Wrong way
Ironically, these two stories appeared side-by-side in my ‘transit’ Google News Alert. The direction of this country appears to head further down the toilet. In relation to our world neighbors, we’re a sorry bunch.
Similar to our vapid leadership, Americans continue to ignore the reality of the situation and instead prefer to live in a make-believe world that will somehow make itself better just because we say it’s so.
Happiness is NOT a warm gun
It’s just stupid that our feckless president let the Federal Assault Weapons Ban expire for his own political benefit, and it’s just as stupid that the American people aren’t raising more of a fuss over it. At least Kerry found a spine and brought the issue back to light.
We don’t need these kinds of guns on the street. I do not rest easier at night knowing that one can now legally purchase AK-47s, Uzis and TEC-9s. This kind of irresponsible governance just leads to an arms race where no one wins.
I bring all of this up because I received an email reminding me to spread the word about a petition that’s been gathering signatures to reinstate the ban. I signed it a while ago but I failed to be bold enough to infringe on the inboxes of others. Look where it got us.
So, now, belatedly, several close acquaintances have a big fat piece of email spam waiting for them. And I hope I’m not thought of as that crazy friend/relative who always forwards stupid things. I’m not. And this isn’t stupid. This is spam with a good cause. And it’s a cause worth repeating here: sign this petition to reinstate the ban. Spread it around to friends and family. It’s a cool piece of Internet technology that exploits the power of social networks for a good cause.
More lunacy
More proof that we’re still headed in the wrong direction. Apparently, enclosed shopping malls are on the way out and are being replaced by “Lifestyle Centers.” It’s the perfect example of a bad idea being made even worse.
The New Urbanists should hang their head in shame at this quote by one of their directors, Ellen Greenberg.
Many people live in communities where there’s not a main street where they can walk, window shop and meet people […]. What we’re learning is people value that and miss it, which is why it’s being imitated in these lifestyle centers.
These are the people who are supposed to save our urban fabric? Has it become satisfactory to destroy our cities and then create sterile substitutes for the amusement of those who jumped ship? We have a place like that already. It’s called Main Street USA and it’s in Disney World. One fantasy is enough.
Misplaced intentions
The hybrid SUV is coming and I (and many others) find it to be a inauspicious event. Ford is touting it’s Escape hybrid as the best thing since sliced bread. They boast it “combine[s] SUV capability with the outstanding fuel economy and low environmental impact of a full hybrid.”
So what does that mean? More of the same unsafe handling and increased risk injury or death? And just watch that fuel economy soar, you suburban commandos, as you latch that boat trailer to the back or sit stuck in traffic while making your daily trip to the neighborhood Super Wal-Mart for toothpaste. Splendid.
Ford is so proud of their latest creation that they feel the need to show it off on the streets of New York City. Never mind that Manhattan is the last place anyone needs to be driving an urban assault vehicle.
Yes, great, let’s pat ourselves on the back. We’ve managed to develop a technology that just prolongs the inevitable, which is the eventual failure of our oil-based economy due to overconsumption. We can stretch out this suffering that is called American Culture a little longer and continue the charade of the American Dream while our cities decay, our environment suffers, and our sense of place disappears.
I don’t care how efficient automobiles become. They’re still objects that encourage isolation, monotony, and consumption. They are mechanical shells into which people retreat, emerging only when they are in the confines of their garage or mall parking lot. They, through their enormous demands upon space, create a bleak, unlivable landscape of concrete and asphalt, islands of shopping surrounded by a sea of parking.
And, oh, the shopping. We’ve all got more shit than we know what to do with, and still we can always go out, buy more, and load our oversized automobiles with our oversized merchandise that will soon fill our oversized homes. Wonderful.
Why can’t we put this ingenuity to better use and come up with novel ways to attract the suburban dweller back into the city and traditional small towns? How about coming up with mass transit systems that are attractive alternatives to private transportation? Working towards a better, different, future instead of continuing down our present road to ruin, is a bright prospect in these otherwise bleak times.
Pittsburgh by morning
Having taken Arielle to work at 5:30 this morning, I returned home and felt very little desire to go back to bed. Instead, I set out for an early morning Saturday run, which are the very best kind.
Instead of my usual morning route that goes along the Allegheny River, by the stadiums, and back home by way of the park, I chose to further explore the neighborhoods and hills to the north.
