Washington DC has Right Idea

[Railman]

Good going DC.
Despite $4 a gallon gasoline, horrible traffic congestion, and a first class metro subway some hardheaded one to a car drivers are still insisting on driving into the downtown area of the nation's capital. The city is to be commended for the action they are taking here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/05/AR2008070500564.html?hpid=topnews

[AlanC]

Good going DC.
Despite $4 a gallon gasoline, horrible traffic congestion, and a first class metro subway some hardheaded one to a car drivers are still insisting on driving into the downtown area of the nation's capital. The city is to be commended for the action they are taking here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/05/AR2008070500564.html?hpid=topnews

Well damn them! Thinking they can move about as they please instead of being herded onto government cattle cars. What is wrong with those people?

The Brave New World marches on.

[Elrathin]

I think what the city is doing is wrong, but at the same time if I had the public transportation they do I'd probably never drive unless I was going on vacation.

[Mia]

This can be looked at in a myriad of ways - the way I'm seeing it is I (in theory, at least) think that cities should have the right to make things how they like them.

Don't agree, go to a city that is to your liking. That is the upside of local government having greater power, a diverse array of states and cities so that people have opportunities to live how they like without bothering their neighbors.

This came up last night with a friend who hates a nearby non-smoking, noise-law having, nazi about the dogs on leashes and picking up after town......that's not the place for her. She wants to smoke and play music loud and let her dogs run around sometimes.

It's not the town for me for the same reasons right now, so I live in one where all of that is allowed to a certain degree.

Nice to know, though, that if I mellow out I can move to a quiet place with no smoke or dogs at large.

A lot of the problems in this nation come from the feds making everything the same everywhere. No freedom of choice.

[preservanation]

A lot of the problems in this nation come from the feds making everything the same everywhere. No freedom of choice.Jefferson would be proud of you, Mia!

[AlanC]

I think what the city is doing is wrong, but at the same time if I had the public transportation they do I'd probably never drive unless I was going on vacation.

I agree, its a beautiful transportation system. And cities governing themselves and making their choices that matter to their own citizens is also the way it is supposed to work.

However, deciding that the people aren't making their choices fast enough and sending them down the cattle chute with an electric prod is not the answer either.

For those who have to commute to work, what are the incentives for them to park their cars and use the rail system as soon as they can? Is there adequqate parking at the perimiter stations? What other steps have they taken to encourage the use they now seem to want to force?

Next they will be crying because businesses are moving out and tourism is down. It sure doesn't sound like somewhere I want to drive to and I don't care if they have the Smithsonian or not.

[Burning Giraffe]

Good going DC.
Despite $4 a gallon gasoline, horrible traffic congestion, and a first class metro subway some hardheaded one to a car drivers are still insisting on driving into the downtown area of the nation's capital. The city is to be commended for the action they are taking here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/05/AR2008070500564.html?hpid=topnews

That's fine by me. If anything, it'll just mean less people in DC and that's always a good thing.

[Mia]

Jefferson would be proud of you, Mia!

I'm feeling warm and fuzzy over my interpretation, but did you mean it sarcastically?

:eek:

[preservanation]

I'm feeling warm and fuzzy over my interpretation, but did you mean it sarcastically?

:eek:What?
I'm shocked and dismayed that you would think that I would stoop to sarcasm.
I'm serious...Mia has the right idea

The decentralization of our federal govt was the cornerstone of federalism and what our country was founded on.
The freedom of our states to make their own decisions for their own residence has been usurped for way too long.

I don't necessarily agree with what DC is doing, but they have a right to do it as long as it is not deemed to violate the basic tenet of our Constitution.
Case in point...the recent SC ruling on their long-time-running gun ban.

DC is a little goofy because technically it's not a state and they have no congressional representation in Washington...ironic isn't it?

Me, sarcastic..?
:unreal:

[Railman]

DC is not infringing on the rights of drivers in any manner. They are not prohibiting anyone from bringing their car into the city. They are just configuring the traffic patterns to make it unattractive to do so. Since the streets are public and under control of the government, there is nothing untoward about what they are doing. The new downtown DC baseball stadium has the right idea too. Very limited parking. Anyone willing to fight the traffic near the stadium and fight for one of the very limited parking spaces is free to do so. I prefer to take the Metro to the stadium and travel under the traffic jams, not through them. This method has worked well in New York for years. Time for the rest of the country's cities to wake up.

[heyjude]

I don't think that people are going to get out of their cars until they have to. And helping them decide to is ok, as long as there is an alternative. Where I live, you have to walk a mile to catch a bus, it doesn't run after 6p or before 6a, or on Sundays or holidays. If there was a way for people to get around like they have in NYC, a lot of people would be willing to leave their cars at home. In fact, a lot of people wouldn't even need a car.

[Mia]

Cars have long symbolized freedom and independence. It takes a lot to get people out of them.

[preservanation]

Cars have long symbolized freedom and independence. It takes a lot to get people out of them.Limiting the ability of people's mobility is an important step to ultimate control of a population.

The DC plan, IMO is less of a step in that direction, but rather an act of common sense.