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YouTubeIs anyone else getting really tired of the anti-car direction this board is taking? It seems like three out of five threads either start out as, or end up on, demeaning drivers. I drive a car. A lot. I was going to say unfortunately, but I wouldn't have meant it. I have a leather supplier in the amish country that I get hides from. I live close to 270 now, and work downtown. And that's 7 days a week. Sometimes my wife and I take shifts so she has to drive in, drop me off, drive back, I take the car on errands, pick her up. I don't feel bad about it because I am productive. I am not saying you aren't productive if you don't drive a car. You probably just work somewhere that requires less driving.
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » Everyday Chit Chat
I drive a car and happen to be a good person
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lifeliberty
Here
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I drive too.
(pats self on back) :)
Posted 3 years ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Tigertree wrote Is anyone else getting really tired of the anti-car direction this board is taking?
I think it's a vocal minority with the anti-car discussion.
But yes, I'm getting really tired of hearing it too.
LESS ANTI-CAR, MORE PRO-BIKE.
Posted 3 years ago # -
mrsosu21
the view is grand.
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I wish i had a bike. Once I had a bike that i got from a neighbor kid. It was on the side of the road and had a Free sign on it. I rode it around. But mostly I would drive to a park, then ride it.
I'm happy for the bike riders who get to ride to and from work. It takes me a half an hour to drive to work, and if I could get a job closer to home, I would definitely walk, jog or maybe even skip to work. Problem is, finding that job. I look, I promise you.
But anyways, I'm happy for the bike riders, sad for us car-drivers, but all in all don't feel bad about myself because we don't live in Chicago, or NYC, we live in Columbus, which in my opinion gives us an excuse to have a car and drive.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Tigertree wrote the pro-bike discussions on here are the same
Yes... they're the same people (vocal minority) saying the same things over and over.
I'm glad I'm not the only one put off by the few making the anti-car noise though. It's proof that this type of attack-dog stance only turns people off of the causes that they're trying to preach about.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Coremodels
Really close to Explorer's Club.
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Please place this in the appropriate "bike hate" thread :lol:
Posted 3 years ago # -
gramarye
In Exile
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I'm all for increasing public transit options, but until they get here, cars are going to be the only way to get around town if your lifestyle is not the kind that can be confined to a small area (or that allows for long, long bike rides ... nothing against Andrew Hall et al., of course).
I don't even like driving, but it's the best way to get from Point A to Point B for most trips--even local trips--given the current status quo.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Coremodels
Really close to Explorer's Club.
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gramarye wrote I don't even like driving, but it's the best way to get from Point A to Point B for most trips--even local trips--given the current status quo.
After spending several months living with a girl in Canton a couple years back, if you can find a way to make it bike-able, you're a freaking genius :lol:
Posted 3 years ago # -
michaelcoyote
!seabus
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Coremodels wrote
gramarye wrote I don't even like driving, but it's the best way to get from Point A to Point B for most trips--even local trips--given the current status quo.
After spending several months living with a girl in Canton a couple years back, if you can find a way to make it bike-able, you're a freaking genius :lol:
Yeah, hop on the interurban line and hang your bike on the rack at the end of the car... errr....wait....
:-(
Posted 3 years ago # -
gramarye
In Exile
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Coremodels wrote
gramarye wrote I don't even like driving, but it's the best way to get from Point A to Point B for most trips--even local trips--given the current status quo.
After spending several months living with a girl in Canton a couple years back, if you can find a way to make it bike-able, you're a freaking genius :lol:
:(
I'd say the same thing about Columbus for the moment, though. Bikes and buses aren't good enough for getting from Campus to Easton, let alone, say, Grandview to Easton. You'd have to budget almost an entire weekend day for it to make it worth it. And, realistically, have a traveling companion so you have someone to talk to on the bus. The iPod alone won't cut it for a trip of that length.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Bear
The woods
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I'd rather not bother with all the bike folderol, so I generally walk the half-hour to work. Gives me an opportunity to clear my mind a bit too.
And when I do drive, it's almost always in a highly fuel-efficient 4-cylinder car with low emissions.
So when, over dinner recently, a new acquaintance discovered that I have a second car, an old land yacht (which is in need of restoration and mostly sits in the garage) and asked me, "Don't you feel guilty about what you're doing to the environment?", it provided an opportunity for reflection.
I hadn't said anything about how much I drive the car (or don't), or about my normal patterns of commuting -- just that I own it. It's natural to assume, of course, that if I own it, I use it... so that's an understandable mistake.
But the question, out of the blue, was so abrasive that others present immediately jumped in to answer it for me -- before I had fully realized that it was actually a serious question. What would justify such a question in the mind of the person asking it? I could only imagine that the imminence of global environmental catastrophe was the answer -- that social niceties take a back seat under those circumstances.
And I think perhaps we have reached a point at which people driving cars are subjected to precisely that presumption of guilt, and the environmental stakes are considered to be so high that social niceties are considered to be a matter of secondary importance.
I'm not defending that attitude, by any means -- after all, I'm the unjustly-convicted criminal in the previous story. I'm just trying to explain it.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Daz
Tweeting about some totally unimportant event
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To and from work, 5 days a week. Also, sometimes to the grocery store or the Alum Creek Dog Park.
I'd like to end my dependence on my vehicle, but um... I live 20 miles from where I work. It's just not a viable option.
Posted 3 years ago # -
rave_til_dawn
Dennison Place
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Tigertree wrote I understand the attitude. I just think it's elitist and misinformed and I am tired of hearing it.
Agreed.
Posted 3 years ago # -
michaelcoyote
!seabus
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Tigertree wrote I understand the attitude. I just think it's elitist and misinformed and I am tired of hearing it.
Sure, me too..
Being a contrarian, I have to wonder if that was part of the inducement to get a car again.. I never made a big deal about going "car free", It was just something I did.. I think as an experiment, it kinda failed. Owning a car is a bit of a necessity seeing as I go visit my Dad every 4-6 weeks and often I have limited time on the weekends to do my errands. I could rent a car for these things, but it adds up and is a hassle. It did save me a bit of money over owning, but not enough to be worth the hassle.
On the other hand I've done a good job setting up my life to not need to drive every day and I love to bike whenever I can. I even like riding far in the late fall, winter and early spring. I'd say I generally prefer it to driving 99% of the time.
But I'm not going to make that decision for anyone else.
Posted 3 years ago # -
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Dare I even ask what sparked this one?
The only 2 bike threads of late are the car free article that was posted and Columbusite's hit by a car.
Didn't see too much negative there. I'll acknowledge my obvious bias, of course.
Do we really need another whiny thread because someone is offended or put off by a statement thrown out (as many of us have agreed) by a very vocal minority?
Posted 3 years ago # -
Tigertree
771 N. High St.
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Well, specifically, it was a response to the car-free-living thread. I don't even remember who it was, but someone had to remark the other day, with no apparent context, how they had been car-free for over two years, basically everything Columbusite says, basically everything Cyclist says.
Posted 3 years ago #
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