Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Secretary of Behavior Modification

[Charles Perry (charles]

I'm sure it's no coincidence, then, that Portland recently ranked #1 on
a list of America's Unhappiest Cities:

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=18184152&gt1=3500
0#2

Ranked #1 for depression in the country
Ranked #12 for suicide in the country
Ranked #24 for property and violent crime
Ranked #4 for divorce 

And has 222 cloudy days per year.
And now has horrible and increasingly bad traffic.

-- charles

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Larry B [mailto:larrybard [at] hotmail.com] 
Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 4:10 PM
To: Charles Perry
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: [Ferrari] Secretary of Behavior Modification


Interesting piece by Randal O'Toole
George Will recently accused Obama's token Republican, Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood, of being the "Secretary for Behavior Modification"
because of his support for programs designed to coerce people into
driving less. Speaking before the National Press Club on May 21, LaHood
pleaded guilty as charged.
 

In the video of LaHood's presentation, he was asked if the
administration's "livability initiative" is really "an effort to make
driving more tortuous and to coerce people out of their cars." His
answer: "It is a way to coerce people out of their cars, yeah."

The next question was, "Some conservative groups are wary of the livable
communities program, saying it's an example of government intrusion into
people's lives. How do you respond?" His complete answer: "About
everything we do around here is government intrusion in people's lives."

 



While these are certainly quotable, defenders of "livability" (code for
"transportation by any mode but automobile") would be quick to point out
that all of LaHood's examples are aimed at giving people choices other
than driving: walkways, bike paths, streetcars, light rail. LaHood never
mentions any actual techniques aimed at coercing people out of their
cars.

 

Yet those coercive techniques are a major part of the livability
campaign, as shown by Portland, Oregon, which LaHood touted as "the
example" of a livability program. The most important of these techniques
is to divert highway user fees to expensive forms of transportation that
receive little use. Portland is deliberately allowing congestion to grow
while it spends money collected from highway users on streetcars and
light rail.

 

Not that Portland's program is very successful. Despite spending more
than $2 billion on rail transit since 1980, transit's share of
Portland-area commuting declined from 9.8 percent in 1980 to 6.9 percent
in 2007. (The table says 6.5 percent but that includes the people who
worked at home.)

 

Much of the money that Portland does spend on roads goes into "traffic
calming," a euphemism for "congestion building." This consists of
putting barriers in roads, speed humps, narrowing streets, and turning
auto lanes into exclusive bike lanes. Portland's official objective (see
table 1.2) is to allow rush-hour traffic to grow to near-gridlock levels
("level of service F") on most major freeways and arterials.

 

"People don't like spending an hour and a half getting to work," said
LaHood. But if more congestion is a key part of "livability," then a lot
more people are going to be doing that under the administration's plans.

Beyond not seeing anything wrong with government coercion, LaHood can't
see the difference between transportation systems that pay for
themselves (such as the interstate highways) and transportation systems
that require huge subsidies (such as streetcars and light rail). "If
somebody wants to ride streetcars or light rail to work," says LaHood,
then it is up to the government to provide it for them.

 

What if someone wants to take a helicopter to work? Or a dirigible or
rocketship or a personal limousine? Does LaHood really believe that,
just because someone wants something, all other taxpayers should fund
it?

 

When in Congress, LaHood was known as a "moderate Republican." I guess
that is a euphemism for "central planner in waiting."
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