Wednesday, May 20, 2009
WHAT RAILS AND ROADS TELL US ABOUT CLASS & POWER
Sam Smith, Progressive Review - One of the least examined indicators of how power is distributed in our society is its transportation system. In America, transportation policy - like other things - is heavily weighted towards the elite and powerful. But we hardly ever discuss or debate it.For one thing, travel habits vary by class and status. A federal study in 1995 found that people earning more than $50,000 a year traveled seven miles more a day than people earning less.
People over 65 traveled 23 miles less a day. Non-drivers traveled 26 miles less a day.
And transportation spending reflects such differences, most strikingly in the amounts spent to subsidize the travel of wealthier suburban commuters compared with inner city non drivers, such as a third of DC's population. Consider [Figure 8 above].
Or this one [Federal Transportation Subsidies since 1993].
And the trend is not changing. Obama's stimulus package included four times as much for high speed rail for first class passengers than for all other types of rail and bus travel was barely mentioned.
One of the reasons it's hard to understand this is because nobody talks about it. I learned this early in the planning for a subway in Washington as a lonely critic of the proposal. Some of my concerns had nothing to do with class or ethnicity such as the fact that subways didn't compete for space with cars (unlike light rail) and that only a small percentage of those working in new development inspired by Metro would actually ride the rails to get there, so street traffic - as has proved to be the case - would increase.
But a surprising number of factors involved class and power. For example, the subway was approved the same year as the 1968 riots and begun the year after. It would allow white DC residents to escape the troubled city yet still use - and travel safely to and from - it for work and entertainment. Interestingly, the first route went from the suburbs through an almost all white section of a two-thirds black town to the center of the city. I called it the Great White Way and dubbed the much later route to heavily black Anacostia the Underground Railroad. But you would hear not a word about this on the TV news or in the Washington Post.
The subway, while not competing with the automobile, did compete with bus lines replacing them with more expensive underground travel. In one or two cases these bus lines were actually making a profit. As time went on, and the Metro did not do as well as predicted, more and more bus routes were adjusted to force people onto the subway. And, as transit service for white commuters improved, that for inner city residents deteriorated.
Besides, it was clearly a one way system. If you lived the suburbs it would take you within walking distance of your downtown job. If you lived in the city and worked in the suburbs, you could take the new system out to the burbs and find yourself miles from work. I suggested a subsidized jitney service to help city workers reach suburban employment but nobody in power was interested in anything like that.
Now, more than 30 years after the Metro began, we finally have a study that confirms many of these concerns and it's not just about one system. It's about how we plan transportation policy all over America and how some get favored and some get screwed, and why we're about to have high speed rail for some and still have lousy bus and train service for many more.
When something sucks, that's nature's way of telling you to stop
The energy descent and the need to radically reduce carbon emissions will be huge challenges to us. On the other hand, there's lots of evidence that the status quo is hated and that there are plenty of people eager to be free of the soul-sucking commutes that cost a fortune, destroy the environment, and weaken our communities (many of Salem's problems are traceable to the prevalence of disengaged commuters):
Well, we had a hunch people didn't like their commutes, but we're absolutely blown away by what we've seen.
Bloggers are gushing and the country's atwitter. The New York Times, Wired, Streetsblog, Matt Yglesias, and hundreds more have shared the rage at our new website, www.MyCommuteSucks.org.
Commenter "Chavez" does a 75-mile round-trip commute by car from Philadelphia to Princeton, NJ. Road work on the Trenton Bridge has left him with six (!) flat tires over the years.
A cyclist in Washington, D.C. said he gets "doored" on a daily basis. "It really irks me when drivers, pedestrians, and even other cyclists do stupid things to put my life in danger on a bike."
"RT" writes, "Living in a rural area, I have no public transportation alternatives, even though I am traveling into the largest metro area in the state."
Read hundreds of real stories about daily commutes - and ask your friends to share their own rants and raves at www.mycommutesucks.org.
In addition to reading about other peoples' commutes, at www.MyCommuteSucks.org you can sign our petition to Congress, unload your daily transportation frustrations, post your own photos and video, and learn more about how the transportation policy they develop in Washington affects the lives of so many millions of people, whether they drive, ride, or walk.
Stop by www.MyCommuteSucks.org to see what's new, add your own fresh commuting adventures, and spread the rage to friends and family.
Sincerely,
Ilana Preuss
Outreach and Field Director
Transportation for America
Quite the contrast
The tireless Salem Chickens in the Yard (CITY) folks report on an interesting meeting of the planning commission in Forest Grove, a fairly high-toned place. Sad that Salem city staff couldn't manage to produce such a sensible plan:
The Forest Grove Planning Commission voted unanimously to allow hens at last night's public hearing under the following conditions:Don't forget to come testify in support of urban hens throughout Salem next Tuesday evening, May 26, at City Hall -- and not just for 10,000+ square-foot lots.
