The Best Of Both Worlds

Yesterday, I put up a post defending spending on transit as a warning to my Utah neighbors not to develop "ridership" myopia when it comes to deciding whether or not to continue spending on FrontRunner. Today I would like to direct the discussion back toward my former Minneapolis neighbors and discuss why their "transit only" myopia of today is not good thinking. The lesson comes courtesy of Mr. Lane Beattie who is the President and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber (HT Utah Policy Daily).

You may have seen the TV commercial in which a motor oil company searches for the worst commute in America. It won’t surprise AJC readers that one of the featured commuters is trying to drive to Atlanta.

Had we not taken action a few years ago, it would have been equally appropriate to feature Salt Lake City.

By their nature, transportation and transit issues cannot be solved by an individual city or county government. The problems are too large and the scope of influence too wide. The cooperation of city, county and even state government is essential to creating a solution.

Emphasis mine. This is a lesson that my friends on the right AND the left must learn. The state Legislature can not dictate and the county can not say "keep your hands off". They need to be able to work on the solution that fits their regional needs best. If that best is commuter rail, then St. Paul you need to allow the discussion into commuter rail!

In Utah, a big part of our success stems from our ability to present a holistic solution including both roads and transit. Any time we found ourselves getting too far in one camp or the other, the going got rough. The best policy is to acknowledge and advocate the need for both modes.

Diversity of transit options was pretty much the gist of my post yesterday. Offering a diverse choice of transit options WORKS! See Europe, New York City, Chicago, Boston and a whole host of other cities.

I call a “roads-only” focus a “rear-view mirror mentality”; it misses the trends happening right before our eyes. The flip side is a “transit-only” focus, which I consider a “pie-in-the-sky mentality.” Get over it: Most people will never let go of the freedom, comfort and convenience of the automobile.

Focusing on one or the other is like asking which is more important, the gas pedal or the brake. You’ve got to have both.

This point can not be stressed enough! YOU HAVE TO HAVE BOTH!

Over the next 21 years the population of Utah is expected to increase by 56 percent, according to the Census Bureau. There is no time to relax or declare our problem solved. We’ve gotten ahead of the curve and must work to stay ahead.

This is where the Met Council really put the Minneapolis Metro area in the bind it is in today. Rather than focus on tranist issues when the metro was growing, it focused on maximizing green space, which while important was the sole myopic view of the Met Council to the exclusion of everything else and that IS bad.

Because we faced our transportation challenges head on, worked together and kept the big picture in mind, we avoided the oncoming catastrophe of crippling gridlock at the Crossroads of the West.

Alleviating traffic issues has increased efficiency for businesses, keeping many from downsizing during difficult times. Funding road and rail projects puts thousands of Utahans to work and stimulates our economy. It’s one reason Utah has fared far better than the rest of the nation during the current economic downturn.

And this (along with a well run state that does not tax it's businesses out of existence) is why Utah was one of the last states to enter the recession and it will be one of the first out! The "Happy to Pay For A Better Minnesota" can mewl all they want about the "quality of life" in Minnesota, but when people can not afford to live there because all the jobs are gone, you have no quality of life! Balance is the key and while not perfectly there, Utah has certainly tried to come close. It is a lesson that Minnesota lawmakers need to learn real fast if they want to turn the economy around and have a real "quality of life".