- Responding to Barbara L. Nelson,
The auto companies spend a over a billion a year on advertising and public
relations. Part of that propaganda is the promise of better things to come in
the way of alternative cars. I've investigated the claims I don't believe any of
it. You can leave your future in the hands of the corporations (like the nice
folks at Enron) or you can investigate their claims for yourself.
Even if cars magically didn't pollute, they are horribly brutal...in 1998 ,
41,200 Americans killed and 2,200,000 seriously injured ..the leading killer of
children and young adults aged 1-24...If you have not personally seen the
victims of a car crash, ask an emergency room doctor or nurse what it's like to
see people...children...ripped apart by steel and glass..I know a guy with a kid
who lies in a permanent coma after being struck by a minivan...now, some people
may think that her sacrifice was necessary for the "economy"... but I don't
believe in human sacrifice.
As for the argument that our car dependent culture is too ingrained into our
society to change...I remind you that people said the same about Slavery and Jim
Crow Laws...something to remember on on this special day.
If you care to see the other side of the automobile story, I suggest
reading Divorce Your Car! by Katie Alvord (2000, New Society) or go to Jane
Holtz Kay's website at www.asphaltnation.com.
I voted for the Library referendum because it provided funding for a
MINNEAPOLIS library. I heard later that the City had the option of getting
funding from and combining with the Hennipen County Library System. If
suburbanites were paying in part for this library I would say their concerns
should be taken into consideration. But since the City chose to make this a
Minneapolis project paid for by Minneapolitans and not a REGIONAL library, I
think we and only we should decide what our needs are...and we don't need a
parking ramp at Hennepin and Nicollet, the very heart of our bus system.
If I had known that a heated parking ramp was part of the project, I would
not have voted for the referendum.
Ken Avidor
Kingfield
_______________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy
Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more:
http://e-democracy.org/mpls
