I lived in San Francisco for a year in the late 80's.
I believe at that time the population in the city was
around 350,000. However, 3.5 million commuters came to
and from the city every day to work.
Driving to and from the city was an absolute nite mare
and often times people had 2 1/2 hour commutes one
way. There were two types of rail transit plus the bus
and cable car system. And all were packed with riders.
Parking at that time in downtown San Francisco cost
about $8 for 20 minutes. Definitely an incentive not
to drive.
I also lived in Toronto Ontario during the rush from
Montreal to Toronto during the first French
successionery movement in Quebec during the late 70's.
Toronto grew extremely quickly. Hi-rises with 2
story condos popped up all along transit lines.
Toronto had a great freeway system and a great public
transportation system. The city was really sprawled
out quite a ways and continues to sprawl. But the
public transportation is still convenient and used
very heavily.
Public transit in these cities is a way of life and
has been for a very long time. We act like it's an
experiment here.
I guess the point I am trying to make in this is that
until driving to and from the city becomes so painful
that people find public transportation a relief, and
until we get over our car mentality and create a
variety of transit options to and from this city that
are easy to access, we are going to continue to have
severe traffic problems.
Continuing to add lanes of freeway is only going to
serve to make Minneapolis look like a giant cement
ribbon and will continue to gut large swaths of good
tax paying property in the process.
The population is expected to grow dramatically in
this region in the next ten years and they can't all
drive so we all better get together and figure
something out.
I apologize for my condemnation of suburban drivers,
but, the Whittier, Stevens Square, and Phillips
neighborhoods have been the sacrificial lambs for the
"add a lane" philosophy for a long time and no one
ever seems to care about the damage it does to these
historic neighborhoods.
Barb Lickness
Whittier
Ward 6
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
_______________________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy
Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more:
http://e-democracy.org/mpls
