The Perils of Gridlock City
One aspect of my job is to make delivery runs throughout four-city quadrangle of Chicago and Rockford, Illinois and Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin. I’ve been known to drive to Minneapolis/ St. Paul occasionally. Such experience, as well as constant comments from my out-of-town colleagues, cause me to rename home turf as Gridlock City. I’m sure there are worse cities in the world in which to drive, but for the upper mid-west, Chicago is the toughest commute for your money.
And it takes a lot more money, too. The Chicago Tribune today features Gridlock City’s Number 1 status at the gas pump: we pay the most in the nation for our juice. A separate article tries to explain the whole mess. Refinery problems, local taxes, extra fuel processing to counter act smog - I’m not convinced.
Two things keep creeping into my mind, things the stories don’t cover: War uses fuel, and Unprecedented profits by oil companies last year. Why isn’t that on the table? Hush-hush, closed door meetings between Vice President Halliburton and the energy moguls a few years back might have something to do with why I’m gouged for gasoline every summer.
In Gridlock City, not only will you pay a premium for gas, but you’ll spend more of it while sitting in traffic jams and breathing the brown haze. Such are the perils of modern times.