I want the media and other critics of the Rail runner to take the trip I just did over the last week. I started in Phoenix, and Chandler, went to Wickenburg and then to Glendale, Arizona. Then it was up to Salt Lake city. Last week I was also in Denver and Colorado Springs. There are two clear things from that trip. One is that water is running out, two and maybe more importantly people are choking to death on air polluted by automobiles. It was so bad in Phoenix, Denver and especially Salt Lake City that I felt like I had a bad cold coming on. My eyes burned and a general sense of malaise set in. Let face it, Albuquerque is fast approaching that.
And then I come back to hear the whining that subsidies for the Rail Runner are cutting too much into the subsidies for the automobile manufacturers. (Those subsidies being road construction.)
Its hilarious to see the highway construction industry in the newspaper crying that the gravy train is slowing down. Well, it is about time that gravy went to a real train. Governor Richardson was looking into the future by aggressively pushing for that train from Belen to Santa Fe. In fact, the next Governor should tackle a joint commuter train between El Paso and Las Cruces.
Visionary leaders are what we need most right now in this state and country. I look at Mayor Marty Chavez and his vision for traffic light cameras to finance his run away budgeting and I look at Representative Tom Udall's vote against the Iraq war some years back and I know who I am working for and voting for.
3 comments:
Thanks for your observations, Jim. It's about time we make public transporation a reality instead of an excuse.
No wonder I can't breathe lately. I think the best city to be for water is Chicago, or Milwaukee.
I was in Denver last week and the air was very bad. It made me feel sick.
Tucson's air quality is also suffering.
The Rail Runner is a great idea. AZ badly needs a Tucson-Phoenix train.
We've got to get out of our cars.
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