SUNDAY READINGS 12/9/01

HORSES AGAIN

Having lived for over a quarter of a century with Pure Spanish Horses I was pleased to notice that a “Third Party” of discipline was needed to care for the Yosemite Valley National Park. Like the Spanish Cria Caballar who is still protecting the purity of the Spanish Horse against breeder’s organizations in Spain and for that matter all over the world, the U.S. Cavalry were called upon to manage the newly created park in Yosemite Valley between 1890 and 1914.

This US Cavalry literally rode to the rescue “That most holy mansion of the mountains,” as John Muir called it, “was protected in law but not in fact.” “Homesteading farmers, cattleman, miners, land promoters and timber speculators claimed nearly 60,000 acres within the designated national park.”

The U.S. Cavalry according to Meyerson surveyed and mapped the fantastic topography, counted the already endangered population of bear, deer, grouse and quail; worked to prevent the locals and the tourists from doing damage to the parklands and championed the right of a tiny remnant of Native American to remain in their tribal homeland.”

The Spanish Horse in The United States of America has been under assault by breeders, showers and riders for the time my wife and I have been involved over 25 years. There needs to be a clear understanding amongst all Spanish Horse owners that a “Third Party” much like the U.S. Cavalry is paramount to ensure that the essence of the breed is kept intact for the next hundred years.

AIRPORT DESIGN TOOK A BIG HIT SEPT 11.

While airport projects are on hold while “officials rethink the balance between efficiency and security” The Federal Government have taken over the national airports. Their solution is short term and lacks any sensitivity to long-term futures.

After closing down military airbases all over the country the Feds are now manning security stations being wedged into the walls of yesterday’s terminals. Adib Kanafani of UC Berkeley critiqued the economics of this airport design, as “The terminal will be more expensive so the debt burden will be higher, the lease payments will be higher, the operating costs for airlines will be higher, the air fares will go up.”

Here is but another exquisite example of how the narrow short term is being addressed by Feds for airports. The same might be said about the methods for freeway, railway and/or any other ground transportation mobility technology programming for our civil urban future. This scanning hiccup and mending of the passenger boarding process that should be fixed is only an incremental patchwork.

Consider the following airport plight; vehicle trips, limousine trips, shuttle bus trips, rental car receipts, parking revenues, taxicab trips, cars parked, actual passenger trips, scheduled passenger seats, mail, air freight, assessed land value, scheduled flights and passengers processed, plus another 13 measures well described in the LA Times. They are all negative from the norm by large margins.

One might look at rubber tire and supportive roadways much the same way in dealing with traffic congestion. The Census 2000 Supplemental Survey in Kern County showed that some 75 percent of Kern County workers drove to work alone in a car, truck or van. This was slightly higher than statewide. Cleaner air and resultant congestion relief is being sought with a new freeway system and arterial roads. The Census survey found it took people an average of 21.8 minutes to get to work. The Kern Regional Transit and Golden Empire Transit are still utilizing 1950’s bus designs and are passively suggesting that these statistics are not correct!

Until one can step out of this status quo “officials” box of no risk taking for any new transportation technology ventures to get people around, we will be traveling much like the mouse running on a spinning Ferris wheel for the foreseeable future.

BY Graham Kaye-Eddie – Master Urban Designer.

Makabusi Inc. – Bakersfield – California

Email – makabusi@pacbell.net

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