In her commentary “View From the Right Side” (The Reflector, Feb. 20) Liz Pike explains why our love of the auto requires what she describes as “common-sense” thinking. That “thinking” being additional high-speed corridors across the Columbia. What she doesn’t explain is how many tens of billions this is going to cost taxpayers, how long it’s going to take and what neighborhoods she plans to carve up (remember: The Feds recently failed in getting a transmission line across our rural landscape).
When will Liz’s car lovers realize it would be much cheaper to unburden highways by building a dedicated mass transit line for those who would rather save money for retirement than spend it on an expensive mode of transportation. This simple economic fact explains why livable cities with close-by services are becoming popular with the young, leaving the countryside to be gentrified by the well-to-do who depend on a car for contact with the outside world. A cost they seem to accept as part of their chosen lifestyle.
And then there is the problem with CO2, a major concern missing from her “common sense” solution. It’s time we faced up to the fact, her ideas are not very future relevant. Pie-in-the-sky for old conservatives like me.
