Profile Post

Today, I spent hours trying to find a blog that did not translate the newest federal and state transit policy initiatives into plain English (like a knock-off news reporter) or read the criticisms that “green” activists had about these policies without providing actual statistics or realistic solutions to improve the policy. But just as I was about to give up my search, I found Way2Go-Transportation for the 21^st Century, which is sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund and consists of a group of bloggers that are actually trying to provide realistic solutions to make our communities greener. What I love about this blog is that the writers talk about their own personal experiences with these problems and then provide statistics and opinions from other literary sources in order to inform their audience, but in an interesting way that is easy to understand.

I hate reading. It is my least favorite thing to do, so the fact that I actually read the last sentence of the post says something about this blog and its authors. The blogging team consists of Peter Ashcroft, who is an automotive focused policy analyst, John Mimikakis, who is a senior policy manager, and Kathryn Phillips, who is the director of the California Transportation and Air Initiative. However, it was one of their old bloggers, Carrie Denning, whose writing style personifies what I want my blog to represent. Each blogger probably posts at least once every 2 weeks, but I feel like each blogger might post on a more frequent basis. The bloggers appear to specialize in public policy, which is ideal since the mission of EDF is to unite community, business and government in order to find realistic solutions to the looming environment issues that society seems to ignore and pretends don’t exist.

As soon as I read the first line of “Back to the Car”, I knew that I had to share this blog because of its relevance to my own personal feelings about public transit and because of Carrie’s strong hook.

California has long been considered a car-culture. Images of iconic drives along Big Sur and through redwood forests are as ubiquitous as surf boards and the Golden Gate. Meanwhile, the East Coast is often synonymous with fast and sleek metro systems packed full of commuters.

How ironic is it that Carrie is heading to the East Coast and is forced to drive, when the East Coast has some of the leading public transit systems in the world? It is refreshing to hear that Los Angeles is not the only city that is in dire need of an updated public transit system. Carrie writes with a strong voice, but not one that is overpowering and forces ideas onto people. She always concludes with her personal feelings towards a topic after providing actual evidence. Her audience has the freedom to think about these issues critically and generate their own ideas on their own, which creates an academic learning environment and allows for people to see these problems in a new light. Consequently, they think about them differently, which later leads to more well-though out ideas that are actual viable solutions instead of an emotional reaction. I can’t believe that the one blog that I found interesting does not seem to have a huge fan base, which is apparent from the lack of comments on this post and the fact that the blog is not ranked on technorati.com. But Carrie does have a fan base, based on the comments on her other posts.

Kathryn Phillips also caught my attention as she also writes with a similar style that is captivating. “Stimulus Plan? Taking Transit Can Save You $10,000” begins with her co-workers remarks about how to spend all this extra money, which in turn promotes public transit by putting it in a new light and fights against the general public’s misconceptions. Her catchy intro allows for people to get attached to her post and then continue reading on learning about how a bill is going through the Senate that would add funds towards transit and fight against the current funding cuts. 

Way2Go’s blog grasps its audience’s attention and tries to reach out to the American public for support and help. They have great topics, which will help me start thinking about posts for my blog; however, I want to interview actual people in the field and not just grab my sources from news articles or other online sources. Instead, I want to get input from students, faculty, and experts in the transportation field and begin a discussion about how to improve Los Angeles’ public transit. I am so excited to connect with my readers and inform them about what issues Los Angeles is facing right in their backyards.