Victory Grill
Time to Stop Dreaming and Face Facts
RECEIVED Tue., Dec. 28, 2004
Dear Editor,
Some liberal-conservative arguments are anything but black and white. The Trans Texas Corridor is not black to the exclusion of white. The fact is, truck traffic from the border among other places certainly seems to be eating I-35’s lunch. I’m no fan of Perry, but the corridor is an honest admission that this is and will be for decades a truck-based economy. The corridor fires through beautiful Texas land in the process of this admission, but at least it deals with the facts at hand. To sit back and pretend that the world’s (and along with it, Texas’) population isn’t growing and that free trade and traffic with Mexico is irrelevant will land us where poor planning always lands you: mired in mistakes. At this stage in history, Texas environmentalists need to focus on the real issue, and that’s the oil-based economy. Instead of coaxing I-35 corridor cities into a no-corridor frenzy, wouldn’t our greater interests be served by riling everyone who is tired of dealing with Mideast turf battles, Exxon’s price gouging, melting ice caps, and their kid’s asthma into a frenzy over a product that is doing a hell of a lot more damage than a 1,300-foot-wide swatch of concrete would ever hope to? Liberals, we need to start wising up. We’re losing elections because we dream old dreams with old allies instead of producing new solutions with broader coalitions.
Some liberal-conservative arguments are anything but black and white. The Trans Texas Corridor is not black to the exclusion of white. The fact is, truck traffic from the border among other places certainly seems to be eating I-35’s lunch. I’m no fan of Perry, but the corridor is an honest admission that this is and will be for decades a truck-based economy. The corridor fires through beautiful Texas land in the process of this admission, but at least it deals with the facts at hand. To sit back and pretend that the world’s (and along with it, Texas’) population isn’t growing and that free trade and traffic with Mexico is irrelevant will land us where poor planning always lands you: mired in mistakes. At this stage in history, Texas environmentalists need to focus on the real issue, and that’s the oil-based economy. Instead of coaxing I-35 corridor cities into a no-corridor frenzy, wouldn’t our greater interests be served by riling everyone who is tired of dealing with Mideast turf battles, Exxon’s price gouging, melting ice caps, and their kid’s asthma into a frenzy over a product that is doing a hell of a lot more damage than a 1,300-foot-wide swatch of concrete would ever hope to? Liberals, we need to start wising up. We’re losing elections because we dream old dreams with old allies instead of producing new solutions with broader coalitions.
Rowland Williams
