Daniel Convissor's Website
Thoughts on Mr DuHaime's Comments
Dan's Thoughts on the Social Order:
Mr DuHaime feels environmentalists working to stop roadway capacity
enhancements are extremists. Is it an extremist position to want your
children to be able to walk to the library? Is hoping to see members of
your community as you walk to the movie theater something radical? Are
elderly people being too demanding by wanting to walk to the grocery store?
Is riding your bike on an arterial road an outrageous desire? Is it an
extremist position to want forested areas and farmlands to remain in tact? Do
only commie pinkos want to breathe clean air and drink clean water? I don't
think so. These values are eroded by the
continual stream of road expansion projects, whether the project is small
or large, adding more pavement or just Transportation Systems Management adjustments.
While Mr DuHaime accuses environmental transportation advocates of being
socialists working to change the social order, he is pushing his own social
order, in which our current environment and communities are further
degraded.
The social order created by continual roadway expansion isn't social at all.
The resulting society is a bunch of isolated people living in their homes and
driving in their cars, rarely interacting with other people. We are creatures
which require interpersonal contact to remain normal. In this autocentric
age, there is less and less socializing available. It's not that we need town
meetings, just communities where people can meet and chat.
The NJ Section of the 19 May 96 New York Times reports that Mr
DuHaime held a fundraiser with racist talk show host Bob Grant and that Mr
DuHaime is strongly supported by opponents of abortion. It seems Richard
DuHaime is really the one looking to change the social order of the United
States... back into the one we had during the dark ages of the '50's...
where racism was fine, women were submissive and the dream of unlimited
automobility wooed the nation.
(back to the interview)
(back to the letter to the editor)
Dan's Thoughts on the Jobs:
While Mr DuHaime says the transportation vision proposed by environmental
transportation activists will cut jobs, the fact of the matter is economic
competitiveness will be enhanced. Getting more people to walk, cycle and ride
transit reduces out of pocket expenses and governmental outlays. Reducing
automobile trips will make it easier for trucks to get around.
(back to the leter to the editor)
Dan's Thoughts on Balance:
Mr DuHaime claims to be seeking balance. It must be noted that for many years
the funds poured into motoring facilities were so massive and the spending on
other modes of transport was so small, it caused the scale to break. In order
to create balance, roadway improvements must come to a stop.
(back to the interview)
(back to the letter to the editor)
Dan's Thoughts on Helping Motorists:
Drivers have been getting major help for the last 40 years and they're still
stuck in traffic! More roadway capacity just isn't a solution.
Driving, for many, is the easy way to get somewhere because we've continually
improved the roadways. If this policy continues, there will be little, if any
incentive to try walking, bicycling and mass transit.
(back to the interview)
Dan's Thoughts on the Majority:
He says he is representing "the vast majority" by pushing for more roadway
improvements. The vehicle/person ratio in
his county is .55, so not everyone has a car. In addition, a public opinion poll shows 75% of Americans feel
there are too many people driving to work, while over 72% support increased
investment in and incentives for a wide range of public transit options.
(back to the interview)
Dan's Thoughts on Transit Expansion Resulting in Diminished Auto Use:
The idea that just increasing transit availablility will get enough people to
use it is just incorrect. A combined approach, entitled push/pull, in which transit is improved while
automobile access is reduced. If immediately reducing automobile capacity is
undesireable, it is possible just to freeze it so new demand will be more
likely to use transit in the long term.
(back to the leter to the editor)
This page is hosted by Daniel Convissor
Home Page: http://www.panix.com/~danielc/
Email: danielc@panix.com
This URL: http://www.panix.com/~danielc/nj/duh-fol.htm
Last updated: 4 April 1999