San Antonio gives rich hybrid owners free parking

[RB TexLa]

Guess if you can't afford one, they are just going to push you toward the bus. Of course the back of the bus, the front of the bus will be reserved for hybrid owners who's cars are in the shop.

http://feeds.thesanantonionews.net/?rid=09e875f28149629...

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. if it encourages an SUV owner to switch to a hybrid, that's fine by me.

[jpgray]

2. I think incentives for hybrids/fuel efficient cars are a good idea

As for those without, they're no worse off than before, no?

[RB TexLa]

3. As for those without? ok

Reporter: So you bought a hybrid?

Mr. Howell: Yes, it's great, I gave up my monthly parking and now park for free on the street.

Reporter: What about the people who normally park on the street who can't afford hybrids?

Mr. Howell: Well, we have a bus system somewhere for "those people."

Reporter: Thank very much, Mr. Howell.

Mr. Howell: No problem, have you seen a police officer, this non-hybrid poor person car is one minute over on the meter, I need it towed so I can have my spot.

[jpgray]

5. One can still park with a non-hybrid vehicle

I don't really get what your issue with this is. Seeing as all-day meters in San Antonio are just $2, I don't think is the crisis level clash between the classes you view it as.

[aein]

7. so, when he said "those people," did he make quote marks with his hands?

[Tyler Durden]

11. I can't believe I'm in total agreement with you.

Guess I just had an extra dose of "Freedom of choice" with my coffee this morning.

[lonestarnot]

14. Incentives should be "mandated." Heard bushilter use the

word this a.m. in relation to Iran.

[zbdent]

4. Hey, you give me a 50 percent rebate on an item, I'd consider

buying it too ... you know, like the 50 percent rebate that Hummer buyers used to get from the government (GOP) ... the same people who probably never got it off the pavement.

[tomreedtoon]

6. "Rich" and "hybrid owner" is redundant.

If hybrids were to become the automotive standard in the US, none of these perks would exist.

Isn't it interesting that the whole ecology thing is largely a matter of financial status? Poor people can't afford these environment-saving measures, and the rich use them as a bat against poor people. Kind of like the way people who CAN afford not to shop at Wal-Mart can criticize the poor people who have no choice.

[MadHound]

8. Get off your whole pitiful pauline rag and go do something besides whining

I'm not a rich person, by any stretch of the imagination. yet I'm doing what I can, not only to help the enviroment, but also to help myself. My transportation is this:


Last year I was getting screwed by the high gas prices for my fifty two mile round trip commute, so I bought a Bajaj Chetak scooter, gets 100mpg(better than a hybrid), and cruises at 55-60mph(almost as fast as a hybrid). It's emissions are much less than a hybrid also. All for a whopping $2800. Oh, and since it fits so well at bike racks and on sidewalks, I too get to park for free.

In addition, I'm growing a lot of my own food, canning it, pickling it, storing it away for future use. Again, it is the ecologically sound thing to do, and is inexpensive to boot. Also, I'm replacing the grass in my yard. I'm going from your normal fescue mix, which has to be mowed fairly regularly, to buffalo grass, a native grass that grows slower, thus mowed less often. Another fuel and atmospheric saver. Also a cheap conversion, since you only need to buy a few squares of buffalo grass sod and then watch as it takes over the rest of your yard within a few years.

Next year, I'm putting in a wood stove, complete with catalytic convertor. A move that will eliminate my need for propane gas, and thus save money, even though I will be using gas to cut down dead trees. More things to do, buy your meat from a local farmer. I buy a quarter cow from my neighbor who raises cattle. After processing fees, the total is aprox $1.80/lb, no matter what the cut. This helps save fuel, since the meat that you buy in the store is generally shipped in over hundreds of miles.

Every single purchasing decision you make has an impact on the enviroment, to buy food from local farmers or from chains that ship it cross country. To drive a vehicle that gets poor gas milage or one that is super efficient. And frankly, pleading poverty isn't an excuse. Sure, you can't afford a hybrid, but perhaps you can afford a scooter, or a bike, or a highly efficient conventional car, or even a highly efficient used car.

Being ecologically concientous isn't a matter soley in the pervue of the rich and well off. Every single one of us has to do what we can, within our means, to help the enviroment now. Pleading poverty is an excuse for doing nothing, since as I've shown there are many things that one can do to help the enviroment and save money, all at a low initial cost to you. Everybody has to do their part, I'm doing mine, are you doing yours? Or are you just going to claim poverty as an excuse to do nothing? If it is the latter choice, then it is time for you to get off your ass and do something, because that excuse won't fly no more.

[Matariki]

15. I bought one of those this summer too

and love it! 4 stroke engine and low emmisions, the Bajajs are the best scooters around!

