll, divert to the alternative bridge, travel during another time of the day, take transit, or travel to a different destination altogether. The scenario analysis found: CRC Tolling Study Committee Report Appendix C 1 January 2010 †¢ For most of the I-5 only toll scenarios, the majority of drivers would not change their travel patterns. Some would choose a new destination or a non-tolled route. Diversion to transit is minimal due to the already increased ridership associated with project improvements. †¢ Route diversion tends to increase as toll rates increase; however, the percentage of diversion tends to be lower during peak periods when travelers’ willingness to pay tolls may be higher and/or alternative routes are congested, and thus, time consuming. †¢ For scenarios that toll both the I-5 and I-205 bridges, traffic levels would be higher on I-5 and lower on I-205 compared to tolling only the I-5 bridge. However, compared to the No Toll project scenario, total cross-river traffic demand would be less on both the I-5 and I-205 bridges as many trips would divert to transit or not be made across the Columbia River. See the attached spreadsheet titled Traffic Effects for Tolling Scenarios for more detailed information about traffic diversion, average daily traffic volumes and hours of congestion predicted for each of the tolling scenarios. Additional work refining one or two likely scenarios will be undertaken to inform financial planning and final rate setting prior to issuing toll revenue bonds. That analysis would independently review and refine many key assumptions, including land use projections, and also examine parts of the network beyond the I-5 and I-205 river crossings, such as key interchanges with these highways, and critical roadways and intersections. An updated and detailed toll traffic and revenue report is warranted before issuing debt, and would be required by the credit rating agencies if any of the bonds were to be backed solely by toll revenues. Revenue Projections The annual traffic and revenue projections produced for the CRC project are derived from outputs of the Metro regional travel demand model. The Metro model employs inputs for users’ values of time as a surrogate for the relationship of time and cost reflecting the potential toll on the I-5 bridge crossing. The regional model was further supplemented by the development of a corridor level traffic model (VISSIM) which provided traffic operation capabilities to estimate the effect of future congestion in the corridor. This became the basis for â€Å"post-processing† the model results to refine traffic demand projections. The traffic and revenue projections show both the annualization of the direct Metro model results and the refined post-processed results, the latter of which bracket the mid-range of anticipated traffic and revenue impacts. Ten toll scenarios that vary toll rates and toll locations (I-5 only or both I-5 and I-205 bridges) were developed by the CRC team for analysis, in conjunction with the Oregon and Washington departments of transportation. Toll rates were assumed to vary by time of day according to a fixed schedule that applies higher toll rates in peak periods and lower rates during off-peak times when demand is less. Toll rates were originally specified in constant year 2006 dollars in the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS); however the actual tolls paid are assumed to increase with expected inflation, projected at 2. 5 percent per year. See Exhibit 1 for information about each scenario. CRC Tolling Study Committee Report Appendix C 2 January 2010 It is expected that the toll collection will be all-electronic, which allows tolls to be collected without toll booths causing drivers to slow down to pay tolls. Thus, drivers would either have a transponder, paying the rates noted in Exhibit 1, or the vehicle would be identified via the license plate, in which case a $1. 00 â€Å"pay-by-plate† processing fee would be added to each transaction. For example, a vehicle traveling during the peak period (6 am to 10 am) without a transponder would be charged $2. 00 plus the $1. 00 processing fee, or $3. 00 for their trip in one direction. Exhibit 1. Tolling Scenarios Evaluated Min/Max Toll Rate (2006$) Tolling I-5 Only Scenario 1D Additional Price Points Scenario 1E 1. 5x DEIS Toll Rate Scenario 1F 2x DEIS Toll Rate Scenario 1G 3x DEIS Toll Rate $2. 69 / $5. 38 $3. 00 / $6. 00 Flat Toll Rate $2. 02 / $4. 03 $2. 00 / $4. 00 Scenario 1C $1. 34 / $3. 36 $1. 50 / $3. 00 Lower than DEIS Toll Rate $2. 22 $1. 00 / $2. 50 Scenario 1B $1. 34 / $2. 02 $1. 65 DEIS Toll Rate $1. 34 / $2. 69 $1. 00 / $1. 50 Scenario 1A Min/Max Toll Rate (2018$) $1. 00 / $2. 00 Scenarios Analyzed Tolling I-5 and I205 DEIS Toll Rate 1. 34 / $2. 69 Scenario 2A DEIS Toll Rate $2. 00 / $4. 00 $2. 69 / $5. 38 Scenario 2B Lower than DEIS Toll Rate $2. 00 / $3. 00 $2. 69 / $4. 03 Scenario 2C Lower I-205 Toll I-5: $2. 00 / $4. 00 I-205: $2. 00 / $3. 00 I-5: $2. 69 / $5. 38 I-205: $2. 69 / $4. 03 1 2 Toll Schedule Type Symmetric Variable Toll Schedule Symmetric Fixed Toll Schedule July 1, 2018 (FY 2019) Each Way Symmetric Variable Toll Schedule 1 Pre-Comple tion Tolling Tolling Start Date $4. 03 / $8. 07 $1. 00 / $2. 00 Tolls Collected Each Way Symmetric Variable Toll July 1, 2013 Schedule (FY 2014) Southbound Symmetric Variable Toll July 1, 2018 2 Schedule (FY 2019) Only Pre-Completion Tolling to be added to any other scenario A round-trip toll is collected on scenarios tolling Southbound only The rates for commercial vehicles are assumed to be proportionately greater than passenger cars, roughly as a function of the number of axles for a commercial vehicle. For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that commercial vehicles will pay on an N minus one basis based upon axles, that is, a five-axle truck would pay four times the passenger car rate (five minus one times the passenger rate). Model volumes were provided for medium (three-axle) and large (five-axle) trucks. The exact commercial toll schedule will be a function of the future development of the electronic toll collection system. Toll schedules assumed for each scenario are shown on the attached spreadsheets, Toll Rate Schedules for I-5 Scenarios and Toll Rate Schedules for I-5 and I-205 Scenarios. CRC Tolling Study Committee Report Appendix C 3 January 2010 Determination of Net Revenues To arrive at the portion of revenues available to support financing via the repayment of debt, several eductions must be made from gross toll revenues and fees. Key among these deductions is the obligation to pay for toll collection and facility operation and maintenance (O) costs for the bridge and roadway. The deductions from gross revenues include the following: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Potential toll revenue lost due to uncollectable accounts Credit card and banking fees associated with toll payment and accounts To ll collection operations and maintenance costs, including maintenance, periodic replacement of equipment, back office costs and bridge insurance Routine operations and maintenance of the bridge and roadway facilities Facility O costs include routine maintenance of the bridge and all roadways within the project area as well as incident response for the project area. After gross revenues have paid all of the above deductions, including toll collection and facility O costs, the remaining net revenue is available for debt repayment. The net revenue stream represents the cash flow that can be used directly for financing to repay bonds, or to directly pay for construction if pre-completion tolling is implemented. In addition to bond repayment, there will be a periodic need for renovation and rehabilitation activities for the project. These costs are assumed to be funded out of excess net revenues after annual debt repayments that result from the debt service coverage requirement placed on net revenues. A reserve account may be created that would be funded from these excess net toll revenues. Financial Capacity Analysis Tolling the I-5 bridge does not have the financial capacity to yield a funding contribution equal to the $2. 38 billion cost in year of expenditure dollars for the highway portion of the project. Rather, a number of funding sources will likely be needed to build the project, including federal and state (Oregon and Washington) funding sources combined with funding from tolls. For the purposes of this analysis, the bridge is assumed to be substantially completed by the end of fiscal year 2018, with revenue operations beginning on July 1, 2018 (state fiscal year 2019). Toll bond proceeds are assumed to be received in the middle and latter years of construction to maximize their funding contribution, and other funding CRC Tolling Study Committee Report Appendix C 4 January 2010 ources are assumed to cover construction costs in the initial years. Other project improvements to the highway and interchanges would continue into 2019, and the last bonds needed to fund these completion activities are assumed to be issued after tolling has commenced. The CRC toll bonds were assumed to be backed by other revenue sources, and the full faith and credit of one or both states to provide the b onds with a credit rating and interest costs equivalent to that of general obligation debt of either state. The use of toll bonds will increase the total costs paid during and after construction due to the added interest and issuance osts. However, these financing costs are treated separately from the project capital cost during construction. Increased use of toll bonds will increase the total costs paid due to added interest and issuance. The construction cost does not increase as a result; rather it adds a financing cost both during and after construction. State-backed bonds are limited by Washington State Constitution to a 30 year repayment period. Accordingly, debt with the maturity of up to 30 years was assumed to maximize the total proceeds that can be generated by the forecasted net toll revenue stream. A minimum debt service coverage factor of 1. 25 was assumed for state-backed debt whereby net toll revenues were maintained at 1. 25 times the projected annual debt service. The intent of this is to provide some protection against draws on the revenue sources pledged to backup toll revenues, such as motor vehicle fuel tax revenues, in the event of lower-than-projected toll revenue performance. Interest rates on state-backed bonds are assumed to be 6. 00 percent for current interest bonds (â€Å"CIBs†) and 6. 50 percent for capital appreciation bonds (â€Å"CABs†), based on the current double-A credit ratings in both states. Issuance costs are assumed to be 0. 2 percent of the total par amount of bonds issues for state-backed bonds. Additional costs would include 0. 5 percent of the par amount for current interest bonds for underwriting (underwriter’s discount) and 1. 0 percent of the par amount for capital appreciation bonds. Interest is assumed to be capitalized through the year before the project comple How to cite Bege-101 Assignment Session 2012 Solve, Essay examples

