Give it up for Streetcars!
Posted on | July 30, 2009 | 2 Comments
I am a native of the Midwest, specifically the Greater Cincinnati area, so I try to pay attention to what’s going on in my hometown. Today I was pleased to stumble upon this post on the CincyStreetcar Blog entitled, What do America’s Top Ten Cities have in common? Why, streetcars of course! As per usual, Cincinnati is just a few years behind all of the other cities on the Outside Magazine list and is still in the “planning stages” of street car development… after all, Mark Twain famously said of the Queen City, “When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it’s always ten years behind the times.”
Anyway, I’m currently visiting Seattle and I’ll be venturing back down to Portland next week, and I noticed that both of these Northwestern cities not only made the list, but also have thriving streetcar and public transportation systems. Perhaps this is why Cincinnati’s Mayor Mark Mallory was visiting Portland last week to study their streetcar system? Streetcars, light rail, subways, buses, and bikes are used quite successfully in the Pacific Northwest and are part of what makes these cities so livable. Cincinnati is a gorgeous and affordable city but it IS growing, and like any city that is growing, it needs to look at more sustainable forms of moving people around. As the population grows in this, or any other mid-size city for that matter, there will be a point at which the number of cars will reach critical mass and it will become extremely difficult to get where you need to go in a reasonable amount of time. If you don’t believe me, ask the average Los Angeleno, who spends by far more time in their car than any other drivers in the nation. When life is so short, why spend your time stuck in traffic? Grab a book or magazine, or even your knitting needles, take the streetcar, and pat yourself on the back for saving some carbon emissions as well.
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2 Responses to “Give it up for Streetcars!”
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August 1st, 2009 @ 11:24 pm
Please check out the Passivhaus movement. We can lower energy by 70% plus with its implementation. We really need to raise awareness of this in the US!
August 13th, 2009 @ 4:55 am
Excellent write up about streetcars. We’ll have a fight on our hands to defeat a charter amendment that would require a vote in the city for ANY rail connected spending.