Seattle is full of condescending liberals who think that they know what is best for you, even if you don’t know it (or refuse to believe it).
However, one of the premier liberal writers in the area, Josh Feit, is even getting sick of some of their shit. Feit writes at the weekly Seattle “alternative paper” The Stranger, and this bit is from the paper’s blog: The Slog
Just got back from a Transportation Choices Coalition brown bag at the downtown Y where the group presented its legislative agenda to its members. (I’m a dues paying member.)
TCC is grass roots pro-transit group that used to be a bit more radical, but has moderated its politics lately (open to more compromises on roads construction while not pushing as hard for progressive transit solutions)—which has enabled them to be more of a playah. Sigh, those are the trade offs.
Anyway, their top legislative agenda is: shoring up the Sound Transit/RTID package so that ST Phase II is fully funded; fixing roads before expanding roads; and integrating transit with roads development.
(snip)
All of this stuff seems okay—I’m not as thoroughly opposed to coupling ST and RTID as I was a few weeks ago—
… but there was one thing on their agenda that irked me.
It seems like a minor thing, I guess, but it defined everything that’s wrong with liberalism. TCC is advocating to have transit alternatives taught in driver’s ed classes, so that soon-to-be drivers can learn that cars aren’t the only transportation option in the world.
Uggggh.
I have written about the dumb local drivers, as well as the poor “driver’s ed” classed required for a driver’s license, that kids can take via the public school system (which I believe is why it is so piss poor).
But now that the anti-private vehicle nutjobs want to take even more on-the-road time away from soon-to-be=drivers so that the teacher can tell them how they can ride a bike or a bus to where they need to go, I’m expecting even worse drivers to come out of the public driver’s ed courses.
Pretty soon I’m going to need a roll-cage around my truck and the cabin filled with those styrofoam packing peanuts.
I saw on PBS there’s a show that should be on tonight (Wed. Jan. 10th) that’s actually hailing Seattle as one of the most progressive cities in regards to public transit. I apologize for not alerting you to it earlier, as being a Seattle native I think you could offer an excellent critique of whatever this show is claiming.
Maybe it’s my bad associations with a pro-bicycle fanatic, but the people who advocate them as a primary mode of transport aren’t always right in the head. You cannot transport a family or groceries for a family on a bike, even if you have some kind of trailer attached. You can’t move the contents of a home on a bicycle. Harsh weather like hot days, heavy rainfall, or snow making riding really uncomfortable. And not to mention you lack the safety provided by that metal shell. The bike enthusiast I knew learned the last one the hard way, when he was victim of a malevolent hit & run (I won’t say accident since witnesses say the truck sped up to hit him as well as sped away from the scene). He had major surgery on his legs and brain damage.
To regain his lost finances due to medical bills, he tried to open a business making custom recumbent bikes. Of course, he soon learned this is a very niche market, and I and some other aquaintences tried to convince him to give up the bike building idea, buy a truck and start an on-site welding business. However, he was still hooked to his idea that “personal vehicles are bad”, and you cannot run a welding business off a bicycle. He tried to apply for a job with my company, but because he could only ride the bus this would mean he wouldn’t be able to make it to work on time (bus schedules wouldn’t allow him to do it). Another case of these “private vehicles are bad” people creating new problems for themselves when their own vehicle would solve many problems.