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ION - Waterloo Region's Light Rail Transit
Having a privilege is not evil nor elitist.

Owning a car is a privilege, but it doesn't make you bad or good, it's what you choose to do with that privilege that matters.  If you refuse to acknowledge it as an advantage, and act as though others who don't have that advantage don't exist, or are bad because of their actions that result from not having a car, that's not a good thing.

If you recognize that you have a privilege and seek to enable those who don't to enjoy some of the same benefits you enjoy because of your privilege, well that is a good thing.

And there are vast swaths of middle ground where we're all just people who live our lives and are neither good nor bad.

ijmorlan's example may have seemed slanted, but only because it challenges the idea that we should blame people who are taking a shortcut, when we enjoy the privilege of a transportation system that largely (and I say this as a pedestrian and cyclist, who is privileged to live downtown) works for us.  Other's may not have that advantage and may find it harder to get where they need to go.  I certainly feel this any time I leave the relatively pedestrian and transit friendly downtown cores.

When people get all defensive about their privileges being pointed out, it's an indicator that they feel guilty about them, which just isn't right...I feel no guilt about the many privileges I enjoy being a straight white male in North America, but it does open my eyes to the fact that other's don't have those advantages, and that I should seek to enable others who lack them to succeed as I am able to, partly through my own abilities, but also through the advantages I was born with.
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(06-05-2018, 11:09 AM)creative Wrote: So all people that own cars are "privileged people" and some how look down on people who do not and are therefore branded elitists!

Please make an effort to understand what the other person is saying. No one could reasonably in good faith read what I wrote and conclude that I thought all cars owners looked down on others.

But as to the specific issue, yes, car ownership marks one as a relatively privileged person compared to the majority who do not have a car (probably not a majority in this country, but world wide certainly, and even here a larger fraction than is commonly and implicitly assumed). Not the same kind of privilege as possessed by royalty or multi-billionaires, obviously, but being able to make an appointment across town on a moment’s notice by just popping in the car and driving over there does in fact make one privileged. Even “just” needing to go to a medical appointment across town can be a significant hardship for somebody with extremely limited resources.
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(06-05-2018, 11:35 AM)Canard Wrote: Yeah, it’s a very tiresome thing to keep hearing about how evil I am just because I like to leave the city and explore the rest of the continent.

Please make an effort to understand what the other person is saying. No one could reasonably in good faith read what I wrote and conclude that I thought you were evil because you like travelling. A made-up exaggeration at that level deserves an apology.
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(06-05-2018, 11:55 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Having a privilege is not evil nor elitist.

Owning a car is a privilege, but it doesn't make you bad or good, it's what you choose to do with that privilege that matters.  If you refuse to acknowledge it as an advantage, and act as though others who don't have that advantage don't exist, or are bad because of their actions that result from not having a car, that's not a good thing.

If you recognize that you have a privilege and seek to enable those who don't to enjoy some of the same benefits you enjoy because of your privilege, well that is a good thing.

And there are vast swaths of middle ground where we're all just people who live our lives and are neither good nor bad.

ijmorlan's example may have seemed slanted, but only because it challenges the idea that we should blame people who are taking a shortcut, when we enjoy the privilege of a transportation system that largely (and I say this as a pedestrian and cyclist, who is privileged to live downtown) works for us.  Other's may not have that advantage and may find it harder to get where they need to go.  I certainly feel this any time I leave the relatively pedestrian and transit friendly downtown cores.

When people get all defensive about their privileges being pointed out, it's an indicator that they feel guilty about them, which just isn't right...I feel no guilt about the many privileges I enjoy being a straight white male in North America, but it does open my eyes to the fact that other's don't have those advantages, and that I should seek to enable others who lack them to succeed as I am able to, partly through my own abilities, but also through the advantages I was born with.

