Several Strands

I'm not even going to go there--to Super Tuesday. Instead, time to refocus on several important things happening in places that are important to me.

1. Seattle, amazing, Seattle, hailed in the New York Times today for opening 2 new museums that focus on the role of minorities in the region. One of these museums, the Northwest African American Museum, is 2 minutes from my house and I have driven by the vacant school millions of times over the years. I'm so glad to hear it is finally turning into a sacred space. You can see a picture of it and read the article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/us/06seattle.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

2. Another big issue today that I just heard about on These Days (KPBS) is that the Coastal Commission is meeting today about a proposal to extend a toll road from Orange Country to 1-5 north of San Diego that would go through a habitat preserve. Our governor is for it because he believes it would decrease traffic on I-5. This is so frustrating to me because it has been shown that when you build new roads traffic worsens because in actuality more people will then decide to drive (and of course these people will be single passenger vehicles). Then more roads need to be built and there is a vicious cycle. Instead, money should go to getting people who make such long commutes onto public transportation, like trains that go down the coast. This sends the message that we do not want more single occupancy vehicles on the road. Luckily the Commission is against the proposal but if they reject it, the proponents can appeal to the federal government because they own part of the land the road would go through. Unfortunately, if they do appeal I worry that with such a conservative government, these road building monsters would ultimately win their sordid battle. Read a UT article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080117-9999-1m17toll.html