On the links section of this blog I'm now posting James Howard Kunstler's podcast. I don't always agree with Kunstler (or with anybody), but he's one of the few working American writers with anything valuable to say about the tragedy of urban planning in the US. ("I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work.").
On his blog, Kunstler calls himself a Democrat and openly endorsed the election of Barack Obama. He's also been calling, for many years, for a national commitment to mass transit (especially rail). Not sure if the prez-elect shares that commitment, but his nomination of Republican Ray LaHood to run the Department of Transportation sure isn't a good sign. LaHood deserves kudos for supporting Amtrak, but beyond that his record on issues that a Transportation Secretary can impact is pretty dismal.
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I encourage everyone to read, if they have not already done so, Christian Lander's "Stuff White People Like."
This is both a blog space and a book you can get for your friends.
One of the things that white people like is mass transit so long as it's "anything but a bus." Trains appeal
as a class issue to Kunstler and many others in "the movement." Buses on the other hand have no appeal or cache.
Here is a personal example: As part of some organizational work, I proposed to a group to join me in taking the bus once a year to a meeting. They could pick the nicest day of the year it didn't matter. There were no takers. But through that year I did take the bus myself. I found that in Appleton the bus service is very good.
The point is that any discussion by Kunstler or anyone else needs to eliminate the veneer of speciality for the use of mass transit.
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