Lincoln is not LA or NYC, but we share some concerns. The scales may not be the same, but the issues are similar.
A planner talks about transportation issues and bringing about change:
LA and Lincoln share an entrenched auto-centric culture, both in their citizens and public officials. People desire the freedom provided by automobiles: freedom of time and freedom of location. You can go where you want, when you want. Particularly elected officials are sensitive to this, because their constituency may not care for public transit or transportation reform, even if that is the best thing for the city.
It was interesting to here Ms. Whitaker's opinion that traffic engineers cling to the status quo. We can't change because we've done it this way for so long.
Also, the idea that providing free parking encourages auto-based transport was something I hadn't really considered before. In fact it's a feedback loop: the vast parking lots we use to store our vehicles as we move around cause destination structures to be farther apart, making it more attractive to get to them by auto, requiring parking.
She also talks about improvement by baby steps
. Like she did,
I want to see world-changing improvements, but those are unlikely to
happen, either because of expense or just because they are out of the
mainstream. Small changes, though, can make things better, too, and over
time, they add up to big changes.
(How much time do we have, though?)
An ethicist talks about the imporantance of livable streets
:
...[I]f you live anywhere but a few cities and you want a quart of
milk, you have to take the car.
Lincoln is one of those cities
where, in general, you currently have to take the car.
Mr. Cohen describes indiscriminate use of cars as selfish
for
various reasons, but the question for us is, in Lincoln, what other
choices do we have? We aren't as compact as Manhattan, with neighborhood
groceries, etc., and we don't have the public transportation system
enjoyed by some other municipalities.
Discussion of the parking placards used by officials in NYC allowing them to park wherever they care to reminds me of some of our elected officials and their attitude toward bus service and public transportation. In New York, officials may not perceive parking and pedestrian friendliness as high-priority issues because they typically drive from place to place, and can park wherever they care to. Members of Lincoln's City Council may not put stock in public transportation simply because it's not useful to them.
No solutions here, just questions to think about.
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