The cost of the future

When gas topped $4 a gallon, I said that it was a good thing in that people were finally taking alternate transportation setiously.

OMG some people yelled, you hate the poor!!!

No one whp regularly reads my journal would even posit that. And here I sit at the Rapid Station with convincing proof of my poinf:

When gas was over $4/gallon, I had to park far back in the back lot for the stafion. Now? Parking place right up front.

In Cleveland and other cities, the solution to falling tax revenue is, among other things, cutting back on public transit. And why not? The powers that be don't ride the bus, and the upsurge in ridership disappeared once gas prices dropped.

I don't want it to be true of the American public that we only make individual sacrifices when our pocketbooks are jeopardized, but the fact is that we live in a culture that values personal convenience over societal good. Hell, I'm guilty of it myself: if I have an early morning court docket with tge judge I know to be lightning fast, I will often drive in and take advantage of the one hour of free parking available that is actually meant for lunchtime and so available early in the morning. It's a smaller time commitment, and I am back to work much faster.

If gas were at $4.60, I probably wouldn't do it.

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