You Say Green--I Say, Not Impressed

I've never lobbied for increased federal benefits for people with disabilities. I've never chained myself to anything. While I've been tempted to "sit-in" front of the useless buses with broken lifts, I've never done so. Yes, Nora Wiles has kept to her mainstream self.

Frankly, the issues that make my blood boil, that really tempt me to dump my pearls for a Che Guevara bandanna, are when people, i.e. society, tries to (1) keep me out of buildings, or (2) keep me from getting where I am trying to go.

As for keeping me out of buildings, well, I have officially declared war on those Anti-Nora establishments that have decided to keep me out by means of a concrete moat of stairs into the building. More on that another day.

Getting where I need to go is another story. Being carless in DC is totally doable, I think, and a person could get pretty much anywhere by using a combination of the Metro, buses, and of course, when public transit just won't cut it, taxis. The beauty of a taxi is that it is available on demand, pretty much anytime, anywhere to take you wherever you need to go for a fee. As long as you have some cash on hand, you can get home after a late night, you can get to that meeting across town that you're late for, or you can splurge on a ride when it starts pouring as you step outside of your apartment.

Generally in DC, taxis aren't wheelchair accessible, which always annoyed me, but just meant that I have usually been on my own getting around town. I accepted that. Perhaps it is just unreasonable to ask that a healthy proportion of taxicabs on the road at any one time are wheelchair accessible. That would be uneconomical and inefficient.

Then I saw this article in the Washington Post. "Board Gives Go-Ahead to Eco-Friendly Taxicabs"!!!!! These 85 new, hybrid, SMALL, taxicabs will allow riders to travel "guilt-free." '"It's exciting; it's progressive,' resident Chris O'Brien said."

I saw this story in the Washington Post, on the evening news, and a number of other places. The newscaster nearly cried in his excitement.

I'm not saying I'm against hybrid cars, or "green" initiatives, but this story just illustrates the irony in the fact that people will move heaven and earth and are willing to actually change our transportation systems in order to achieve that coveted "green" status--in order to ride "guilt free."

On the other hand, I don't see anybody addressing the fact that there are no accessible taxis in the District, and by adding a fleet of 85 NON-ACCESSIBLE cabs in Arlington, we have essentially further diluted the number of accessible cabs in the metro area.

Ok, I'm off my soap box, but I challenge those who pride themselves as being "progressive" in promoting green taxi fleets to consider advocating for a fleet that we can all use.