AUSTIN-SAN ANTONIO CORRIDOR
(Posted 2006-06-20 23:02:10 by Ray Lopez)

Since April I have been driving nearly every workday from my home in San
Antonio to my current work location in Austin, via IH-35.  This portion of
IH-35 is very full of traffic, and there is an almost continuous ribbon of
cities and businesses all along the corridor.

The San Antonio-Austin corridor has the potential to emerge as one of the
most vibrant areas of the US.  Between them, Austin and San Antonio (and
the surrounding communities up and down the IH-35 corridor) provide a huge
infrastructure of business, educational, cultural, residential, and
lifestyle opportunities.  

It is a shame, then, that there doesn't seem to be any sort of real effort
underway to formally join forces and build a truly world-class metropolitan
area.  One obvious area of improvement would be in the realm of public
transportation.  A rail line linking the public transportation systems of
both cities would be a huge boon to the economic prosperity of both. 
Better yet would be a common transit authority, one that could even run a
regional airport between the two cities.  Working-class folks in both
cities would benefit greatly by having ready access to jobs and
opportunities in both cities.  Investors would likely find a large,
metropolitan gateway to Central and South America very appealing,
especially in light of the fact that Atlanta is mounting an effort to take
that status away from Miami.

Alas, none of this will ever come to be, and that is sad.  It will never
happen because it requires people to think long-term, and it requires
people to think of something over and above their narrow self-interests. 
It involves things like tax authorities, spending on things that may not
benefit them for years, and otherwise engaging in thinking and imagining. 
Red states like Texas don't do these things, nor will they ever.  Nowadays,
to be "conservative" means not only wanting to keep things the same, but
also engaging in vicious, unrelenting attacks on anything that doesn't
conform to a narrow-minded, self-interested world-view.  This will never
change, and the San Antonio-Austin corridor will never develop to it's true
potential, because even if anyone does step up to offer a vision, it'll be
shot down and killed by people with no vision and little hope for the
future.

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