Romeo and Juliet are victims of unrelenting fate against which they cannot rebel effectively. All they can do is submit with courage and dignity. Essay Example For Students

Romeo and Juliet are victims of unrelenting fate against which they cannot rebel effectively. All they can do is submit with courage and dignity. Essay Who is to blame for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? The quotation takes the point of view that fate is to blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet. It states that the outcome could not have been changed and whatever Romeo and Juliet had done, the end result would have been the same. The prologue of the play also takes this view The fearful passage of their death-marked love Prologue. The phrase death-marked love informs us that their love is marked with death from the very beginning and nothing they do will change this fact, because it is their fate. In Elizabethan times most people would have believed that fate is the main cause of the tragedy. But some people might suggest that it is more accurate to say that it was their destiny, which is caused by human responsibility, rather than their fate, which is fixed and cannot be changed, that is to blame. Fate means that the end was already decided for them, right from the beginning of time but destiny means that they decide their own life as they go along, through the choices they make and the through what the people around them do. There are many reasons why Romeo and Juliet came to such a tragic end. Ultimately the end result was as it was because of everything that happened tying together. For instance, if Tybalt had not killed Mercutio then Romeo would not have killed Tybalt and would not have been banished. It was a sequence of unfortunate events. There are many things it could have been; hatred, destiny or even love. When we think of love we think of something that is wonderful, something that solves our problems and dissolves our hatred. We can see from the play that love changes personalities. Romeo and Juliet become desperate to hurry through everything, they cant wait to see each other, they want to get married, and they want to sleep together, all at once. Love has taken over and they cant get enough of each other. When we take a look at Romeo and Juliet after they fall in love we can see that their personalities have changed, but in very different ways. Romeo becomes sensitive and he tries to spread his love and happiness to others around him. I do protest I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise. 3.1.61-62 This is a very unexpected response from Romeo, seeing as he is a Montague and it is assumed that all Montagues hate all Capulets. This is why it seems that Romeo is acting like this because of being in love. Juliet has also had a change of personality; she becomes commanding and resilient. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds, And bring in cloudy night immediately. Juliet, 3.2.14 This quote shows her determination and strong will power compared to how she is before she fell in love. Before Romeo came along we never saw her being strong or aggressive, only obedient and polite around her mother and father. We could blame the result of the play on many people for many reasons. Here I am going to examine the main culprits and what they did to contribute to the consequence of Romeo and Juliets love. Romeo played a big part in the death of Juliet and himself. His character caused him to be hasty and rush into things without thinking. This made him much more vulnerable and he endangered himself and Juliet in the process. Firstly, the reason he met Juliet was because he went to the party to try and woo Rosaline, and when he saw Juliet, he immediately, following his hasty character, fell in love with her and began to charm her. If he had not been so conforming to his anger he would not have been in such a rush to make Tybalt pay for slaying his friend and would not have been banished. This shows he does not think of the consequences of his actions. And again when he heard Juliet had died, he jumped on his horse and hurried off to the Capulet vault. He did not stop to think that some other news might arrive. One World Down the Drain EssayTybalt is feisty by nature and this provokes Mercutio and the other Montagues to fight him. Turn thee, Benvolio, and look upon thy deathpeace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward. 1.1.5861-63 If he had not gone out hunting for Romeo nobody would have died. The unfortunate thing is that none of the children, from either side of the family, even have a reason to fight other than the fact that their parents are enemies. Mercutio is quite similar to Tybalt in many ways. They both enjoy fighting and mocking each other and both loathe the others family. When Tybalt came looking for Romeo he made it quite clear that he did not want to fight Mercutio and was there only for Romeo, and when Romeo arrived he dismissed Mercutio: Peace be with you, sir, here comes my man. Tybalt to Mercutio 3.1.49 But Mercutio insisted and it ended up that Mercutio, himself, died. If Mercutio had withdrawn then, Romeo might never have been banished. But that was not in his character. Though we cannot say that it would have been better if something had been changed or if Romeo and Juliet had not died because if this was the case the feud would have still been happening and both families probably would have rejected their relatives. The whole thing is caused by the fact that Lord Capulet and Lord Montague cannot set aside their differences and have imposed their view, that the other is wrong, on their relatives. Both sides of the feud have at least one person who can see that the whole fight is pointless and needs to be sorted out. The fact that Romeo and Juliet go that little bit further to be together and solve their families problems shows that the feud is causing nothing but grief and that people have even died trying to harm a member of the other family. I dont think that the blame can be placed on just one person because if any one thing had changed the outcome would have changed and we cant pick just one thing that caused the result. From this we could say one of two things; either fate is to blame or destiny is to blame. Fate traditionally is based on star alignments and nothing can change what the end will be. Destiny is based on what people do and the choices they make, and different choices produce different endings. And as we know, if one thing was changed about the play the outcome would be completely different, we can conclude that the quotation is false and destiny is to blame for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

THE CRUCIBLE Essays (400 words) - Salem Witch Trials, The Crucible

THE CRUCIBLE by Andrew Lawrence The witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts in the early sixteen hundreds was a time of uneasiness and suspicion. Anyone could easily turn in his or her neighbor on the ground of witchcraft. Someone could merely say their neighbor's spirit had attacked them during the night, which no man can prove. Nevertheless, as a God-fearing community, they could not think of denying the evidence, because to deny the existence of Evil is to deny the existence of Goodness, which is God. The most important scene in the play was act two, scene three, where John Proctor is able to talk with his wife, Elizabeth, one last time. He decides that he will "confess" to the crime of witchcraft, thereby avoiding being hung. However, to accept what he said, the judge also requires him to sign a written confession which states that he confessed to the crime of witchcraft. Judge Danforth would post it on the church door, to use Proctor as an example to get other people to confess. That upset Proctor greatly, because people would look down on him with disdain, and it would blacken forever his name. What was most important to him was to make a stand against the insanity of the town, for himself and for God, and using that as a last resort to make people aware of what was happening. This last stand for righteousness is an example of proctor's great character and rationale. Arthur Miller wrote his play, The Crucible, a story about the Salem witch trials, and the panic resulting from it, as an allegory to show people the insanity of the McCarthy hearings. He wrote it as an allegory so that, if tried by McCarthy, he could say, "it's just a play about the witch trials in Salem. How do you get this communist idea from it?" The story illustrates how people react to mass hysteria, created by a person or group of people desiring fame, as people did during the McCarthy hearings. Arthur Miller, acting as a great visionary, warned us that if we did not become aware of history repeating itself, our society would be in danger. At the same time, he had to do this in a matter that would not get him arrested, hence the witch-trial mechanization. Word Count: 604

