George C. gets it right on Carolina North

George C. is a common user over at Orange Politics. In an article from today's Herald-Sun, he gets it right on transit for Carolina North.

Chapel Hill delegate George Cianciolo reiterated the town's stance that the new campus should be oriented around using public transit right from the start. But Holden Thorpe, chairman of the UNC Chemistry Department, said one of his concerns was that scientists would need to have access to Carolina North labs during off-hours, when public transit wasn't an option.

Dr. Thorpe, in my opinion, is using Republican tactics here. No one, well, almost no one, is saying there should be no parking available on Carolina North. But, that the majority of movement should be through personal transit and public transportation. That doesn't change at night. If we create places to live on campus for grad students and postdocs, then they walk to work. One local professor I know thinks that is the BEST reason for having housing on campus, because he can get his workers to come in at night to transfer that blot into primary antibody instead of waiting a whole day. The parking at night will free up, just like it does now. Go to any building on campus at night and you will find student and postdoc cars filling the service slots and reserved tiny parking spaces. It seems to work. I've never had to park at the Cardinal or Dogwood deck in order to work at night.

I think, and this is just a guess, the reason many OFFICIALS are against public transit is because they are used to parking right in front of their buildings and scooting right inside. Many faculty in the medical school start out parking down by the Dean dome and taking a shuttle or hiking up. Then, they can get a pass to the Craig deck, still a walk. I've talked to many that wish public transit was more widespread and more timely so they could ditch the car and travel by bus.

Personal and public transit doesn't solve all ills, but it is a good answer for many people. Deal with it.