We can continue to improve the bus system and take it metro-areawide. We can build out a true bike infrastructure that would surely increase the shockingly low number of Omahans, roughly 800, who currently bike-commute to work, according to a survey done by the U.S. Census Bureau. Companies can incentivize their employees to take mass transit or share a ride to work — a move that, by the way, can save businesses money.

We can increase Omaha’s abysmal spending on mass transit: Currently, per capita, Omaha chooses to spend half as much money as the average American city on this. We make this choice as we spend ever-more cash trying to repair and replace aging streets battered by car traffic.

Beneath all those opportunities is this unvarnished truth: None of this will change until Omahans ourselves start to see the value in changing.

I say this knowing full well that, until I moved downtown, I, like most of you, drove to work solo each day.

All of us, including myself, have to stop thinking that the only thing that matters is our car, our street, our commute. Because it’s that kind of thinking that has gotten us into this situation in the first place.