Light and Despair (June)

June is a good month in the park.   

The days are long, the plants and trees are exuberant and overflowing. 

The campions reminded me of my father, who used to have a few of these plants in the garden of his old house. He wasn't the kind of man who expressed pleasure very much, but he did like his campions. 

June has not been a good month for democracy in New York State, however. On a whim, the governor decided to cancel congestion pricing, which is a program, mandated by law, designed to fund the subway system by charging drivers to enter the central business district of Manhattan. In addition to reducing congestion and funding improvements for the subway, the program would have greatly improved air quality. It's important to note that the majority of people in Manhattan -- like the rest of New York City -- do not own cars. 

The governor canceled this program because, after allegedly talking to the owners of some diners in Manhattan (who denied talking to her), she became concerned that it would hurt the economy of the city (notwithstanding the evidence from other cites that have enacted congestion pricing showing the opposite). She also expressed concern about charging cops and firefighters who drive into work from their homes in the suburbs. In many ways, this is a bad joke, a scene from a political satire. But in the real world, when a single person impedes a democratic process that took decades to unfold and entailed thousands of pages of environmental and economic assessments, there's another word for it. 

That it was done by a Democratic governor in a Democratic state under a Democratic president means that I have lost all hope. 

Henceforth I will be hiding in the trees with the fading light.

Comments

[Sarah]

Recently my workplace made a big deal about the environmental impact survey they were conducting. They have also decided to have staff increase their days in the office, in a place where hardly anyone uses public transportation. Guess they just ignored the irony of telling us to spend 2 hours a day on a congested highway for no real reason.

[Matthew Gallaway]

Hi Sarah -- yes, the hypocrisy around "helping the environment" versus imposing actions that are clearly *not* helping is really dismaying! On the plus side, I can say that not reading as much social media (except for blogs!) has helped my mental state :)