New Haven Independent

Toni Gold (pictured) had just watched a movie about the decline of trolleys, screened Thursday night at the New Haven Museum as the second part of a six-week “New Urbanism Film Festival: Saving Our Cities/Saving the Land.”

Discussion follows the films, tying them into real-life challenges and opportunities in the corner of the putatively New Urbanism Universe known as New Haven, Connecticut.

Gold, a member of 1,000 Friends of Connecticut, which promotes compact development near transportation hubs, led the discussion. She said our little state is probably the most truck-dependent state in the nation for moving goods, and the evidence for that is visible every day on our choked highways, especially I-95.

She said the fact that people are making the connection between global warming and the carbon dioxide that wafts from motor vehicle tail pipes may push residents to consider new solutions to air pollution. “There are three legs to that stool,” she said. “One is, get away from fossil fuels, oil in particular; another one is to increase the efficiency of automobiles.

“But the third one, which is absolutely essential, is less driving. And as long as we build more highways, widen streets and put up parking garages, you might reduce pollution, but you aren’t going to change the character of cities.”

Gold added that the gains that have been made in efficiency have been wiped out by the greater number of vehicle-miles that motorists drive every year — largely triggered by sprawl.

The film shown Thursday night, “Taken for a Ride,” documents the systematic destruction of trolley systems throughout America in the 1900s by corporations - especially General Motors - that promoted private automobiles and highway construction.

The woman on the left in photo said she had lived for seven years in Toronto, a city that never got rid of its trolleys. “Every time they expanded [service], the ridership rose tremendously, because it’s reliable, it’s comfortable, it’s quiet. And even closer, in Boston, they’ve revived commuter rail service.”

Gold said a number of cities are trying to tear down interstate highways that have bisected and destroyed a lot of urban neighborhoods. “I see light at the end of the tunnel,” she said, although she added it will take decades to accomplish. And the highway lobby, while not as all-powerful as it was in the mid- to late-20th century, still wields tremendous sway over members of Congress.

Hamden Town Planner Leslie Creane (pictured) said she’s looking at redoing the standards for town streets. “I think there is an awful lot of power on the local level — we have control over our local roadways, particularly through zoning. That’s where the power is.”

Gold agreed, and elaborated that if a town puts in roundabouts (like those on Woodward Avenue) and takes out traffic lights, traffic will move more quickly, smoothly and safely.

“But try to get that through most highway departments,” she lamented. “My feeling is, cars shouldn’t be banned. They should just be slowed way down and civilized — toilet-trained, as one planner has said.” That’s one way to create walkable, bikeable cities.

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