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Letter to the Editor
Wednesday, January 5, 2011 at 9:05pm
Carbon offset? I'm no expert, but I know a way that would reduce air pollution more than either of these [free downtown parking] plans: Do away with all parking downtown. Make it against the law to drive a private vehicle in downtown Nashville unless you live downtown. The only way to get downtown would be to ride a bus, cab, train, bicycle, skateboard or roller skates — or walk/run/crawl. Laugh all you want, but you can't tell me it wouldn't make our air healthier to breath. This may sound stupid to some of you, and you’re right. But it's no more stupid than the other two plans.
Posted by “CrimesDown”
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Filed under: City Voices
Hey, brain-dead, Nashville ain't Hawai'i.
In case you haven't noticed, the weather here is too cold to walk, skate, bike, crawl.
It was 15 degrees 3 weeks ago, and last week too.
It warms up to 25 degrees half of December.
January will be colder.
Banning cars in Nashville is dumber than allowing guns in bars.
Do you people even pass the 7th grade?
Good morning
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6GTgPFqKOYk/SoGE4FL6XoI/AAAAAAAANSE/lo2HZxk54uQ/s400/early+morning+Grey+Abbey+001.jpg
Now Paul lets don’t go to hard on the poster, is not a bad idea. I have had one similar except it was for parking and not banning cars all together. My idea was to have the parking on the outskirts of the city and then shuttle the people in.
Right on D7, and let's not forget the large people
attempting to walk and especially crawl in 90-95
degree summer weather!
Oops the first good morning did not take
http://www.scugogheritage.com/misc/PPtoday/sunrise.jpg
I feel for those that have to crawl in 90 degree weather.
CrimesDown, you're all over the place. Is it parking that is your primary concern or air quality? Focus, man! You're sounding like a typical liberal who can't think properly because of a two-digit IQ.
Just how, Mr. Downer, does 20 cases of beer get delivered to the Hard Rock Cafe or other deliveries get made if traditional vehicles are banned? How does any good or service get to a downtown destination? You want the copy machine repair guy to carry toner cartridges and tools on his head?
But you're on to something. Maybe just ban traditional gasoline engines; opt for vehicles using natural gas or batteries or fuel cells. Force patrons to park their regular vehicles outside the city, exchange 'em for an approved vehicle you would then use to get downtown. Then return that useless sucker when your day job is done. Voila, a use for the Chevy Dolt!
Now where have I heard this idea before? Oh wait it was from me.
Maybe her 15 min is coming to an end.
Palin headlines: Favorability rating near lowest in Alaska, poll says
http://www.adn.com/2010/12/28/1622197/palin-headlines-favorability-poll.html
Driving to a designated point and then changing vehicles. That sounds great in theory, but what about: Infant car seats? Seniors with handicaps? Others with handicaps? Rainy days? Inclement weather? Liability?
Let's just keep it simple. Provide parking for all and can the carbon offsets. They are a scheme to make a few rich.
I bet Sara is right up there in the "favorability" with Obama. His ratings are lowere than low and you don't even mention it, Lt. Nemo.
serr8 is right. It is now said, if 4 homeowners on any given block, use an electric car, it will blow the power grid.
Just great.
Rolling brown-outs in the summer and power outages in the winter because some Nazi -American wants to plug in his car!
Hail to the IC engine.
Some people must look before opening mouth.
Palin’s Favorable Up Slightly; Obama’s Holds Steady
Obama (56%) more popular than Palin (44%)
http://www.gallup.com/poll/124736/palin-favorable-up-slightly-obama-holds-steady.aspx
At 52%, Palin's Unfavorable Score Hits a New High
http://www.gallup.com/poll/144491/palin-unfavorable-score-hits-new-high.aspx
"Palin's Favorable Slight" sounds alot better to me.
People with children take the bus to town and other place all the time. People bring car seats on planes all the time. It would not be that much more trouble for people to take the shuttle. As for the elderly or handicapped they go to town all the time on buses or some other means of mass transportation. There are shuttels that take fans to and from LP Field. Leaveing the car at home to go to work or for entertainment would be a better and more practical and efficient way of traveling.
