Too many cars!

So here are some honest thoughts for the day.  You all know how much I like automobiles and their history.  And I do like to take a balanced approach to the topic.

Lately I have been going to my local library, the Washington Township-Centerville facility that is located on Far Hills.  I have a great desk and wonderful wide open glass window that overlooks the street, and provides me with a distraction when I tire of grading papers, or working on my computer. The last few days I have been watching the phenomenal amount of traffic that goes by no matter what time of day!  30 years ago this was a much more quiet spot -- now it is a beehive, with swarms of cars going in both directions almost constantly.  Too many damn cars, too many damn people.

Years ago I used Jane Holtz Kay's Asphalt Nation in one of my classes and in part agreed with a number of her conclusions. The congestion is killing our city and there seems to be no way out of it. We have thousands of abandoned home in the city of Dayton but we keep building further and further out.  And look at the Dille property on Whip/Feedwire and Wilmington!  All for a Costco and Bagger Dave's. Green space is now gone forever.  An abandoned Cub Foods is only a mile or so away.

Some day soon the economic bubble will bust and businesses will close. Traffic will slow down for a time.  But our trees and open spaces cannot be easily restored.

Economics and materialism, Blah!