Jim Bernstein wrote: > 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.
In Minneapolis, only 73% of workers drive to work. From the 2000 census as reported on the city web site: (http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/planning/census2000/) Workers 16 years and over 203,951 Car, truck, or van - drove alone 125,583 61.58% Car, truck, or van - carpooled 23,132 11.34% Public transportation (inc. taxi) 29,681 14.55% Walked 13,488 6.61% Other means 5,131 2.52% Worked at home 6,936 3.40% > 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. I suspect people more creative than I can come up with numerous ways the city could work toward tough emission and fuel consumption standards. For example the city could provide property tax breaks for gas stations that sell low sulfur gas. Our city leaders could also lobby the legislature to have Minnesota adopt the California Emission Standards. > 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. I disagree. As you point out large numbers of people say they wish they could bike or walk to work. In my mind that would prove that they could be consistent transportation alternatives - iff the city would under take the effort to make Minneapolis a truely walkable/bikeable city. And the major method to do this is to stop bending over backward and doing everything in their power to make the city more attractive to automobiles. For example, the zoning requirement for neighborhood business (coffee shops, small restaurants, etc.) to provide a specific amount of off-street parking is archaic and does nothing but encourage automobile use. Randall Cutting Seward 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
