I believe one of the greatest tragedies in the history of our nation has been the extent to which the automobile industry and its attendant highway and suburban development lobbies have destroyed our landscape, our human and wildlife habitats and turned too much of our (soon to be desperately needed) valuable agricultural land into collector roads, parking lots and tract homes. I intend to use this forum to dig deeper and deeper into this issue and prove my thesis that most of our economic and social problems can be laid at the feet of those actors and organizations throughout our history who have sacrificed our very future in order so that they may reap obscene short-term profit at the expense of us all. Right now, however, I'd like to commence the first of what I plan to be a series of diaries focusing on one particular aspect of this issue, which also just might be the most practical short-term solution to at least begin to get us on the right 'track' (corny pun unfortunately intended).
When outsiders think of New Jersey, what comes to mind? Vast amounts of sprawling suburbs, the Sopranos, the NJ Turnpike (the malodorous industrial areas accompanying same), our interesting regional dialects in which we say things like 'youze', 'stand on line' and 'Lawn Guylin', all the while turning 'r' sounds into 'aw' sounds up here in North Jersey; while up here we wonder what those guys 'down South Jersey' are tawkin' about when they say 'dings' like 'hoagie', 'fireplug' and 'Phulelfeeya', where the second 'l' is sort-of silent, and sounds kind-of 'w-ish' a bit...also note, nobody in this state has said 'Joizey' in at least 300 years.
New Jersey is also home to one of the largest commuter rail systems in the nation. I am a daily rider of NJ Transit trains (and buses and light-rail); they get me to work, play, pretty much wherever I need to be; from here in Newark to NYC, Philadelphia, Trenton, Middletown or Spring Valley, NY; East Orange, Plainfield, Red Bank, Long Branch, Asbury Park, Westfield, Cranford, High Bridge, Camden, Jersey City, Montclair, Hackettstown, Boonton, Metuchen, Burlington, Atlantic City, Morristown, Summit; I could go on for days here...and I haven't even mentioned PATH, one of the only 24-hr. train systems in the world, operating between Newark and NYC via Harrison, Hoboken and Jersey City, and PATCO, without which it would be infinitely harder for me to meet up with my Philly (or Doylestown via Septa) peoples and connect to NJ Transit's Atlantic City line, thereby enabling us to throw away ridiculous sums of money in said city, although in a fashionable way (see Swingers, I truly believe Vince Vaughn's character was based on me, although I would never say things like 'beautiful babies', I just wonder why Jon Favreau's character was not based on My Boy Power or My Man T-Luv, the movie would have been that much better, but aaanyway....) the connections to SEPTA via PATCO, Ewing and Trenton; and the connections available to Amtrak; one of the ultimate targets of the Republicans in Washington over the years, and whose continued existence and drastic expansion of service is of the utmost necessity to the very existence of These United States (a topic which I plan to cover in future diaries); but back to the topic at hand...
I will focus on NJ Transit in the next diary, as this is the system with which I am most (read: intimately) familiar, while I intend to focus on other regional systems (existing and proposed) all around the nation in subsequent endeavors in this series. I mention 'proposed' in the paranthetical aside of the previous sentence since I intend to focus on the necessity of the proposed SEMCOG Detroit-to-Ann Arbor system in the diary after that as one of the first steps in the process to rehabilitate one of our Great Cities (okay, there's also some seriously massive personal pro-Detroit sentiment here on my part as well, but anyways...) which has seriously suffered due to the extreme influence of the automobile industry in, well, the City (again, Detroit deserves capitalization at all times) from which it sprung. I also intend to try to sketch out some sort of workable solution to extend the People Mover up Woodward Avenue into the New Center area and beyond, also increasing access to the vibrant Wayne State University area, along with one of the most amazing buildings in the country, and turn the system into something useful for actual residents of the City, and not just a Disney-style attraction for tourists to get from the Ren-Cen to the Greektown Casino or Comerica Park without having to spend much time on actual City streets, but I digress...
If nothing else, the following two reasons have improved my life at least tenfold since my last car finally gave out on me (the last car I will have ever owned, I have decided) and I embarked upon my journey as a 'monthly-pass' train and bus/light-rail commuter -
- No need to own a car - speaks for itself; ever-rising prices of gasoline (the questionable existence of same in the relatively near future), maintenance, repairs, insurance; finding/paying for parking if you happen to work in a city;, dealing with traffic and the attendant ever-present road-rage, the occasional strandings via break-downs, accidents, drunks and reckless teenagers...
- The community of 'mass-commuters' - the atmosphere at the train station in the mornings is so much more friendlier than that which I recall from my days as a 'highway' commuter; at the risk of sounding like an MTA commercial or something; you can just relax, read a book or newspaper on the train/bus or while waiting for same; converse and interact with other people in a civil manner, one not involving middle-fingers, horns, and mouthed threats (also, for single people such as myself, train stations/bus stops and trains/buses themselves are fantastic places to meet people; I mean I'm talking serious multi-tasking here, I'm getting to work and meeting women at the same time! but again I digress...)
Sure, I have to rent a car every once in a while, but not often enough to justify a ZipCar membership (although I think they're really onto something there), and I realize I'm fortunate enough to live in a place where there is an actual mass-transit system (including trains and buses, NJ Transit is the third-largest public-transportation system in the country, serving roughly 225,000,000 passengers a year, about 800,000 passengers every weekday in a state of 8 million) and more than a few functional, real towns and cities (although the Big Boxes are certainly gunning for those that are left, as they've had a foothold in this state for some time now).
Yes, I also have a child, and we manage to get along fine without a car. My grandmother is in her mid-eighties, she raised eight kids, including my mother, without ever even having a driver's license (she still doesn't have one, and now I think it's pretty safe to assume she never will).
I just wanted to sort of lay the groundwork for this series here in this particular diary, and hopefully spark some sort of conversation. I'm curious as to how much much interest this issue will garner here amongst the Daily Kos community. In the future I intend to get into more specific 'technical-geek' terms and considerations and what-not; hopefully try to work towards some solutions to the problem of our tragic landscape. Right now, though, I'd like to hear what you all have to say, if anything. Take the poll, discuss, all opinions are welcome (except for you 'Le Corb', or you, Mr. Moses...)