Oswald Boelcke essays

Oswald Boelcke essays With 40 victories to his name at the time of his death, Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke was Germany's greatest fighter pilot and air unit commander. Boelcke was born in Giebichstein, (near Halle, Saxony) the fourth child of six in a schoolteacher's family. Ever an active youth, he excelled at gymnastics, swimming and mountain climbing. In 1911, after he graduated from high school, he joined the Prussian Cadet Corps Communication battalion and was later posted to a Telegraph battalion in Koblenz/Rheine, gaining his commission in 1912. Attracted to the flying corps, he transferred to the Fliegertruppe (pilot-troop) in May of 1914 and learned to fly at the Halberstadt Aeroplane Works. Boelcke passed the third and final pilot's exam on August 15 1914, just days before the outbreak of war. Oswald was initially assigned with his brother Wilhelm to the Fliegerabteilung (pilot-department) # 13. Wilhem was five years older than Oswald and served as his observer. After quarrels with other flyers the brothers decided it would be best to be posted to different units. In May 1915 he was transferred to a unit near Douai, France, Feldfliegerabteilung (field-pilot-department) # 62. Later in 1915, Boelcke was the pilot chosen to test Anthony Fokker's new machine gun synchronizing device. It was a great success and Boelcke used the new invention to become the first German ace. It was at Feldfliegerabteilung # 62 (FFA 62) that Boelcke met another rising star, Max Immelmann. The two began a friendly scoring rivalry flying Fokker Eindeckers. After each downing eight enemy planes, he and Immelmann were awarded the Orden Pour le Mrite (Blue Max) on 12 January 1916. They were the first two pilots to receive Prussia's highest award for bravery. Also while stationed with FFA 62, Boelcke saved a French boy from drowning. The grateful villagers wanted the French government to award him the Legion of Honor. This was not likely. B ...

Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People" Assignment

Ibsen, "An Enemy of the People" - Assignment Example Dr. Stockmann knows that the health of the community is significant, and that is why he devotes time to carry out the reliable scientific tests. The findings are important in preventing the dire consequences of drinking the water. The doctor does not only point out the danger, but also provides a solution to correct the anomaly. Thus, it is unfair for Peter Stockmann to accuse the doctor of not thinking of the community. The media play a significant role in validating the Dr. Stockmann’s findings and showing his commitment to doing the right thing. The media is the voice that relays information to the public. Hovstad, the editor of the People’s Messenger, enlightens the public regarding the incapability of the Mayor (34). Hovstad assures the public that every paper will reflect the affairs that are central to the people. Hence, the media is devoted to correcting the political class and pointing out the issues of concern to the public. In essence, the author uses the media to highlight the flaws in the leadership, as well as, critical issues that need immediate

Regulation and Management in the Global Economy Case Study

Regulation and Management in the Global Economy - Case Study Example 10 defines company provisions for leadership structure of the board of directors whereas sub-section A.2 has clearly explained division of responsibilities between head of the board and the executive officer. The code states that the office of chairman and chief executive officer should not be held by the same individual and this detachment of roles must be set out in writing. In contrast to the principles of UK corporate governance code, 2010; Imola plc is practically in violation of these principles. The role of the chairman has only been restrained at leading the board for effectiveness in setting agenda for board meetings and in constructing relations between executive and non-executive directors. Despite the fact that code constrains chief executive officer to be the chairman of the board but in exceptional cases major shareholders must be consulted in this endeavor which in case of Imola plc can only be justified as an exception only if the major shareholders have also been con sulted in advance to the appointment. Provided the company performance and restructuring, the decision for appointing same person as chairman and chief executive officers seems clear violation of duality clause of the corporate governance code. Section 2 of the corporate governance code, 2010 stipulates some principle regarding the effectiveness of the board, of which composition of the board has been defined in sub-section B.1 of the code, 2010. Sub-section B.1 states that the board of directors must be composed of individuals from diverse areas of expertise so that balance of skills and experience could be maintained efficiently and should be based upon sufficient member size for better management, monitoring and evaluation. Imola plc has successfully implemented this principle by maintaining sufficient size board and directors from diversified backgrounds (Clarke & Branson, 2012). What Imola plc has failed to implement is the balance between executive and non-executive board

