AnnAlthouse and I will be on Wisconsin Public Radio's "Week in Review" tomorrow from 8-9 a.m. Questions/comments can be called in at 1-800-642-1234 or email: talk@wpr.org
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I teach Communication Studies (First Amendment, Classical Rhetoric, Civic Engagement, Rhetoric of Rock Music) at UW Oshkosh. Served two terms on Oshkosh City Council. Originally from Brooklyn, NY.
4 comments:
Tony,
I heard the show on stream later this morning. One thing of note on the issue of rail travel.
In San Fransisco a proposal for high speed rail and the stimulus funds for it were withdrawn based on a lawsuit. The lawsuit rightly claimed that this particular train run discriminated against the poor and working class and favored professionals and well to dos going to the airport. The suit was successful.
I would hope that a similar suit would be brought in Wisconsin. High speed rail would turn into low speed rail if it served the communities enroute. These ventures only serve the privileged class that could a:) afford the fares and b:) feel they needed all their precious time to tweet and message on Facebook.
If the logic of wasted resources were applied, how many buses and bus routes could be made with off- the-shelf efficient vehicles rather than new rail construction?
Lon,
Can you forward me some information about that suit? I thought that it had been withdrawn and that high speed rail from SF to LA was in the process of happening.
I ride Amtrak as frequently as I can; perhaps I am sitting in the wrong section, but it does not seem to be filled with the "priveleged" classes even though the rides are quite expensive. The sad fact is that all travel in America (except walking) favors the privileged. Rather than use class distinctions as a reason to defeat rail, we ought to be looking for ways to ensure that it can benefit everyone. (Perhaps the money that will be used to subsidize the nuclear power industry could instead be used for rail, for example.).
Tony,
I will try to retrieve the info, but I did not get the story from a print source. I listen daily to Free Speech Radio News on the Pacifica Network. It is based in Berkeley but is a unique collective of reporters from all over the world and runs for a half hour daily.
The story was specifivally on a BART line from the city to the airport and so the discrimination suit was filed based on the limited service.
High speed rail travel I have called welfare for the wealthy. But I was corrected in this at George Kenney's www.electricpolitcs.com. A recent interview on rail travel prompted a response from the author that commuter travel is less privaledged than something like AMTRAK with its sleeping cars and other amenities.
The romance of trains is generously mixed in with the enthusiasm for that kind of transport: the illusion that it will be like an Agatha Christie novel. I still maintain that given the choices of flexibility and accessibility that improved bus service with flexible routes is more productive and less discriminatory.
I will post with more details from FSRN and electrics.
More on trains.
Readers of T2T may enjoy and begin to frequent electricpolitcs.com
Here is a direct link to an interview on the discussion of trains-- AMTRAK in particular -- plus, my comment, and the rebuttal.
http://www.electricpolitics.com/podcast/2009/12/passenger_rail.html#comments
This is all to the good. There has not been enough discussion that has included buses. I believe, as do others, that there is a class bias involved in the issue. More on that as needed.
Free Speech Radio News is available on a weekday basis from KPFA from the masthead:
http://www.kpfa.org/
or directly from FSRN-- the format and listening options are slightly different:
http://www.fsrn.org/index.php
The story on trains was in the headlines and so has no description that I could find in archive but I will try to find out the rest since I have the production email address. A quickie reference is here:
http://www.publicadvocates.org/
See the title PUBLIC ADVOCATES TAKES ACTION
Post a Comment