Wes Flynn's blog is a veritable hotbed of light-rail/mass transit wishful thinking, all because of this guest column in the Enquirer.

Some of the discussion revolves around what people in the suburbs think of mass transit, and it's been suggested that they're afraid of the "inner city" criminal element using public transportation to prey upon the outlying areas.

Maybe there are people who think this; maybe there aren't. But as an ex-exurbanite, I'm inclined to think that any suburban opposition to mass transit (and here I'm thinking particularly of light rail) is based less on suburban fear and more on suburban architecture.

When I lived in Milford, I was opposed to light rail - not because of crime, but because I couldn't see the point.

Outer-belt suburbs are planned around the assumption that people want to drive everywhere; everything is spaced far apart, there are hardly any sidewalks, and there's tons of free parking everywhere. And I lived in one from middle school until just last year. I was indocrinated in the ways of the suburbanite. Why, I thought as a young retail worker, would I want to take mass transit from my home in Milford to my job in Kenwood Towne Centre? Why, I wondered, would anyone want to spend good money on something no one would use, since everyone drives everywhere anyway?

Not only that, but if light rail came to Milford, I knew it would only venture as far as the "downtown" neighborhood; I didn't even live in Milford, but rather the "suburbs" of this suburb. I'd still have to drive to the rail stop - just as, had I ever tried to take the Metro, I would have found it necessary to drive to the bus stop.

That was then.

Now, as someone who lives in the city and works downtown, I get it, all right? I totally get the point of not having to worry about buying a parking pass each month for a lot that I don't feel safe walking to at night, not getting stuck in traffic on the way to and from work, not having to worry about where in Mount Lookout Square to park because it's just a teensy bit too far to walk in these shoes, not having to play the infernal duck-duck-goose game of "So, who's going to be designated driver?"

Cities were designed for walking, horses and (yes) mass transit. Suburbs were designed for cars. But I didn't know that before, because I had never lived in a city.

Anyway, mine is only one experience, but it was a point I hadn't seen mentioned in the discussion, so I thought I'd share. Now if you'll excuse me, the group in my office who walks to the parking lot together is leaving.