CLOPS: Davis rail shouldn’t be opposed to using scare tactics
Apr 08, 2010 | 668 views | 4 
| 7 
| 
| 
| 7 | | 
Bryan Gray
I’m also opposed to UTA’s attempt to bring light rail trains to Centerville and Bountiful Main Streets. However, I’m appalled at one of the reasons given for opposing UTA – and it says something about the changing nature of society.
I agree that light rail in Davis County is a frivolous expense of tax dollars. There’s not a crying need for residents in Centerville to have another public transit option to downtown Bountiful. Cars, buses, and even bikes fill that nonexistent “need”. Construction would also harm local businesses; many would never recover from the lost sales from tearing up an already narrow street.
But rational thought wasn’t good enough for some light rail detractors. One of the ringleaders opposed to the UTA plan bellowed out a dire warning at a demonstration last week: light rail in Centerville and Bountiful would attract an undesirable element, ushering in a potential crime wave to the good citizens of southern Davis County - the trains loaded with unsavory characters. To hear this guy, our children wouldn’t be safe from invaders from the hinterlands.
How silly! How narrow-minded! Bringing buses into a neighborhood doesn’t translate to a crime wave. TRAX trains are not the chosen transportation for would-be rapists, drug peddlers, and kidnappers.
Idiots like this guy make Rocky Anderson appear sane and stable!
And his comments represent fears so many parents pass on to their children: Be afraid of others who don’t look like you or don’t have the same beliefs…Stay in your room and play computer games; beware of social contact.
Essayist Garrison Keillor mourned the loss of traditional childhood in his newspaper column last week. “Children don’t wander free and mess around in vacant lots the way we used to…One worries about a certain loss of verve and nerve among the young who have been under constant supervision for too long.”
As a young boy, I took buses from my suburban home to Salt Lake’s downtown; for “baseball card money” I delivered errands in back alleys and downtown streets. I didn’t take unreasonable risks; I was aware of my surroundings. But neither did I worry that every stranger was a sexual predator.
My friends and I walked for miles in pursuit of “adventures”. It gave us a foundation of independence. It enabled us to think for ourselves. When we shared stories that evening with our parents, they weren’t worried or preoccupied that we might be meeting people from different neighborhoods.
Granted, life is more challenging today. But that doesn’t mean we should place ourselves or our children in a cocoon. Kids grow up when they can explore and personal growth is hard to achieve when you have adults engaging in scare tactics and fear-mongering.
Read more: Davis County Clipper - CYCLOPS Davis rail shouldn’t be opposed to using scare tactics
No comments:
Post a Comment