Romania: Eh, maybe they're good enough
The Washington Post has a good piece on how Bucharest has changed in hopes of joining the EU early next year. The video in the sidebar is worth checking out, for the anecdotal interest if nothing else. That video can be found directly here.
Side note: Bucharest has a better public transportation system than Washington, D.C., according to the former U.S. ambassador to Romania in a letter he wrote to the Post. In addition to a superior underground system, Bucharest also has a nice light-rail system above ground. (Local note: Cincinnati voters recently rejected light rail, and a network of spooky empty subway tunnels remains dormant from when the city gave up on an underground system at the outbreak of theFirst World War Depression. Great job, Cincinnati.)
It seems like Romania and Bulgaria will have to beef up their PR effort, though, if the EU wants to legitimately bring in the states. Support in the EU for enlargement is down to 49 percent, according to a poll cited by Bloomberg. When asked about the states specifically, 43 and 48 percent of those polled support the entry of Romania and Bulgaria respectively.
If they don't get in, though, at least they'll have the consolation of some added foreign investment, not to mention tourism dollars. The popular summer hotspots just keep moving further east, don't they?
Side note: Bucharest has a better public transportation system than Washington, D.C., according to the former U.S. ambassador to Romania in a letter he wrote to the Post. In addition to a superior underground system, Bucharest also has a nice light-rail system above ground. (Local note: Cincinnati voters recently rejected light rail, and a network of spooky empty subway tunnels remains dormant from when the city gave up on an underground system at the outbreak of the
It seems like Romania and Bulgaria will have to beef up their PR effort, though, if the EU wants to legitimately bring in the states. Support in the EU for enlargement is down to 49 percent, according to a poll cited by Bloomberg. When asked about the states specifically, 43 and 48 percent of those polled support the entry of Romania and Bulgaria respectively.
If they don't get in, though, at least they'll have the consolation of some added foreign investment, not to mention tourism dollars. The popular summer hotspots just keep moving further east, don't they?
posted by bp at
11:16 AM
3 Comments:
the abaondoned subway in Cincinatti's pretty cool. Interesting post, too.
The Czech Republic's public transpo light train system is pretty good as well. I got shaken down there once in 2000 by a group of shitheads exacting a "railway toll". They got me for several thousand korunas, which they thought was a good lift, but it amounted to a couple of US dollars at the time. Suckas.
By
t'su, at 7:09 PM
Yeah, it's sad the thing never got finished, but we might be the only city with empty subway tunnels under our streets. It makes for neat urban lore. But when former Soviet bloc countries have better transit systems than decent-sized U.S. cities, something is wrong in the heartland. But you live in Detroit, so I'm probably preaching to the choir...
That sucks about the "toll." A few bucks isn't bad, though... could have been way worse!
By
bp, at 9:03 AM
You can find that Romanian video at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2006/02/28/VI2006022800645.html
By
Anonymous, at 10:48 AM
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