I think that Barb's suggestion of parking meters -- or onstreet parking
fees -- might be a good temporary solution to help the enemy which is us to
think twice about parking on the street. This is very like the London
congestion tax. Parking fees could raise revenue, discourage car overuse,
and encourage walking, biking, and transit use. Of course, "the enemy" will
always complain.
The media is big on encouraging car over-use. I work for a number of
wealthy clients around the chain of lakes. I care about my clients, and try
to help them see the ecological footprint, geopolitical blowback, and
economic outcomes of their "normal" upper-middle to upper-class lifestyles.
I discuss options for positive change with them, and frequently find that
they choose to take steps to change, even though there is enormous fear
about even tiny changes.
Here are some anecdotes about "the enemy which is us" I've met and love, and
how our imaginations are bound by fear on the one hand, and myopia on the
other.
1. We are....someone who lives less than four blocks from one of "the
Lakes" and who rides bike. We are terrified to ride on even residential
streets, and so strap the bike onto a sport-utility-vehicle, drives to the
bikeway around the lake, then load the bike up and drives the four-or-less
blocks home after the bikeway ride. I find this kind of fear to be shocking
and frightening as well. Of course, I ride HPVs on Lyndale, Nicollet, and
Lake at need. I fear the ecological, geopolitical, public health, and
economic "crashes" we cause through car over-usefar more than I fear being
hit by a car. Our fear causes us to do great violence.
2. We are....a lovely family with small children, both parents of which
drive 6,000 pound "SUV" vehicles because they are told that this way their
children will be safe. Of course, we can haul tons of stuff and boats to
and from the cabin on weekends, even though we are often sitting in traffic
getting less than 5 miles-per-gallon along with thousands of similiar rigs.
Ahhhh, the great outdoors.......
3. One of my favorite pieces in the SouthWest Journal ("Manipulation of the
Minneapolis Media" indeed!) appeared in February. Here's the link:
http://www.swjournal.com/articles/2004/02/19/opinion/opinion02.txt
An erie editorial entitled "Snow Days," the author made a strange arguement
about the need (need!) for 4-wheel-drive vehicles for at least a few days of
winter. All of our gas-guzzling hubris and self-indulgence is justified by
a bit of snow, the author opined. All is well in Minneapolis, Minnesota --
at least in the wealthy, mostly caucasian parts of winterville, because we
can afford to ignore the environment, the rest of the planet's needs for
energy, and the multiple damages inflicted on our own bodies because of our
car over-dependance. Here's a sample....
>>>>>
Now that I live two blocks from a grocery store and on a block as densely
populated as the entire township I once inhabited, each snowfall brings more
dread than the last. If I did not have a vehicle with tires that came up to
my waist, I would be often unable to leave home, come winter. Come the snow,
that is.
<<<<<
Strange, but during the very worst days of winter, I was pedaling my cargo
trike or pedicab everywhere. I have clients downtown, so I pedaled there
using Bryant or Nicollet or Lyndale. Not a problem. Nada. No problem. I
pedaled to work for some folks near 50th and France, others near 42nd and
Ewing, and to others in Kenwood. I pedaled over to the Green Institute for
meetings, and to 31st and Minnehaha to check out the Hub. I rode my bike
for many personal and family errands as well. The current problem with LRT
parking reminded me of this article, and of the ways in which our local
media "dumbs-down" every issue and encourages extreme myopia which is itself
a kind of frightening pathology. We are insular and exclusive, to the point
of demanding an urban way of life responsible for the deaths of over 37,000
Iraqi civilians so far, and we do not bat an eye. We are far more than
provincial or parochial in our thinking. We are so "all about me and my
fears and comforts" that we no longer have contact with facts and with
issues that matter. We are gullible and easily manipulated, and our media
glories in the role of shaping our opinion for the benefit of a shrinking
class of "have-it-alls" and to the gross injury of the growing class of
those who have little. We will kill the rest of the people so that we can
drive and park at our convenience in our "all about me" lives. We will
ultimately drive ourselves to death. No wonder David Korten calls this the
"suicide economy."
And now, back to our regularly scheduled media manipulation....."Does
parking stress give you ugly worry lines on your face? Botox can make you
look serene again! Does the stress of urban life reduce the quantity *and*
quality of your orgasms? Try Doc Doodles patented 'Nay-bor-Be-Gone'
sessions at the all-new 'Elite-spa' and know that you are God, and so the
rest can just go straight to Hell....." and so on, and so forth. Nothing
like extreme fear and extreme self-indulgence to keep people compliant,
comfortably numb, and disconnected from reality.
I must point out that the SWJ is no worse than most print or television
media in town, and also that "we the people" most willingly buy the rope
with which we are to be hung. We are (me included) often our own worst
enemy. There is a great need for us to think free thoughts, and to live a
new world into being.
-- Gary Hoover -- pedaling for Utopia, Tilting at Windmills, from Kingfield
We are our own worst enemy, indeed.
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