“With all economic factors indicating the US is headed for a long recession, some experts are suggesting that the government should stop dumping all of our money into an enormous hole … Driving truckloads of money out into the New Mexico desert and dumping it into a massive pit is one of America’s greatest traditions.”
This headline and quote are from yet another strangely compelling story from faux comedy news source The Onion. With a proposed $34 billion bailout for the auto-industry, $97.2 billion spent annually on roads, $200 billion (more this past year) annually to pay off our oil suppliers, and $60 billion for imported cars, our car-culture-driven automobile-dependent transportation system seems to fit the description of the money hole described above. One of America’s greatest traditions, indeed. The car money hole even sucks down local funds intended for public transit (p. 4)
Despite the cost, cars can provide a degree of utility. But car culture is so pervasive that we act on it without even realizing. Someone asks for directions to your place, and you will assume they want driving directions. Looking for a metaphor? You might describe a piece of high-performance sporting equipment as a sports car, or talk about merging onto the information superhighway in a jalopy when discussing your slow computer. Using a public space for something other than parking (see cover) can get you some weird looks as well.
Yes, car culture prevails even at the expense of our children’s safety (see below). In this issue, we ply the heart of California car culture, venturing into the Caltrans office in Eureka for an interview with District 1 Director Charlie Fielder (p. 8), a surprising place to find cultural shifts in a new direction.
We also explore some quintessentially American transportation subcultures, like the cultural divide in the skateboarding world (p. 10), and the ultimate showdown of cycling’s polar opposites in “Fred vs. Tarck” (p. 10).
The beauty of American culture is its diversity and malleability. We can change if we want to. We don’t have to keep throwing our money in the hole.
Sincerely,
Chris Rall, Green Wheels Executive Director
