I applaud your effort to think outside the (Idaho) dominant paradigm of
big vehicles. I hope, however, that my message about cars (and their real
cost) wasn't just taken to be about cars, but about all things--and about
considering regional/local solutions. I, for one, am all for co-housing,
for people sharing, for example, lawn mowers (and using push ones whenever
possible) instead of everyone going out and buying their own.
The subtext of my suggestions was to recognize complicity, work at
whatever works (and these things may not be immediately apparent or
immediately doable) in a region, etc.
Unleash honestly relayed some folks' fears & objections to aspects of
public transport. While they seemed to be mostly addressed to buses, I
suspect some of those problems both do & don't occur on light rail.
My suggestion is to evaluate what we do, what we use--to figure out what
is possible (not just immediately easy) and do it. I bicycle ~ 5,000
miles a year, commuting to school. I also have a car, a compact. I put
on ~ 5,000 miles a year on it, around 8,000 less miles than the average in
the Seattle area. I work for better bicycle access to bridges, etc. and I
know folks who enjoy recycling everything, composting everything. The
New Clarissa is leaking off Oregon's coast for a number of reasons. Sure,
our demands/our lifestyles got it there, but our laws (allowing
single-hulled ships even if they're not tankers), etc., plus the Coast
Guard's sense (which we could strive to influence) of when & how to act.
That's all for now; tired wrists.
On Tue, 16 Feb 1999, Donna Anderson wrote:
> Dear (un)leash,
>
> In this neck of the woods (Idaho improper) the choice of poisons is the 10
> cylinder Dodge 4X4 chew-up-the-terrain all weather off-road. In political
> environmental conversations, the statement always comes up, "but we're so spread
> out and there is no mass transit" (which there isn't). I felt like I stepped over
> the line last semester, when I asked a relatively decent political science
> professor what he drove, after his long tyrannical lecture on US oil and energy
> consumption and how Americans equate autos with freedom... he admitted in an
> "it's not me" way, that his wife talked him into the poison of choice.
>
> I sold my '83 4X4 slant-six Dodge Ram 150 1/2 ton status camp truck the next day
> for half of what it's worth. I lived a few months without a vehicle this winter,
> outside of city limits with children. It was near impossible to make it to my
> son's piano lessons, or much of anything else after dark in this year's fortunate
> few ice storms, if it weren't for graduation this May I'd live on campus in
> family housing and pay three times the money, potentially saved by forfeiting the
> vehicle. Bites when you're trying to organize and not able to get around.
>
> Yesterday I purchased a car, the smallest car I could find for the price I could
> afford. A tiny, boxy Mazda, '86 model when cars were being made for gas mileage,
> may it hold the icy road. I feel good about it, but not good enough. I miss LA
> for transit, but I don't miss being a literal victim of violent crime (husband
> murdered via transit by gun) or the residual fear I felt riding the bus system in
> LA. I know I am fortunate to have a child able to take piano lessons in Idaho,
> but at what cost? Bike Now is making inroads to this community, after more than
> one bicycler's death on the road this year. Horrid realities. Is there any way to
> up the protection anti for travelers? Or is this idea just another way to
> separate the haves from the have nots? Is there any way to instill community
> civility or some way to share life under the circumstance that prevents the very
> real threat of murder?
>
> I will once again write Idaho's new governor, former senator Kempthorne and
> insist that he accept the federal offer of mega-bucks to build a transit system
> here. I will tell him again that Idaho's strange precarious need for
> individuality and separation from federal laws is nothing more than a
> stranglehold on progress.
>
> /donna
>
>
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> > "AND USING (ah, too many
> > people say they want public transportation and then don't use it!)"
> >
> > A lot of public transportation is not safe.
> >
> > I tend to dress differently and can easily become a target for xenophobia. A
> > car provides protection. I would say a great deal of my negativity towards
> > public transportation has to do with this safety issue.
> >
> > Also, I am subject to frailty, and irregular timing of buses plus no weather
> > sheltering makes it more difficult.
> >
> > Also, I am a night person, and there is rarely public transportation of any
> > reliability at night.
> >
> > I'm not complaining. These are legitimate grievances that if solved would go a
> > long way towards facilitating my entry into the public transpo system.
> >
> > Also, it's not cheap.
> >
> > (un)leash
>
>
