The Oil Drum: Local

My question to you is: Does he have it right? Is this the correct political frame? Is it a winning political frame?

[Hat tip: NY Times Political Blog: "Obama's Big Oil Ad Draws Fire"...go there and fly the TOD flag if you are so inclined.]

Scranton Rail Station

New York City boasts one of the nation's best, if not the best and most extensive regional rail systems connecting Manhattan to major hubs in Long Island, Westchester, Fairfield County Connecticut through the Metropolitan Transit Authority and almost all of the major cities and towns in New Jersey through NJ Transit and the PATH trains. From there, rail connections can be made to Amtrak connecting to the rest of the Northeast Corridor and beyond. However, there are many small cities and towns that used to be connected to the national and regional rail network that served as regional hubs for transportation that were cut-off as automobiles became the dominant form of intercity travel. Their populations drifted to the hinterland and municipalites lost their core.

But now, with the green light for the new Trans Hudson Tunnel and as gas prices have increased, small towns & cities across the region are attempting to reconsolidate their former importance as regional centers of commerce and population, restoring regional rail. Starting with Scranton

Last weekend I went to visit my girlfriend's family near Allentown PA in Bethlehem. As we drove through the area, she explained how there had been a shift which is still in progress from prime farmland to development land for strip malls, residential housing, even trucking depots and warehouses, etc. Instead of being something forced on the local area, I started to think that probably all of this was just a product of people's collective desires in the local area.

Then on the last morning, I caught this letter to the editor in "The Morning Call" the local newspaper which sort of cheered me up a little because it seems to present the end of the exurban experience of development, traffic congestion, segregated zoning, etc could come full circle to a type of new urbanism if people start taking an active voice in the development of their communities.

I have lived in Bethlehem Township for almost a decade. The development that my family moved to, King's Crossing, used to be virtually in the middle of nowhere. Today, Bethlehem Township is very different. Route 33 was built, now serving as a vein to Route 78.

This has spiked the value of our homes and created much more convenient routes for traveling. However, with the new access and the expanded Freemansburg Avenue came a flashy new strip mall.

Today I attended a historic moment in US transportation history. In attendance were all the local transportation authorities at the federal, state and local level in the region around Philadelphia. The final segment of the I-95/PA Turnpike Interchange was approved by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), thus completing the Federal Interstate Highway System as it was designed in the 1950s. In one of those great ironic twists of fate, I was invited there to present the concept of peak oil on behalf of The Oil Drum community and to urge them to address their oil addiction by reducing automobile dependency. Typical Top-Down Planning - Just as one project is finally completed, it no longer fits the community's needs!