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Mike Harrington | 1 Oct 2003 01:11

Re: Kunstler's latest blog

Well, that's true, although you allude to the fact that the US has more
lower class people using cars than other places.  If things keep going as
they are, there won't be much of a middle class left, anyway.  Kuntsler's
point is valid, though.  Something has to give sooner or later.  Trying to
get 300 hundred million people into 200 hundred million cars is a ridiculous
concept.  The US will pull it off for a few more years, and then we'll find
out exactly where Kunstler's "tipping point" really is.  If you remove the
cost of excess automobile ownership from US per capita GDP, you find that
western Europe has higher income than the US.  Think of the money that could
have been saved if America's elite hadn't made the mindless, fatal choice to
motorize the entire country.  I think we're all victims now of what Kunstler
calls the previous investment trap.

>From Kunstler on Orion, Big and Blue in the USA:

This particular American Dream more and more looks suspiciously like a
previous investment trap -- we've sunk so much of our national wealth into a
particular way of doing things that we're psychologically compelled to
defend it even if it drives us crazy and kills us.

http://www.oriononline.org/pages/oo/curmudgeon/index_curmudgeon.html

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jym Dyer" <jym@...>
To: <carfree_cities@...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [carfree_cities] Kunstler's latest blog

> James Howard Kunstler writes:
>
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Mike Harrington | 1 Oct 2003 02:33

Fw: PTP 09/30-A Salt Lake, Denver, etc. (long)

Some of you may be interested in this.  Lyndon Henry from Austin comes out
with one of these almost every day.  The new group is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/publictransportprogress/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nawdry" <nawdry@...>
To: <nawdry@...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 4:24 PM
Subject: PTP 09/30-A Salt Lake, Denver, etc. (long)

PTP Digest 2003/09/30-A - CONTENTS

* Salt Lake: TRAX LRT Medical Center extension opens
    Deseret News Tuesday, September 30, 2003

* Denver suburb candidates embrace LRT plans
    Denver Post Sunday, September 28, 2003

* Sacramento: Neighborhood applaud LRT sound wall
    Sacramento Bee  Monday, September 29, 2003

* Spokane: LRT plans muddled as 'BRT', DMU, streetcar eyed
    Spokane Spokesman-Review Saturday, September 27, 2003

* Houston: Rail critics say rail transit failed in past
    Houston Chronicle  Sept. 29, 2003

* Houston: Letters respond to rail opponents
    Houston Chronicle Sept. 29, 2003
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Richard Risemberg | 1 Oct 2003 07:38
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New Issue of The New Colonist

The New Colonist presents its October issue, online and available now at 
http://www.newcolonist.com.  This month we present:

*"Big and Blue in the USA," by James Howard Kunstler
*"Balancing the Busy with a Quiet City Garden," by Eric Miller
*"The Ten Easiest Things You Can Do for Your Environment," by Richard 
Risemberg
*"Remembering Carlton Wong," by Eric Miller
*A Street Food review of Lithium, a new coffeehouse in East Hollywood

Plus over five hundred archived articles, editorials, reviews, and more, 
all at The New Colonist, at http://www.newcolonist.com.
=======================================================
We dedicate this month's issue of The New Colonist to the memory of 
urban advocate Carlton Wong.
=======================================================
--

-- 
Richard Risemberg
http://www.living-room.org
http://www.newcolonist.com

"I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, 
an obligation; every possession, a duty."
						John D. Rockefeller, Jr.	

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mtneuman | 1 Oct 2003 14:27
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Too Much Driving -- Any Thought on my Proposal?


On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 20:46:34 -0500 (CDT) Richard <rickrise@...>
writes:
> 
> This article from the Star Tribune has been sent to you by Richard.
> 
> Richard wrote these comments: A Quote:
> "The bottom line is this: Only 24 percent of the cost of St. Paul's 
> roads is borne by driver-generated taxes and fees. The other 76 
> percent is a subsidy from general revenues and property assessments. 
> There's no reason to believe that St. Paul's situation is atypical 
> for cities and older suburbs."

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 06:12:09 -0500 "Mike Harrington" <mike@...>
writes:

> Let's dump this relic of the twentieth century and reorient our
> transportation systems to collective transportation, walking and 
> cycling.
> It's now too late for a soft landing, but the only moral thing to do 
> is try
> to save as many people as possible.

And from DL,  this:
> of course we should build cites that are not
> automobile dependant. But the automobile will never 
> completely disappear, and we need to make it as 
> environmentally friendly as possible.
> 
But there is little to believe that can be done in time.  We need to
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Mike Harrington | 1 Oct 2003 17:11

Re: Too Much Driving -- Any Thought on my Proposal?

