Rethinking a footprint in New London

I

’ve grown up in New London County. I went to high school in the Northwest Corner and now attend Connecticut College in New London. I love it here: the people, the towns and cities, Long Island Sound, the history. My grandfather, a longtime educator, spent most of his working life in Connecticut and has retired here. My dad went to Wesleyan and got his start in journalism working for the Hartford Courant, after which he met my mom. Teacher and journalist aren’t high-income jobs. My grandfather and father were able to start and live their lives here.

But the Connecticut that I live in today, that I’ll soon be looking to start my career in, isn’t willing to give people like me that opportunity. I would love to stay and work here after college, but the reality is quite simple: I can’t. At the rate costs are rising, I won’t ever be able to.

It’s not just because of housing prices though. I don’t own a car and rely entirely on my bike and public transit to get around Connecticut. I choose to do this because I want to reduce my carbon footprint, stay healthy and keep my costs low. But many people can’t afford cars, or legally cannot operate them. Connecticut is outwardly hostile to all of us who don’t have cars and treats pedestrians and riders as second-class citizens.

First of all, walking and biking is dangerous here, as witnessed by skyrocketing pedestrian traffic violence. To bike downtown from campus, I have to ride along an onramp and then merge onto Eugene O’Neill Drive — a de-facto off-ramp for I-95. Once I get there, I and other riders/pedestrians have to put up with drivers that treat the street like an extension of the highway. We can’t make our cities livable — let alone our suburbs — if we keep designing our roads to move cars fast at the expense of moving people safely.

Second, it’s time-consuming to rely on spotty public transit. For me to get from my campus to Bank Street without my bike, it would take an hourlong walk or waiting for a bus that only comes once an hour. At night that wait would be spent entirely in the dark, without shelter, on a sidewalk that is often left unplowed, on a street that drivers frequently speed on. Most Connecticut residents that rely on transit have similar stories. It makes it that much harder to get to a job, or class, or to the grocery store.

Let’s be clear: traffic deaths and injuries and poorly connected transit service are a policy choice. Why, at a time when our region is experiencing one of the greatest manufacturing booms in the last few decades (as a result of both good industrial and environmental policy, recently expanded by new commitments by energy providers), are we not heavily investing in housing and transport options for those thousands of new workers bound for our county?

Our current status quo is not only unsafe and unequitable, but is actively sabotaging our burgeoning economy.

Fortunately, there are steps we can take to change. Passing HB 5390, or Work Live Ride, is a common-sense first step to building a better, more equitable, more transit-oriented future in Connecticut, where no one is sidelined because of their income, place of birth or disability.

Work Live Ride is particularly important in New London, which is disproportionately young, diverse and lower-income. We want to live and work in places where we can ride and walk safely. That is the key to New London’s brighter future. The bill is a common-sense step toward the realization of the American dream of independence, freedom and liberty for everyone who seeks a better life. We owe it to ourselves, our fellow citizens and those not yet born or not yet arrived to pass this bill and help create a better Connecticut for everyone.

Owen Tacy is a senior at Connecticut College majoring in American Studies and is a communications intern for Desegregate CT, a prohomes advocacy coalition.

Work Live Ride is particularly important in New London, which is disproportionately young, diverse and lower-income. We want to live and work in places where we can ride and walk safely. That is the key to New London’s brighter future.