Marketin Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Marketin Planning - Essay Example The advisory committee helps the companies to reveal the strength and weakness in the strategic plans. It discusses the strategic responses with the companies and provides them with the outcome where the company has to improve. The companies are required to get registered with the committee, so that they receive continuous updates and monitoring from IHS CERA. The membership is taken on the annual basis and the committee delivers two research cycles to the companies, who are registered under it. The committee provides with the current scenario of marketing strategies of the industries. The companies will remain well aware regarding the changing perspective of the marketing plans that are undertaken by the industry (Petro Tech, 2012). The members are bound to receive the following from the committee: 1) Forecast or anticipation of the oil and gas industry of the United States 2) Get the access to the IHS CERA Database Centre. 3) Receive semi annual client meeting (invitation/ record o f the proceedings) Shell is the leading oil and petrochemical company based in Unites States. The company seeks to develop unique marketing strategy based on the current scenario of the marketing plans of the industry. ... Shells seek to maintain its position in the industry by meeting the global energy demand in a very responsible way. They aim at providing competitive returns for the shareholders. The company also seeks to develop a competitive edge, so that they can retain the best position in the industry. In new downstream markets, access to upstream resources has become very difficult as there exist high competition. But for Shell the main competitive advantage is their capability of project delivery and the operational excellence along with their concentration in the upstream businesses. The company has invested 80% of the capital in the upstream business in 2013. In the upstream business, the company focus on the exploration of new liquids and natural gas reserves. They aim at developing new projects where the technology and the know-how of the business can add value to the resource holders (Deloitte, 2013). The downstream and upstream engines are generating cash and developing the business, wh ich is strengthening the financial performance of the company.   The company makes investment in few selective growth regions. It thus applies distinctive technology to the growth regions and provides with excellent operating performance for extending the productive lives of the assets of the company and hence increases profitability. Their major strategies are the deep water, integrated gas and the resources that play an important role, such as shale oil and gas. The themes provide them with medium term growth and they expect to make the themes to be their core engines of the business in the near future. The future opportunities of Shell include the potential oil reserves of Iraq, Arctic, Nigeria and Kazakhstan. The opportunities are to be exploited by the company in order to

Business Plan for a java Culture coffee shop

Business Plan for a java Culture coffee shop Coffee Shop: Business Plan Executive Summary The coffee bar based on the java culture is resolute to develop into an essential and daily requirement of the local coffee lovers. It will be a place where one can escape from his daily stressful life schedules and find comfort, friends as well as books, all at a single space. The business plan of java culture coffee bar is purely based on introducing coffee shop for the clients with free cafà © and above all that they will provide free books to their customers so that they can enjoy and relax themselves. The basic idea behind this coffee bar is to serve the best coffee of that area where the coffee will be admired with the pastries. The company is planning to start this project on a 1000 square foot land which will be best suited for a coffee shop situated in the central Noida. The company believes in the welfare of the society and accomplishes it by supporting charity and income of the people belonging to rural areas by adopting fair trade. The company has also planned to support those farmers by using their coffee in the coffee bar who cultivates the coffee by adopting sustainable manufacture, fair trade and organic products. (Bplans) Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Company Description 3. Market Analysis 4. Organization and Management 5. Service or Product Line 6. Marketing and Sales 7. Funding Request 8. Financial Projection 9. References Introduction Purpose: For the operations of the initial year, the main objectives of the Java culture coffee shop are discussed below: The main purpose of our coffee shop is to gave social and friendly environment to the people. By helping our customer by giving convenient location, good customer service and best quality of coffee for drink. Key to success: The company’s keys to success are discussed below: Our store will offer great quality customer service and a serene environment. A relaxing, upscale interior design. Employee training in order to be at pace with competitive scenario. Gave special discount offer to our regular customer Company Description Java Culture is launching its first business plan in India. It will offer new style of coffee shop in Noida where localities, teenagers and other people feel relaxation in that environment. Variety: No other coffee bars located in that particular location will able to meet up the quality, taste and range of tea, smoothies, coffee drinks, juice, cocoa and other products that Java culture does. Location: Java culture will be located in the main section of Central Noida in the centre of the entertainment and shopping hub of Noida (sector -18). Expansion: This coffee bar is expected to be the first of a chain of the Java culture coffeehouses located in markets that have significant traffic by the store, and main attraction point for the youth. Java culture concept: At one time CONTESSA was the acknowledged quality automobile in India. After that Mercedes-Benz was introduced and then Audi, with its superb product and service approach. Java will be the first Audi of the coffeehouse chain industry, offering a higher quality product andbetter quality service in an exceptional environment. Market Analysis Java culture launches a different coffee shop in growing market segment. Market Segmentation: Javas customer base in Noida is comprised of four target groups. These groups are: Students and Faculty Teenagers Office workers Others Target Market Segment Strategy: Java Culture will provide the relaxing atmosphere for those who generally drink coffee. Our most of the clients will be college students and couples where they can meet and also read books and pass their time without paying any extra amount. Organization and Management Organization: the design of the organizational entity, its structure, vision and mission, and decision making organs. Management: the processes/procedures and systems of the organization that ensure that the organization efficiently uses its available resources to achieve its aims and objectives. Management Team: A full-time manager is appointed to supervise the day round activities. The responsibilities of manager is to administer the staff, developing a marketing strategy, handling the suppliers, fulfilling various other every day managerial duties and organizing inventory. We believe that we have chosen the best suited person for the job. The five key elements necessary for the sustainability of our organization are as follows: Service or Product Line Java Culture will offer the best coffee and maintain high quality which will further attract the customers. It also offers pastries, snacks and sandwiches. The lists will be available in a clearly drafted menu card. Product Description: The organization highly specialized not only in beverages like coffee, tea and juice etc. but also in eatables such as chocolates and snacks. We are not bounding ourselves to specific product but strive to provide customers with many options as wide range of variety under one roof. Services: We provide door step delivery services to the customers. We offer special discounts on any day of the week. We also offer combo deals. We have provided Wi-Fi connectivity. We provide gifts to our regular customer on festive seasons. Marketing and Sales The Organization is focusing on Customer oriented marketing strategy as how to attract new customers and encouraging the existing clients to demand for more. Competitive Edge: Our competitive edge,compared tothe other coffeehouses in Noida includes the following: Asignificantly higher quality, better tasting coffee product. Ourcurrent location can arguably be considered the best in the market. We have various drinks which can be served as a substitute for people who dont drink coffee. These alternatives are tea, shakes, juice and squashes. Our Internet website will include online ordering also. Sales Strategy: Our sales strategy includes: Recruiting dynamic sales force that can know and satisfy customer needs. There are various practices that need to be carried out to offer best of quality. Always indulge in a) reduce customer waiting time, and b) create efficient product ordering Sell coffee, gift baskets on our website Establish coffee service at local businesses Adopting various marketing strategy like discount to key groups, selling cards etc Create an online feedback program Sales Forecast: We are assuming that in first year, our per day customer will be 150 and within a year it will increase by approximately double of the first year. Marketing strategy: Our strategy will be to offer a high quality product andsuperb servicein a superior environment. Launch Marketing: Launch marketing leads to awareness amongst masses, various techniques establish organization’s brand images are as follows: Emails Local Electronic Media Local Print Media Packaging Superior location Funding Request As our sole proprietorship business is on its initial stage and it’s a small scale business, so I will utilize my fix deposits and savings for the business. And can borrow from friends and relatives. For further expansion I will utilize the profits in the long run. Financial Projection The Company is placing itself in market as setback to the risk which is primarily due to liquidity. The company maintains the liquidity as the debt to be cleared at the month end and no credit sale. The Company’s investment structure enables the company to maintain good liquidity. Projected Cash Flow: As the chart of java culture America projects, organization will enjoy good cash flow, this leads to meets debt on as and when basis and not only that, but it will be in a better position to meet future uncertainties. (Source: Java Culture America Cited from BPlans) References Bplans. As retrieved on February 4, 2014, available at, http://www.bplans.com/about_us/ Kotler, P. and Keller, K. L. (2006), â€Å"Marketing Management† (12th ed). Prentice Hall Publications. National resource guide, (2013), (English), As retrieved on February 4, 2014, available at, http://www.sba.gov/about-sba/what_we_do/resource_guides 1

