The Automobile's Ownership of the American Soul

Do we really enjoy driving?  Owning a car?  Paying insurance, title, registration, maintenance, fuel?

Living in Charlotte for ten months now I am reminded daily why driving should never be the first choice of transportation.  When I lived in Gastonia from 2000-2004, I was used to driving everywhere.  Growing up in rural Illinois, you simply had no other choice.  I was horrible at figuring out how to adjust my direction of travel if it was shifted from my original A to B route.  Home to work, school, store, theater, whatever it was I could handle.  Call me on the phone and ask me to go to some other location and I had to think about it.  I would even manage to take a longer route simply because I was familiar with it.

Then I moved to Chicago and it all changed.  Cycling, public transportation, and walking all required adaptability in your daily routine.  I quickly figured out how to adjust my route to save time and energy.  It's not that Chicago itself changed my thought of transportation, but the fact that it's history of alternative means were so ingrained.  Cyclists within the city boundaries were typically understood and respected.  Talk to people who live away from the core area of the city and you will probably hear differently. 

The first year back in Illinois, I was living in the suburbs which continued my need for driving.  January 2006, I moved into the city and opportunities to access other means of transportation were at my fingertips.  In June 2007 I began riding my bike as my core transportation.  Riding to work and school combined for a round trip of nine miles.  I drive, ONE WAY, to class and work ten miles in Charlotte.

I had not realized just how much I appreciated public transportation and cycling until I moved.  I had a weird expectation that I could manage getting around Charlotte with my bike alone.  I can't explain how, regretfully, wrong I was in that belief.  Enter driving on a daily basis.  Now fuel cost is added into the mix, more maintenance, exposure to road hazards, and who knows what else may come up.  Why do we enjoy being owned by our vehicles?  We don't drive it, it drives us, we're just the tool it needs to tell it when to go, stop, turn, brake.

Let's take control and apply the brakes on the entire idea of vehicles as the sole form of transportation.  This does not mean vehicles will not be involved in transportation, just less, even more so the second or last desired option.  Riding the train was so much fun, listening to music, talking, people watching, reading, knowing a small bit of focus was needed to ensure I got off at the right stop.  If I didn't?  Just catch the next train heading back.  While driving?  Watch out for that pothole!  What is this idiot in front of me doing?  Do I have enough fuel to get to work?  Where did this traffic come from?

A large part of Charlotte's problem is the planning.  The only area that provides concentrated housing is Uptown.  Away from Uptown, you may have apartment complexes and other similar housing arrangements, many new structures surrounding the light rail line.  This is great, take it to the next step Charlotte, let's be serious about expanding the LYNX system.  A new mayor is now elected, will that solve the delay?  A system like a new and growing rail line requires support vocally and structurally.  The bus and rail system need to be as in sync as possible, this will expand the opportunities for a resident to take advantage of this resource.

A random individual was explaining a trip taken via CATS from their home to Southpark Mall.  It was the first time they had attempted it and were severely disappointed.  It took them over two hours via bus that otherwise would have been a twenty minute drive.  How is someone suppose to sacrifice two hours of their life just to make a trip to the mall?  That is not acceptable.  Her resolution for the ride home, "Hi Mom, can you come pick us up?"

We have discussed the goal once school is finished in the next couple years.  Accept the decision to move was a learning experience and return to Chicago.  I have enjoyed my time in Charlotte thus far, my desired lifestyle will prevail though...

You know you are from Chicago when....

http://dominantreality.blogspot.com/2008/03/chicago-slang.html

YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM CHICAGO IF..

• The "Living Room" is called the "front room" (pronounced fronchroom)
• You don't pronounce the "s" at the end of Illinois. You become irate at people who do
• You measure distance in minutes (especially "from the city"). And you swear everything is pretty much 15 minutes away
• You have no problem spelling or pronouncing "Des Plaines"
• Your school classes were canceled because of cold
• Your school classes were canceled because of heat
• You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day
• Stores don't have sacks, they have bags
• You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example:"Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to the mall I wanna go with."
• Your idea of a great tenderloin is when the meat is twice as big as the bun, "everything" is on it and a slice of dill pickle is on the side
• You carry jumper cables in your car
• You drink "pop."
• You understand that I-290, I-90, I-94, and I-294 are all different roads
• You know the names of the interstates: Stevenson, Kennedy, Eisenhower,Dan Ryan, and the Edens
• But you call the interstates "expressways"
• You refer to anything South of I-80 as "Southern Illinois"
• You refer to Lake Michigan as "The Lake"
• You refer to Chicago as "The City"
• "The Super Bowl" refers to one specific game in a series of 35 played in January of 1986
• No matter where you are, when you hear the term "Downtown" you immediately assume they're talking about Downtown Chicago
• You read the "The Trib"
• You think 35 degrees is great weather to wash your car!
• You know what goes on a Chicago Style Hot Dog
• You know what Chicago Style Pizza REALLY is
• You know why they call Chicago "The Windy City"
• You understand what "lake-effect" means
• You know the difference between Amtrak and Metra, and know which station they end up at. You have ridden the "L"
• You can distinguish between the following area codes: 847,630,773,708, 312, & 815
• You have at some time in your life, used your furniture to guard your parking spot in winter. (CHICAGO CLASSIC!!)
• You respond to the question "Where are you from" with a side" example:"WEST SIDE", "SOUTH SIDE" or "NORTH SIDE."
• You know what the phone number is to Empire Carpet!

Reading stuff like this has to make me laugh... and realize how true of a Chicagoan I am.