Stuart Mease, with the City of Roanoke posted a short video on YouTube about regionalism.
Check it out, and then see my
video response.
According to
a recent study, it's a good thing the Roanoke region is compliance with current EPA air quality standards:
Lowering air pollution in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley would save more lives annually than ending all motor vehicle fatalities in the two regions, according to a new study.
The study, which examined the costs of air pollution in two areas with the worst levels in the country, also said meeting federal ozone and fine particulate standards could save $28 billion annually in health care costs, school absences, missed work and lost income potential from premature deaths.
Now, Roanoke is not - nor has been, in terms of air pollution - Southern California. I grew up in San Diego in the 80s, and I remember how thankful we were that we didn't live in L.A., where the smog was so thick you couldn't see into or out from from the city. Where Roanoke may have been just over the EPA standards, Southern California left them a couple of miles back on the side of the highway, without even access to a bus to get a ride home.
It's also worth noting that even at it's worst Roanoke had a relative few number of days in excedence of ozone standards.
This site shows that L.A. saw 141 Orange days, 26 Red days, and 7 Purple days in 2008, while Roanoke
saw 0 air quality violations. So, certainly, the length of exposure to poor air quality is probably a more important factor than simple exposure.
The point is not, ultimately, that the air quality in our region will kill you as quickly as it will in California. The interesting point I glean from the study is that it is becoming increasingly obvious that these externalities of air quality are having a significant effect both on public health and on economic activity, and there is a larger and larger amount of data that quantifies these impacts. As the country, and the Roanoke region, face a number of economic and quality-of-life challenges, we would do well to take these externalities seriously. As we deal with the growing costs of healthcare, for example, we can't expect to solve the problem by finding creative ways to expand coverage if we're not prepared to deal directly with as fundamental an issue as the health of the air we breathe. And if air quality in major metropolitan areas can have this big an economic impact, rural and mid-sized localities are going to end up subsidizing those costs through higher insurance premiums and taxes, particularly if the U.S. implements some form of universal health coverage or insurance. In other words, we'll not only be helping to pay for Northern Virgina's roads, we'll be helping to pay for Nothern Virginia's asthma treatments.
It would have been nice if Mother Nature cooperated a bit, but I'm still excited about today's inaugural run of Roanoke's new
Star Line Trolley. I attended the maiden run yesterday morning and was glad to see the
remarkable media coverage was very positive. The trolleys are gorgeous on the inside, all wood paneling and benches, with small LCD screens displaying event information for the city. I think the Jefferson Street corridor will be well-served by the trolley, and I'm happy to see the City and Carilion work together to connect, and reduce the number of vehicle traveling between, downtown and the growing Carilion campus.
I was asked by one reporter whether I thought that service will or should be expanded into the Grandin Village and other areas. Certainly, I think such expansion will be welcome, but it's also important to note that most of the major village, shopping, and employment centers of the city are
already connected via Valley Metro. If the Star Line Trolley will get people thinking about alternative ways to get around, then it will be all the more successful.