Sometimes, the Devil you know isn't better

Ad from 1940.

I used to say in college that activists could spend all their time writing letters to the editor in response to various articles in the Michigan Daily. I feel similarly, often, reading letters to the editor of the various newspapers.

E.g., there have been two letters to the editor of the Examiner about how DC needs bike regulations. Guess what, DC has bike regulations. Just because the first letter writer asked a question of a police officer who didn't know the correct information doesn't mean DC doesn't have bike regulations.

The answer to the question is: in DC bicyclists cannot ride on the sidewalks in the Central Business District, but they can ride on the sidewalks elsewhere in the city. I don't have the exact geography of the CBD handy, but if you really want to know, call the DC Attorney General's Office. They have people assigned to answer citizen queries Monday through Friday. People at WABA are likely to know as well. Or Washcycle.

So the second letter to the editor by P. L. Diggs of St. Charles ends up being just as uninformed as the first. (See "D.C. should adopt cycling laws" in response to “Cyclists can often threaten the safety of pedestrians,” From Readers, Aug. 24") You know the line about "not assuming..."

If I were to write about "St. Charles" (not sure if this is Maryland or Virginia, it could be either and I don't care enough to look up P.L. Diggs) I'd damn well make sure I knew what I was writing about first... One thing I am a big proponent of is asking the right people the right question, and not asking people questions they aren't likely to be able to answer correctly...

Or, try reading some of the letters to the editor in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, if you really want to experience a "wider spectrum" of opinion than you might normally encounter. (Sort of like the Ann Arbor News, which had letters from professors, as well as people in the rural parts of Washtenaw County...)

Anyway, this letter, "Find the Fix in Rapid Mass Transit," appears in the Detroit Free Press. It's almost impossible to take seriously, given the dire straits that GM and Ford are in currently. And interestingly enough, the point about the automakers being in the "transportation business" was something that Ted Levitt wrote in The Marketing Imagination more than 20 years ago. Ironically, even back then, GM was in the transportation business -- they produced locomotive engines, buses, and heavy equipment (Terex) not to mention cars and trucks. (But that wasn't the problem--their problem is that the company was hermetic and not focused on the customer.)

Here's the letter from J. Martin Brennan Jr. of Rochester Hills:

Every major city in the United States has dependable mass transit, except Detroit. Without dependable mass transit, the central city has deteriorated and the suburbs have flourished. We now have economic and racial apartheid unlike anything else in this country. Metropolitan Detroit will not succeed in becoming an enlightened, diversified and economically vibrant city until it has created rapid mass transit. Southeast Michigan is nothing but a conglomeration of small towns that are isolated and interested in only protecting their parochial matters. I suggest that a limited liability company comprised of SEMCOG, the State of Michigan, and interested automakers, whether they be domestic or foreign, be created to explore and develop rapid mass transit.

It is time automakers realize that they are in the transportation business, not the automobile business.

Detroit's lack of mass transit is merely a symptom of deeper problems--the region is probably the ultimate example of sprawl, exurban development, and deconcentration, not to mention segregation in North America.

However, Mr. Brennan is right that Detroit may be able to redevelop some competitive advantages around transit. However, in its region, Detroit is no longer the #1 destination for commuters. More Detroit residents commute out of the city to work, than people commute into the city. Ford and Chrysler are in the suburbs, and GM's Technical Center is too. Plus, these businesses continue to shed workers.

If the U.S. auto industry were so great at management these days, probably the Detroit Lions would be a much better football team...

I do sometimes wonder if GE kept all their records and archives for trolley cars though...

Index Keywords: transit; bicycling; urban-revitalization