[MadHound]

18. I love mine! I've had it a little less than a year,

And I've put over 5200 miles on it. Running like a champ, and it's a blast to ride. I'm growing an orchard, and when I'm ready to commercially produce fruit, I'm thinking seriously of getting one of the Bajaj three wheel panel vans to transport to market. Insulate the back compartment and install a solar powered refrigeration unit, and I'll be good to go. Easy on gas, easy on the enviroment, and distinctive advertising to boot

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

9. I have yet to hear

any "rich" people criticize lower-income people for shopping at Wal Mart or anywhere like it. I suspect that people whose pocketbook allows them to drive a nice new hybrid are precisely the sort that wouldn't hold economic status against someone for the choices they have available to them.

And just FYI, I see poorer people living ecologically-neutral lives every day. They ride bicycles where they need to go, or they walk, or they take the bus.

I see no way in which economic status could or should prevent someone from living an ecologically balanced life. Recycling is free to all. There are buses, bicycles, and the good old heel-toe express. Many cheaper foods (rice, beans, basic produce...) come with minimal packaging, so as not to clog up landfills. The list is pretty long.

Not sure I agree with yout post.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

12. You've never heard one class mock another for being forced to shop

...at Wal-Mart?

Stick around I promise you that will change. Some people seem to think if they're lucky enough to have choices it makes them better than others. I've never understood that way of seeing things.

Welcome to DU!

[Beelzebud]

20. You've never heard a "rich" person criticize wal-mart shoppers?

Stick around...

[lectrobyte]

25. Given that Toyota is selling about a hundred thousand hybrids a

year, I'd argue that they are an automotive standard.

[jsamuel]

10. I have a hybrid and live in low income housing. Stereotypes make people

wrong.

[greenman3610]

13. This is Bull. A Prius is a lot more affordable than

a Tahoe, or an Escape.
I don't see many welfare Moms driving a freaking Hummer.

skip the class warfare BS.
Environmentalism is not a hobby of the
upper classes. That is Right wing disinformation/distortion
of the worst order.

This country has subsidized gas guzzling to the
tune of trillions of dollars for our
superhighway system. It's about damn
time we started rewarding frugality.

[fleabert]

16. anything that encourages conservation is good in my book.

Hybrids are not just for the wealthy. I just wish the standard was emissions, like Austin, and not just gas/electric.

kudos san antonio! It's hard to be progressive in Texas!

[matcom]

17. jesus. is NOTHING ever good enough for you?

i think it's great. just because you can't afford one (or I right now for that matter) doesn't mean society shouldn't give incentives for those who can.

CHRIST NOTHING is good enough for some anymore

[RB TexLa]

19. I'm perfectly happy with the vehicles I have

Doesn't matter what I can afford, I drive them till I have to get out and walk away from them.

[LynneSin]

21. I find this offensive that you are making this out to be class warfare

If we can encourage more people to get out of gas-guzzling SUVs and into hybrid cars, then I'm all for it. I realize that the Hybrids are a bit higher in price than other cars of the same size, but if we can prove to the automakers that there is a market and demand for these cars, then perhaps more will be made and the prices will come down a bit

[The2ndWheel]

28. Prove there is a market and demand?

How would making something associated with a product free of charge be proving anything? You can create a demand for basically anything if you slap the word free in there somewhere. You want to mold a market, not prove there is one.

Not just trying to single you out. That's what advertising is. Nobody will buy just anything, unless you either A) sell it well, or, more importantly 2) control the environment in which you're selling your product(sort of like the state, oil industry, and auto companies coming together to create the highway system, spreading everything further apart, thus proving the need for a car).

[LynneSin]

29. Fair enough but

The demand in the US is still for gas guzzling SUVs which is why most of the American Car Manufacterers have done very little to get into the hybrid business.

Every little thing will help the cause with getting hybrids to sell better than SUV and if this is an incentive in San Antonio then I love it.

YOu have to realize that change sometimes starts with just the little things

[northzax]

22. do you have to pass some sort of means test?

do you get a special license plate that says "I am rich?" I don't get it.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lectrobyte]

24. I'd rather see "rich" people in a hybrid than an H2, good for San Antone!

[Ganja Ninja]

26. I don't want to engage in class warfare.

This isn't about rewarding the rich but rewarding the environmentally conscious.

[devilgrrl]

27. San Antonio has rich people????

[Gruenemann]

30. Yes. I'm one.

I live in San Antonio and I drive a hybrid. That makes me rich, right? Wish I'd known that! I could've been living like Mr. Howell all these years instead of pretending to live in genteel poverty on my bloated income that is almost twice the proposed minumum wage of $7! I'm so fucking rich I shop at Target instead of being 'forced' to shop at Wal-Mart like all those filthy peasants. Woohoo!!! I'm filthy fucking rich and now when I cruise downtown I'll zoom into my free parking place and lord it over all the common pond scum down there in their new Escalades and Hummers!

[devilgrrl]

32. Dude, your squeezing me out of decent parking!

Rich bastard

[Dora]

31. It's narrow-minded to turn this into a class issue.

Jeebus!

We can't afford a new car of any kind. Many people can't. Hell, my parents never bought a "new" new car until I was 25 years old.

Goodness knows that if we ever can afford a new car, we'll certainly be looking at hybrids.

There is nothing at all wrong with San Antonio's action. You're just silly for thinking otherwise.