I was waiting for an appointment today, and picked up the November issue of 
the AAA magazine "Via."...the cover story happened to be on San Francisco. 
Coincidently, inside there was a message from the CEO about the election. 
AAA took no stance on the presidential election, but urged readers to vote 
for items associated with traffic relief.  Several of the measures listed 
were local issues, which I knew a bit about.  One of which, I was able to 
vote on two weeks ago.	Besides several fixes for local nightmare highway 
bottlenecks (ex. I-80/680 interchange and a fourth bore to the Caldecott 
tunnel), some measures AAA urged readers to vote for include:

-Expansion of car-pool-only lanes.
-Expansion of commuter bus service.
-Expansion of local bus services.
-Express bus services connecting regional rail services to activity & 
employment centers.
-Bus discounts for low-income residents & students.
-"Para-commuter" upgrades for elderly & disabled on city-to-city busses.
-Incorporation of bicycle & pedestrian travel with all road upgrades.
-Stand-alone bicycle & pedestrian path projects.
-Expansion of regional rail service (Amtrak).
-Expansion of commuter rail service (BART).
-Expanded Ferry service from Benicia/Vallejo, Rodeo, & Richmond to San 
Francisco.

I'm not sure where their money is, and I read where their mouth was, but 
their real attempt to convince the public to vote for the above ballot 
measures was very clear.

It seems that The Better World Club & Car Talk's motives may be just to
make 
more money.  False advertising and scare tactics bother me more than any 
potential truth in the advertisement!  When the goal seems to be good, there 
is often less scrutiny given to accusations, and forgiveness is given much 
sooner for false accusations.  I'm not for one side or the other, but in 
these and other situations, I do recommend pushing your comfort zones when 
trying to understand the side you are not pre-disposed to 
believe...whichever side that is.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Daniel Reeves"  
To:  
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 8:50 PM
Subject: AAA vs Better World


> [re off-topic posts to improvetheworld today:  won't happen again -- see
> discussion on whiteboard at
> http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves/improvetheworld
> ]
>
> Topic at hand:  I've been reading about this and have decided to drop AAA
> like a hot potato.  They've been using my money to fight against
> everything I believe in, like bike paths and mass transit.  Here's what
> the car talk guys have to say about it:
>
> What's new at Car Talk Plaza?
>
> A chance to put your money where your values are, is what's new.
>
> Are you a member of AAA?
>
> Over the years many of you have complained that, aside from providing
> emergency towing services, AAA uses your money to support big oil and
> everything related to it.  It lobbies for highway construction over mass
> transit; lower gas prices over fossil fuel alternatives; and spends
> millions of dollars of your membership money doing this.
>
> Want the details?  Check this out:
>
> http://www.nrdc.org/amicus/01win/aaa/aaa.asp
>
> Ugly, eh?  Now, a lot of you have said you'd love to join a different road
> club, BUT are afraid you won't get the same great service (you know, that
> patented, AAA wait-four-hours-in-the-snowstorm service we've all come to
> love and trust!).  Well, now there is an alternative.
>
> It's called Better World.  And it uses virtually the same network of tow
> providers that AAA uses, so you can get service all over the country, 24
> hours a day.	The Better World Club was founded by people who wanted
> reliable emergency road service but who didn't want their membership dues
> used to oppose things like bike paths and train service.
>
> In the interests of full disclosure, Better World is forking over dineros
> to advertise on the Car Talk web site. But despite this demonstration of
> poor business judgment, we still think it's a business worth supporting.
> Better World is trying to do well by doing good.  If you'd like your road
> service dues to go to road service and not to defoliating the last unpaved
> parcels of America, you should check them out.
>
> You can get all the details by clicking on the Better World logo at:
>
> http://www.cartalk.com
>
> ...
>
> USEFUL INFORMATION ALERT:  Tired of paying auto club dues to an outfit
> that lobbies against environmental causes?
>
> Check out the Better World Club. It's an auto club with genuinely decent
> values-- unlike some others we could name... whose initials just so happen
> to be AAA.
>
> Better World Club cares about your...
>  *Environmental interests: It gives 1% of its revenue towards
> environmental clean up and advocacy;
>  *Consumer interests: It even has discounts on hybrid rental cars; and
>  *It has the nation's only bicycle roadside assistance program.
>
> Dump your AAA membership and join Better World!
>
> If you join via the Car Talk web site, you'll get an extra month's
> membership. Check out Better World now at
>
> http://www.cartalk.com
>
> -- 
> http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves  - -	google://"Daniel Reeves"
>
>