Violence In Video Games :: essays research papers

You open your eyes to a narrow hallway with various passages opening to the left and right. The walls seem to be made of some pseudo-stucco material. You ignore the passages as you head forward to the opening at the end of the hallway. A spacious chamber opens up before you, with three passageways that open to the left, forward, and right respectively. After a few steps forward, you turn around and see another floor above the original hallway you came in, about twenty feet up. There are ramps from the left and right heading up towards it. At the foot of one of the ramps is a small white box with a red cross on it. As you walk closer to inspect it, footsteps are heard coming from behind you. You spin around to face a man of generic description toting a sinister looking modified chain gun. Before you can say anything, he opens fire, unloading three or four rounds into you. Time to take evasive action. You backpedal to the right, arriving at the white box. You feel instantly healed. Tu rning, you sprint back into the hallway you came in from, dodging left and right to avoid flying bullets. The second right takes you into a small windowless room with nothing but a low-powered handgun and some loose clips littered about the floor. It will serve its purpose. The gun seems heavier than it should be as you slam a clip home and take an ambush position to the right of the door. The man barges in and misses seeing you. You take careful aim and unload eight rounds into the back of his skull. As he falls to the ground in his final death throes, the words ‘Falco_Lombardi fragged NeoNess101 with a handgun’ appear at the top of your vision. You smile to yourself and pick up his chain-gun, ready now for anything. This is the type of rush most gamers get playing an online multiplayer first-person shooter such as Quake III, Unreal Tournament, Half-Life, or classic DOOM. But can these games be destructive to mental health? Can they actually desensitize people to the point where they cannot tell the difference between reality and virtual reality? The evidence will be presented for it, the evidence against it, and then I’ll show my own personal experience. You can draw your own results. First of all, the evidence that video games promote violence.

