PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles' search for a reliable middle linebacker led them to call Jeremiah Trotter on Thursday."It went good," Trotter said in a radio interview on 610 AM Thursday afternoon. "I just went through football drills, the normal stuff they put guys through when they work guys out."
Trotter, 32, played 10 seasons in the NFL, including seven with the Eagles (1998-2001, 2004-06). The Eagles released him at the end of the preseason in 2007. Trotter signed with Tampa Bay but appeared in only three games as a reserve.
After sitting out last season, it appeared he was done in the NFL, but he hired a personal trainer last winter and found that the time away from football helped him get stronger.
"I trained with (Eagles cornerback) Sheldon (Brown) and (place-kicker David) Akers, and I feel really good," Trotter said. "Obviously, I'm not in football shape. That would take me getting out on the field. But for being out of football for two years, I feel in really good shape."
The Eagles were seemingly set at middle linebacker until Stewart Bradley suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in early August and was sidelined for the season. Joe Mays got the first shot at replacing Bradley but struggled. Omar Gaither started the first two games this season.
"When Stewart went down, I texted (Eagles coach) Andy (Reid)," Trotter said. "I told him I was in great shape and could help him out. Nothing happened, but he called me (Thursday) and wanted me to come in for a workout.
"Going over there, I was nervous as heck. When you have to showcase yourself, I was nervous. I got the feeling it went really good, but it was just a workout. We'll see what happens in the near future. (Reid) has my number."
Trotter was the second ex-Eagle to work out for the team in the last two weeks. Just before the season opener, tackle Jon Runyan auditioned. Runyan spent the previous nine seasons with the Eagles but was not re-signed this year after undergoing microfracture knee surgery.
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Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
City Hall’s Cars by Day, and Yours by Night
Many New Yorkers have given up their cars to embrace the perks of the Zipcar lifestyle — the on-demand service of a personal vehicle without those pesky fuel, insurance and parking costs.
Now City Hall, no big fan of the automobile, is following suit.
Early next year, employees at the Department of Transportation plan to start using a third-party car-sharing service, similar to Zipcar, to book rides around town. Instead of hopping into an in-house Prius or Taurus, reserved for a single employee, workers will share a smaller pool of vehicles that can be more efficiently used.
The pilot project, modeled after programs in Philadelphia and Washington, will replace 57 cars in the department’s city-owned fleet with 25 vehicles from the car-sharing service, set aside for city use during business hours. On nights and weekends, instead of languishing in garages (or taking up space on the street), the cars will be available for use by the public.
While the prospect of driving the same car as a high-ranking public servant may scintillate some, officials said their priority was to lower costs and shrink the city’s Sasquatch-size carbon footprint. “We’re doing everything we can to lessen the impact on the environment,” Janette Sadik-Khan, the transportation commissioner, said in an interview this week. She said she hoped that allowing the public to use the cars during off hours would reduce congestion and maximize their use.
Officials would not provide a cost-savings estimate, saying they needed to wait to see bids from car-sharing vendors. (A formal request is to be issued on Friday, with bids due in early November.)
But other cities that have begun car-sharing have seen considerable savings by ridding their fleets of underused vehicles. Since 2005, Philadelphia has saved more than $600,000 in maintenance costs — including parking, repairs and fuel — by taking 140 vehicles out of its fleet, said Robert Fox, director of Philadelphia’s municipal car fleet.
Philadelphia also earned thousands of dollars more by auctioning off unwanted cars to the public, a plan that New York plans to follow with some of the older cars now in its fleet.
The city estimates that its vehicles would have a resale value of about $2,000 each. In Washington, where the program began last year, about 360 city-owned cars were replaced by 71 shared vehicles — an 80 percent drop. “It’s actually more cost-effective for me to rent the vehicle by the hour as opposed to owning it and having it on my books,” said Ralph Burns, the vehicle control officer at the District of Columbia Department of Public Works.
Still, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg won’t be giving up his king-size S.U.V. just yet. New York’s pilot program will last at least a year before officials decide whether to expand the service to other city agencies.
“If this works like we expect it to, it will provide the data needed to assess blowing this up on a large scale citywide,” Ms. Sadik-Khan said.
Zipcar, perhaps the most popular of the car-sharing companies, offers customers choices like a Mini Cooper convertible or Ford Mustang. Does this mean city employees will be jetting around town in high style?
“We’re not interested in the sporty vehicles,” Seth Solomonow, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said. “We’re interested in vehicles that get the job done.” He added that hybrids and S.U.V.’s would be the likely choice.
