I think we (ped/bike/transit advocates) have been deluding ourselves. Implicit in much of our work is the assumption that units of government can compensate for an inconvenient truth: most Americans believe it is their God-given right to sit on their butts and drive as much as they please. How is "government" supposed to make walking, rolling wheelchairs, pushing baby strollers, riding bicycles, and sharing transit safe, practical, convivial, and NORMAL when most people, in the course of their daily lives, keep on filling our communities with CARS? It is a fundamental disconnect from spatial-kinetic reality.
The other thing we've been doing is wasting a lot of time talking about all the reasons why things got this way - the car and oil and tire companies buying out streetcars, all the highway-obsessed technocrats at DOT, ridiculous zoning codes, the road-builders lobby, etc. In the end all these reasons won't change what has already happened. What will? Big government programs and lots of spending? Sorry, that's "consumer" thinking, and we're broke. What we need are millions of ordinary citizens believing their own choices and actions actually make a difference - and that they OWE others in their community something that cannot be bought or voted into existence or built by someone else (i.e. "human presence".) Until we confront the popular expectation that Happy Motoring is a fundamental right, we won't get very far - in fact things are likely to go into reverse. Especially given the suburbanite/exurbanite-led assault on anything-other-than-highway funding right now. I mean, look at where Robin Vos lives! http://tinyurl.com/4gwfkh8 (The cul-de-sac south of Hagemann Auction) There is a way to accomplish this: challenge elected officials to "walk the talk" - and by implication, challenge ordinary people too. We wouldn't be asking for legislation or money; we'd be throwing down the gauntlet. "Hey! You want to represent ALL the people? Then get out of your #$&%!! car once in a while and find out what life is like for the other guy! C'mon, we'll walk with you to your grocery store; we'll ride the bus with you from your mansion in Maple Bluff to your office in the State Capitol; we'll join you for the Wheelchairing for a Day workshop." I'm serious. Hans Noeldner Pedestrian/Bicycle/Transit/Sustainability Advocate Facilitator, Madison Peak Oil Group <http://www.entropicjournal.blogspot.com/> www.entropicjournal.blogspot.com Oregon, Wisconsin 608-444-6190
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