Mass transit uses fossil fuel, but not as much.  That's how the US was able
to reduce domestic gasoline consumption to practically nothing in WWII.  In
an autombile, you've got to move one passenger and two tons of vehicle.  In
a bus or a streetcar, you're moving three hundred pounds of vehicle per
passenger.  This is so obvious I'm surprised it even needs to be mentioned.

----- Original Message -----
From: <mtneuman@...>
To: <carfree_cities@...>
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 7:27 AM
Subject: [carfree_cities] Too Much Driving -- Any Thought on my Proposal?

>
> On Sat, 27 Sep 2003 20:46:34 -0500 (CDT) Richard <rickrise@...>
> writes:
> >
> > This article from the Star Tribune has been sent to you by Richard.
> >
> > Richard wrote these comments: A Quote:
> > "The bottom line is this: Only 24 percent of the cost of St. Paul's
> > roads is borne by driver-generated taxes and fees. The other 76
> > percent is a subsidy from general revenues and property assessments.
> > There's no reason to believe that St. Paul's situation is atypical
> > for cities and older suburbs."
>
> On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 06:12:09 -0500 "Mike Harrington" <mike@...>
> writes:
>
> > Let's dump this relic of the twentieth century and reorient our
> > transportation systems to collective transportation, walking and
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Patrick Kennedy | 1 Oct 2003 17:20

urban mobility study

new report from texas transportation institute states 90 billion is lost due
to the american commute.  this is getting a ton of press and unfortunately,
what was reported on the news, is that their suggestion is for 350 billion
in "improved" highways (engineers term meaning widened and expanded).
anybody know how to find the funding sources for this institute??  i've been
searching their website to no avail.  but i've got money that state and
federal highway admins. are involved and perhaps some corporate dollars from
sources like AAA, GM, exxon mobil, etc. etc.

here is the link from texas transportation institute:

New congestion study shows remedies working, but traffic jams still growing
Traffic congestion nationwide continues to worsen, but the burden would be
far greater without a handful of remedies already in place, according to the
nation's longest running study of traffic jams.
Researchers have spent years refining their understanding of America's
traffic problem. This year, those same experts for the first time have a
clearer understanding of the magnitude of the problem facing urban America,
and what will fix it.

The annual Urban Mobility Report, published by the Texas Transportation
Institute, this year measures the effect of five congestion remedies in the
cities where they are being used. Specifically, the study illustrates the
effect of public transportation service and bus and carpool lanes, and three
types of roadway operating efficiencies - traffic signal coordination,
freeway incident management (clearing crashes and disabled vehicles) and the
use of freeway entrance ramp meters (signals that regulate traffic flow onto
the freeway). Estimates of the effect from those improvements are reflected
in this year's study, which uses 2001 data, the most recent available.
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J.H. Crawford | 1 Oct 2003 18:01
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Long Posts


Hi All,

Please limit the size of your posts. We have had a couple go by
recently that were so long they didn't even download because they
were over 25 kB. 

This is especially important when responding; please trim off ALL 
of the post to which you are replying except the parts that bear 
on your response.

Thanks,

--                                ###                               --

J.H. Crawford                                           Carfree Cities
mailbox@...                             http://www.carfree.com

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Jym Dyer | 1 Oct 2003 18:03
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Re: Kunstler's latest blog

=v= Overall I agree with Kunstler's points; I just don't think
it's quite correct to call the effect "democratizing" when
it's always excluded certain people -- often by race and/or
location.  The *illusion* of democratizing is achieved by a
chaotic, seemingly random distribution of power, and that's
fooled a lot of people in the U.S. for a very long time.
    <_Jym_≥

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Jym Dyer | 1 Oct 2003 18:08
Gravatar

Re: urban mobility study

> new report from texas transportation institute states 90
> billion is lost due to the american commute.

=v= And $87 billion more proposed to keep that very commute
fueled!
    <_Jym_≥

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Patrick J McDonough | 1 Oct 2003 18:24
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Re: urban mobility study

On Wed, 1 Oct 2003, Patrick Kennedy wrote:
> anybody know how to find the funding sources for this institute??  i've been
> searching their website to no avail.  but i've got money that state and
> federal highway admins. are involved and perhaps some corporate dollars from
> sources like AAA, GM, exxon mobil, etc. etc.

Their website is mobility.tamu.edu.

I don't know about funding sources, but I'm a big alternative modes
advocate and TTI does, in my opinion, very professional research.  If you
read their report, I think you'll find it is quite balanced in terms of
what it focuses on, namely congestion and delay.

I see these folks presenting at Transportation Research Board every year
and their work is widely respected.

I'd encourage you to take a look at the full report and check out the
section comparing HOV and Public Transportation hours of delay reduced.
Assuming one can put stock in their methodology, the argument to be made
in favor of transit over HOV is quite compelling.

Patrick McDonough

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Gmane