Early morning dog walkers, empty buses, and singing birds were about the only things I saw while I was out. I ran on old brick streets, up steep grades, through wooded trails that were new to me, and past houses that, in their time, would have been a sight to see.
It’s sad to realize that Pittsburgh has lost nearly half of its residents since 1950. The city’s population has gone from about 676,000 people to somewhere around 339,000. And it shows. My run brought me through some neighborhoods that just looked gutted. Shops were closed up or nonexistent and community gathering spaces were few.
But it’s not to say that these are hopeless places. Far from it, as a matter of fact. They hold within them the potential for greatness. Densely built, these neighborhoods could easily support a wide mix of activities.
I see the main problem being one of convenience. Few shops, such as grocery stores, drug stores, and restaurants, exist in these neighborhoods anymore. It’s frustrating to live in a city yet be dependent on an automobile and the suburbs to complete even the most basic of tasks.
It is such a chicken-and-egg scenario: people won’t move in until the shops are there, and the shops won’t open up until there’s the people there to support them. It was my hope that this gas price fiasco would continue indefinitely, thus forcing some individuals to reconsider their basic method of living, but it looks like that hope may remain unfulfilled for the time being.
The city should step in, but it has its own share of problems that need to be dealt with. I guess what I’m looking for is a reappraisal of “the American Dream,” but I realize I shouldn’t hold my breath.
But if only I could bring everyone out on a run with me. They’d see that there is a lot of good to be had.
Oh, those crazy French
They’ve set standards in fashion, cuisine, literature, and the visual arts. Now they want to do something to improve their cities. And how long will it take America to catch up? Well, seeing as we’re in love with our mobility more than our environment, I’m guessing never.
This story is great. I especially like the take the mayor of London has on SUV’s:
The proposal, certain to be opposed by motoring groups, follows similar remarks by the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who in May month described SUVs as “bad for London — completely unnecessary” and called their owners “complete idiots.”
And here’s a statistic that probably applies to American’s suburban commandos pretty well:
Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported a survey showing that just one in eight 4x4 drivers had driven their car off-road, and six in 10 never take it out of town.
Morons. Gas prices be damned; we still like our big vehicles. They’re starting to catch on in Canada. The difference?
Fuel costs have a greater effect in Canada than in the United States, where gasoline prices are lower, Gomes observed.
He said typical Canadian households, despite on average owning smaller cars than Americans, spend more than three per cent of disposable income filling up the fuel tank, compared with 2.5 per cent in the United States.
We’re subsidizing ourselves into a smoggy, car-choked future. It is perhaps not as sexy as what the French have done for the world, but we’re making our mark.
Reading between the lines
Today’s Post-Gazette had a lot (seven, by my count) of interesting articles about roads, transit, gas prices, and bicycling. Reading them all is an instructive lesson in the general mindset of our car-centered society.
The story that got me most worked up was the one about the long-time-coming expressway that is supposed to connect Pittsburgh to points south. It’s a multi-billion dollar debacle that, when it is completed, will only hasten the demise of the city of Pittsburgh as well as the countryside surrounding it.
It’s a ridiculous notion, spending a couple of billion dollars for 70 miles of roads just so some poor schmuck who lives in a town far removed from the city can turn his thankless three-hours per day commute into just a little over two.
Cities have houses in them for a reason. Back in the day before subsidized road construction and government-supported exodus to the suburbs, people used to live in the cities they worked in, or at least within a reasonable distance. Huge highways were unnecessary because people had other alternatives when faced with the question of how to best get to jobs, stores, and entertainment. Now, however, we are so single-mindedly obsessed with making the automobile the de facto standard that little opportunity exists for any other type of mobility.
Building this road won’t do a whit of good. It’s a proven fact that traffic grows to occupy whatever space it is given. So tear through the hills and cut down the trees. Pave the world over. And bask in this gloriously ugly landscape of concrete, smog, and cheap architecture. Just know that when all is said and done, the roads will be just as filled as before, the city will be even emptier, our air will be dirtier, our pocketbooks lighter, and we as a society will be none the richer for it.
It’s a gas
I fail to feel the slightest sympathy for these individuals who are profiled as “victims” of higher gas prices. If you live in the city and refuse public transportation as a viable means of transportation, live in the suburbs and drive an SUV as your primary means of transportation, or just feel like you “have to drive,” as all of these individuals do, then one should suck it up and pay one’s dues. This car culture can’t be had for free, and I think we are in the beginning stages of seeing just how much of a mess we have gotten ourselves into. These statistics (from AAA, no less) certainly point to an increasingly expensive future for car lovers.
