Two Choices?
To read the Observer you would think we only have two choices. Of course the fact the Observer is the cheerleader in Social Engineering should not be overlooked.
In Sunday’s paper they tell us to shape up and support MASS transit or we will most likely lose all our major corporations which will move to cities where their employees don’t have to use cars.
What a bunch of self serving and one sided reporting this paper does everyday shines in this report.
Hey did you catch the two scenarios they printed? It seems we only have two choices and these two choices only, my comments are in the ( ) from the Observer story on transit.
· Scenario 1: Driving (Note it is always snowing or raining and a wreck always shuts down the major roads.)
You wake at home on a cul-de-sac carved from an old farm. (An old farm that had bunnies and deer and you killed them with that big old box of yours, plus you destroyed farm land that grew food for the city dwellers) Maybe you’re in Stanly County, or Union or Rowan or York. (This shows how stupid and selfish you are as you don’t even bother to pay Charlotte/Mecklenburg Taxes) At 6:30 a.m. you head out the driveway and brace for a two-hour commute to Charlotte along perennially clogged Albemarle Road – or the new Monroe Bypass, or Interstate 85 or I-77. The state can’t build bypasses or widen roads fast enough to keep up with traffic from ever more subdivisions. (And the Observer has been at the front of making sure they did not even try to start any more roads) Unlike many cities, there’s still no mass transit alternative. (I guess in this future all buses have been destroyed leaving people with no mass transit alternatives) Traffic crawls. (You and your silly little family are killing downtown. The businesses could spread their offices but consolidation saves them money even if it costs you your lifestyle)
You stare out at empty big box stores only 10 years old, surrounded by huge, empty parking lots. (Funny how the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System could not buy these and turn them into schools but they had to have wonderful schools, plus where are what happened to all those people who lived between you job and your house?) Your mind wanders to the weekend and Lake Norman. You grimace, recalling the traffic you’d fight. Family time? You spend four hours a day driving. (Actually they are saying you spend three plus hours setting) A growing chunk of your income goes to $10-a-gallon gas. (Of course you are driving a car that is electric because the market has stepped up and took care of the problem of lack of gas) Maybe, you muse, you should have taken that job out west in Denver – anyplace where life is more manageable – and pleasant. (Wow why would they do a whole story on Denver and then use them as a place which is a haven from our problems. However Denver’s transit is about 18 million in the hole and is looking at tax increases to cover the losses from the lack of sales tax revenue, hey that sounds just like our problem. And as far as them saying anywhere else maybe they are talking about getting away from anywhere where the Charlotte Observer is distributed. Let’s imagine that for awhile…..ahhhhhhh oh yes!)
· Scenario 2: Riding the rail (Cue the bunnies, the blue birds and the guy walking down the garden path singing zip a dee do da.)
7 a.m. and you roll out of bed in your solar-powered bungalow in a Gastonia neighborhood. (I guess solar is not available to people who drive) Or maybe you’re in Pineville or Mooresville. You grab breakfast, then your husband drops you at the light rail line on Franklin Boulevard. Or the one on South Boulevard, or Mooresville’s Main Street. You head to your job in uptown Charlotte. (Hey they are appealing to women in this dream)
From the window, you watch homes, parks and businesses pass. (Hey those people have reappeared and business has returned, plus parks are everywhere) As you read a book, (If this is such a great way of transit then why are you not discussing the news of the day with the person beside you?) you think of the extra cash your family has since selling the second car. ( Why is it the Husband gets the Car, or is he a house husband? If this is the future for men then maybe we need to support this new way of life.) You relish the growing independence of your 12-year-old daughter. Now she bikes and walks by herself to school, piano lessons and friends’ houses. (This girl is quickly becoming a tax paying robot just like you) Your house is modest, its backyard small, but you know all the neighbors. Life is good. (Lower your expectations forget that American way of thinking. Oh and sadly you could not meet your neighbors if you have a half an acre as you would have to walk over to meet them) This weekend, maybe the family can drive out to farm country, or visit a festival in Charlotte. (Or maybe they could spend some time marching in uniforms issued by the government.)
Come on Observer can you get any worse?
Larry:
You must be a product of Charlotte’s schools because you are plainly too stupid to realize that actually using Ms. Caulkins real name is going to get your a$$ sued and she’ll win.
You see Larry, it takes “smart ” people to actually make a difference. You are not smart, sir.
Thanks for the comment. Ms. Caulkins is a public figure. If she is angry at me for trying to complain about how bad the Observer has become, then I hope I can explain it to her in person or over the phone. I know I have tried to reach her several times in the past. What is funny is that no one at the Observer sees the problems even though they are seeing more and more empty desks and less readers than ever before.
All I want is to see them get some fairness in the paper.
Oh and yes I am a product of CMS.
Larry, did you notice that the reporting was done by two syndicated columnists, not the Observer? Did you notice that it was labeled “opinion”? Did you notice this blurb that ran with the stories:
“Syndicated columnist Neal Peirce and colleagues Alex Marshall and Curtis Johnson give “outsider” views on the future prospects of U.S. urban regions. This is their first report that revisits an urban region. In 1995, their Peirce Report ran in The Charlotte Observer and five other regional newspapers.”
So it wasn’t the Observer stating this any more than it’s the Observer claiming that eating plankton will cure cancer.
Really, the Observer offers plenty of ammunition for belittlement. When you choose to twist what’s been published you lose credibility.
Oh so the Observer printing this has nothing to do with them?
This in a paper who says they do not even have an inch of space to print a story on somthing that is really important to helping our area.
Plenty of Charlotte/Mecklenburg Citizens have submitted OPINION pieces and the Observer does not seem to find even an inch of space for them. Instead they print whole page after page of stuff like this from someone who wants to be social engineers for our way of life.
But your saying the Observer has nothing to do with the content is about as credible as the Publisher of the Observer saying she does not control the content or the editorials.