Public Transportation - Why Not?

Could be subject to constitutional challenge (4.00 / 2)

I have often thought that the 1952 amendment could be challenged in Court as racially motivated.  Several other racially motivated parts of the Alabama Constitution have been struck down for violating the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.  Why not that stupid 1952 law, also?   I would love to know what Wayne Flint could tell us about the origins of the 1952 law.

Coincidentally, the Alabama Constitution does not contain an Equal Protection Clause.  Of course, that is because the Alabama Constitution was designed to disinfranchise blacks.

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by: lawdog @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 15:30:37 PM CDT

Ding! Ding! First time comment here! (4.00 / 1)

Welcome, lawdog!  We have lots of talkative cats here - and dogs are always welcome too...

Glad you joined the conversation!

I'm not short.  I'm fun size!!

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by: countrycat @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 15:42:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

We also have a pig, but no one pays attention to pigs. (4.00 / 2)

No it's always "So, are you a cat person or a dog person?".  Has anyone on a first date ever asked,"So, are you a goat person or a pig person?" Heck no! 

What weatherman ever announced "Folks, it's raining cows and pigs out there today?"  None that I know of. 

But that's okay. Cats and dogs may win a place in a person's heart, but a pig can keep it beating.  Oh, am I making a fuss?  Sorry!

Oh, welcome aboard, lawdog.

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead  

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by: piggieheart @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 16:54:29 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm a goat person myself ... (4.00 / 1)

But piggieheart is one of my favorite people.

A belated welcome to the conversation, lawdog.  Don't know what happened to my manners.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 17:05:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

1952 amendment (4.00 / 1)

This is probably a measure of my naivete on racial issues, but it had never before occured to me that the lack of public transportation here might have segregationist roots.  BenGoshi emailed that National Geographic study and as I was reading it I started to wonder why it is we have so little public transportation?  Maybe it helped that the old Huntsville swimming pool was mentioned over the weekend -- they simply filled it in and it's now blocking construction of a parking deck on the site -- but it just hit me that public trans after the mid fifties would have had to be desegregated, and that would have been a bitter pill for some to swallow.  Physical proximity on a bus is only a little less than in a swimming pool.

I don't know the history of the amendment either, but I'd like to hear from anyone who does. 

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 16:06:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

is THAT why the art museum isn't building the parking deck? (0.00 / 0)

I saw the headline, but didn't read the article (not that interested in art...).  I assumed that they didn't have the money.

But it's the old swimming pool?  Talk about past sins coming back to haunt the present.

I'm not short.  I'm fun size!!

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by: countrycat @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 16:40:47 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yep! (4.00 / 1)

They'd have to sink pilings through all that fill and there would also be issues of how much the ground was disturbed way back when the pool was constructed.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 16:48:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

One day, a few months ago, I wrote an email. (4.00 / 2)

An off-blog chat with one of my special blog-buddies here on LIA.  In that email, I discussed the ways in which even Caucasians growing up in the Old South were disadvantaged by the laws and customs of the day. Today, reading this diary and the historical rationale for so many things - vestiges of segregation-itself a vestige of slavery- I feel the same way I did that day.  How do we get off acting superior to other countries, with our history of genocide and slavery, and our present practices of discrimination and torture?

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead  

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by: piggieheart @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 17:05:00 PM CDT

We've slipped off the moral high ground a bit (4.00 / 1)

The important thing is that we remember where it is and keep trying to get back there -- assuming we ever really occupied it.  Perhaps it was always an ideal.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 17:06:47 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The Past is Prologue (4.00 / 1)

piggieheart asked:

How do we get off acting superior to other countryies, with our history of genocide and slavery, and our present practices of discrimination and torture?

How indeed? Torture and Jim Crow, a must read. 

When Republicans like former Bush press secretary Dana Perino argue that we shouldn't be debating torture because the terrorists have a recruiting field-day as a result, they sound like a 1960's segregationist arguing that we shouldn't be debating black inequality because it plays right into Soviet talking points.

mooncat said (emphasis mine);

We've slipped off the moral high ground a bit (4.00 / 1)

The important thing is that we remember where it is and keep trying to get back there -- assuming we ever really occupied it.  Perhaps it was always an ideal.

