Comments on: Walk or die http://rhinocrisy.org/2005/09/walk-or-die/ Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:17:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2005/09/walk-or-die/#comment-206 Anonymous Mon, 03 Oct 2005 20:59:40 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=429#comment-206 Saheli, I'd bet that you have spent little time at transit funding meetings. Bikers and bus riders are the only people who ever show up. Motorists are big in number but see no community among their own kind. They don't go and help one another out. Neither do peds, by and large. But bikers and bus riders are very aware that their individual survival and well being depends on things getting better at a social scale. So they show up to everything. Not just in SF or NY or Berkeley, but in places like Reno and Detroit, too. For real. Of course the politicians, as Saurabh says, are usually braindead maggots who think that cars=prosperity. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="rhinocrisy.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="">hedgehog</a> Saheli, I’d bet that you have spent little time at transit funding meetings. Bikers and bus riders are the only people who ever show up. Motorists are big in number but see no community among their own kind. They don’t go and help one another out. Neither do peds, by and large. But bikers and bus riders are very aware that their individual survival and well being depends on things getting better at a social scale. So they show up to everything. Not just in SF or NY or Berkeley, but in places like Reno and Detroit, too. For real. Of course the politicians, as Saurabh says, are usually braindead maggots who think that cars=prosperity. 

Posted by hedgehog

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2005/09/walk-or-die/#comment-205 Anonymous Wed, 28 Sep 2005 22:58:38 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=429#comment-205 I have no doubt at all that in any city in the country, demand for high-quality public transportation will be extremely high. Everyone wants good subways and buses, and a substantial fraction of the population relies on public transit for daily commuting in the city. It's not the populace I'd worry about; it's the local government. Look what they did in <a HREF="http://www.lightrailnow.org/myths/m_000008.htm" REL="nofollow">Boston</a> , with $13 bill of federal money. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://rhinocrisy.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="rednblack at alum dot mit dot edu">saurabh</a> I have no doubt at all that in any city in the country, demand for high-quality public transportation will be extremely high. Everyone wants good subways and buses, and a substantial fraction of the population relies on public transit for daily commuting in the city. It’s not the populace I’d worry about; it’s the local government. Look what they did in Boston , with $13 bill of federal money. 

Posted by saurabh

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2005/09/walk-or-die/#comment-204 Anonymous Wed, 28 Sep 2005 22:02:42 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=429#comment-204 Actually, I think Lower Manhattan (south of Canal Street) was evacuated by order of the City, partially uptown to Upper Manhattah, and partially across the bridges to the outer buroughs. And apparently, by boat as well. <br/><br/>I've been chewing over this:<br/><br/><i>Transportation dollars should be handed over to local jurisdictions, who should be allowed to use them to subsidize transit operations as they see fit.</i> <br/><br/>Why would this necessarily help? Sure, in engaged, politically active cities like San Francisco or Berkeley "the people" will speak up for their mass transit, and environmental-consciousness often transcends class. But I wouldn't be surprised if even as close to San Francisco as over the hills in my Contra Costa hometowns, or down in Silicon Valley, town hall meetings and county supervisor boards are dominated by the wealthy SUV drivers and soccer mom's who wouldn't be caught dead on a bus. The elderly, the immigrant workers who ride the bus, the carless, and even the 20 and 30something single bike riders are just not as likely to show up at board meetings. For example, I think around here extending BART down past fremont to Santa Clara, down past Milbrae to at least Palo Alto, running a few express trains during commute hours and running until 2 am all the way around town would be great for relieving congestion. Any money you give to local jurisdictions about that, however, is more likely to be thrown at these <a HREF="http://www.rmengineers.com/highways.htm" REL="nofollow"><br/>highway projects.</a>   <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://ssrdatta.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="sahelidatta at hotmail dot com">Saheli</a> Actually, I think Lower Manhattan (south of Canal Street) was evacuated by order of the City, partially uptown to Upper Manhattah, and partially across the bridges to the outer buroughs. And apparently, by boat as well.

I’ve been chewing over this:

Transportation dollars should be handed over to local jurisdictions, who should be allowed to use them to subsidize transit operations as they see fit. 

Why would this necessarily help? Sure, in engaged, politically active cities like San Francisco or Berkeley “the people” will speak up for their mass transit, and environmental-consciousness often transcends class. But I wouldn’t be surprised if even as close to San Francisco as over the hills in my Contra Costa hometowns, or down in Silicon Valley, town hall meetings and county supervisor boards are dominated by the wealthy SUV drivers and soccer mom’s who wouldn’t be caught dead on a bus. The elderly, the immigrant workers who ride the bus, the carless, and even the 20 and 30something single bike riders are just not as likely to show up at board meetings. For example, I think around here extending BART down past fremont to Santa Clara, down past Milbrae to at least Palo Alto, running a few express trains during commute hours and running until 2 am all the way around town would be great for relieving congestion. Any money you give to local jurisdictions about that, however, is more likely to be thrown at these
highway projects.   

Posted by Saheli

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2005/09/walk-or-die/#comment-203 Anonymous Wed, 28 Sep 2005 21:38:34 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=429#comment-203 Well it wasn't a mandatory evacuation, but practically everyone just up and left -- most notably a few million workers who lived in outer boroughs. Because the trains were all closed and the bridges closed to vehicles, private vessel owners showed up and started hauling passengers away. I saw some study showing that vessels carried between 100,000 and a million people that day, mostly over to Jersey.<br/><br/>The theory of not taxing imports is basically that we want cheap stuff from where it's cheap to make more than we want the jobs we had in the past. Better to specialize geographically. Which is fine so long as fuel is cheap. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="rhinocrisy.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow" TITLE="">hedgehog</a> Well it wasn’t a mandatory evacuation, but practically everyone just up and left — most notably a few million workers who lived in outer boroughs. Because the trains were all closed and the bridges closed to vehicles, private vessel owners showed up and started hauling passengers away. I saw some study showing that vessels carried between 100,000 and a million people that day, mostly over to Jersey.

The theory of not taxing imports is basically that we want cheap stuff from where it’s cheap to make more than we want the jobs we had in the past. Better to specialize geographically. Which is fine so long as fuel is cheap. 

Posted by hedgehog

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2005/09/walk-or-die/#comment-202 Anonymous Wed, 28 Sep 2005 21:01:40 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=429#comment-202 Also, a reasonable question is, since we've been running a trade deficit for so long, why haven't we been taxing imports more already? I understand there's some free-market ideologues out there, but self-preservation is an instinct I'd think even they possess. <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://rhinocrisy.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="rednblack at alum dot mit dot edu">saurabh</a> Also, a reasonable question is, since we’ve been running a trade deficit for so long, why haven’t we been taxing imports more already? I understand there’s some free-market ideologues out there, but self-preservation is an instinct I’d think even they possess. 

Posted by saurabh

]]> By: Anonymous http://rhinocrisy.org/2005/09/walk-or-die/#comment-201 Anonymous Wed, 28 Sep 2005 16:10:50 +0000 http://rhinocrisy.org/?p=429#comment-201 When was NYC evacuated? I don't remember that happening... <br/><br/><a></a><a></a>Posted by<a><b> </b></a><a HREF="http://rhinocrisy.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow" TITLE="rednblack at alum dot mit dot edu">saurabh</a> When was NYC evacuated? I don’t remember that happening… 

Posted by saurabh

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