||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CREATING TRAFFIC SAFETY BY DOING AWAY WITH TRAFFIC LAWS
RADICAL TRUST - The Dutch have a word for "town free of traffic signs"
and it's "verkeersbordvrij. . . Removing regulations to increase safety
may seem counter-intuitive, but the method is showing that the less
restrictions placed on motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, the more
responsibility they take upon themselves to behave in a safe manor. And
it's working. A pilot project in Oudehaske (Friesland) which started
back in the 1980s has resulted in 8000 cars and 2400 cyclists still
sharing the road every day with average traffic speeds dropping by 50%.
The program started when Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman noted
that the town's increasing traffic density would soon become a threat to
the villagers' idea of small-town living. . . "The many rules strip us
of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate." says
Monderman. "We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior.
The greater the number of proscriptions, the more people's sense of
personal responsibility dwindles."
http://www.radicaltrust.ca/2007/07/08/traffic-safety-improved-by-eliminating-signs/
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE DOMING OF AMERICA
DAVE ZIRIN, SF CHRONICLE - "You can't throw money at the problem." As a
former public school teacher in Washington, I heard this cliche from
countless bureaucrats. It was code for "Stop whining about ancient
textbooks and prehistoric classroom materials, because there is no
money." Imagine my shock when the city announced it would be spending
more than $500 million on a new baseball stadium. Clearly when it comes
to the needs of billionaire sports owners, there always seems to be
money available to be thrown.
This is hardly a D.C. story. The building of stadiums has become the
substitute for anything resembling an urban policy in this country. The
stadiums are presented as a microwave-instant solution to the problems
of crumbling schools, urban decay and suburban flight.
Stadiums are sporting shrines to the dogma of trickle-down economics. In
the past 10 years, more than $16 billion of the public's money has been
spent for stadium construction and upkeep from coast to coast. Though
some cities are beginning to resist paying the full tab, any kind of
subsidy is a fool's investment, ending up being little more than
monuments to corporate greed: $500 million welfare hotels for America's
billionaires built with funds that could have been spent more wisely on
just about anything else.
The era of big government may be over, but it has been replaced by the
Rise of the Domes. Reports from both the right-wing Cato Institute and
the more centrist Brookings Institution dismiss stadium funding as an
utter financial flop, yet the domes keep coming.
Our stadiums, funded on our dime, become the political province of those
owners who paid nary a penny for the privilege. In many stadiums, they
have started "faith days at the park" where evangelical Christian
organizations set up booths and Christian rock gets blared over the
loudspeakers. No separation of church and state, even when the state is
footing the bill.
Then there is the force-feeding of political dogma. No freedom from
that, either. On the orders of George Steinbrenner, the New York Yankees
now string up chains along the seats to keep people standing and secured
-- and not going to the concessions or bathroom -- for the
seventh-inning singing of "God Bless America."
As Neil DeMause, co-author of the book "Field of Schemes" said to me,
"The history of the stadium game is the story of how, by slowly refining
their blackmail skills, sports owners learned how to turn their industry
from one based on selling tickets to one based on extracting public
subsidies. It's been a bit like watching a 4-year-old learn how to
manipulate his parents into buying him the new toy that he saw on TV;
the question now is how long it takes our elected officials to learn to
say 'no.' ". . .
Polls show consistent majorities don't want public funds spent on
stadiums. That means the silent majority of sports fans oppose the
stadium glut as well. We sports fans need to make ourselves heard. We
may love baseball. We may love football. We may bleed our team's colors
on game day. But that doesn't mean we should have to pay a billionaire
millions of dollars for the privilege to watch.
[Dave Zirin is the author of the book, "Welcome to the Terrordome"]
ORDER 'WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME'
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1931859418/progressiverevieA/
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CREATING TRAFFIC SAFETY BY DOING AWAY WITH TRAFFIC LAWS
RADICAL TRUST - The Dutch have a word for "town free of traffic signs"
and it's "verkeersbordvrij. . . Removing regulations to increase safety
may seem counter-intuitive, but the method is showing that the less
restrictions placed on motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, the more
responsibility they take upon themselves to behave in a safe manor. And
it's working. A pilot project in Oudehaske (Friesland) which started
back in the 1980s has resulted in 8000 cars and 2400 cyclists still
sharing the road every day with average traffic speeds dropping by 50%.
The program started when Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman noted
that the town's increasing traffic density would soon become a threat to
the villagers' idea of small-town living. . . "The many rules strip us
of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate." says
Monderman. "We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior.
The greater the number of proscriptions, the more people's sense of
personal responsibility dwindles."
http://www.radicaltrust.ca/2007/07/08/traffic-safety-improved-by-eliminating-signs/
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE DOMING OF AMERICA
DAVE ZIRIN, SF CHRONICLE - "You can't throw money at the problem." As a
former public school teacher in Washington, I heard this cliche from
countless bureaucrats. It was code for "Stop whining about ancient
textbooks and prehistoric classroom materials, because there is no
money." Imagine my shock when the city announced it would be spending
more than $500 million on a new baseball stadium. Clearly when it comes
to the needs of billionaire sports owners, there always seems to be
money available to be thrown.
This is hardly a D.C. story. The building of stadiums has become the
substitute for anything resembling an urban policy in this country. The
stadiums are presented as a microwave-instant solution to the problems
of crumbling schools, urban decay and suburban flight.
Stadiums are sporting shrines to the dogma of trickle-down economics. In
the past 10 years, more than $16 billion of the public's money has been
spent for stadium construction and upkeep from coast to coast. Though
some cities are beginning to resist paying the full tab, any kind of
subsidy is a fool's investment, ending up being little more than
monuments to corporate greed: $500 million welfare hotels for America's
billionaires built with funds that could have been spent more wisely on
just about anything else.
The era of big government may be over, but it has been replaced by the
Rise of the Domes. Reports from both the right-wing Cato Institute and
the more centrist Brookings Institution dismiss stadium funding as an
utter financial flop, yet the domes keep coming.
Our stadiums, funded on our dime, become the political province of those
owners who paid nary a penny for the privilege. In many stadiums, they
have started "faith days at the park" where evangelical Christian
organizations set up booths and Christian rock gets blared over the
loudspeakers. No separation of church and state, even when the state is
footing the bill.
Then there is the force-feeding of political dogma. No freedom from
that, either. On the orders of George Steinbrenner, the New York Yankees
now string up chains along the seats to keep people standing and secured
-- and not going to the concessions or bathroom -- for the
seventh-inning singing of "God Bless America."
As Neil DeMause, co-author of the book "Field of Schemes" said to me,
"The history of the stadium game is the story of how, by slowly refining
their blackmail skills, sports owners learned how to turn their industry
from one based on selling tickets to one based on extracting public
subsidies. It's been a bit like watching a 4-year-old learn how to
manipulate his parents into buying him the new toy that he saw on TV;
the question now is how long it takes our elected officials to learn to
say 'no.' ". . .
Polls show consistent majorities don't want public funds spent on
stadiums. That means the silent majority of sports fans oppose the
stadium glut as well. We sports fans need to make ourselves heard. We
may love baseball. We may love football. We may bleed our team's colors
on game day. But that doesn't mean we should have to pay a billionaire
millions of dollars for the privilege to watch.
[Dave Zirin is the author of the book, "Welcome to the Terrordome"]
ORDER 'WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME'
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1931859418/progressiverevieA/
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment