When we were growing up, the ability to “get around” provided the freedom in life. It was transportation. The ability to get around beyond your own feet!
It quickly moved from horse, to wagon and train. In Pasadena, CA Henry Huntington brought us the Pacific Electric streetcar in the 1930’s that revolutionized Southern California.
Our last visit through Dallas airport gave us a chance to ride the SkyLink. It was such a great use of transportation and a way to link a community. I wanted to share photos so you could envision the future with me! Our Universities and educational facilities are the core fabric of America. They are an asset and an economic force. We need to use them to help our cities and states. Could a municipality become self sustaining with revenue and resources? What if the retirement community like a Leisure World was owned within the retirement fund? Real estate is an excellent long term investment because people do need a place to live!
Who would invest in those bonds? Baby boomers come to mind, and a generation of people that grew up with good music and liked fun and toys. And the generation right behind them too!
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Where you have a healthy local economy families thrive. Small business continues to be the fabric of America, but people need to be able to get around. Is there another alternative to everyone owning their own car and being all spread out? The villages of Europe were the original communities, and all the artists worked together to create their economy.
It helped a lot when we added clean water and sewers to society. Electricity really brought us along too. We take it all for granted these days, but 60 years ago life wasn’t as automated as it is today.
We wanted a lifestyle that looked like the Jetsons, and the handheld technology we have is just about there! When you add a SkyLink type technology to your local economy, you create opportunity.
We love the idea of high speed trains, but a great healthy local economy between Orange County California and San Diego , CA could be brilliant. Monorail service to Palm Springs and back could be a wonderful economy to encourage. Even all the way to Las Vegas is within reach. Highway 395 is the Mother Road of California, and a route they favor for the train from North to South in the state.
Retirement communities and recreational playgrounds are the gift that California offers the baby boomer generation. We may have been part of the 1960’s movement, and we will be part of the 2060 solution too.
Adding the long term vision to our planning process makes the decisions we face today clearer.