Ulibarri 1

Adrian Ulibarri Daniel Baird English 1010-093 4/1/2014 Annotated Bibliography The Crumbling Homeland Many Americans take the life they live for granted. They wake up in the morning take a warm shower, watch the news on their 72 inch flat screen televisions then ride the elevator out of the building before catching the subway train to work. But what will happen when the power goes out or the gas main that fuels the water heater leaks? What will Americans do when they cant get water in their own homes or when the subway they ride to work derails because of worn out tracks? The fact of the matter is most of the major cities in the united state havent had their infrastructure updated in over half a century. In some extreme cases its been over 127 years. I believe need to update our infrastructure before the decades of neglect and decay finally catch up to us causing a needless loss of time, money, and most importantly life. Bowles, Jonathan. "A Smoldering View of Broader Problems." Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 13 Mar 2013. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/03/13/areinfrastructure-needs-truly-urgent/from-harlem-a-smoldering-view-of-broader-problems>. Summary: This article was written in response to a gas main explosion in New York City that was responsible for the deaths of eight people. The Author Jonathan Bowles talks about the aging infrastructure in major cities such as New York City, Minneapolis, and Washington DC. He mentions the many problems and hazards associated with the materials and architecture that were uses when much of the infrastructure of these cities was built. He believes that not enough

Ulibarri 2

is being done to maintain and update this existing infrastructure and that government officials should be doing more to modernize Americas infrastructure. Rhetorical Analysis: Jonathan Bowles is the Executive Director of the center for Urban Future a think tank that researches problems that influence New York and other cities. He is widely respected by Policymakers, Business leaders, and nonprofit practitioners. He uses logos in the form of hard facts and statistics to get his point across and add to his credibility. Further adding to his credibility is the fact the article was published in The New York Times one of Americas oldest and most respected news agencies. Reflection: This article was what originally sparked my interest in Americas infrastructure. Having spent many years as a collateral duty safety officer I was shocked to find out just how old and unsafe the majority of our cities infrastructures really are. I delved deeper by looking at the American Society of Civil Engineers website to see what they had to say. Much to my dismay I found that this country's infrastructure is in a sad state. "State Facts: Utah." Report Card for America's Infrastructure. ASCE. Web. 1 Apr 2014. <http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/a/ Summary: This was a helpful website that stated the deficiencies with Americas infrastructure both as a whole and broken down for each state. ASCE or the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that by 2020 3.6 trillion dollars will be needed to maintain and expand the infrastructure in the United States. The website grades the United States as if though it were a student in the class room by using a GPA system. Sadly America got a D+ over all. There were16 Categories that they used to get this average. The categories were Dams, Drinking Water, Hazardous Waste, Levees, Solid Waste, Wastewater, Aviation, Bridges, Inland

Ulibarri 3

Waterways, Ports, Rail, Roads, Transit, Public Parks & Recreation, Schools, and Energy. Out of all of these categories the United States only scored above a C on Solid Waste. Rhetorical Analysis: This is the website for the American Society of Civil Engineers. The American Society of Civil Engineers is a professional organization that has been around since 1852. They have designed many of the most recognizable landmarks in existence today, to include the Empire State Building, The Panama Canal, and the Channel Tunnel that goes from France to the United Kingdom. They don't write articles to be persuasive but rather to tell the issue as it is by using hard facts and statistics and logos. Reflection: As far as trust worthy sources on the matter of infrastructure ASCE is probably the best one out there. They do however have a stake in the claim. While They may report what is true they may not necessarily be 100% correct. Some of the structures, roads and infrastructure that they report needs to be fixed or updated may no longer be in use or relevant. Sofge, Erik. "The 10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now." . Popular Mechanics, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/rebuilding-america/4257814#slide2>. Summary: Several news agencies and magazines covered the story about Americas decaying infrastructure the first of which I will mention here is Popular Mechanics. They compiled a list of ten infrastructure problems at are only going to get worse with time. Problems at made their list include the Brooklyn Bridge which is structurally deficient, the Canal Lock in New Orleans which is undersized and almost 90 years old, a city wide leaking water system in Atlanta that hemorrhages more than 18 percent of the cities water, The Alaskan Way Viaduct in

Ulibarri 4

Seattle Which has been structurally compromised, and wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky that likely to collapse due to a dissolving limestone foundation. Rhetorical Analysis: The article was written by Erik Sofge and the editors of Popular Mechanics. Popular Mechanics is a well known magazine in the united states. Reflection: Using these examples alone it's very clear that doing nothing would be far more costly in both terms of loss of life and collateral damage in the event of a structural failure, than spending the money it would take to properly maintain and update the existing infrastructure. Garver, Rob. "America's 10 most dangerous infrastructure problems." MSNMoney. MSN Money, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://money.msn.com/investing/americas-10-mostdangerous-infrastructure-problems>. Summary: MSN also covered this story. They compiled a list of the most dangerous infrastructure problems in America. One of the main problems they discussed were bridges. They said "One in four bridges in the U.S. today are either structurally deficient, meaning that their condition has deteriorated to the point that they require annual safety inspections to remain open, or functionally obsolete, which means that they were built to such a low standard that they would be illegal to build today." as a former OSHA collateral duty safety officer this strikes me as a huge problem. Any structural deficiencies that could potentially lead to an unnecessary loss of life should be corrected immediately. Also on MSN's list of the most dangerous infrastructure problems are the roads that we all use on a daily basis. Roads in America are projected to deteriorate over the long run at the current level maintenance which is at around 91 billion

Ulibarri 5

dollars annually, It has been projected by the American Society of Civil Engineers that an investment of 170 billion dollars would be required to improve road conditions. Rhetorical Analysis: This article was written by Rob Garver a freelance writer. He uses Pathos to try to scare people in to action by telling them that the threat of death or serious injury is a real possability. He uses Logos in the form of statistics to convey the severity of the threat. Reflection: I full heartedly support taking the imitative and improving our roads and bridges not only to help alleviate the poor traffic conditions caused by roads that are no longer adequate to support the usage of today's society, but also to make the roads and bridges safer and more reliable. Plumer, Brad. "Americas infrastructure gets a D+. Thats not as bad as it sounds.." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 19 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/19/good-news-americasinfrastructure-is-now-5-percent-less-shoddy/>. Summary: Writer Brad Plumber for the Washington Post believes that the D+ that the ASCE awarded America should be taken as a grain of salt saying "The ASCE is very good at pointing out engineering deficiencies in our infrastructure but not so good on whether it's actually beneficial to upgrade." This means that though we may be deficient and require many updates to our infrastructure, there is little cause for alarm for most of the deficiencies. Brad also points out that though we may have a poor infrastructure as a whole, there has been improvement in roads, bridges, rail, drinking water, solid waste disposal and wastewater treatment since 2009. Rhetorical Analysis: The article is written by Brad Plumer a reporter for the Washington post, one of the most widely circulated newspapers published in Washington, D.C.

Ulibarri 6

Reflection: I believe that even thought Brad may be correct in stating that there is little cause for concern when it comes to updating all of the infrastructure, That the high hazard dams and bridges should all be updated. It's a preventative measure that we can take today to save lives and property tomorrow. My research has lead me to believe that America is in dire need of an infrastructure update not only to ease the congestions and eliminate the unnecessary waist of billions of dollars of resources each year, but also to prevent the unnecessary loss of life that more often than not accompanies a crumbling infrastructure. No mother should have to bury their child because of a structurally unsound building that collapsed under the weight of its own decay. The American people need to Lobby their congressmen and push for more funding to bring our country into the 21st century with a modern infrastructure.