1. Four birds allowed on lots 5,000 square feet or larger
2. For every additional 2,000 square feet, another bird is permitted.
3. Twelve total birds can be kept incl. hens, ducks, quail, and pheasants (no roosters or geese).
4. Coops must be kept in sanitary condition so as not to accumulate waste.
5. Coops must be at least 20' from adjacent residential dwellings.
6. Food must be stored in metal or rodent-proof containers.
7. Birds must be confined to a fenced yard.
They deliberated about a permit process but decided in the end it wasn't necessary and not worth the trouble to administer. The proposal still has to go to City Council before it's final.
A telling omission
Notice the blank in the list of City of Salem boards and commissions where a Salem Sustainability Commission should be?
List of Boards & Commissions
Three is not many
Followup to the great letter calling for gardens in the parks: a map showing how Salem hardly has any community gardens in its parks (meaning that there's lots of opportunities to start developing this important resource). Certainly every elementary school should have a substantial garden for learning and middle and high schools should be producing a substantial portion of the food they serve, along with teaching nutrition, food preservation, and cooking. (Click on the map to enlarge the image.)
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Transition Challenge
Thinking about how Salem will respond to the nascent "energy descent" --- the rapid decline in availability of cheap energy --- and the global need to radically reduce greenhouse emissions (which will further drive up the costs of energy and of moving people and goods around, driving limits on doing so), it becomes clear that these linked challenges will affect everything.
But, it's also helpful to remember that, past a certain point --- a point which most Salem folks are well past indeed --- material affluence is simply not that well correlated with happiness or fulfillment. Energy descent and the need to restrain emissions can actually create a paradox where the fact of doing the right thing for the future generations (a higher order satisfaction in Maslow's terminology, illustrated above) helps smooth out the bumps as we learn to use much less energy and to have much lower material flows (reduced affluence in the disposable-society mode -- our standard of consumption -- while enjoying more real affluence in the quality of life).
More like this, please! Another great idea for Salem
Turn park space into gardens
There are undeveloped parks and unused spaces that are reserved for the public. These undeveloped parks could be utilized as seasonal gardens.
I believe there are families who would eagerly plant, maintain and harvest food for the months ahead if they had an individual garden space.
The City Council and the parks commission and a few compassionate local citizens could create a number of community gardens. Individual gardens could be divided and rented out for the season. Individual plot agreements should include the type of garden planned, and the weeding and fertilizer to be used (invasive plants must be forbidden).
There may be one or more generous tractor farmers who would contribute time and efforts to prepare the soil for the planting.
At the time the parks were created, they may have appropriated funds to install water for landscaping, restrooms, etc. If park funding is not available, perhaps government stimulus funds will install sprinkler irrigation pipes to the garden plots. Watering could be overseen on a night schedule by the parks employees.
Volunteering time and effort for this project should bring pride to the city of Salem.
— Annabel Stanley Weldon, Salem
A Tale of Two Maps
Who causes climate change and who suffers (dies) from it:Top map has countries adjusted to show relative greenhouse emissions; bottom shows increased mortality from climate change.
So much for the golden rule.
When you think about things like this, Jefferson's fear comes to mind:
Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.
(h/t Ezra Klein, WA Post blogger, via Energybulletin.net)
Monday, May 18, 2009
Vermont beats Oregon to the punch: State-House Garden
H/t to Energybulletin.net. Isn't it wonderful to imagine that big green quad in front of the Capitol building in a huge, blooming variety of vegetables, berries, replacing the ornamental cherries with sweet cherries . . . etc. Let's give the Golden Pioneer something great to look at!
At Vermont State House, time for green thumbs
MONTPELIER — Signs of the times: a cash-strapped state government cutting the budget for flowers outside its Capitol – and frugal Vermonters stepping up to plant vegetables instead.A Statehouse known for the green legislation that gets crafted inside — and for the crunchy, green ethos of many of its constituents — now sports two long, narrow plots of organic vegetables on either side of the steps leading to its front door.
"We're the only state which has a capital that doesn't have a McDonald's," said Carolyn Jones, a Montpelier sixth-grader. "We're a green state, a healthy state."
What organizers are calling the first Statehouse vegetable garden in the country got its start Thursday, as a crew of students from Montpelier High School brought 150 lettuce seedlings from the school's greenhouse to plant under the gaze of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, whose statue graces the top of the building's golden dome.
The youngsters — whose school's Web site touts a "Composter of the Month"—braved a steady rain to do the planting, while adult organizers and dignitaries huddled under a party tent nearby. Sopping wet, the teens disappeared as soon as the plants were in the ground. (17 May 2009)
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