Gary says that "the media is big on encouraging car over-use". As a longtime reader of both the STAR TRIBUNE and the PIONEER PRESS, as well as various alternatives publications like SOUTHWEST JOURNAL and CITY PAGES, many magazines and some broadcast media, this statement was cause for pause. I cannot think of a single example of the media encouraging "car over-use"!
I am not sure what "car over-use" is exactly. It is probably very subjective; something like the popular definition of obscenity "I can't describe it but I know it when I see it". Admittedly, there is a vast array of media that I may not use or maybe I just have missed it but I am curious what examples people might have of the media encouraging car over-use. In fact, I think that the media (at least what I read and hear/watch) encourage people to use alternatives to cars quite often, especially for special events. As long as we are on the subject, I think it is worth noting that as much as I respect Gary's passion, the automobile is still the primary mode of transportation for something like 93% of the adults in the seven county metro. It is probably a little less for Minneapolis residents but I do not have city specific data. The bicycle - for a vast majority of bike owners - is regarded as recreation and not a practical alternative to commuting. As repeated surveys have shown, more than 2/3 of adult bicycle owners would like to use a bike for commuting but are unable to do so because it is wholly impractical for them to so. Same thing with walking. It is highly regarded as good exercise and recreation. I was told that upwards of 80% of the population consider walking to work to be an ideal arrangement but less than 1% can do so because it is impractical or beyond their physical ability to do so. Busses have been a staple of Minneapolis transportation for 50 years now after replacing the streetcar. But still, bus ridership consists of two primary segments: those who cannot drive or cannot afford a car and commuters whose destination is one of the downtowns or the U of M. Despite impressive efforts to increase bus usage, ridership remains fairly static and the facts of life are that about 80% of the commuters do not regard the bus as an alternative worth considering. Rather than focusing efforts in Minneapolis to get more people to walk, ride or pedal to work it seems to me that the greater effort needs to be making the automobile more friendly to its environment. While there is precious little the City of Minneapolis can do to bring about badly needed tougher emission and fuel consumption standards, we could encourage greater use of E-85 and hybrids by providing steeply discounted parking rates for example. No one denies that walking and biking are healthy activities but they are not really consistent transportation alternatives except for a tiny percentage of the populace. Despite intensive marketing and promotion, the bus simply has no appeal for a large majority of citizens. We need to keep buses as they are a critical component of the urban transportation option but need to recognize that they cannot be regarded as the solution to congestion and getting people out of cars. The great challenge for Minneapolis is too develop a transit friendly environment that uses new technologies such as PRT or modifying LRT to essentially re-create a contemporary "streetcar" system that would fit on several major east/west and north/south thoroughfares in the city. Jim Bernstein Minneapolis -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gary Hoover Sent: Monday, August 16, 2004 8:41 PM To: Barbara Lickness; David Wilson; Gina Palandri Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Mpls] RE: Manipulation of the Minneapolis Media 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. 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 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