However, I am sure that some people that will not want to take a shuttle from an out of the city parking place. Maybe it is too much trouble for them or maybe that are afraid that they will have to seat next to a person of color.
Good morning, Nashville!
This comment-turned-LTE from CrimesDown is not without merit. It is fairly articulate and it is charmingly self-deprecating. That is refreshing and quite rare online these days.
His proposal is not absurd, there is at least one successful example of that approach....that's in Ithaca, New York. Ithaca is home to Cornell University and Ithaca College; it's a good-sized city and it's located on the Southern tip of Cayuga Lake, the largest of the Finger Lakes..
Back in the 60's, when I was a student there, the City Fathers decided to deal with the traffic mess by demarcating a downtown commons area, the no-vehicles zone encompassed several city blocks. No motor vehicles are allowed inside the commons area. Several parking garages are now located on the perimeters of the commons.
The idea took hold and it's still going strong. Here is a link to a page that discusses the Ithaca Commons:
http://www.ci.ithaca.ny.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={97F90326-A409-4C4D-849D-BC9FAC57A480}
Here is another:
http://www.ci.ithaca.ny.us/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={97F90326-A409-4C4D-849D-BC9FAC57A480}&DE={F97220B0-2A07-4BF2-ABDF-863C9BB30907}
It's something to consider. If this works in Upstate NY, it can work in tropical Nashville.
Good idea, CrimesDown.
You'll only have to smell the air coming in from surrounding areas. I would recommend putting the police on roller skates. Hey, them racer skates are faster than hell, except for them fat cops. They could always walk to the crime being committed, though.
And I think the criminals should ride on skateboards. It would be hard for the cops to stop them on those boards.
Nice pics Loner.
Maybe it is too much trouble for them or maybe that are afraid that they will have to seat next to a person of color.
OF course, Capt. aka LT NEMO has to play the race card. HE must be remenising his feelings in the 50's 60's and 70's. Get with it, LT, race is no longer the issue. It's oxygen we're talking about not. Oxygen and $$$$.
Loner-
Change comes hard for conservatives especially the fringe right. It just amazes me that what the fringe considers to be a stable, was at one time introduced by a liberal.
It must be a fact sid, you reacted.
What color are you referring to, Captain Nemo?
Do you mean a black person would not want to sit next to a white person, or Indian, or Asian person, or hell, maybe even next to another black person?
I would prefer not to sit next to an idiot.
Now old yogi chimes in. Could he be one too?
Yeah, I'm one of them, but which one?
Maybe all of them.
In referring to the last word of my 9:01 post, what are "all of them"? I surely don't want to sit next to y'all.
For me, any type of public transportation simply isn't an option.
I’m sure you would not, yogi. That is why your sit in Gordonsville and never come to Nashville. You sure don’t want to sit next to anyone of intelligent, no matter what color.
I know the area you live in, but if the Bellevue Mall was a parking lot and you did not have to drive to Vandy. It might be better for you. Maybe?
Got to go now.
So, old yogi thinks that anyone riding a bus is an idiot.
Nashville's public transportation worked for me in 2004...I left the car at the B&B and rode the bus. They run on time, are clean and you get to meet real Nashville people, not somebody working the tourist trade. Riding the bus very affordable. I saved enough on gas, time, frustration and parking fees to buy a few drinks at Tootsies. I let the pros drive me around, whenever I have that option.
''Get on the bus Gus''
-Paul Simon without Garfunkel
"Baby you can drive my car, yes I want to be a star".
Lennon/ McCartney
"Bus stop, Bus goes. She stays. Love grows.....under my bumpershoot"...or something like that...the Hollies, I think.
"But you'll look sweet, upon the seat of a bicycle built for two." ...Harry Dacre, 1892.
It's true, there's more eye-candy on the bike-paths, than on the roadways, or the sidewalks. Any "Amens" on that?
Captain Nemo,
According to your 9:28 post, were you referring to anyone of intelligent, or intelligence? i.e., With my overwhelming intelligence, I am intelligent.
