I can empathize with the parking woes around the LRT stations. This problem will solve itself without government intervention within 3 to 5 years. I know that is too long to wait, and we would be wise to address the more fundamental issue now, rather than later.
Click below to read the report from PetroleumNews on Houston-based energy banker Matthew Simmon's latest presentation (July 9, Washington DC, to a forum sponsored by the Hudson Institute. Simmons warns us -- as do scientists and economists around the world -- that we have already come to peak oil production, or are on the cusp. Either way, in three to five years, petroleum will likely go for somewhere around $100.00 a barrel, compared to today's $40.00 per barrel. The biggest parking problem we will face are all the abandoned cars no one can afford to drive, especially as petroleum resources are demanded by the Chinese and by folks in cities like Bombay, india, who will be very angry if we tell them that whatever short, tiny taste of "American-like prosperity some of them had is now over. Another reason that people near the LRT stations will have no worries about parking is that petroleum resources will be sucked up by international agribusiness, which is fueled and fertilized by petroleum. Would we rather eat or drive? Hmmmmm...... Our local citizens are driving -- and parking -- in our sleep. It is better that way. We can continue to pretend that our lives are "normal" and that we are entitled to continue this way into the foreseeable future. In reality, tens of thousands of people are dying each year to ensure US hegemony over petroleum supplies, and things are just starting to get violent. Every civilian killed for oil is will create a thousand terrorists. In reality, when we begin to feel the energy crunch, there are no technologies or combination of technologies to deliver even half of the energy we will miss from petroleum. Citizens, city, county, and state politicians and professional planners need to get their heads out of the sand. The amount of money we spend on infrastructure for cars is absurd, and getting more absurd all the time. By the time the oil and energy corporations (and politicians they pay to say what the corporations want them to say) allow this to trickle down to the so-called "free market" it will be a moot point. It is sad to think about the parking problems near Minneapolis LRT stations, and it is frustrating to think of all the "auto anxiety" and "road rage" and "parking hassle" Minneapolitans experience for no good reason. It is even more sad to realize that our car culture is driving itself over an energy cliff, an environmental cliff, and a geopolitical cliff as well, and most folks would rather just not know. Here's the link to the report on Simmon's latest talk: http://www.petroleumnews.com/pnads/238338932.shtml Check out the website of the Association ofr the Study of Peak Oil: http://www.peakoil.net/ We can solve the parking problems by making wise choices. We can also solve them by planning our city trnsportation around fewer cars, not more of them. Immediate parking solutions? Congestion and/or gas tax. Hybrid/biodeisel busses. LRT. PRT research and development. And mostly, lives designed around walking and biking, not around cars. --pedaling for peace and ecojustice, and for a peaceful urban infrastructure in minneapolis -- Gary Hoover REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
