Couple of things
- This just in ... Congress loves unfunded mandates, not so much concerned with you little people.
- The Athens Banner-Herald editorial looks at the park-and-ride lot, which sort of follows up on the discussion that Al and I are having where we kinda agree, but not really. It's worth noting that Hillary has raised some questions and concerns that I had intended to point out.
- The folks at Peach Pundit show an an incredible lack of understanding of other religions.
- Speaking of Peach Pundit, I've come to determine that the conservatives over there aren't so much cared with the details, but are rather blinded by ideology. Why? Because, despite posting the same question regarding the funding of special-needs vouchers in numerous entries, I can't get a straight answer that isn't something like 'because school choice is American!'
- If you think it's been chilly here the past few days, consider Russ. The poor guy's in Chicago where the high on Sunday is nine degrees.
- Not that I enjoy giving any additional attention to the feeding frenzy that is this nation's infatuation with the comings and goings of celebrities, but why are the friggin' beauty pageant people so judgemental? You have someone who admitted to having a substance abuse problem, the owner of the pageant gives her a second chance (because, you know, having someone who is responsible enough to confront a personal problem head on is apparently a horrible role model) and everyone from past crown holders to Rosie O'Donnell think she's a disgrace. The concept of grace and forgiveness is terribly lost on these folks.
- I'm not really thrilled about the Super Bowl this weekend. An ex-Tennessee quarterback going up against an ex-Florida quarterback? Just doesn't get me fired up.
- Guess what ... it's going to get warmer and we're to blame.
- The Athens Banner-Herald editorial looks at the park-and-ride lot, which sort of follows up on the discussion that Al and I are having where we kinda agree, but not really. It's worth noting that Hillary has raised some questions and concerns that I had intended to point out.
- The folks at Peach Pundit show an an incredible lack of understanding of other religions.
- Speaking of Peach Pundit, I've come to determine that the conservatives over there aren't so much cared with the details, but are rather blinded by ideology. Why? Because, despite posting the same question regarding the funding of special-needs vouchers in numerous entries, I can't get a straight answer that isn't something like 'because school choice is American!'
- If you think it's been chilly here the past few days, consider Russ. The poor guy's in Chicago where the high on Sunday is nine degrees.
- Not that I enjoy giving any additional attention to the feeding frenzy that is this nation's infatuation with the comings and goings of celebrities, but why are the friggin' beauty pageant people so judgemental? You have someone who admitted to having a substance abuse problem, the owner of the pageant gives her a second chance (because, you know, having someone who is responsible enough to confront a personal problem head on is apparently a horrible role model) and everyone from past crown holders to Rosie O'Donnell think she's a disgrace. The concept of grace and forgiveness is terribly lost on these folks.
- I'm not really thrilled about the Super Bowl this weekend. An ex-Tennessee quarterback going up against an ex-Florida quarterback? Just doesn't get me fired up.
- Guess what ... it's going to get warmer and we're to blame.
posted by Jmac at 7:19 AM
16 Comments:
Note, however, that I am fundamentally in favor of the lots. I just know that they won't be useful unless there are buses enough to come there, which I think there should be.
"The concept of grace and forgiveness is terribly lost on these folks."
And why is that, I wonder.....
Right Hillary. I didn't mean to imply you weren't.
And, again, my point is that I have serious concerns about the viability of park-and-ride lots, but that isn't to say those concerns can't or won't be abated. If we considerably bump up our bus services and routes, as well as incorporate some of those elements Al alluded to, I could warm to the idea.
JMAC
Great discussion - but please be careful at what point you use words like fiasco. The park and ride would be a "fiasco" if we built it and it turned out to be a disaster. We have not even started to design or plan. We are merely soliciting public comment so we can decide whether we should proceed or not.
Hillary's position:
Park and . . . ride what?
Darren
Just weighing in on multiple issues:
Park & Ride:
I like the idea of a park & ride on the eastside. During TDS years ago someone or another pointed out that some huge portion of UGA's students live in the immediate vicinity of Kroger -- any measure that makes it easy for that huge portion to not drive into town is therefore going to be highly efficacious. Likewise UGA employees in Oglethorpe Co. Tom Chasteen worked extensively on attempting to make bicycle access not so damned scary. But any measure in that direction is a good step.
As an aside, what location is most likely to offer access to our lovely Greenway? That should be another option, rather than everyone being forced to exchange single transit for mass transit. And I second all of Al's comments about making park & ride lots viable/attractive/more meaningful than oasis-of-concrete-where-I-park-my-hummer.
I also share Hillary's concerns about logistics -- in general, though I know we're attempting to cover a big area with few resources, I don't understand why Athens transit isn't more attuned to the needs of the citizens. Most of our manufacturing facilities are not on UGA's 8 to 5. So it would seem somewhat logical and feasible to shift the supply to the demand and increase the number of buses serving businesses during their rush hours.
