II. Multiple Choice

1. The Oakland internet project costs

a) $1,250,000 c) $250,000.00

b) $25,000,000 d) $2.500,000.00

2. The Internet map lets users find out

a) the location and the kind of crime. c) only the kind of crime.

b) only the location of the crime. d) no more information.

3. The project

a) would make it hard to get new crime facts. c) would not help citizens.

b) would be unfair to criminals. d) would allow daily updates of facts.

4. People might use the information to

1. not move into a neighborhood with a high crime rate.

2. find criminals and kill them.

3. stay at home.

4. give it to the newspaper.

5. The Oakland Police Chief thinks the information will help

1. citizens to work against the police.

2. criminals to get away.

3. citizens to become equal partners with the police.

4. keep stores from opening.

Text 2. Airport Delays on the Rise

From a news story by

CNN San Francisco News Reporter Greg Lefevre

You often can't get there from here. At least not on time. Delays infuriate travelers, and cost the country billions in lost productivity.

A business traveler says, "Chicago's the worst, maybe New York."

A FAA study listed eleven major problems and proposed eleven solutions. All problems are within the small world of air traffic control. The various regions don't talk to each other enough. Each region operates differently and the number of planes in so-called regional traffic is exploding.

In the first of eleven proposed solutions a FAA national center will seize control from the regions during heavy traffic or bad weather.

Jane Garvey of the FAA says, "The purpose of the command center is to really make those decisions that effect the system in total."

Also, the FAA pledges again to upgrade its computers.

The booming economy has clogged the skies.

Michael Barr is a safety expert at the University of Southern California, "We've got fares that are reduced. We've got more people that want to fly and we are actually saturating the air of the United States with air traffic."

An example of this is San Francisco International Airport is growing fast as a world-wide gateway and a as hub to a hugely expanded regional service.

Ron Wilson of the San Francisco International Airport says, "If we've got 16, 17, 18 aircraft, which is common, [all] departing at 8am in the morning the guy that is [on the] 18th [plane] is going, probably, to be 40 minutes late."

Jane Garvey says, "It's important to note that aviation is growing. It's becoming a form of mass transportation for a number of people. Our volume numbers are up and that's having an effect on the delay numbers as well."

Still weather causes about 70-percent of delays. Then the FAA moves planes farther apart from the usual five miles to as much as 20 [miles]. The new rule may reduce that to 10 [miles]. But if the sky is already crowded, where do those planes go?

[A traveler says:] "Naturally, I think the more space between planes there is the greater the safety factor that most people would assume exist".

The FAA calls its fix mitigation, not a cure. Critics say the core problems remain: too many planes, too few controllers and too little modernization.