UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit Readers! Thanks for coming, and have a look around the rest of the place.
By now, you've probably heard about the trial balloon Green Program that Mayor Hickenlooper has been spending his time on. Good to know that the next elections will run smoothly, the snow will be picked up efficiently, that traffic lights will be timed non-randomly, and that 8th Avenue between Speer and the viaduct won't need a 4WD vehicle to navigate. (The poor Prii that Mayor Hickenlooper wants to populate the streets of Denver with would be rattled apart on that stretch of road.)
The Mayor wants to have insurance companies charge drivers with long commutes more for their insurance (they do already), to have those who use more natural gas to heat their homes pay more for the right (they do already), to give preferential parking to Prii, and to force new housing to be green.
Ah, the Nanny State! So here are few suggestions that our elected officials should certainly be willing to go along with:
- There shall be no use of private jets for official travel when commercial service is available; this is a purely green idea.
- Reiumbursement for auto travel on official business for all city employees shall be based on the cost-per-mile of the highest-mileage car available on the market.
- There shall be no reimbursement for parking at DIA, or for mileage driven to DIA; employees will be reimbursed for the cost of using public transportation to get to and from the airport
- City government parking lots, used by city government workers, shall also set aside an increasing number of slots for hybrid and E-85 cars.
- Since timely maintenance saves gas, all elected official shall be required to report what cars are used in their households, and to maintain on file with the city up-to-date maintenance records
- Since driving uses less gas than idling, the city shall be required to conduct a comprehensive review of its traffic light timing, and to re-time the lights in the most efficient manner
Comments
7. Since high-speed driving wastes fuel and creates excess carbon emissions, any city official ticketed for speeding shall be fined twice the standard amount, and three such offenses shall result in dismissal of employees, or a fine equal to three (3) months' salary and benefits for elected officials.
8. All city vehicles except marked police patrol cars shall be the most fuel-efficient available, regardless of other considerations. City officials may maintain larger vehicles at their own expense, but see rule 2.
Regards,
Ric
(who doesn't live in Denver, but thinks those are good rules for anywhere)
Posted by: Ric Locke | June 17, 2007 10:12 PM
Common-sense suggestions and sly, too! But I wish I could learn more about traffic light timing. That seems like a win-win solution. You might hit one red at the start, but once you got into your commute you would be pain-free and flowing along. No need for maniac driving, no excess brake-lining particles spit into the air, just drive the speed limit.
Posted by: Jim,MtnViewCA,USA | June 17, 2007 10:27 PM
I suggest removing the qualifier from the first item: "There shall be no use of private jets for official travel." What sort of "official" travel would take city government employees to a location they could not reach by commercial service? It might need to be combined with a long car or bus drive but...so what? The rest of the list is great.
Posted by: Joanna | June 17, 2007 11:22 PM
Excellent ideas. Here's another: eliminate all toll booths on state tollways, since tollbooths causes delays in traffic patterns which then pollute the air more so than if they were not there.
Posted by: Bill Wangard | June 17, 2007 11:37 PM