This article by AP writer, Chris Roberts, paints a sad tale of woe for my precious Big Bend area. More traffic, more noise, more pollution and a desecration of the Big Lonesome that is far west Texas.
Seems a new trade route will enter the United States at U.S. 67 in Presidio on the border. Then, it will climb over two mountain ridges north to Marfa, then east through the mountains to Alpine and onto Midland and Odessa. In 2002, this highway averaged 50 trucks per day. That number will increase to 500 a day within 5 years, and is predicted to increase to 4,000 a day within a decade.
All this for a faster route for Asian imports to the U.S. interior. Asian imports, not Mexican goods. Midland and Odessa are banking heavily on the hope that the route will help the area become a warehouse and distribution center.
Asian imports? I thought NAFTA was to increase trade between Mexico and the US. What the hell does Asia have to do with it? Guess I need to do some further homework. Readers are certainly welcome to enlighten Pattie. Do Americans really need all these Asian imports that result in a Dollar Store at every corner of every city?
The quaint little quiet town of Alpine will get no benefit from the Mexican trucks rumbling through its midst, only the awful pollution that comes from so many diesel trucks full of dirty, cheap Mexican fuel. To further complicate matters, Alpine's main drag is divided into two one-way streets. Motoring is light and slow, and Alpine has no need right now of multiple redlights at intersections. Good manners, good sense, and the occasional flashing yellow light is all that is necessary for quality traffic control. Enter the big rigs, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Kman and I loved the town of Alpine, and had it on our "A" list for retirement places. Now, we will have to rethink that.
Texas has miles and miles of isolated, pristine desert countryside. It is one of the last bastions of No Man's Land, and deserves preservation and protection. Burns my butt to think of it going to trash all for a few million more plastic glasses painted with pink flamingoes and palm trees. Garbage, pure dee junk.
So, even though I know it won't make a fly speck on the wall, I do not intend to ever step foot into an evil Dollar Store again.
NAFTA, Dollar Stores, and polluting trucks - damn them all to hell.
7 comments:
Oh Pattie, You bring to mind President Bill Pullman when he says "We will not go silently into the night! We will not give up without a fight!" But this ain't "Independence Day". And we ain't going to prevail.
The mother ship of Progress will, in the end put all the humans in little cubicles. Components in a vast machine called, Planet Earth. And you know what? They'll like it! Because they will never have known anything else.
Hooha! Sometimes it's a comfort, to grow old and know you won't have to put up with it.
ow. ow. ow.
stacey
In a way, this is really good news. I had wondered what people were going to do for a living in the Big Lonesome area, other than tourism -- especially with profits from ranching on the decline. Catering to truckers might be precisely the economic shot in the arm this area needs. As for the town of Alpine, it will build a four-lane bypass, just as thousands of other small towns have across the country -- truckers will demand one, even if the citizens don't.
That said, this new trade route for Asian goods would be less heavily used if the US simply lifted all tariffs and taxes on imports. So environmental advocates and small-town preservationists in the Big Lonesome region might better achieve their aims by advocating freer trade rather than more restrictions.
That pretty much sums up the two attitudes: One throwing up hands and accepting ugliness as inevitable, the other saying it will create jobs and that the fewer restrictions, the closer we can get to unbridled capitalism, the better.
In my 12-week camping trip last summer around the USA, I found several cities and parts of the country that had stubbornly preserved their beauty and refused to accept either side of the above-stated arguments. Funny thing. When Boulder, Colorado (to name one) put a green belt around the city that encouraged small farms right up to the edge, refused unbridled capitalism, got bike paths, public transportation, limited mall construction, guess what happened? MORE people wanted to live there, MORE businesses wanted to move there. It has become one of the most desirable places to live in the country.
Ugly ain't good business, it turns out.
Oh Pattie, Im sorry to say this... its all true! I ran frieight through LA for a dozen major companies in the late 80s early 90s and yes Nafta while on paper benefits us, it does have a million loopholes and one of them is the "transshipping" of Asian goods. Not just the Dollars stores but Payless Shoes,(and every other shoe chain store all of them manufacture in China now) Dayton Hudson ( Target, Mervyns and that group) All of the Electronics people the Best buys, and the like... and the one that started it (and me) in the container biz Walmart. In LA we have the largest infrastructure in the nation to deal with incomming containerized Cargo and its been expanded and its still not enough to deal with the expanding consumer greed. Yet the bottle neck in the rail system and the port is leading to the Gulf being utilized like you said in your post. Bye bye this slice of heaven in favor of warehouses and 6 lane highways with nasty speeding mexican trucks...uninsured trucks I might add.
We dont need half of the stuff that we all buy. I am learning that as I cut back on everything possible and we are shocked that we can do with so little. I will never say people shouldnt have the right to buy what they want, but this culture of have all of the little pink flamingos and plastic trash will be the death of us. Im as guilty as anybody else, but I still see it comming...I have chosen to give up Walmart and not go there as are a lot of people here in Hilo to try to stem the tide of lost independent businesses. I would encourage everyone that can buy that same thing some place else to do so as well.
I didnt know if there was a limit on comments
I do agree with the other posters that this will bring jobs and growth to the area. That is a good thing and with a little planning that can be a great thing...You take the good with the bad and add a pinch of prayer and involvement when something like this is happening.
Nope, no limit on comments. I love 'em. Thanks to all of you for stopping by, come sit a spell again. And you might plan a visit real soon to the Big Lonesome before it's gone. I am already planning a fall trip.
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