And personally I work in a real world context. I have never seen master plans worth pursuing given limitations of time, energy, etc. Some of us are not chasing some utopian vision.

Frankly implementing R and advocating for the federal matching funds for the big projects will be enough to keep advicates busy for years. It isn’t a blueprint for perfection but far better than zero.

Measure R alone totally built out ain’t going to bring us to the promised land of no cars and wide open streets where the kids can play street hockey (that still happens in the suburbs and rural areas) and people rarely get in their cars. We shouldn’t kid ourselves.

First off, the car as a machine will never go away. Even the cities with the world’s most comprehensive transit systems also have to plan for cars.

Second, there won’t be enough money to build everything we will ever want. Sniping about how our currency is disproportionately tilted towards the prerogatives of the ruling class doesn’t go anywhere beyond navel-gazing on this board. Getting the money itself is another matter.

By the way, why did we allow this to be a general sales tax and not a gas tax? If you want less of something, tax that. Given that the cost of living is so high already why put a greater burden on our low income population?

Low-income populations are screwed under any tax regime. Even under no or very low taxes, low-income people will still deal with high costs of living and dim or no economic prospects.

The unique problem with a gas tax is revenues will go down as gas prices go up. A gas tax is perfect if you don’t ever expect anyone to switch from a car and ride transit. But if you have a condition like last year where gas was headed to $5 a gallon, more people are going to seek out public transit yet revenues will fall off to keep the services running. This is exactly when you don’t want revenues to fall.

We need a more comprehensive plan. Measure R alone totally built out ain’t going to bring us to the promised land of no cars and wide open streets where the kids can play street hockey (that still happens in the suburbs and rural areas) and people rarely get in their cars. We shouldn’t kid ourselves.

By the way, why did we allow this to be a general sales tax and not a gas tax? If you want less of something, tax that. Given that the cost of living is so high already why put a greater burden on our low income population?

Has anyone in the ped/bike/transit orgs sat down and drawn up what transportation systems should be built? I’m not talking about concepts or principles. I’m talking about putting things down on maps, schedules, and cost estimates.

Anyone? Please post a link.

My fear is that we have lots of happy talk about concepts and piece meal efforts and we just assume that it will all come together once the populace is “aware” of the movement that we have started.

Did the organizers of the event contact Metro to coordinate, share estimates of the turnout etc. Evidently not or the letter would have asserted same. A lot of events are held on D.C. and like any agency Metro has to be prudent in its use of public resources. Often widespread media attention is paid to events with poor or nearly no turnout (e.g. the Minutemen near the border where the reporters outnumbered the protesters). Running extra service because some folks have sent a few press releases could be a huge waste of moneyunless the agency can confirm the event is the real deal. It seems this letter is an attempt to shift blame by the folks who should have made sure Metro was in the loop.

But it is deliciously ironic on multiple levels.