Heavy dependence on the automobile is a challenging problem facing our society today. As a result of our sprawling style development, many are forced to spend excessive amounts of time commuting, stuck in traffic or searching for parking. This not only affects our personal lives in terms of free time, available cash flow, health and overall happiness, but also greatly affects how our tax money is spent and the impact we have on the natural environment. This problem, although very large scale, must still be addressed locally and doing so through a community-based organization effort is an ideal way to draw attention to local citizens so that it really "hits home" with them.
One specific issue related to the much broader problem of heavy automobile dependence is the high costs it incurs to users. Automobiles are expensive to purchase, maintain and insure and are not something that everyone is able to afford. Many times, money that would be spent elsewhere is spent on fuel or maintenance just to afford the user the ability to travel to where they need to go. This issue is especially evident as fuel prices reach record levels, the economy slows and people lose significant amounts of personal wealth.
There are many alternatives to personal transportation in the automobile. To draw attention that will result in changes to alleviate the heavy dependence on the automobile, one first must identify what type of issue they are dealing with. The (increasingly) high costs of automobile dependence is a specific, mobilizing issue in many respects. The strongest way to strike at people’s self-interest is through their wallet, where it hurts the most. Factors such as rising fuel costs, longer commutes and the increasing hassle of finding parking will hopefully illustrate the problem and give people something to do about it (Homan p.353).
The high costs of automobile usage is a good issue to address the larger problem of our society's heavy dependence on the automobile because no matter what your stance is on the environment, how you think taxes should be spent, how much money you have or what you do for a living, everyone likes to save money. This issue emphasizes what a money pit automobiles are and will strike peoples self-interest to get involved and therefore, save themselves money. The suggested immediate action of driving less and/or carpooling is clearly communicated when people realize the high costs. This issue will also promote community unity because it affects nearly everyone and responds to the needs of the community, whether it be a high amount of through traffic or road noise.
This issue will lead people to action by continuing to "rub raw the sores of discontent" (Homan p.357) focused around the increasingly high costs of driving an automobile. The price of fuel, higher costs of parts and labor, and increased traffic will generate enough emotion among citizens to get them off their feet and start looking at ways to reduce their costs and dependence on driving.
Obviously, the community-based organization effort would need a core group of leadership to head up the effort. These leaders would serve in a much more active capacity than, for example, the workers or assisters by actively organizing and participating in any meetings held and fundamentally initiating the changes. However, the roles of workers and assisters are also very important. These roles would likely make up most of the remaining community members and would offer critical support to the leadership and take part in the changes they initiate. Something that would need to be addressed is the workers and assisters dedication and loyalty to the issue, especially long-term. If the dependence on the automobile is to be broken, it will take a strong commitment to change from not just the leadership, but also a wide swath of the community.