The New York Times ran an op-ed on Sunday about politicians running for President coming up with proposals to ease the pain of high gas prices. Only this op-ed was from the summer of 1996, when average nationwide prices were rising from about $1.07 a gallon to $1.23 per gallon. The author, Russell Baker, wrote:

Sure I’m mad about the price of gasoline, but what I’m really mad about is having to buy the stuff just to go to the grocery.

I’m mad about the grocery having relocated from just around the corner to three miles away in what used to be a cornfield out in the country. And why? Because the grocer needs 15 acres of parking lot to accommodate cars that have to be driven three miles every time you want a bag of grapefruit and a gallon of milk.

I’m mad about not having a bus or streetcar system left like the one that once enabled people to travel those six miles for a little pocket change.

If only we’d started fixing this problem twelve years ago.

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Tagged: bill clinton, development, gas prices, roads, sprawl

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.