As for not wanting to come to Nashville, you're right, I don't want to be around 'certain' people over there.
Just think, if I found out I was on a bus sitting next to you it might pee in my pants and embarrass me so much I might...; you know what I mean.
Nemo, there's a 'park & ride' 1 mile from my house, but the bus doesn't exactly run on my schedule. Also, I'd have to change buses a couple of times. I checked into it, but it was going to add a lot of extra time to my commute.
house_of_pain said
"Nemo, there's a 'park & ride' 1 mile from my house, but the bus doesn't exactly run on my schedule. Also, I'd have to change buses a couple of times. I checked into it, but it was going to add a lot of extra time to my commute."
That's the catch. People who constantly argue against public transportation always point to the "system" that we have and say, "Why should we invest more in public transportation when hardly anyone uses what we have". Well duh.... why would anyone choose to use our system of public transportation when it ends up adding two or more hours to your commute each and every day? The trick is to make public transportation a viable choice rather than a choice of necessity or principle. After all, a choice between a series of bad choices is still, at the end of the day, a bad choice.... whether it be driving to work and wasting energy or sitting on a bus wasting time. And as someone who has lived near or visited cities with great mass transit systems... I'd take public transportation any day of the week if it was (like I said) a viable choice.
In light of the recent topic of removing the "n word" from Huckleberry Finn (give me a break).....
"But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn't anger me." - Mark Twain
brrrrk, do you agree that ''honky'' should be removed from ''tonk?''
And as for CrimesDown's suggestion, all you have to do is look at the success that other cities are having with closing down portions of their downtowns for pedestrian traffic only. All the ones that I know of have seen increases in both downtown business and use.... in addition to providing retail space necessary for revitalizing downtown housing. Portland Or. is even going so far as to implement city planning that would guarantee that all types of businesses would be within a 30 minute walk from all downtown housing areas. But hey, that would require looking ahead... and from what I can tell Tennessee is more interested in looking backwards.
slacker said
"brrrrk, do you agree that ''honky'' should be removed from ''tonk?''"
Nah, I'm fine with honky-tonk too.
Besiders, leaving the "n word" out of Huckleberry Finn would be like leaving the one ring out of the Lord of the Rings.... what's the point then? The biggest theme in Huckleberry Finn is that of the relationship between Jim and Huck, and more importantly Hucks growth as an individual and his realizing the Jim is much more than just a piece of property. Taking the "n word" out of the book would significantly minimize that theme.
Ban this... control that... monitor this... restrict that... ...bunch of effin' Nazis.
Like one of the great movies, "Song of the South", banned because of the NAACP. Yet some say it wasn't banned, just with held, which to me is the same. Uncle Remus was great in the movie, along with the entire cast.
slacker - Nothing can replace honky-tonk! lol
How many ''Pollocks'' does it take to screw-up a great book?
A n-word walks into a h-tonk...
re: Honky-Tonk: You cannot use that phrase in The Tennessean OR USA Today.
When I was complaining about Nashville legally allowing guns in bars, I obviously referred to the downtown bars as, "Honky-Tonks".
Both papers wouldn't allow the phrase.
But, thankfully, when I blog The Detroit News I can say "as*holes" and The San Diego Union, I can say illegal "wetbacks".
You just have to shop around.
dargent7 said
"re: Honky-Tonk: You cannot use that phrase in The Tennessean OR USA Today.
When I was complaining about Nashville legally allowing guns in bars, I obviously referred to the downtown bars as, "Honky-Tonks".
Both papers wouldn't allow the phrase."
Puhhhleeese.....
The Washingtpn Post will not allow the word "A-hole"; I know because I tried to use that term to describe Jonathan Pollard in a recent comment.
Things are getting out of hand, Suzuki used to offer a line of cruiser bikes called the Savage, the Intruder and the Marauder. Must be those groups were offended, that same line of cruisers are now known as the Boulevard Series.
My bike is a '96 Savage; that same model of bike today is called the Boulevard S-40........talk about politically correct....sheeeesh!
S-40? Sounds like a French gay scooter, not a motorcycle, IMO.