Gord Price:
There just won’t be any excuse like “Well, we couldn’t see what was coming.”
Nazi salutes in the Reagan Building. My God.
But we’re already so numbed that this story from the weekend barely got heard above a presidential tweet on ‘Hamilton’. But not a tweet on this.
On a topic directly relevant to Price Tags – how we shape our urban environments – watch for Trump’s infrastructure program, particularly where the money flows and for what purpose. My guess: a massive extension of Motordom.
The fact that Trump has said nothing about this or other racist incidents and yet tweets about criticism of him or his team speaks volumes about his ‘values’.
He sits high above
the crowd down below.
He feuds through the night
on twitter and such.
He issues video decrees.
Then the supplicants arrive
all carrying crows.
They climb the back stairs
all ninety floors.
They mutter and mutter
all to themselves.
Drop your phone at the door,
make no sudden moves,
no earplugs allowed.
Conway enters the room.
She curtsies, they bow.
Leave by the back stairs.
And down they all go,
down, down, down.
This is why 23% of eligible US voters chose Trump: he promised to strengthen white America’s threatened racial entitlement. It may be odd to think that one quarter of your neighbours to the south enthusiastically support white supremacists running their country, but that is the undeniable reality of the situation. Please consider that when you plan your next trip to Bellingham or Disneyland.
Here’s more numbers if that’s what you cling to: Trump rec’d votes from 13% black men, 30% of Hispanics, and 45% of white’ college-educated women.
By the dismissive “cling to” comment I take it you’re not a huge fan of empirical data. Not many are. Trump promised a lot of people a lot of things so will of course win some non-white votes. And although level of education also counts somewhat, it’s his core message to whites that won it for him. Lastly, keep in mind those numbers you note are simply the percentage of those who voted and could be accounted for in post-election survey models. Thirteen percent of black men did not vote for Trump. Thirteen percent of black men who voted reportedly voted for Trump. That puts the actual number of eligible-voting black men who voted for Trump closer to 5% (that group’s voting rate was much lower than the total US average – closer to 40%).
Even more fun with numbers complete with a built-in conspiracy; According to media reports Hillary received 7% more votes where paper ballots were used compared to places where electronic voting machines were deployed in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania all states where pollsters predicted a narrow win but which she lost narrowly. Recount, recount!
That 30% of Hispanic voters are Cuban refugees and their descendants who form a stable conservative voting block religiously devoted to the Republican Party regardless of who the candidate is. They would have voted for Donald Duck as long as he was the winning nominee for the GOP.
By bringing up these numbers you also expose yourself to criticism for purposely ignoring the massive 70% support amongst Hispanic voters for the Democrats, who incidentallly won the vote by millions but lost the election in an unfair system.
Forgot to also note: one quarter enthusiastically support white supremacy and another 51% are indifferent enough to not have bothered voting against it.
If every vehicle on a city street and a country road is a Tesla would we still be talking about motordom?
If we could operate that Tesla for say 35 years, or 1,000,000 kilometers with only minor repairs would that be OK?
It wouldn’t be OK. In some ways it would be less bad, but the sprawl and all the terrible related effects would not go away. In fact it would be worse with so much of transportation infrastructure funding based on gas tax and sarcastic commenters going on about there’s no longer a problem because the damn things no longer run directly on fossil fuels.
I take it that you use the term sprawl in the prerogative sense. But I wonder what the sprawl term actually means because if we take a trip say down the Trans-Canada Highway all the way to Hope we will find that this corridor is loaded with heavy traffic going both ways day and night. The Fraser Valley transportation network is well developed with goods and services flowing in every direction according to the demands of commerce. Why not think of it as the way the economy functions? When congestion generated by density becomes too costly for society then it is time to switch to higher density forms of travel, buses and trains. I am sure that we will figure out how to fund transportation infrastructure if a post diesel – gasoline era ever comes to pass. And no, the transducer salesman does not have the answer because the population will not support economic suppression on the freedom of movement.
Whoops spoke to soon.
According to CBC, Toronto will try to introduce 2-dollar road tolls, for drivers on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.
Revenge of the transducer man! 2x2x365=$1460 per annum per vehicle
The problems with our reliance on private motor vehicles:
1. Induced sprawl. They take up so much room to move and park that they force everything to be farther apart which increases the cost of everything.
2. Sedentary lifestyle. In general our population does not get enough exercise and suffers from obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some cancers as a result. .
3. Increased isolation. You don’t meet your neighbours and others when you drive.
4 .Reduced choices. Every person who drives reduces the will to provide alternatives.
5. Those who can least afford it are often required to own an expensive car just to get to their low paying jobs.
6. They remain one of the largest killers in society – especially among the young – and are a threat to all other road users.
7. They are noisy, especially in the rain – tire friction is a large proportion of the noise they make.
6. They are costly for the taxpayer. It is by far the most expensive way to move people and the fuel taxes motorists pay do not cover the cost of ever wider roads and bridges.
8. They make the urban experience unpleasant. The motorist lobby has been enormously successful, especially in this city, at ensuring you can drive absolutely everywhere. We don’t have one car-free urban street to delight in.
9. They are an inefficient waste of energy. It is estimated that a typical car with one driver is between 1 and 2 percent efficient.
10. They require enormous resources and energy to manufacture.
11. They foul our air and add considerably to GHGs.
The problems with reliance on electric private motor vehicles:
Repeat the first 10.
11. Today’s batteries are environmentally unfriendly and will need replacement at least once during the life of the car.
Travel twenty miles somehow down the Trans-Canada Highway. Take a seat by the side of the road and explain to the rest of us how it is all going to function without the single occupancy vehicle regardless of its propulsion system.
Travel to downtown Vancouver and note that while population and jobs nearly doubled over the last 20 years motor vehicle traffic declined by 20%.
Every vehicle will not end up being a Tesla or another EV. Power generation limitations and urban land economics will not support that. You’d need three additional Site Cs just to run the Metro’s 1.5 million cars.
All the more reason that fewer cars are the answer to so many problems.
Oh My God. Trump considers Dr. Ben Carson, ex brain surgeon for cabinet post; Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs. On the basis of this logic any urbanist is qualified to give Trump a lobotomy!
“A White Nationalist and Anti-Semite in the Oval Office: Trump Taps Breitbart’s Bannon as Top Aide”
Looking forward to the Atlantic losing the libel suit that’s gonna be slapped on them