Let’s embrace Brockton’s car culture

(updated to add the tax data I calculated in 2023 but never put in the original post)

My view is that Brockton should embrace car culture instead of wishing it would go away. Brockton’s multitude of shops, auto body places, detailing services, tire places, car washes, vehicle storage facilities are not going to all be gentrified or zoned-out of existence – there are simply too many of them.

Many of our fellow Brocktonians put a lot of pride in their vehicles, motorcyles/scooters – and the services they offer if they’re a business. To be honest it’s a bit classist to want to take away what working class people of all races and languages clearly love so much.

In 2023 I met Keith Hayes and his fellow drivers at Westgate Mall before their motorcade to Boston for Shriners’ kids (Riders4Life: Massachusetts – #Slingshots4Shriners) – the drivers were men and women, Black, white, Cape Verdean, Puerto Rican, just from what I was able to see and hear.

This hobby isn’t much different than someone who builds multiple gaming computers… in fact, some sociologists say that smart phones replaced vehicles as the first big purchase young people make… so, in a way, car culture is a rebirth of what existed in my youth in the 70’s and early 80’s when tinkering with and fixing cars was a major interest for many.

So, let’s turn what some see as a negative into an asset. Let’s create events and places where people outside Brockton come here to spend money and have a good time. How about a parade/procession on Main Street that’s official and permitted, where we can have different kinds of vehicles compete?

Here’s an exercise to stretch our imagination – how about legal drag racing OFF the streets? Where my mom lives in Indiana there’s a drag racing strip at the old airfield next to the race track. BTW, every time I visit her and go to the Speedway, at least half of the drivers are under 18. Last I checked Indiana is in the United States, so if it’s possible there, it’s possible here.