To the editors:
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My observations of the way developers and agencies of government relate to public transit lead me to conclude that there is little political will in the United States, either nationally or locally, for establishing environments conducive to transit. Public funds for maintaining and extending transit infrastructure are hard to come by, and development, even in the city, is seldom required to accommodate transit access, much less include facilities to make transit easy to provide and convenient to use. Transit seems to be thought of by those in upper and upper middle class economic circumstances as something for the use of less prosperous people, and those unable to drive due to youth, age, and infirmity. Certainly not themselves.
As a nation, we’ve been able to trash the world for so long, it’s become a national habit to disregard the legitimate rights and aspirations of peoples less powerful than ourselves. We expect to retain a higher standard of living than we justify by our efforts to compete in world markets, and we don’t want to change.
