Wednesday, January 22, 2014

When Public Transit Could Be Beautiful

Back when we didn't trample on the common good every five seconds for the sake of sating our insatiable egos, it was possible to think of public services as an area in which the transcendental, and even the beautiful, aspects of life could be celebrated.  Imagine New York--for that matter, every major city in the country--with a public rail system where every entrance looked like this, and nobody whined about how much it cost, because it provided a benefit for everyone that went beyond the issue of getting from point A to point B.

Could we ever get to such an imaginary world?  I doubt it.  Could we at least get back to the point where we aspire to such a world.  Probably not in my lifetime.  But, for the sake of my grandchildren, I hope that their world can get to such a point, and perhaps surpass it.

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