Lazy Gopher Pachyderm

I have a bit of trouble with the group blog Anti-Strib (not the least of which is the Rolling Stone-like application of profanity). But Tracy’s recent post, “Tim and Tina Treehugger grow up,” has the right touch of Minnesota folksy brilliance:

I will try for the last time to squash the asinine idea that everyone could save tons of gas by just “moving closer to work”. I’ll try to do this buy showing how even people with good intentions end up commuting for very good reasons and often through no fault of their own. My mythical couple is Tim and Tina Treehugger. Every thing that happens to them has happened to me or friends of mine.

Click the link and read what follows. It’s an excellent illustration of why ‘social engineering’ doesn’t work. In this case, the inability of ‘anointed visions’ like 'live close to your work' (or for that matter, mass transit), to function within the reality of normal life-changes. As Tracy succinctly sums up:

If you are married with children, there are a lot of variables when it comes to where you live. The location of your work may be a factor when you buy, but over the next 30 years, work will become less and less practical as the #1 housing criteria.

I’ll demur on the feasibility of a young couple recently out of college being able to afford a downtown Minneapolis condo, but as to the rest, Bingo.

# posted by Ricard : 9:58 PM