Although putting car-sharing into effect can create logistical problems — it often involves an entirely new software infrastructure and training for employees — officials in other cities said the biggest barrier was psychological. Many public servants, they said, are loath to relinquish a cherished perk that offers a quick way to get around on official business.
“We felt we were changing a culture, and that culture was that people had cars handed down to them,” said Mr. Fox, in Philadelphia. “Whether they had outlived the usefulness of a car, it didn’t matter. How that plays itself out, over time, is you’re buying vehicles that you don’t need.”
Mr. Burns, in Washington, said employees were initially skeptical about picking up a car that might not be stored in the garage directly beneath their building. But they soon adjusted to a short subway ride to the nearest carport.
Union officials who represent New York City employees said the plan would probably affect only nonunion managers.
Currently, many of the Transportation Department’s vehicles are stored in a garage under the Brooklyn Bridge, a 10-minute walk from the agency’s offices. Others take up parking space around City Hall Park.
“You certainly don’t need a study to know that spaces are at a premium in Lower Manhattan,” Ms. Sadik-Khan said.
Source
Now City Hall, no big fan of the automobile, is following suit.
Early next year, employees at the Department of Transportation plan to start using a third-party car-sharing service, similar to Zipcar, to book rides around town. Instead of hopping into an in-house Prius or Taurus, reserved for a single employee, workers will share a smaller pool of vehicles that can be more efficiently used.
The pilot project, modeled after programs in Philadelphia and Washington, will replace 57 cars in the department’s city-owned fleet with 25 vehicles from the car-sharing service, set aside for city use during business hours. On nights and weekends, instead of languishing in garages (or taking up space on the street), the cars will be available for use by the public.
While the prospect of driving the same car as a high-ranking public servant may scintillate some, officials said their priority was to lower costs and shrink the city’s Sasquatch-size carbon footprint. “We’re doing everything we can to lessen the impact on the environment,” Janette Sadik-Khan, the transportation commissioner, said in an interview this week. She said she hoped that allowing the public to use the cars during off hours would reduce congestion and maximize their use.
Officials would not provide a cost-savings estimate, saying they needed to wait to see bids from car-sharing vendors. (A formal request is to be issued on Friday, with bids due in early November.)
But other cities that have begun car-sharing have seen considerable savings by ridding their fleets of underused vehicles. Since 2005, Philadelphia has saved more than $600,000 in maintenance costs — including parking, repairs and fuel — by taking 140 vehicles out of its fleet, said Robert Fox, director of Philadelphia’s municipal car fleet.
Philadelphia also earned thousands of dollars more by auctioning off unwanted cars to the public, a plan that New York plans to follow with some of the older cars now in its fleet.
The city estimates that its vehicles would have a resale value of about $2,000 each. In Washington, where the program began last year, about 360 city-owned cars were replaced by 71 shared vehicles — an 80 percent drop. “It’s actually more cost-effective for me to rent the vehicle by the hour as opposed to owning it and having it on my books,” said Ralph Burns, the vehicle control officer at the District of Columbia Department of Public Works.
Still, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg won’t be giving up his king-size S.U.V. just yet. New York’s pilot program will last at least a year before officials decide whether to expand the service to other city agencies.
“If this works like we expect it to, it will provide the data needed to assess blowing this up on a large scale citywide,” Ms. Sadik-Khan said.
Zipcar, perhaps the most popular of the car-sharing companies, offers customers choices like a Mini Cooper convertible or Ford Mustang. Does this mean city employees will be jetting around town in high style?
“We’re not interested in the sporty vehicles,” Seth Solomonow, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said. “We’re interested in vehicles that get the job done.” He added that hybrids and S.U.V.’s would be the likely choice.
Although putting car-sharing into effect can create logistical problems — it often involves an entirely new software infrastructure and training for employees — officials in other cities said the biggest barrier was psychological. Many public servants, they said, are loath to relinquish a cherished perk that offers a quick way to get around on official business.
“We felt we were changing a culture, and that culture was that people had cars handed down to them,” said Mr. Fox, in Philadelphia. “Whether they had outlived the usefulness of a car, it didn’t matter. How that plays itself out, over time, is you’re buying vehicles that you don’t need.”
Mr. Burns, in Washington, said employees were initially skeptical about picking up a car that might not be stored in the garage directly beneath their building. But they soon adjusted to a short subway ride to the nearest carport.
Union officials who represent New York City employees said the plan would probably affect only nonunion managers.
Currently, many of the Transportation Department’s vehicles are stored in a garage under the Brooklyn Bridge, a 10-minute walk from the agency’s offices. Others take up parking space around City Hall Park.
“You certainly don’t need a study to know that spaces are at a premium in Lower Manhattan,” Ms. Sadik-Khan said.
Source
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