2008 Woodie Awards
Global citizenship: how we get there matters
By: Aaron Brown, Photo Editor
Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Opinion
Last week, Governor Tim Pawlenty line-item vetoed the $70 million allocated for the Central Corridor light-rail along University Avenue despite financial backing from the counties, Congress and organizational planning by a multitude of neighborhood alliances. This setback will likely cost the project another $40 million as it waits for next year's legislation. I originally wanted to write an opinion piece in the Mac Weekly encouraging students to show support for this project by voicing dissent, but after thinking about our place in the community and our stated interest in engaged citizenship, this is not merely an issue of sending a letter to our legislator or signing a petition.
In light of recent discussions looming over campus regarding the confluence of global and local citizenship, I propose a critical analysis of one of the most integral parts of our lifestyle in the urbanity of the Twin Cities: transportation. I feel it's important to encourage the discussion and self-reflection of how we interact with our community through movement in all its forms. A transit agency once held the slogan "How we get there matters," and this phrase has left an indelible mark on me to consider the politics of transportation the same way a vegan or localvore interprets the politics of food. There exists a surprising amount of politics in everyday banality; how might Macalester community members concerned with global citizenship approach the inherently localized question of how we move about our communities?
A city has always meant different things to different people, but all cities exist on some basic level as nodes in a larger system where ideas, goods, and resources are transported and exchanged to create a higher standard of living otherwise not afforded without cooperation and coordination. Given the paramount importance of these exchanges, it stands to reason that the orientation and effectiveness of the physical infrastructures that facilitate these interactions play an important part in shaping how our communities are built, who they serve, and how we understand our relationship with the surrounding world. If we can agree that transit infrastructure and the corollary socially constructed delineations legislated and learned along with it are so vitally intrinsic to the metropolis, even a brief overview of the Twin Cities' transportation options and financial priorities reflects a disastrously misguided approach; monstrous highways, encouraged suburbanization and pedestrian-unfriendly streets receive the overwhelming bulk of state financial support.
In light of recent discussions looming over campus regarding the confluence of global and local citizenship, I propose a critical analysis of one of the most integral parts of our lifestyle in the urbanity of the Twin Cities: transportation. I feel it's important to encourage the discussion and self-reflection of how we interact with our community through movement in all its forms. A transit agency once held the slogan "How we get there matters," and this phrase has left an indelible mark on me to consider the politics of transportation the same way a vegan or localvore interprets the politics of food. There exists a surprising amount of politics in everyday banality; how might Macalester community members concerned with global citizenship approach the inherently localized question of how we move about our communities?
A city has always meant different things to different people, but all cities exist on some basic level as nodes in a larger system where ideas, goods, and resources are transported and exchanged to create a higher standard of living otherwise not afforded without cooperation and coordination. Given the paramount importance of these exchanges, it stands to reason that the orientation and effectiveness of the physical infrastructures that facilitate these interactions play an important part in shaping how our communities are built, who they serve, and how we understand our relationship with the surrounding world. If we can agree that transit infrastructure and the corollary socially constructed delineations legislated and learned along with it are so vitally intrinsic to the metropolis, even a brief overview of the Twin Cities' transportation options and financial priorities reflects a disastrously misguided approach; monstrous highways, encouraged suburbanization and pedestrian-unfriendly streets receive the overwhelming bulk of state financial support.
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