Suburban Swing
From CNN today: Suburb’s Pain Could Swing Election
Suburban Pain
I couldn’t agree more. This is the most critical issue that nobody is talking about.
Highlights from the article:
The plunge in the housing and financial markets, and the spiking of energy prices, have assured that the economy will be the top issue among rich and poor alike.
And the pain is real. The Hofstra National Suburban Poll indicates that almost half of all suburbanites have lost a job or know someone who has. In an especially stunning number, more than a third reported “living paycheck to paycheck.”
No place is more dependent on the car than suburbia. And high energy prices have changed driving habits. About six in 10 suburban residents report cutting back significantly on how much they drive and on household spending to compensate for higher gas costs.
It’s critical that we start hearing from the candidates solutions to the everyday morass of life in the suburbs. Traffic, congestions, huge driving distances… all these problems are related to the way the federal government and the state and local governments in turn allocate their infrastructure dollars. Transportation funding, in particular, is critical.
Until the government starts working to BUILD CITIES, TOWNS, AND NEIGHBORHOODS, again (an American tradition that died in the 1930′s), we’re going to be stuck in this mess.
This should be especially critical to McCain, who needs to win back the suburban voters if he wants to have any chance of winning. That’s been on the newswire as well. Clearly, he is the candidate who needs to differentiate himself, and explain how he’s going to do something dramatic and different as President. As it seems for the moment, sheer momentum against Bush will be enough to win for Obama if McCain can’t step up now.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: congestion, economy, election, infrastructure, McCain, Obama, politics, suburbia, traffic, transportation, USA
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I would add a little to your sentence about building cities and make it “build cities, towns, and neighborhoods.”
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Right on, David. Added.
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Funny that David and I were drawn to the same quote…
“Until the government starts working to BUILD CITIES, TOWNS, AND NEIGHBORHOODS, again (an American tradition that died in the 1930’s), we’re going to be stuck in this mess.”
Sometime I’d like to read your more complete thoughts on this.
I’ve never thought about it the way you put it. And although we’re not building towns, neighborhoods etc the way we think of them circa 1950′sish(a ways back
) , maybe we still sort of do, the form has just changed. We build neighborhoods, it’s just that commercial and retail are a little further away. It seems your idea of a town or neighborhood is an ideal, and maybe that’s the way it should be. But I would argue we do have them, not just the way you(we) want them. I do admit that there’s a lack of sense of community out in the suburbs. Although I’m 30 miles from downtown, when I think of community, I think of Houston as a whole.