[PLUG-TALK] Re: [PLUG] PLUG meeting

[Jeme A Brelin]

On Fri, 6 Dec 2002, Russ Johnson wrote:
> Jeme A Brelin wrote:
> >Why do you live so far from work?  Would you have moved out there or taken
> >the job (whichever came second) if you DIDN'T have the option of using a
> >single-user private automobile for the commute?
>
> My original reason for living on the west side was because the schools
> in Beaverton and Hillsboro had better reputations than the schools in
> Portland. My kids are still in school.

This is a whole different problem that suburbs and mobility cause (though
since they have the same cause they are the same problem).  Rather than
take the time and effort to improve your local schools, you moved to a
place where the schools were already acceptable to you.  This means that
those who cannot afford to move (and likely cannot afford to take the time
away from their hourly wages to get involved in the school system or
perhaps even a full understanding that something is wrong or how to fix
it) are stuck with inferior schools.

I personally believe that community means caring about the education your
neighbor's children receive as well as your own.

> It's less of a point, since my wife and I seperated about a year ago.
> At that time, I moved in close to where she was living, in hopes of
> reconciling. That didn't happen, and there's no hope now. I'm actually
> concidering moving into Portland proper, sometime this coming year.
> Depends on a number of factors.

Well, good luck on that.

> I got the job and then moved to Portland. In fact, I commuted from
> Eugene for 2 weeks before finding the townhouse we eventually moved
> into. Two hours in a car from Eugene, and then nearly an hour from the
> Tualatin P&R to downtown. 6 hours a day, commuting.

When a friend of mine was living in Eugene and working in Portland, he
took the train every day from Union Station.  I believe it came out to $10
each day (or perhaps each way) and he was able to work and read and eat
packed breakfasts and dinners on the train.  And he wasn't encouraging
sprawl by supporting parking structures and personal motor vehicles.  All
around, it seemed more sensible than driving.

> >>I don't think nearly a doubling of my travel time as "very little
> >>longer than driving".
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >That's a matter of perspective, really.  It's 21 minutes.  You can round
> >up by more than fifty percent and call it "double" and that sounds like
> >more than "very little", but you can also figure that it takes about 21
> >minutes to make and eat breakfast or peruse a couple sections of the daily
> >paper, it really is "very little" time.
>
> That explains why I go without breakfast so much... If I could drive
> to work, I'd have time to eat breakfast...

Doubling 32 is 64 not 53.  And when we're dealing with numbers this small,
that's a big difference.

Aren't you the one who just bitched at Karl for ignoring the fact that
you'd "disproved" his argument?  I just showed that not only is the time
NOT doubled, but hopefully showed that 21 minutes isn't very much time at
all when you consider the real costs and benefits.

J.
-- 
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     Jeme A Brelin
    jeme at brelin.net
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