New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Let’s start with the definition of “injustice”. There are many, but “gross unfairness” is the one I relate to when I think of Massachusetts’ long time snubbing of one of its major cities.
The region of the Southcoast contains approximately 400,000 residents. That’s a pretty good chunk of the overall population, yet we are the only ones in the state to not be served by rail service. When you consider towns within 20 minutes of here get served by rail, Lakeville for example, it makes you wonder about the political structure in place these past few years. It used to be in the past that lower income, high unemployment communities throughout America would get under-served and in so many ways by our democratic political system that they had little to no chance of getting ahead. These communities were destined for failure. Not anymore! We have to stand up!
It is 2013 folks! How come we can come up with all this great science and innovation, yet we cannot make common sense solutions to our problems? Hasn’t the collapse of our economy, four wars, a broken, super expensive healthcare system, and rise in income inequality taught us anything? Food, medical, real estate and energy costs have quadrupled in the last 20 years, yet our average salaries have gone up by 20% at best. This does not really account for all business sectors either. So some people still get paid to do the same jobs they did 20 years ago!
Has the new “normal” gas price of close to $4 a gallon raised any eye brows? That’s 3 times higher than we we’re used to! Does the talk of peak oil by U.S. oil companies & the ex CEO’s of these conglomerates concern you?am We are in a downtrend of oil supplies. Doesn’t the huge rise in U.S. population concern you? Or what the future of Massachusetts might look like if it doubled in population by 2050? Imagine our highway systems with this many people!
Have the problems of E. Coli in our spinach, horse meat in our beef, disease in our chicken, and links to chemicals used in our foods linked to higher risk in cancer, taught us anything? With foods coming from far off lands, there is no telling what they did to stock the shelves in our supermarkets to sell us cheap food. We need to stop watching T.V., get off our asses and start to realize, there’s a new reality out there, and we have to do something about it. Our own leaders have already proven to screw it up. Everyone knows it. The thing is, we have the power to change this. We don’t have to live with these substandard living conditions. We cannot just accept everything that is laid out before us. We have to demand better because we deserve better!
One of the major problems with the Southcoast being under-served for so long, is its limited resourcefulness to thrive in this new economy. As you all know, the Southcoast is not a major hub of commerce. There is no major industry anymore that supplies us with jobs. What happens if by 2020, gas prices only double in price? I have a difficult time believing people would be able to afford driving if gas prices go up to $8 a gallon. What happens then? Will we even be able to get to our jobs in Providence, Newport or Boston if we don’t have a rail system? Will we be able to ship or import foods to our region if our trucking system gets so expensive that we cannot afford to pay for diesel?
Let’s say gas prices stay around the same price. What will happen when our population grows so much that our highways are crowded all the time instead of just rush hour? We certainly won’t have a rail system that would allow us to get to our jobs. What other solutions do we have instead of the sole rail system that has proven to be so effective in countries around the world? We used to have rail all across America. We even had trains back in the 1920s that were travelling at speeds higher than they’re capable of traveling today. How come we are the only country to abandon a system that other countries have truly admired and nourished? When we got rid of our city streetcar systems in our cities in the 1940s, do you know what we did with them? We sold them to Canada. Do you know how long they used our own streetcar system? For another 50 years! They just replaced them in the 1990s with a more efficient, faster rail system. The highway system has already proven to cost way too much to maintain. Keep in mind, asphalt is made from oil. That means asphalt will only get even more expensive when oil prices go up even higher.
As we move into the future, we have to demand better. We live in a crucial time in history and our fate will be determined more now than ever by the decisions we make. We cannot continue to invest in anything else than ourselves! The government has been able to invest way too much in war and other countries for far too long! It has left us scrambling, trying to find solutions to our own problems. So I ask you to demand better. We deserve investments in our own people. We have to have more respect for ourselves and demand high quality standards of living. If we don’t, than who will? So I urge you contact our local and state leaders now and demand rail to happen now, not later. We cannot wait any longer!
Freddie Estremera runs Whaling City Tales, a blog about life experiences, thoughts, and ideas of a young couple living in the Southcoast of Massachusetts.
