The jihad against the automobile is being waged in Jacksonville, although it is not as overt as in other where the liberal Democrat Part has more influence.
The Gateway City has a Democrat mayor, but City Council is firmly in Republican hands, although some may be Weaknies (Weak-Kneed Republicans).
New York City is about to charge drivers $15 to enter Manhattan. Other cities also penalize people who prefer the individual freedom of an automobile and heavily subsidize mass transit.
Meanwhile, the White House nannies are telling federal workers to take the bus or train, or drive battery-operated vehicles.
Urban planners laud European nations for having high rates of mass transit use. They rarely mention how government shapes this “choice” by heavily subsidizing mass transit and penalizing auto use with taxes, tolls and fees.
Jacksonville does not have the concentration of population – i.e. density – that makes mass transit a preference for more people. That is why it has to give away rides on its Skyway Express, a legacy boondoggle from the hippie 1970s.
Rather than admit defeat and tear it down, as Tampa did, Jax officials are going to double down with Other People’s Money and expand the system, aiming toward the current fad of driverless buses.
The city also has cut off arterial routes to downtown such as College and Post streets, reverting them from one-way to two-way – while also allowing parking, which makes them one-lane roads in effect and forces traffic to be heavier on other routes.
Along with “traffic calming,” which means slowing traffic, and the ugly broken brick intersections downtown, Jacksonville is becoming a driver’s nightmare.
It isn’t by accident.
The global warming cult long has been at war with the reliable, cost-effective internal combustion engine and now seeks to replace it with battery-operated vehicles in spite of consumer opposition. (Ford just announced a cutback on its F-150 BOVs because buyers are turning up their noses to them.
It is all about control.
The automobile was the greatest shift in the direction of individual freedom in the past millennium. Billions of people have been able to move about freely going where they want to go on their own schedules. This is antithetical to liberals, who want to direct every move their subjects make.
A former resident of the old Soviet Union wrote: “Under the old communist regime, I lived in a world of very few private cars. Today, in America, I live in a world with an abundance of cars. And I can speak from personal experience that automobiles have dramatically increased and extended my liberty in countless ways.”
