At 05:56 PM 03/03/2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
[snip] I would add that we also need to have an institutional system
in place that rewards people who use the bus and other modes of that
don't involve driving cars. Car driving is subsidized way too much the
way it is. We should be subsidizing people who choose not to drive
instead. That would fill those buses, bike paths and sidewalks, curb
urban sprawl, reduce air pollution and traffic deaths, and maybe even
slow global warming. [snip]
Given the corner lot that we live on, and the amount that it has snowed
recently, it has occurred to me that one place for the city to start
encouraging people who don't drive to work is to maintain all the sidewalks
as well as the streets (and bike paths), since that would be the most
equitable way to accommodate all modes of transportation within the city.
Oh, I know, there's nowhere near enough money in the various city
departments' budgets to do that, so here's an equally equitable, but far
more economically (if not politically) feasible idea:
Why don't we require adjacent landowners to maintain EVERYTHING in the
Right of Way out to the centerline of the Street, instead of relying on
property taxes to pay for plowing between the curbs, which mostly
accommodates cars (yes, I know, it also accommodates bicyclists and bus
riders, but , frankly, the buses don't seem to have as much of a problem as
cars even before the plows get there, and when the snow comes down really
fast and furious, I tend to walk rather than bike - the better to avoid all
the idiots out there spinning their cars around in the street).
Yes, it's an imperfect solution, but regardless of the details, the status
quo is almost inconceivably discriminating - individual citizens are
required to maintain the facilities that pedestrians (and many bicyclists,
especially children) use, but plowing the facilities that motorists use are
paid for collectively (but not too collectively, since motorists who don't
reside in the city pay nothing for the plowing of most city streets). Don't
get me wrong - I have enough to shovel as it is, and don't particularly
want to shovel more, but the system is unfair as it is, and should be
balanced one way or another.
Chuck Strawser
pedestrian, bicyclist, bus rider, and yes, occasional car driver, generally
in that order.
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