Re: Who Killed the Trolley?
Author: Seafarers Intl. Union
Date: 12-02-2021 - 11:47
v Wrote:
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> Charlie Smallwood told me that in 1962 GM had
> hired a lobbyist to defeat the BART measure but
> the lobbyist did not spend much money on the anti
> campaign figuring it would easily go down to
> defeat.
That's really interesting. So GM was really doing some dirty deeds to kill rail transit.
>
> In the end the Manhattanization drive proved more
> powerful than the internal combustion mobility
> drive.
>
> Nowadays I am not so sure; electric cars may bring
> back another massive freeway and highway
> expansion. Societal decline and mean streets plus
> communications tech innovation that makes
> telecommuting attractive could really hurt the
> skyrise mania.
>
> They could convert the TransAmerica Shaft to
> condos and relocate Willie Brown there.
My hope is with self driving tech and coordination between smart cars that traffic flow improves. God, I hope there is no more freeway expansion.
Funny that the Biden administration does not acknowledge Elon Musk's Tesla, but does acknowledge GM. Must be GM's lobbying muscle once again!