Final Paper on Managerial Accounting

On this small plot of land in the middle of a bustling city called Bacolod, in the Negros Occidental province of the Philippines, lies home to the family of Jose and Teodula Tamera. Located on 79 Lacson Street, this place was especially home to one of their sons, Robin Tamera.After years of decadence in this little spot called home, Robin found himself working in Ontario, Canada. It was there that the inspiration to keep the property's memories alive was sparked. He had a desire to keep this lot not only as a memorial keepsake for himself, siblings, and relatives, but first and foremost as a reminder of his parents' love and care.Robin Tamera's concept was to open a very humble place for all to stay in Bacolod City, whether they were local or foreign visitors. He wanted a hotel that incorporated and adapted all of the finest amenities that other places in the world could offer.In 2006, after years of investment and construction, Robin's desire became a reality after converting their property to a bed and breakfast place. â€Å"The Tamera Plaza Inn† became not only a place to stay, but a memorial and tribute to the Tamera Family. The Inn offers overnight lodging and meals. It includes 1 Superior room, 8 De Luxe rooms , 6 standard double rooms, 5 standard single rooms, a function room, all air-conditioned with cable TV services. The Tamera Plaza Inn has 30 full time employees to date.Meanwhile, the inn faces very serious seasonal customer fluctuations. The average number of tourists in Bacolod is 70,000 per year, majority of which are during Summer and in October during the MassKara festival. The inn has about 2 % of these tourist choose them for accomodations. Although the place has no rental costs and the expenses in the contsruction of the inn has already been acquired, the inn has an opportunity to increase its profitiability.Below is the the cost allocation per year:For the purpose of this paper, Activity-Based Costing will be used to analyze the inn' s profitability and to present a recommendation. In Table 1, Activities Analysis and Assignment of Activities to Products (lodging and dining) by activity drivers. Labor, material and utility costs traced to activities are shown in columns (1)-(3) of table 2. Columns (4)-(11) present detail about how activities are allotted to each product by drivers. For example, the driver of the cleaning activity is the true cleaning time which is total 3061.6 hours. Using the driver to trace the cleaning activity to the two products separately, and assigning 2651.4 hours and 410.2 hours respectively, of cleaning time, the driver can allocate PHP 46,611 to lodging and PHP 7,212 to dining.Finally, adding all the allocation activities costs in each product we can get the total activity costs. The total product cost is the combination of the total activities costs, direct material costs, and outsource costs (laundry and transportation) in each product. Unit product cost is defined as the total produ ct cost divided by the total number of customers. The unit product costs of lodging and dining are PHP 340.67 and 71.31 per customer respectively for a year. The lodging and dining products of The Tamera Plaza Inn represent two market segments.After applying ABC to the The Tamera Plaza Inn case, the unit costs of each of the Inn's products in two market segments are clear. The cost information acquired from ABC in this case will be useful to the owners for marketing strategy, decision making and cost-volume-profit analysis.Table 1.In the second stage, all activities costs in the five activities centers are assigned to the three country inn’s products. Table 2 shows activities analysis and the assignment of activities to products by activity drivers. Labor, material and utility costs traced to activities are shown in the second to fourth column of table1 while fifth to tenth columns present detail about how activities are allotted to each product by drivers. For example, the d river of the cleaning activity is the cleaning time which is total 6810.6 hours. Using the driver to trace the cleaning activity to the three products separately, and assigning 2651.4 hours, 3749 hours and 410.2 hours respectively, of cleaning time, the driver can allocate NT$ 46,611 to lodging, NT$65,904 to hot spring use, and NT$7,212 to dining.Finally, adding all the allocation activities costs in each product we can get the total activity costs. The total product cost is the combination of the total activities costs, direct material costs, and outsource costs (laundry, hot spring water) in each product. Unit product cost is defined as the total product cost divided by the total number of customers. The unit product costs of lodging, hot spring use and dining are NT$ 306.21, NT$31.64 and NT$ 67.28 per customer respectively in the busy winter seasons. The lodging, hot spring use and dining products of this country inn represent three market segments. After applying ABC to the coun try inn case, the unit costs of each of the country inn’s products in three market segments are clear. The cost information acquired from ABC in this case is extremely useful to the inn’s owners (managers) for marketing, decision making and cost-volume-profit analysis.Table 1 Monthly Costs of ResourcesResource life time Replacement value Capital costs Cost per monthRent-a-land 30 ï ¼  ï ¼  700,000 Owner’s lands 30 150,000,000 13,324,092 1,110,341 Buildings 30 16,050,000 1,425,672 118,806Personnel Number Total Costs Cost per monthFull time staffs 23 9,060,000 755,000 Part-time staffs 13 2,448,000 204,000 Managers 2 1,320,000 110,000is the general manager. Meanwhile, the inn faces very serious seasonal customer fluctuations. The average volume of customers for hot spring use  can come to a maximum of 58,048 persons monthly in the winter season and a reaches minimum of 18,311 persons in the summer season. In addition, this hot spring country inn bears a heavy space and land costs due to the high cost of buildings and land in Taipei. The monthly costs of rent, lands, buildings