Please don't assume I'm selfish because I drive a car. I drive a car because I'm a parent.
It's possible that this person lives someplace where it IS possible to be a parent and car-less, though, which has been our situation for the last 14+ years. I know other parents who also don't own cars and who get around with their kids on buses or walk or ride bikes. Which is something we can do in our city, because we have a reasonably good mass transit system and walkable neighborhoods, as well as good bike paths by the river, including ramps for getting up onto the city streets from the bike paths (when you're downtown).
The problem is, I think, partly having to do with the comment someone else put above about very poor community planning, such that a lot of communities are not designed to be bike-and-bus friendly, but also the fact that a lot of people don't go out of their way to seek out communities that would allow them to do without a car completely or at least much of the time. I've known far too many people who think that when it's time to start a family they "need" to move to the suburbs. That's not a solution unless you move to a real town where people can walk to get from one place to another or where there are buses, trolleys and/or subways. We need to bring back the town, support mass transit, and end the rule of suburbian sprawl if we're every going to begin to tackle runaway emissions.
Los Angeles has shown us all that even the city with the worst reputation for having nothing but people living in their cars can turn around and develop a mass transit system that works, that relieves congestion on the streets and highways, and that makes it possible for more people to do without cars or do use their cars a lot less often. Unfortunately, where you're living seems to be a place where there are limited options for folks wishing to reduce their car-use; fortunately, the status quo doesn't have to be the law of the land. Perhaps it's time for Minneapolis to follow LA's lead and improve mass transit so that folks like you who really don't WANT to be driving constantly have other options.
You don't drive because you're a parent, Peg, any more than that other person is NOT driving because he's NOT a parent. I'm a parent, too, and I don't drive. He doesn't drive because he's in a place that makes that possible. You drive because your government makes it very difficult for you not to drive. And governments can be changed.
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Date: 2007-04-11 03:03 pm (UTC)It's possible that this person lives someplace where it IS possible to be a parent and car-less, though, which has been our situation for the last 14+ years. I know other parents who also don't own cars and who get around with their kids on buses or walk or ride bikes. Which is something we can do in our city, because we have a reasonably good mass transit system and walkable neighborhoods, as well as good bike paths by the river, including ramps for getting up onto the city streets from the bike paths (when you're downtown).
The problem is, I think, partly having to do with the comment someone else put above about very poor community planning, such that a lot of communities are not designed to be bike-and-bus friendly, but also the fact that a lot of people don't go out of their way to seek out communities that would allow them to do without a car completely or at least much of the time. I've known far too many people who think that when it's time to start a family they "need" to move to the suburbs. That's not a solution unless you move to a real town where people can walk to get from one place to another or where there are buses, trolleys and/or subways. We need to bring back the town, support mass transit, and end the rule of suburbian sprawl if we're every going to begin to tackle runaway emissions.
Los Angeles has shown us all that even the city with the worst reputation for having nothing but people living in their cars can turn around and develop a mass transit system that works, that relieves congestion on the streets and highways, and that makes it possible for more people to do without cars or do use their cars a lot less often. Unfortunately, where you're living seems to be a place where there are limited options for folks wishing to reduce their car-use; fortunately, the status quo doesn't have to be the law of the land. Perhaps it's time for Minneapolis to follow LA's lead and improve mass transit so that folks like you who really don't WANT to be driving constantly have other options.
You don't drive because you're a parent, Peg, any more than that other person is NOT driving because he's NOT a parent. I'm a parent, too, and I don't drive. He doesn't drive because he's in a place that makes that possible. You drive because your government makes it very difficult for you not to drive. And governments can be changed.