Just to be clear,  I have worked my ass off my whole life to attain what some people label privilege.  I own a car, a truck, two motorcycles, as modes of transportation. I have never felt guilty about my achievements nor will I ever as I don't subscribe to much of the rhetoric about privilege.   I do however volunteer a lot of hours back to my community, I have raised thousands of dollars towards various charities as an example of how people give back in different ways.  Now on the part of public transportation,  I have endorsed and advocated LRT right from the start including going to the first original workshops.  I do it because I recognize it is for the good of our community at large and for the future of my children.  I think everyone needs to get off their high horses and stop judging people period.  Actions speak louder than words.  I think ijmorlan's did a great job describing the realities of how people view public transportation, and I did not take exception to his choice of words because I looked at the bigger message he was trying to convey..  Anyways,  just my thoughts on the matter...  Good discussion guys...
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(06-05-2018, 11:55 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Having a privilege is not evil nor elitist.

[....]

Thanks, that was a great expansion/explanation of what I was trying to say. There is actually an interesting discussion to be had — my words are not inerrant, and don’t say even a small fraction of what could be said — but it can’t be had if people jump on a participant for pointing out the fact that car ownership is an element of privilege.
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(06-05-2018, 11:55 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Having a privilege is not evil nor elitist.

Owning a car is a privilege, but it doesn't make you bad or good, it's what you choose to do with that privilege that matters.  If you refuse to acknowledge it as an advantage, and act as though others who don't have that advantage don't exist, or are bad because of their actions that result from not having a car, that's not a good thing.
(…)
When people get all defensive about their privileges being pointed out, it's an indicator that they feel guilty about them, which just isn't right...I feel no guilt about the many privileges I enjoy being a straight white male in North America, but it does open my eyes to the fact that other's don't have those advantages, and that I should seek to enable others who lack them to succeed as I am able to, partly through my own abilities, but also through the advantages I was born with.

I'm somewhat uncomfortable about all the "privilege" discussion recently. Apparently I have the privilege of being a male (although not everyone would view that as a privilege). I have the privilege of owning a car, although I don't use it often. I have the privilege of a home. I have the privilege of undivorced parents I have the privilege of a bicycle. I have the privilege of a paid non-minimum wage job. I have the privilege of eyeglasses. I have the privilege of government-paid health care (although my taxes certainly do contribute to that). I have the privilege of speaking fluent English (though not the privilege of speaking it as a first language). I have the privilege of literacy. I have the privilege of having been born in a first-world country. I have the privilege of living near an LRT stop. I have the privilege of a mobile phone. I have the privilege of being able to vote at free elections. And so on ...

What's my point with this list? Basically anything good that someone else does not have can be a "privilege". But that word has a an overloaded meaning, and often people imply that you should be sorry for your privilege and/or compensate in some way for having it. 

Of course this is now way off topic for the LRT thread, and I regret having taken away everyone's privilege of focusing on LRT discussions in this thread. Smile
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Any testing today?
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I was hoping for testing today as I was working in a good vantage point along Charles, but alas, I was left disappointed.
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(06-05-2018, 07:41 PM)timio Wrote: I was hoping for testing today as I was working in a good vantage point along Charles, but alas, I was left disappointed.

They've been testing on the spur lately
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Charles was busy today with other maintenance - lots of work vehicles in the ROW.
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They're busy commissioning the track lubricators I think.
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504 was out this morning, I had to wait for the gates at Northfield as it headed across the overpass and turned onto the spur. Chatter around 9:30 am was that it had just completed a dynamic brake test, but then I had to dial into a work meeting and didn't get a chance to listen for the rest of the day. It looked like they were doing lubricator work at the Conestoga S curve this morning too.
...K
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A behind-the-scenes look at "Spinal Column", to be installed near the Grand River Hospital station.

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(06-06-2018, 10:26 AM)Canard Wrote: A behind-the-scenes look at "Spinal Column", to be installed near the Grand River Hospital station.


That is a very col video, thank you for sharing.
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Very cool. I think Two Smiths are also responsible for the Don Quijote statues in the garden at Hacienda Sarria - it's worth a visit if you've not seen them.

Ottawa installed one of the artworks for it's new LRT this past week (a stainless steel representation of an eel at Pimisi station - they are spending something like $7.3million for 13 works of art, compared to the $835G that the Region is spending on the 7 Ion works.
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