and labor are showed in table 1.This inn doesn’t use any activity-based costing method in its accounting system except for the traditional one. Since activity-based costing can be very complex and time consuming, and even less in tourism industry, it is not widely applied in the manufacturing industries in Taiwan (Chen, 2001, p. 52). It is recognized that partial activity-based costing can be used to enhance rather than totally replace the accounting system when the company finds it too difficult to implement full-scale ABC-based accounting.Some companies also complain that the cost of ABC’s administrative and technical complexity, and of continuously generating activity data, exceeds any benefits subsequently derived from it, so that they reject proposals to implement ABC to their companies. Nevertheless, many firms still find they have success in co st reduction, product pricing, customer profitability analysis and output decisions when they adopt ABC (Chenhall and Langfield-Smith, 1998; Clarke et al., 1999; Innes and Sinclair, 2000; Cotton et al., 2003).Our traditional accounting cost information was gathered from 1 November, 2003 to 30 December, 2003. The figures for customers’ volume were acquired from the mean of the number of customers in these two months. In order to obtain a more accurate picture of Table 2Activities Analysis and Assigning Activity to Product Using Activity Drivers Resource Labor Materiall Total Quantities of Drivers Total Unit cost per Product cost Activity& Utility Cost Lodging Spring Dining quantity activity driver Lodging Hot-Spring Dining Cleaning 99,572 20,155 119,727 2,651.4 3,749 410.2 6810.6 17.58/hr 46,611 65,904 7,212(10.57%) (3.67%) (0.32%) Changing 1,455 607 2,062 960 0 0 960 2.15/hr 2,062 0 0 sheets(0.47%) (0%) (0%) Washing 32,225 22,196 54,421 830 1,832 188.6 2,851 19.09/hr 15,849 3 4,972 3,600(3.59%) (1.95%) (0.16%) Clear up 91,475 21,623 113,098 0 0 10,710 10,710 10.56/number 0 0 113,098(0%) (0%) (5.06%) Check on 5,454 2,276 7,730 450 0 0 450 17.17/number 7,730 0 0(1.75%) (0%) (0%) Ordering 54,451 1,994 56,445 0 0 11,203 11,203 5.04/number 0 0 56,445(0%) (0%) (2.52%) Carrying 75,220 2,754 77,974 0 0 103,754 103,754 0.75/number 0 0 77,974(0%) (0%) (3.49%) Re-supply 4,320 2,437 6,757 20 436 4 460 14.69/hr 294 6,404 59(0.07%) (0.35%) (0.00%) Cooking 297,968 58,945 356,913 0 0 2,010 2,010 177.57/hr 0 0 356,913(0%) (0%) (15.96%) Purchasing 73,886 605 74,491 18.5 24 198 240.5 309.73/hr 5,730 7,434 61,327(1.30%) (0.41%) (2.74%) Check in 263,806 90,647 354,453 232.47 1,891.67 692.5 2,816.64 125.84/hr 29,255 238,051 87,147 /out(6.64%) (13.26%) (3.90%) Admini- 36,608 1,049 37,657 210 779.2 102 1,091.2 34.51/space 7,247 26,890 3,520 strative(1.64%) (1.50%) (0.16%) Marketing 6,160 176 6,336 1,440 56,750 33,240 91,430 0.07/person 100 3,933 2,303(0.02%) (0.22%) (0.10%) Acc ounting 26,400 756 27,156 1,440 56,750 33,240 91,430 0.297/person 428 16,855 9,873(0.10%) (0.94%) (0.44%) Renting700,000 251.96 1,385.80 461.94 2,099.7 333.38/space 83,999 461,999 154,002(19.05%) (25.73%) (6.89%) Depreciation1,229,147 251.96 1,385.80 461.94 2,099.7 585.39/space 147,495 811,236 270,416(33.45%) (45.18%) (12.09%) Total 1,069,000 226,220 3,224,367*Total activity cost 346,800 1,673,678 1,203,889(78.65%) (93.21%) (53.83%)* All activities in column (3) added Direct material cost 61,137 116,843 1,032,498(13.87%) (6.51%) (46.17%)Outsource laundry 33,000(7.48%)Hot-spring water5,049(0.28%)Total product cost 440,937 1,795,570 2,236,387Total customers 1,440 56,750 33,240Unit product cost 306.21 31.64 67.28Allocated resource costs, working sampling (Tsai, 1996) is used to estimate the percentage of time spent on each of various activities for each staff member and manager. In this way an adjusted percentage of personnel time spent on each activity can be obtained. In the first st age, resources in this country inn are assigned to all activities in five activities centers by resource drivers.In the second stage, all activities costs in the five activities centers are assigned to the three country inn’s products. Table 2 shows activities analysis and the assignment of activities to products by activity drivers. Labor, material and utility costs traced to activities are shown in columns (1)-(3) of table 2. Columns (4)-(11) present detail about how activities are allotted to each product by drivers. For example, the driver of the cleaning activity is the true cleaning time which is total 6810.6 hours. Using the driver to trace the cleaning activity to the three products separately, and assigning 2651.4 hours, 3749 hours and 410.2 hours respectively, of cleaning time, the driver can allocate NT$ 46,611 to lodging, NT$65,904 to hot spring use, and NT$7,212 to dining.Finally, adding all the allocation activities costs in each product we can get the total act ivity costs. The total product cost is the combination of the total activities costs, direct material costs, and outsource costs (laundry, hot spring water) in each product. Unit product cost is defined as the total product cost divided by the total number of customers. The unit product costs of lodging, hot spring use and dining are NT$ 306.21, NT$31.64 and NT$ 67.28 per customer respectively in the busy winter seasons.The lodging, hot spring use and dining products of this country inn represent three market segments. After applying ABC to the country inn case, the unit costs of each of the country inn’s products in three market segments are clear. The cost information acquired from ABC in this case is extremely useful to the inn’s owners (managers) for marketing, decision making and cost-volume-profit analysis.TAMERA PLAZA INN Date Established: March 2006 #79 Lacson St., Bacolod City Tel No. 432-1708; Fax: 709-0886 Manager: Dina Serfino E-mail: [email  protected] C lassification: Economy Class No. of Rooms: 20 Rates: Superior 1 1,500.00 Deluxe 8 1,300.00 Standard Double 1,100.00 Standard Single 900.00 Extra Matress 250.00 Extra Person 100.00 Last Updated: September 11, 2013 Rates are subject to change without prior notice