Simple truths about city planning & transportation. When I'm not engineering safe & healthy streets, I'm running my mouth about it.
Richmond, VA
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Transit is an extension of walking. Having a network of sidewalks and express sidewalks is a nice alternative to being stuck.
Michael Rocktäschel
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Your son drove faster than he should, telling himself he’s a safe driver because the pack was driving fast. Your neighbor supports abundant housing until a developer wants to build apartments nearby.
Cognitive dissonance is a feature, not a bug.
open.substack.com/pub/speake…
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Zoning is one of those topics where people from all walks of life display cognitive dissonance.
People will come up with a justification for violating their own set of beliefs or principles. It's true of liberals, conservatives, libertarians, and every other type of person.
Principles like the following get cast aside:
📜 reducing poverty / increasing housing affordability for lower-income people
📜 social integration / reducing segregation by income or race
📜 climate action / reducing sprawl, vehicle miles traveled, and per-capita emissions
📜 economic mobility / removing barriers that lock people out of high-opportunity areas
📜 treating housing as a basic need rather than a protected asset class
📜 free markets / allowing supply and demand to set prices and quantities
📜 limited government / rejecting local micromanagement of land use
📜 individual liberty / letting owners decide what to build on their own land
📜 fiscal conservatism / avoiding the higher infrastructure and service costs of low-density sprawl
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I wish standard American history curriculum included the saga of zoning and other land use regulations. People have no idea how sprawl (and car dependency) was forced on us.
We live in the world we live in, you won't be getting everyone to live in inner city high rises. Government didn't mandate that sprawl, the people chose it, cars made most of it possible, and it enriches their lives immensely as a consequence.
It's not a myth, it's an astounding benefit, especially in rural places. Before we had cars, many rural kids were isolated to the farms they grew up on. Cars allowed them to gather in larger groups in schools, where they could benefit from educational and social opportunities.
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People embrace the myth below because it feels good. It means they don't have to second-guess being utterly dependent on cars.
The truth is no one will ever be able to fully calculate the negative externalities of car dependency.
The economic costs of the harms are considerably smaller than the economic benefit arising from the freedom. But you present a genuine moral problem associated with them, people do die as a consequence of the huge benefits we achieve. Kids sometimes die on playground equipment too, but we keep it because it makes their lives so much better (collectively) because of the physical and social fitness that emerges, some of which depends on their learning to take small risks.
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Prabmeet Sarkaria
This data is a few years old. I hope the Car Lobby still has some $ in the tank to fight off the all-powerful Bike Lobby.
The coddling of cyclists and their lobbyists is going to be studied one day. The money that is going to have to be spent to undo the damage is going to cost hundreds of millions.
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Considering the remarkable impact of groups like @NewUrbanism and @NACTO, chances are good there’s a transportation reformer near you.
I wish I could say the same about the planning industry that keeps Americans trapped in car-dependent lifestyles.
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Andy Boenau retweeted
The government wants to take this away from you with "street calming" policies. What will your kids do when they're barely old enough to drive? How will they entertain themselves?
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Yikes.
Our government has completed the removal of bike lanes along 1.2 kilometres of Bloor Street West in Toronto.
We're restoring vehicle lanes to fight gridlock, improve access to businesses and give drivers time back.
We're protecting Ontario.
Learn more: news.ontario.ca/en/release/1…
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Me: Some people will ride bikes in the cold.
Reply guys: That's anti-car!!!
Still, I love this site.
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Halloween is the most dangerous night for people walking because of the people driving.
You guys, relax. Slow down. There are lots of people walking around tonight.
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Andy Boenau retweeted
This is the amount of parking required for a Texas Roadhouse location in the Midwest
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Car addicts: "No one will ride bikes when it's cold."
Montreal: "Hold my hot chocolate."
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Andy Boenau retweeted
The New York City Police Department just publicly ruled that cars are not private property.
I trust New York City's culture jammers, public artists, and pranksters know exactly what to do next.
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Andy Boenau retweeted
What a world we live in! You’re not allowed to cycle but you can feel free to injure someone!
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I was pleasantly surprised to see so many buses in skinny lanes.
Exhibits A and B:
9' lane in Rotterdam -- accommodates a truck
maps.app.goo.gl/WQtYsKppqhzd…
10' lane in Utrecht -- accommodates an articulated bus
maps.app.goo.gl/RuhWL3CXw9SH…
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