Looking to our future, is there any way to create park & ride lots and have them supported from other locations around Athens? Like, why don't we have a park & ride at Sandy Creek Park or Nature Center or some such, so that Jackson County students and faculty and employees can ride in? (I understand it's probably hardish from the Nature Center, but why not the park? It's out there and it's got tons of parking which are generally underutilized during the week.)
Peach Pundit:
Amen, brother.
I can concede that 'fiasco' might be a bit harsh, though I wasn't intending it to necessarily be a derisive term. However, my point in using that term was to illustrate my concerns with this specific proposal for a park-and-ride ... that namely a lot of folks in areas with proposed sites have, understandably, developed a NIMBY attitude while a few others haven't shown a willingness to sell their property.
So Elton please don't misunderstand me as I'm not attempting to belittle the process you're going through (though Stanicek emailed me and joked how you slammed me for my cavalier use of the phrase 'fiasco' ... so touche).
Again, regarding the overall premise of park-and-ride lots, I do have some skepticism. However, Al's detailed response to my previous entry did soften my stance a good deal. It's important, in my mind, to be able to incorporate things such as access to greenways and bike trails, indoor shelter and, in what is a great idea, a portion of the property dedicated to some sort of privately operated retail space.
What I don't want is what you see in places like my hometown of Augusta, which are empty parking lots with little connectivity to mass transit, no shelter and poor locations. If we want to think big picture, like both Al and I have suggested, then any proposal for a park-and-ride has to be some sort of limited mixed-use location which makes people want to leave their cars there.
We also need to make sure that we offer adequate bus service to this location. Additional routes and/or runs, I would think, would be necessary.
I absolutely agree that we have to beef up the transit infrastructure - more bus service is never off the radar screen for the current crop of M&C but paying for it is always a problem.
The "you'll take my Hummer from my cold dead hands" crowd is always in direct opposition to anything other than more pavement (a generalization, I know but it's pretty easily justified based on history here).
What I've never understood from the anti-anything-but-cars crowd is that their main complaints tend to focus on congestion which is, almost by definition, the fact that we have too many cars on our roads - how can they not be 100% supportive of anything that gets more cars out of their way while they run double the posted speed limits on their merry ways? It seems a very short jump from "get out of my way" to "let's provide other forms of transportation for everybody else but me".
BTW - I feel like I should freely confess that I am a gear-head from since my early childhood. I love interesting and exotic cars and my favorite sport is auto racing. My love of things mechanical simply does not extend into the mundane use of mundane private automobiles for transportation. Most cars on the road are about as interesting to me as a washing machine - it's just an ordinary appliance that holds no fascination. If you aren't driving a Ferrari, you should take the bus. ;-)
Hallelujah to your last paragraph, Al. That sums me up, too (for example, my wife had a good laugh earlier this week after realizing that I had spent the last 30 minutes examining online photos of the new F1 entries for this year).
To be pro-transportation-choices does not mean you're anti-car. I think this idea also ties into your previous point: less cars on the road means less congestion, means more enjoyable driving for all of us, when we do drive.
Darren
Wow,Darren!
I can hardly believe that my glib comments may have led to the discovery of what may be the only other F1 fan in Athens! Be still my heart!
You and I may be the only 2 people in Athens who actually know who Fernando Alonso is (though I think his move to McLaren is a huge mistake).
;-)
You're just now figuring that out about Peach Pundit? Actually, I kind of envy you, still having hopes for them and all. It shows you haven't had the noxious, prolonged exposure some of us have experienced.
Re: PP and the global warming thing - in other news, water is wet.
No way, Al. There are more than two of us. There's a small group of us who get together on a semi-regular basis to watch the GPs. One of us will volunteer to host, resulting in some poor wife/girfriend/etc waking up to five or six bleary-eyed guys drinking coffee and staring at the TV in her living room. I'll let you know next time it's happening.
And yeah, Alonso may have made a mistake, although McLaren has a history of bouncing back.
Darren
I'm sorry. I don't speak monkey.
There must be more of us out there than any of us realize.
Just like the first robin is an encouraging sign that spring is near, the Rolex 24 signals that the long, cold winter is coming to an end!
Rich
I'm stunned! I had no idea there was more than 2 F1 fans in Athens!
This year's Rolex 24 was pretty great racing but I still think those cars are butt-ugly. I swear I thought the France family was out to kill the Rolex 24 but I was happy to be wrong about that.
I'd love to be invited for an F1 watching party but I doubt HerzHonor would be amused if I tried to host one - maybe Australia or Japan since she's a lot friendlier at midnight than at 7am. Of course, the US or Canadian events would be doable. ;-)
Nicki: I think you're just being modest - you may not speak fluent monkey but I think you understand more than you like to let on, right? ;-)
The DPs may be butt ugly, but live Grand Am racing sure beats taped versions of British Touring Car, German DTM, and Porsche Supercup races.
Isn't it fun to hijack a blog thread!! Racing fans of the world unite!
Post a Comment
<< Home