Redeye says, Word.

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)

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by: Redeye @ Mon May 18, 2009 at 21:00:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

1952 Amendment History (4.00 / 2)

I enjoyed the recent postings regarding the '52 constitutional amendment that limits the expenditure of gas and road use taxes to road and bridge construction and maintenance.

While there certainly may have been racial motives behind the '52 vote, the amendment really had its genesis years before as part of a strategy to end public transportation in the US and increase private automobiles as the primary means to moving folks from point a to point b.

In 1920 GM posted a loss of $65 million, and then CEO Alfred P. Sloan concluded that the US economy had reached a saturation level for personal automobiles.  In an effort to overcome that saturation, GM established an internal unit in 1922 with stated purpose of replacing the US electric rail systems with cars, buses and trucks.  iN 1932, Sloan organized the National Highway Users Conference, a non-profit corporation, with the purpose of ensuring that state highway taxes are dedicated only to highway purposes.

In 1932, GM formed the United Cities Motor Transit Corp with the stated intention of acquiring rail systems, converting them to GM buses and then reselling the transit system to local concerns.  By 1935, GM abandoned the UCMT follwing censure by the American Transit Association accusing GM of only feathering their nest.

In 1936, the frannchise for Montgomery's transit system was awarded to an unincorporated entity - Montgomery City Lines, with the financing for the acquisiton provided by Rex Finance Corporation.  Montgomery City Lines was among the first - perhaps the first - acquisiton by a coporation that would become known as National City Lines.  The reconstituted National City Lines was created in 1936 by officers and employees of GM in conjuction with Standard Oil of California, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and Phillips Petroleum.  Rex Finance Corp was an entity of GM.

In 1938, Alabama voters were asked to approve a constituional amendment that would prohibit using gasoline and ehicle use taxes for anything other than highway and bridge construction.  The primary proponent of this amendment was the Alabama Highway Users Conference, an affiliate of Alfrd P. Sloan's National Highway Users Conference.  Alabama voters rejected this amendment by a statewide margin of 581 votes.  In spite of this setback, National Highway Users Conference had an incredible string of successes in convincing voters to limit the use of gasoline taxes - by 1972, 44 sstates (including Alabama in 1952) would earmark all or part of gasoline taxes for road construction.

While pursuing the limitation of expenditures by states through NHUC, National City Lines continued its purchases and dismantling of rail systems throughout the country.  By 1950, NCL had acquired trolley system in over 100 cities, including Los Angeles, New York Philadelphia.  Follwing the 1936 Montgomery acquisition, NCL would eventually acquire several Alabama rail systems.

In the battle over the Alabama's 1952 amendment, the Alabama Highway users Conference would join with other organizations to form the Road Fund Prortection Committee.  They argued that the state would loose all federal highway funds unless the amendment was approved - which was untrue.  The only opposition to the amendment that I could find in newspaper references to the election was the League of Municipalities and the Association of County Commissioners, who at that time could use road use taxes for a variety of purposes.  The voters approved the 1952 amendment by a margin of 3,583 votes.

This post is probably too long, but the history of corporate America's efforts at ending public transit programs in an effort to strengthen certain business interests remains a fascinating one. 

 

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by: cracker @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 08:17:50 AM CDT

Interesting history (0.00 / 0)

And in future, if you think your comment is getting to long, feel free to post it as a diary.  Anyone who can comment can write a diary.

"The War in Iraq is not the disease. The War in Iraq is a symptom. Arrogance is the disease" - Bill Richardson

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by: herding old cats @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 09:00:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yeah write a diary (0.00 / 0)

And if you're lucky it will be promoted to the first page. 

Welcome to LiA.  Enjoyed your post.

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)

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by: Redeye @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 13:54:35 PM CDT

[ Parent ]