Have you ever needed a ride to a Nuggets game? A ride to Beta or LoDo? Or wanted to take a date to a swanky sushi bar on Pearl St., BUT you didn’t have a car? Public transportation can take you there. As students in the Denver metro area we have all used the Light Rail at least once but our city’s goal should be to make it a primary mode of transportation in the future.
I am far from a Harvard-bred economist and I am not a Berkeley environmentalist but I do know that public transportation is a more cost effective and much cleaner alternative to our current SUV’s and sprawling highways. Based on Denver’s fiscal realities, the FasTrack’s expansion is currently a tremendous obstacle that may serve as a means to lower unemployment and preserve the natural state of Colorado while encouraging economic growth years down the track.
FasTracks is a major project to expand Denver’s metro rail service. As stated on their site, “The RTD FasTracks Program is a multi-billion dollar comprehensive transit expansion plan to build 122 miles of new commuter rail and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit, 21,000 new parking spaces at light rail and bus stations, and enhance bus service for easy, convenient bus/rail connections across the eight-county district.” The north metro area will receive a two new commuter rails, the west will receive a light rail and a commuter rail. Expansion will occur to other rail services already in place. Union Station will be renovated and serve as the transportation hub of the rail services. If all of these new tracks, expansions, and management are going to move forward RTD FasTracks must employ many workers over the next three to seven years (projected completion date between 2013 and 2017) and while this employment will only be for a number of years, it will assuredly help alleviate the pressures of unemployment in our city. If you plan to live in this great city after graduation, how do you plan to get to work or where would you like to open your business? The proposed program will produce expansion and economic benefits to surrounding businesses and will allow for development of more commercial sites. Just think of opening your own café across from a new rail stop and taking advantage of its flow of commuters.
If you are concerned that public sentiment for public transportation will not support your café, think again. In an article by Kate Herman entitled “Numbers,” she explains that nationally public transportation has worked tremendously well saying, “In 2007, Americans took 10.3 billion trips on public transportation – the highest ridership number in 50 years, according to the American Public Transportation Association. The group notes that every $10 million invested in a local transit system generates $30 million in business sales.” Take for example Twin Cities’ Hiawatha light rail system that opened in 2004. Its popularity has been quieting opponents with ridership rapidly increasing and nearly 8,000 multifamily units being built along its routes. This kind of expansion is obviously advantageous for a cities economy. It slows urban sprawl and keeps the sense of community a city should hold at its core. Denver resolve budget issues with the revenues generated.
Now I asked you earlier how you enjoyed yourself on the light rail and used it for transportation to recreational events but where is your future heading and how do you want to see Denver develop? I am originally from Chicago and have witnessed ugly and polluted areas centered on highway expansion and I refuse to see Denver become the same. According to Kate Herman in the aforementioned article, four million gallons of gas are not used in the United States every day because of public transportation. Not only will we be spending less money to travel to work or play, but our environment will thank us. The beautiful western landscape will be preserved and miles of congested highway will begin to move again. In an article by Kirk Johnson of the New York Times, he quotes a University of Denver associate and executive director of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute, James van Hemert, as saying, “There could be an anti-government feeling, people saying, 'Let's let the market solve our problems with hybrids and electric cars,'” however, our budget crisis is now and our state deserves to be preserved. Therefore as a student or resident of Colorado, I call upon you to take advantage of our already expansive public transportation system and show our city we want FasTracks to get moving quickly.
In your post, you do a good job of making a very logical proof. FasTracks has a plan to expand, public transportation will help the economy and the environment, and therefore we need to support FasTracks to “get moving quickly”. From the very beginning of the post, you are able to skillfully create an ethos by showing your modesty as a writer when you state, “I am far from a Harvard-bred economist and I am not a Berkeley environmentalist but I do know that public transportation is a more cost effective and much cleaner alternative to our current SUV’s and sprawling highways.” This helped draw me in as a reader because I knew it would be in a voice I could understand, that of a students, but you still use quotes and facts from the Public Transportation Association such as “every $10 million invested in a local transit system generates $30 million in business sales” to back up your argument and to give yourself credibility as a researched writer. As both a student at DU, a citizen who cares about job unemployment, and an environmentalist, you are able to address audiences who care about any one of these issues by showing how the expansion of FasTracks will be beneficial in many ways. This is obviously a timely issue and in the end you even sneak in a small appeal to pathos when you state, “I am originally from Chicago and have witnessed ugly and polluted areas centered on highway expansion and I refuse to see Denver become the same.” I would have liked to see a bit more of an appeal to pathos to really drive home your argument and show me why I need to take action now, but otherwise it is very clear and persuasive.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your article not only because I agree with what it was saying, but also because it was a very well informed while you established a very laid back and relatable ethos. It made for a light read that was easily understood and the topic is so universal in today’s society where transportation is key to success and entertainment of any kind. Even if the reader doesn’t like public transportation or enjoys driving giant SUV’s, you did a good job of widening the appeal of your argument by basically saying, “You don’t have to be a
ReplyDeletegenius to figure out that this is a good idea”.
If there had to be something to work on in order to make your argument stronger it would be to address the relevance to the economic recession a little more. More specifically rather than just say, “while this employment will only be for a number of years, it will assuredly help alleviate the pressures of unemployment in our city,” I think it would be beneficial to elaborate. Explain how more public transportation can create new jobs even after construction is complete. Changing this would appeal to many more people because unemployment is so low and people don’t want to lose their jobs once construction is complete and therefore may not support more public transportation. Overall, a very good article that I really enjoyed reading.
The blogging project was an interesting deviation from my normal realm of writing. It helped strengthen my writing skills as well as raised my awareness of my own ethos. I used all of the rhetorical appeals to some degree. I deflated my own ethos by saying, "I am far from a Harvard-bred economist and I am not a Berkeley environmentalist but I do know..." in order to speak clearly and directly to my younger audience. My logical argument was that public transportation can boost the economy of a region and is much cleaner for a city. I appealed shortly to pathos noting my own past with urban sprawl ("I am originally from Chicago and have witnessed ugly and polluted areas centered on highway expansion and I refuse to see Denver become the same."). In order to improve my post I would take two pieces of advice from those who commented. First, I would elaborate on the economic capabilities of the Light Rail thus improving my logical argument. Secondly, I would appeal to emotions more as well because I believe many people will at least sympathize with the emotional arguments to be made.
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