The future is dense, walkable cities.

[MajorRewrite]

It’s all about design choices.

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[MajorRewrite]

Set priorities and make appropriate changes.

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[BrightShinyGirl]

On average, about one fifth of the land in American city centers is devoted to parking lots. It some small cities it rises to over one third. New York City is under 1%.

 

[Chernosoth]

^And empty commercial/office buildings, because the bureaucracy insists on keeping real estate prices high. Some of that parking lot space is occupied by food trucks.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

^And empty commercial/office buildings, because the bureaucracy insists on keeping real estate prices high. Some of that parking lot space is occupied by food trucks.

Replacing the parking lots with apartments and stores would bring the prices down.

 

[Chernosoth]

^That may eventually happen, after we dump the bureaucracy (including the bureaucratic corporations) that keeps prices inflated and buildings empty. One example is the empty first floors in New York. If a landlord lowers the rent to get a first floor commercial tenant, then the whole building loses value and rents drop, so the landlord loses money. Another is the vast and labyrinthian delays to building anything in California. With the many fees, permits, and studies that must be paid and done, the result is a ten year delay and very narrow limits of what the developer can build there that makes a profit. Meanwhile, people that need solutions today say fuck that noise and do something else, like rented trailers in driveways and food trucks in parking lots.

And then there's the falling birthrate. Those parking lots may become urban gardens or something else more useful than more empty buildings.

 

[MajorRewrite]

^And empty commercial/office buildings, because the bureaucracy insists on keeping real estate prices high.

Fact check:

There is no bureaucracy that sets real estate prices.

 

[Chernosoth]

Fact check:

There is no bureaucracy that sets real estate prices.

Not directly and overtly. First it sets requirements of lot size, house size, and all sorts of crap to keep houses expensive and keep poor people out. Then it collects the taxes and fees.

 

[PintlerMan]

2 people per 5 sq miles where I live, city is an hour and 1/2 drive away, at 70 MPH. I'm ok with citys getting bigger and more packed, enjoy.

 

[JoePepsiCo]

Fact check:

There is no bureaucracy that sets real estate prices.

Not directly, that is pretty much true, but it's always the underlying bureaucratic process, from zoning, to permitting, to inspection, to the permanent lien of property tax...

All of which are pricing factors, so while they may not "set" it, they certainly have a greater influence over it than the market because you are paying for so much more than the property.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Not directly, that is pretty much true, but it's always the underlying bureaucratic process, from zoning, to permitting, to inspection, to the permanent lien of property tax...

All of which are pricing factors, so while they may not "set" it, they certainly have a greater influence over it than the market because you are paying for so much more than the property.

Those factors have been in place since the 1950s. They aren’t responsible for the rapidly escalating price of homes over the last 20 years. (And a high property tax would actually suppress home selling prices).

The actual reasons the price of houses we build have gone up: 1) the price of all of our inputs have gone up, 2) the price of land went up because the building boom increased demand, and 3) we can maintain healthy margins because the market has been red hot.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

Not directly and overtly. First it sets requirements of lot size, house size, and all sorts of crap to keep houses expensive and keep poor people out. Then it collects the taxes and fees.

Then blame the municipality and the council. Bureaucracy only implements what the elected politicians decree.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

Not directly, that is pretty much true, but it's always the underlying bureaucratic process, from zoning, to permitting, to inspection, to the permanent lien of property tax...

All of which come from the Elected leaders, be they municipal or state or even federal.

All of which are pricing factors, so while they may not "set" it, they certainly have a greater influence over it than the market because you are paying for so much more than the property.

Yes and a capitalistic system has nothing to do with it....it's all the deep state!!

 

[MajorRewrite]

Bay Area Expands Ferry Service

Using waterways for transit makes perfect sense.

 

[MajorRewrite]

The best way to get to school. Long lines of cars taking kids to school is lunacy.

 

[Rightguide]

It’s all about design choices.

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Here's the Democrat design choice in Los Angeles:

 

[Bn2f]

Here's the Democrat design choice in Los Angeles:

I'm crossing posts to call you out for what you said against dmallord's service and soldiers following orders.
You POS!

 

[flamatrix99]

Car suburbs were a failed experiment from the last century. Forcing people to drive everywhere was great for the oil and car industries, but private cars turned out to be an ecological disaster, not to mention the fact that many American cities were gutted to build car infrastructure. Entire neighborhoods were razed to build highways and parking lots.

The way forward is to redirect public spending on car infrastructure to buses and trains. Convert lanes that are currently used for on-street parking into dedicated bus and bike routes. Bring back streetcars. Impose heavy penalties on careless drivers who kill pedestrians.

It will take decades to undo the damage that the private car has done to American cities, but European and Japanese cities can be used as models for how we can get rid of traffic and make our cities easier to get around in.

Big cities are failed cesspools of crime, drugs, homelessness, traffic and democrats. You mention Europe, have you ever been there? I have been stuck in traffic in London, Paris and Berlin. No different then the good 'ol USA.
Most people that live outside of a city never want to live in a city. I should know, I have lived all over the US and visited a lot of big cities. I now live in a town of 20,000 about 30 minutes from a medium size city. My wife and I drive about 30 minutes to each of our jobs (neither in the city) her in her Jeep Wranglre and me in my full size GMC diesel powered truck. Life is good

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

Big cities are failed cesspools of crime, drugs, homelessness, traffic and democrats. You mention Europe, have you ever been there? I have been stuck in traffic in London, Paris and Berlin. No different then the good 'ol USA.
Most people that live outside of a city never want to live in a city. I should know, I have lived all over the US and visited a lot of big cities. I now live in a town of 20,000 about 30 minutes from a medium size city. My wife and I drive about 30 minutes to each of our jobs (neither in the city) her in her Jeep Wranglre and me in my full size GMC diesel powered truck. Life is good

I live in L.A. It takes me about 30 minutes to get to my job. I walk and ride the train. (It’s faster and safer than driving).

I can also walk to a Japanese market to buy sushi, or a Persian bakery to buy freshly baked bread. (I have to get there before noon otherwise they’re sold out for the day).

Country living is fine for some folks, but I prefer the safety and convenience of the big city.

 

[TrailerHitch]

Country living is fine for some folks, but I prefer the safety and convenience of the big city.

This may be the first thing you have posted that I can't find any reason to disagree with. It is about YOUR PREFERENCE to live in the city just as it is about MY PREFERENCE to avoid cities as much as I can, and definitely NOT to live there. America is about choice and this is one of the greatest freedoms to chose to live where you wish.

 

[Pad_Foot]

Replacing the parking lots with apartments and stores would bring the prices down.

Replacing floors and floors of offices with housing (and schools) will be needed to bring back cities
Dubai has such buildings. no?

 

[IrezumiKiss]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1794480428071473267

 

[MajorRewrite]

Memorial Day weekend in New York City.

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[MajorRewrite]

An American place with suburban density in which walking and cycling are the transportation modes of choice. It’s so popular that it’s a tourist magnet.

It demonstrates that even suburbs don’t have to be car-dominated.

 

[Chernosoth]

With only an FM radio in my truck, I sometimes stop at NPR. Yesterday I heard a bit about the housing shortage: Biden said the solution is build, build, build. Uh, no. We don't need more of the cheap crap we already have, the huge houses that fall down in 10 years because they're made of green wood and styrofoam, the McMansions built at lower standards than old mobile homes.