Calling all 'fossil' fools
By DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | ∞
Perhaps some of you have been called a "fossil" a time or two, in good-natured fun or maybe not.
Well, a magazine is calling us SoCal commuters a bunch of "fossil fools."
In a survey last week, Men's Health magazine ranked 100 of the nation's largest metro areas in terms of which ones have the "greenest drivers." The ranking wasn't particularly flattering for San Diego and Riverside counties.
Seattle was ranked the greenest city in the land; Portland, Ore., came in third. That hardly comes as a surprise with all the kudos they have received in recent years for their "smart growth" policies.
What was surprising was that the No. 5 spot went to Fargo, N.D. But then, I suppose it helps to live in a town that has a five-minute commute.
San Francisco came in ninth. And, of course, it has a pretty good mass transit system. But don't forget that an awful lot of marathon commuters drive in from the Central Valley because they can't afford housing in the City by the Bay.
Southern California fared poorly across the board.
San Diego County came in at No. 61 with a grade of C-. Anaheim and Los Angeles were ranked 83rd and 84th respectively, with grades of D+.
Riverside County barely missed coming in dead last. Its ranking of 97th gave the fast-growing county the dubious distinction of being one of seven areas to receive failing grades.
In a news release, the magazine suggested areas such as Riverside County are "driving us to extinction" because their commuters consume huge amounts of gas and drive more miles and bigger vehicles than people in other areas. And it didn't help to have lousy air quality and limited train and bus service.
In other commuter news, the San Diego Association of Governments is expanding its 511 telephone and Internet information service to cable television.
The service helps people plan transit trips and gives them up-to-the-minute details on freeway conditions. For instance, by phoning 511 or visiting www.511sd.com, one could have found last Tuesday that the drive from downtown San Diego to Oceanside would take them 77 minutes at 5 o'clock.
The 511 tips will begin airing in July on Oceanside's KOCT Channel 19, weekdays from 5 to 8 a.m., the association said.
The system has received 1 million calls in its first 16 months of operation.
Riverside County commuters will get a similar service in early 2009, said John Standiford, spokesman for the Riverside County Transportation Commission.
Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 745-6611, Ext. 2623, or ddowney@nctimes.com.
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Marcus wrote on Jun 30, 2008 6:33 AM:When gas prices at the pump went above $3.00 a gallon I wrote a computer program that tells me how much I must decrease my overall driving to maintain my overall cost at the pump to that of what it was at $3.00 a gallon. I in-put the data of the gas price for regular at my favorite gas station as given on the Internet. Several weeks ago my computer program would not allow me to drive to the gas station. My son brought me 2 1/2 gallons and I input that data into my program; however, I still was not able to drive to the gas station and back. I reimbursed my son and input the data. Day before yesterday was only able to drive my car half way into my garbage. The next day I could not drive it all the way back into the driveway. So there it sat until my son came over and helped me push it out and on to the driveway.
I haven't mowed my lawn yet this week. I think I will write a program for gas usage for my mower and see how that works out. It should take only a slight modification of the one for my car.
Johnny wrote on Jun 30, 2008 9:04 AM:Wow, great reporting Dave. Did they report water is still wet and sometimes rain falls sideways (in hurricane conditions)?
I would never guess the tree huggers would rank Seattle as the greenest. Really? Wow! I'm sure environmentalists forget fossil fuels are used to produce every piece of consumer good they own, brings the food to their supermarkets, and keeps the lights on in their home. But, I guess we get what's coming right? And they're so smug and smart they've come up with alternatives that don't consume more additional energy to produce than they save (e.g. corn based ethanol)? What's that? Silence?
Stop reading Gore's "Inconvient Theory" and come up with a solution feasible for all or sit down and be quiet.
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