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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:blue'>This is an excellent post from Evan Stair, of the Northern Flyer
Alliance. I asked his permission, which he graciously granted, to share his wisdom
about this very important issue which has increasingly urgent ramifications for
all of us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:blue'>Shauna, OKC<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Part of the
Northern Flyer Alliance vision is to make what is stated in the article below
more accessible to citizens in our region. Amtrak is not the entire solution.
Amtrak is fundamentally an intercity passenger rail carrier (I prefer the term
interstate). In regions such as the Northeast or California, as mentioned in
this article, the "suburbs" represent the small towns of our region.
The difference here being that our suburbs are much more distant from the inner
city core. I speak of communities such as Perry, Arkansas City, or even
Gainesville that could be cut off from the nation without some form of energy
efficient mass transportation. Innovative ways to keep rural and small town
America alive will require vision and unity of ideas. Our nation can no longer
afford to perpetuate polarized political ideologies. These policies have played
a role in creating the mess in which we find ourselves. They mean about as much
today as allegiance to a professional sports team or American Idol contestant.<br>
<br>
As the article mentions, if the price of gasoline stays high and continues to
rise, our living-landscape will begin to resemble that of Europe. I do not
personally believe that the entire solution to our worsening transportation
crisis will be an exclusive solution. New fuel sources to power energy
intensive modes of personal transportation will play a role, as will increased
reliance on mass transportation. The myth of exclusive sustainable personal
transportation is hard to break, but it must be broken if we are to compete on
a world economic stage. Personal transportation is not inherently evil.
However, as with all healthy pursuits, selection of personal transportation
should require moderation. Unfortunately, we have left ourselves without
alternatives, especially in this portion of the country. It is our duty now to
elect representation that will provide the optional selection.<br>
<br>
We cannot drill our way out of this problem. We cannot pave our way to
prosperity. We cannot solve problems by just talking about a new Manhattan
Project initiative directed at energy and transportation. We have to act.</span><br>
<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><br>
In fact, personal transportation, our highways, and our aviation industry will
still play a vital role in our great society. The difference will be in placing
more thought into transportation choice; and in a broader sense, infrastructure
investment and policy by visionary, not our present reactionary, transportation
agencies. That my friends is the new definition of transportation freedom.<br>
<br>
Finally, there is no greater threat to our society today than our
transportation crisis. Transportation touches every aspect of our existence
from where we work to the schools and churches we attend to the clothes we wear
to the food we eat. The quality, price, and availability of these products and
services depend upon a fluid transportation network. <br>
<br>
Evan Stair<br>
Executive Director<br>
PassengerRailOK.org<br>
Oklahoma Director<br>
Northern Flyer Alliance<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
******Suburbs look more distant all the time********<br>
<br>
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/business/244777.php<br>
<br>
In his hunt for a new home, Demetrius Stroud crunched the numbers to find out
that, with gas prices climbing, moving near an Amtrak station is the best thing
for his wallet.</span>Stroud was looking in Elk Grove., Calif. — about 85 miles
away from his job in the San Francisco Bay Area — because homes there are more
affordable.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span>But with gas
at $4.50 and a car that gets about 22 miles per gallon, Stroud would be pumping
$560 a month into his tank.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span>So
instead he made an offer on a home near the train station in Davis, which will
shave $160 off his commuting costs.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
</span>"I wouldn't even be able to consider doing it without that Amtrak
possibility," said Stroud, 45, who also telecommutes one day a week to his
job in software quality assurance.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
<br>
<br>
</span>Stroud's choice represents a fundamental shift in the way more Americans
are approaching home buying in this era of ballooning gas prices. <o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Real estate agents,
transportation officials and industry surveys indicate that home buyers are
placing more importance on cutting gas bills and commute times than they have
since the oil shocks of the 1970s.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
</span>And there are some early indications that homes near urban centers, and
subway, train and bus stops are often selling faster and at better prices than
those in the distant suburbs.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <br>
<br>
</span>On Wednesday, a survey of 900 Coldwell Banker agents showed a remarkable
96 percent said rising gas prices were a concern to their clients, and 78
percent said higher fuel costs are increasing their desire for city living.<span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span>Don Denton, manager of
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in the Capitol Hill area of Washington,
D.C., said prices are holding in the area and the neighborhood appears to be
expanding.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span>"We have
seen a steady increase in interest in our area over the last several years, and
it is comparable to how the reaction to the 1970s gas crisis sparked an interest…
inside the entire Beltway," he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>A grueling commute by car into
the city is the main reason Mark Bulkeley wants to move closer to his job in
Tysons Corner, Va., near downtown D.C.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>
</span>He is selling his home in Haymarket, Va., which is 30 miles from work,
and has signed a contract on a home in Great Falls, Va., that's just six miles
from the office.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span>Bulkeley,
36, a wholesale electricity trader, already has a hybrid Honda Civic, but he
still calculates a savings of about $100 a month on gas once he moves closer to
the city.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span>"When we
decided that we were going to make a move, we basically put a dot in the middle
of the map where my office is and said, 'We are not going to live farther than
essentially a 20-minute circle around that,' " Bulkeley said.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Gas prices, which have shot up
$1.07 this year, are magnifying demographic trends that show more younger
buyers and empty-nest seniors are moving back to urban centers.<span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span>If gas prices continue their
ascent, this could have profound consequences over time on the future
development of American cities and suburbs and modes of transportation.<span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span>Homes in areas that require
long commutes and don't provide enough public transportation alternatives are
falling in value more quickly than more central locations, a May study by CEOs
for Cities, a network of U.S. urban leaders, found.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>In Florida, real estate professor Bill Weaver sees this as
possibly the beginnings a shift to a more European approach to finding homes. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>For the past three decades, travel has been relatively cheap
in the U.S., so more Americans sought homes in the suburbs or in the country
because they wanted the space and quiet and didn't mind — or care about — the
cost of commuting, Weaver said.<span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> </span>That
approach led to sprawl in and around cities from Los Angeles to Orlando, Fla.,
in contrast to the smaller and more densely populated cities in Europe. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>"Transportation costs in Europe have been so high for
so long that they already take transportation into account when they buy a
home," he said. <o:p></o:p></p>
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