Quote:
Originally Posted by Stripes17
I wonder what's in it for NS to all of a sudden want to enter talks about letting them use the tracks for this white elephant, shiny choo-choo? We were better off when they (NS) were the voice of reason in denying access to their tracks.
|
Hmmmm, so let's talk about the real white elephant in the room that few are willing to discuss (the roads and suburbia).
Billions (if not TRILLIONS) of have gone into this thing called the "American Dream". That's right, the far-flung suburban neighborhood with so called Great schools, low crime, and affordable real estate. To keep up with this narrative (actually it was a LIE) banks used extremely "creative" lending practices in order to keep these home builders in business. Car manufacturers were also heavily subsidized (bailed out) by the federal government while they themselves also benefited from lenders adding zeros to an applicants' monthly incomes while also "recalculating" their suspect credit scores. These practices have crashed our economy and ruined our air quality.
Today, the average working American can barely afford to rent one room in these houses and can only afford the 8 year old used version of these once-new cars. Car manufacturers such as Ford, GM, and Chrysler have significantly cut back on manufacturing sedans while letting the overseas markets be the main global supplier of family cars. The government (who subsidized the nonsense) now see that the eggs they helped lay are about to hatch; so now the feds have responded with record high interest rates in a desperate attempt to slow down the inflation caused by easy-lending and low interest rates.
And YOU call the age-old sustainable life style of high density and mass transit a "white elephant"? If nothing else, surely you can agree that at least two-thirds of metro Charlotte has no business behind the wheel in the first place. Do you REALLY want to give Mr Tailgate, Mrs I-Never-Signal, and cousin My-speed-limit-is-how-I'm-feeling-today more lanes in which to crash and burn? 15 seconds after a widened 14 lane I-77 is completed, there will be a 15-car pile up that lasts for 2-3 hours and we all know it. The culprit of this disastrous crash will be somebody who is texting while driving when this person could have been texting on a relaxing 45 minute train ride to Lake Norman instead.
With that said, I am by no means an enemy to suburbia and suburban real estate so real estate agents out there who are making money off of this, please don't be alarmed. My point is that the best society is a society in which we all have choices. I would like the choice of taking a drive to Lake Norman or taking the train there just like I enjoy having the choice of taking a train from South Charlotte to uptown or driving instead.
Finally some food for thought; I have seen numerous drunks on the Lynx Blue line late at night who got off and walked towards their apartments. Are you suggesting that Charlotte is "better" if those people were in a city without transit instead? The "choo choo" as you put it is far less laughable than someone working 3 jobs just to afford a car that breaks down every month. More bus service is needed for sure, but there comes a point when the roads are so clogged with other vehicles that the bus is no longer reliable and fast (and by the time you build a busway properly with stations and dedicated lanes, you've probably spent just as much if not more than what a train service would have cost).
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
