USEPA funding activists

There was a great response to last issue’s expose of USEPA’s financing of anti-roads activists. I must warn readers however I’m a bit of a tree hugger myself. And I prefer living in a town laid out in the 18th century, though the horse drawn carriages we have for the tourists here in Frederick MD get a bit much at times. I’m with the enviros on the ugliness of fringe big-box development. Cars while fine individually become most unattractive en masse, for example in vast parking lots. In my dreamworld we wouldn’t build highways more than 4 or 6-lanes wide, but we’d have a very dense network of parkway type roads, separate ones for cars versus trucks. But in the real world there are trade-offs involved. My ideal of roads like the Sawmill Parkway in Westchester Co NY or the Geo Washington Pkwy here in DC is expensive, and they do mess up what others see as valuable wilderness. Those big-box stores built around auto-accessibility and home delivery via the trunk of your car provide unprecedented choices, convenience and value for your hard-earned-$. We need to argue vigorously over these trade-offs. There’s room for many points of view. But we don’t need a giant agency in Washington DC using taxpayer $s to fund blantantly inaccurate and one-sided propaganda against roads, and intervening in local government. Anyway, here we’ll be continuing to try and deliver up a monthly mix of reportage, righteous indignation, irreverent reflections, and news. Season’s greetings to all, especially to those kind folks who sent cards, and have a great ‘99. P Samuel.