i'm back from hiatus. i've recharged my mental battery, so to speak, by working an ungodly amount of hours (doing other people's jobs no less) and spending inordinate amounts of time in the gym. oh yeah, i also started reading newspapers again.
i love my adopted hometown. 5280 has a bit of everything: outdoor activities, some culture, TONS of sun (yeah, california...even more than you) and a few decent restaurants and bars. but for a town full of transplants that so desperately wants to fit in with LA, chicago and new york--i'll never quite understand exactly why--it seems that none of the common sense from those metropoli ever seemed to rub off on denver.
i had my suspicions and i'd heard the rumors, but i recently found out that it's actually illegal to hail a cab in denver. yeah, you read that right. read it again. "illegal to hail a cab in denver." now the council is--try not to laugh--considering repealing the ordinance and replacing it with one that would allow people to hail a cab anytime day or night...with the caveat that the passenger must be fully loaded and ready to roll in 90 seconds.
with the ever-too-low legal BAC of .08, DUI arrests have skyrocketed in our state and city (no word on if this increase is proportional to the influx of californians and texans), and with limited options to avoid a likely DUI scenario, it's easy to see why. the city has slowly--and i mean slowly--"improved" its public transit, while simultaneously stepping up its DUI checkpoints and giving cops and patrol more loopholes for probable cause than ever before. so, more arrests, fewer transportation options. yeah, that seems logical.
somehow, in the excitement and chaos of what all state and city lawmakers have deemed an epidemic, the idea that providing easy access to taxi transportation as a reduction method has been completely lost. remember, mr. mayor, the most logical answer is often the correct one.
it's no wonder the colorado natives so resent transplants. natives clamor for new and stylish ways to mimic the more glamorous and notable hotspots. they see something on tv highlighting LA nightlife, nyc clubs, and chicago brewpubs and just assume that slapping a sign on a refurbished warehouse will draw the masses. they're partly right. those of us from more sophisticated areas of the country are just trying to apply some logic as the vehicle to help get them home safely. seems they're finally starting to get it.
3 comments:
oddly enough, cin city is actually more sophisticated. but really what i was referring to was my time spent in chicago. ya know, giving me that real big city experience.
Is it the "no strip clubs" law that makes it sophisticated? Or that a monkey lives outside the zoo?
I digress...as a Metro Detroiter, I will not allow you to complain about public transit. In Detroit, I take the People Mover in circles until I puke my BAC down to an acceptable level. I love the auto industry.
in reference to the queen city, neither. it's the collection of crucial industry leaders, the world-reknowned classical arts (cincinnati symphony orchestra routinely on par with boston pops), the cultural richness of local cuisine. it may not be healthy food, but it's certainly indigenous to cincy, which is more than most cities can claim.
denver has the light rail, but it took 4 years to extend even one branch of it. they didn't even bother to implement direct service to the freakin' airport! ya know, the 5th busiest in the country.
but it's not about any of that. it's about the ridiculousness of not providing access to the easiest, most convenient, and affordable solution to drunk driving.
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