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What about an Ode to the MTA? Or an Ode to Amtrak? Or an Ode to MUNI? An ode to the bike lane! I think the last thing the United States needs is more people gl
by stevenleeg 6y ago
What about an Ode to the MTA? Or an Ode to Amtrak? Or an Ode to MUNI? An ode to the bike lane!
I think the last thing the United States needs is more people glorifying the horrendous car culture that has been built up in this country.
- mdszy 6y agoLet people enjoy things.
- jaywalk 6y agoPeople like you are exactly why this ode is needed.
- helipad 6y agoI suspect 'Ode to Amtrak' is one of the Led Zeppelin songs the author was referring to.
- empath75 6y agoIt’s hard to reform a thing if you don’t understand why people like it.
- infecto 6y agoOde to needles on Bart? But seriously. You cannot ignore the the importance that cars have played in America. Ya ya ya, cars are terrible, Europe is better but also much smaller. I am definitely looking to the future and hope we design smarter cities but we cannot ignore the past. None of the options you listed are part of Americana imo.
- Aloha 6y agoQuite arguably in our mythos, the car effectively replaced the horse.
- danans 6y ago> we cannot ignore the past. None of the options you listed are part of Americana imo. To the contrary, commuter rail transit systems, primarily streetcars, were very much a feature of American cities from Cincinnati to San Francisco in the period from the late 1800s through the mid-century. Ignoring them is, as you yourself say, ignoring the past. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_North_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcars_in_North_America
- infecto 6y agoBut for better or worse I would argue anything before 1900 is not really Americana, probably earlier. I think it holds true across the world. We are talking about nostalgia from childhood or your grandparents, popular media that you consumed. I am not saying to ignore the past but I have never heard of street cars romanticized like car driving in America is. Hell, tourists will come and rent a motorcycle or a car and drive across America. Sorry I confused you.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ohples 6y agoMaybe if we didn't have to spend billions of dollars per year maintaining an unsustainable highway system we could maybe do something about those needles. And we not just talking gas tax, billions has been stolen from the general fund to prop up the highway trust fund: https://www.pgpf.org/budget-basics/budget-explainer-highway-trust-fund https://www.pgpf.org/budget-basics/budget-explainer-highway-...
- infecto 6y agoI mean sure but honestly it stems from the constituents and nobody wants to deal with the fix. People love to praise public transportation but nobody wants to accept the costs associated with it. That's the Bay Area.
- OrangeMango 6y agoHere you go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XyRdJr4LSc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XyRdJr4LSc FYI, the reason that song means something is because this is the train line that Abraham Lincoln signed legislation to create and has been running daily service almost uninterrupted since the end of the Civil War.
- swimfar 6y agoAnd here's one for the M.T.A (although it's not glorifying it): The Kingston Trio - M.T.A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Jw_v3F_Q0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Jw_v3F_Q0
- AnimalMuppet 6y agoYou seem to be referring to the Pacific Railroad Act. But that created the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, not the Illinois Central. Now, the Illinois Central was a land grant railroad, but it received the land grants in 1850, under President Fillmore, not under Lincoln.
- OrangeMango 6y agoInteresting, thanks. I'll look more into that :)
- criddell 6y agoThis probably wouldn't be a great time to sing the praises of crowded public transportation...