We Must Reimagine Crossing The Street

I've never been one to sit around and do nothing...although it may seem that way to people that watch me for any period of time. As soon as I learned of the most recent deaths of pedestrians that were hit by cars while innocently sleeping in the middle of an eight-lane highway at rush hour, I immediately got to work to implement the plan that I had been working on all along and was just waiting for the right moment.

Let's not beat around the bush: All of the urban areas of Alaska were designed in the most unequitable way possible on purpose and its time that we start investing to change that (using societies biggest contributors' money to do so).

My plan, which my comrades and I will be presenting for the Alaska legislature soon, will completely reimagine cities the way they were supposed to be; slow, inefficient and tedious.

It isn't fair that 487 citizens should have to worry about literally dying on the way to the coffee shop or Speedway at the hands of the other 644,911 careless car owners on the way to work.

It's time that we had a reckoning on transportation and how it works.

• My plan would call for pedestrian bridges every 30' of road, across the entire urban landscape of the state.

• My plan would call for a "Car Hour" where one day per year, at an hour left entirely up to voters, the privileged few would be able to drive to their hearts content. (This is an integral part of the plan as democracy is the bedrock of our society)

• My plan would implement a tax on all car owners of $22,499 per year (to increase with inflation) to pay for the privilege of owning the vehicle.

• But perhaps the most important part of my plan, is it will save lives and create cleaner air probably.

I ask you to join me in lobbying our state lawmakers to appropriate funding for my nonprofit so that we can get to work saving lives.

Marge Grossman is a daughter, friend and thought leader that is the founder and FEO of the Anchorage based nonprofit Save, Slow, Live