What if gas goes up another 50 cents or a dollar a gallon? Let it, I say. Sure, it may put Jane and Joe Suburbs in a pinch, and it may paralyze the transcontinental just-in-time distribution network that all of our favorite generic big-box retailers depend on to make a profit, but it may also act as a hard slap in the face of the collective conscious of the car-obsessed American culture.
Get on the bus
As much as I can, I ride the bus to work. Rare is the day I have to get in a car and drive. I leave the house a little before 8:00 each morning, bike downtown, and hop on the bus. I get to work before 9:00. I could make the trip in about 20 minutes via car, if I wished, but I don’t. I doubt I ever will.
I initially had a negative opinion of having to commute to work. I wanted to live by where I worked and work by where I lived. But until now, I had equated the word commute with “to travel by car.” I had even shuddered at the prospect of a 40-minute bus ride back in September and turned down a job offer as a result.
By to commute by bus and to commute by car are two totally opposite things. The bus is social, open, and equal. The car is private, closed, and disproportionate. I enjoy the regular contact with the surly morning bus driver and the friendly afternoon operator. I like watching the regulars get in and off at their usual stops. It’s fun watching the occasional rider wrestle with routes, timetables, and fares. And if I wish (and I usually do), I can put my feet up and read. Since starting in December, I’ve probably made it through 6 books and countless issues of The New Yorker. And because of this, I can come home and watch some pretty mindless TV and not feel too guilty about it because I know I at least pumped some good thoughts into my head earlier.
I wouldn’t make it if I had to commute via car. Yes, there’s the books-on-tape thing. But there’s a mindlessness to it all that I can’t overcome. There’s nothing more depressing than a landscape designed solely around the automobile. A highway full of cars is the emptiest place on earth. It’s a festering wound that never heals.
This is partially in response to this, for which words fail to describe the short-sightedness of those in power. But it’s also an appreciation of this city, which manages to find a way to keep the buses rolling in these distressed times.
Fargo, North Dakota
This article in the L.A. Times about Fargo’s supposed reinvention is, in turn, uplifting and maddening.
I have good memories of Fargo. I really, really do. Growing up, it was the only “big city” that I visited regularly. Some very fun times of my formative teen years were spent hanging out in Fargo. I really liked the place.
Once in college, my trips to Fargo were not as frequent. Whereas I used to go there once a month, I’d be lucky to get up there once a year. And what I found usually depressed me. Things changed. Fargo turned into just another casualty of suburbanization, ripe with sprawling housing developments, strip malls, and a decaying downtown. I felt like the place wasn’t so special anymore.
Returning there for a friend’s wedding this fall, I brought with me all of the past memories of the city, good and bad, and wanted to reconcile them with what I was told was a place that was really coming into its own.
We went out and cajoled at night. By day, I revisited the art museum, hit the mall, and walked around downtown. But it felt less like Fargo than ever, and more like Anyplace, USA. The sprawl, unhindered by geography, had spread across the North Dakota plain like milk spilled on a table. Roads, which had seemed wide enough before, had gained extra lanes, creating vast obstacles to pedestrians unfortunate enough to want to cross the street.
And the downtown. Missing all vestiges of the past, it looked barren and felt dead. The revitalization effort was in full swing and had left little behind for the eye to enjoy.
The efforts by local investors to get things moving downtown, like the Hotel Donaldson, are brave and noble indeed. But even more needs to be done to save Fargo from its slide into sameness.
Getting people out of the developments on the edge of the city and back into the center seems like a good place to start. But, with places like these being offered for sale, city life will remain economic folly for the practical-minded North Dakotan:
From a warehouse so long abandoned that icicles hung from the basement ceiling in winter, developer John Dalen has carved out 11 luxury condos. Most are priced around $300,000. The showpiece, though, is a half-a-million-dollar, 5,000-square-foot loft with two fireplaces, hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings and 18-foot-high atrium windows.
Sure, they’re being bought up, but the moneyed folks alone can’t make for an active scene. One can only hope that as this movement picks up steam, things will be done to address the desires of the rest of us, who would like to get in on the action but at a more reasonable cost.
And, as always, overcoming social stigma is the hardest thing. The hardest challenge may not be “persuading folks to come to Fargo by choice.” Instead, it may be that the hardest thing is getting Fargo to be Fargo — not Anyplace, USA — again.
