Interviewed by the Census Lady

I was just about to sit down to a hashed together bowl of rice and beans, tomato etc. when the doorbell rang. I went down, and it was a census lady asking me if I could give 5 minutes of my time. Laura's out in Boston, couldn't get friends to come to my former teacher, Raina's show, so this was probably the social event of the night.
"Oh sure, c'mon up you want a glass of water or anything."
The Pig predictably swarmed her and she couldn't get enough of him. She said no less than 10 times that dogs and cats "just love me". I guess that's a good thing, working for the Census Bureau would be a pretty hellish thing if dogs were always nipping at you.
Ms. Kyszenia-Yavni was a total people person, she just couldn't get enough chatting in. She asked me about how I got to work and when I told her by bike she was a bit surprised. I asked her if there was a box for that, worried that the US Cencus was about to fuck over bike commuters by not collecting any info about us. She said that there was indeed a box, and I told her that 110,000 New Yorkers use thier bike every day to get to work. It led to a conversation about Transportation Alternatives her eyes perked up at this one and it came out that I had worke for them and had made the cars that were in the Car Free Bedford campaign.
We went back and forth for a bit about parking etc. She drives her car everywhere for her job, so she was, predictably, hating life and wanted more parking and less curtailment of drivable streets, namely Bedford. Her suggestion was to have free parking for people who live on the block they were shopping on. This would encourage people to just own more cars and hey, count up the people you think live on your block and then tell me if everyone could have a parking space if they owned a car. Um hmmm. I tried to tell her about the law of capicity, "build it and more, many more, will come". She agreed with most of my points, most particularly my endorsement of the transportation ballot initiative coming up on Tuesday. 2nd avenue subway anyone? It turns out that she lives on North 3rd and Bedford and had seen the cars and wasn't so keen on shutting down that part of Bedford. It was damned good times, and I look forward to bumping into her some Saturday while Laura and I are walking the Pig.
Alrighty, enough chatting, I'm off to Blue and Gold for some beers with friends.



Transportation Alternatives