The future is dense, walkable cities.

[GuiltyCowboy]

It would be irresponsible of the gun owner to do anything less.

I think it's been proven beyond any doubt by the 45k firearm deaths each year that gun owners in America are, in fact, always responsible people.

Well, that's easy. Just live in any western city

My only worry with this advice though is that millions and millions of people live in western cities and they don't seem to be scared. What's up with that? Perhaps they're all wrong and you're correct? That must be it.


[It's quite fun spouting utter horseshit and pretending it's true. I'm starting to see why you loons do it so often.]

 

[SebastianHolt]

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.

You will never get American to give up their cars...even at $5/gallon

 

[ChloeTzang]

[It's quite fun spouting utter horseshit and pretending it's true. I'm starting to see why you loons do it so often.]

It is, isn't it. You can see why it's so popular.

 

[ChloeTzang]

You will never get American to give up their cars...even at $5/gallon

It could be possible in densely populated urban areas but to make punlic transit viable and usuable we'd have to start with a mass culling of the ferals and habitual criminals (3 strikes). It's possible, but one thinks those who most strongly advocate for public transit would also be most opposed to the steps necessaru to actully make it viable.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

You will never get American to give up their cars...even at $5/gallon

Being able to walk and take the train is so much more pleasant than being stuck in traffic. Public transit would be more attractive if there weren't so many subsidies making driving artificially cheap.

 

[TastySuckToy]

Public transit would be more attractive if there weren't so many subsidies making driving artificially cheap.

You've never bought, fueled, maintained a vehicle and paid for all the expensive paperwork if you seriously think it's 'cheap'.

 

[OralAllOver]

Sure, if you say so

And free blowjobs for poor & fat nerds!

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

You've never bought, fueled, maintained a vehicle and paid for all the expensive paperwork if you seriously think it's 'cheap'.

The gas tax doesn't come close to covering the cost of building and maintaining the public infrastructure that private cars require. The difference comes out of the general fund. End that subsidy and the cost of driving would skyrocket.

 

[DraggonStone]

The future will be Soylent Green

 

[TastySuckToy]

The gas tax doesn't come close to covering the cost of building and maintaining the public infrastructure that private cars require. The difference comes out of the general fund. End that subsidy and the cost of driving would skyrocket.

Why should private cars pay for building and maintaining public infrastructure that everyone uses ands is dependent upon? Vehicle owners are already paying more that non vehicle owners.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

Why should private cars pay for building and maintaining public infrastructure that everyone uses ands is dependent upon? Vehicle owners are already paying more that non vehicle owners.

I’ll compromise. We can keep building roads as long as we ban all on-street parking. Drivers should pay market rate to park their cars.

 

[OralAllOver]

I’ll compromise. We can keep building roads as long as we ban all on-street parking. Drivers should pay market rate to park their cars.

Your lack of skepticism is ... unearthly

Have u met an American? Ambrose Bierce wrote 150 years ago that war is how Americans learn geography

Right NOW billionaires getting more tax breaks by taking away medical care from the working poor

Enjoy the fantasy, Dorothy, the flying monkeys will wake you up soon enough

 

[TastySuckToy]

I’ll compromise. We can keep building roads as long as we ban all on-street parking. Drivers should pay market rate to park their cars.

And if the majority of people disagree with your position?

 

[latecomer91364]

That's a reasonable thought for America's massive cities, but only there. The real world (most of America) has to get around where trains and busses don't cut it.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

That's a reasonable thought for America's massive cities, but only there. The real world (most of America) has to get around where trains and busses don't cut it.

Most Americans live in big cities. If you want to live out in the middle of nowhere pay for your own roads.

 

[TastySuckToy]

Most Americans live in big cities. If you want to live out in the middle of nowhere pay for your own roads.

You're deluded if you think roads don't benefit everyone.

I don't use public transportation, so cut all public funding for it and only the people who use it pay for it. Is that the logic you really want to apply?

 

[PierceDe]

I lived in East Asia perfectly fine without a car, it was fantastic.
Coming back to the US I quickly realized my days of walking to everything were over, until I get back to East Asia!
It sucks so bad. I was depressed for a solid year that I couldn't just go out the door at anytime and have a huge, safe megacity to explore until 4am connected to several other huge, safe megacities.

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

And if the majority of people disagree with your position?

Then they’d be wrong. Roads are great but we don’t need more of them.

 

[Sir_Timo_Volodok]

Public transit would be more attractive if there weren't so many subsidies making driving artificially cheap.

BS argument when public transit also gets subsidies.

There are precious few transit systems/networks in North America that manage to recover 50% of operating costs from fares. It's usually 1/3 or less.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Being able to walk and take the train is so much more pleasant than being stuck in traffic. Public transit would be more attractive if there weren't so many subsidies making driving artificially cheap.

rotflmao

Right. Where I live (small city) I can drive to work in 20 minutes. If I caught a bus, it's a 10 minute walk to the bus stop, give myself some extra time so I'm there before the bus, two bus routes of 20 minutes each with 10 minutes connecting time, and then a 10-15 minute walk to work when I finally get downtown. I also work shifts, and some of those are night shifts. I am NOT walking around downtown and hanging out waiting for buses in the middle of the night and I am NOT doing any of that in winter either. Minus 20 is no time to be outside walking around and waiting for buses. It sucks.

So, 20 minute drive and free parking vs 70-80 minutes by public transit with a large added risk factor? THAT decision is a no brainer.

Now make it a BIG metro area with a far worse crime problem, likely even longer commutes, and likely as not laws that would result in me being proesecuted for defending myself and it's not just no, it's Fuck, No!

Now, make that city zero crime, zero psychoes on the street, clean and modern public transit that's fast and convenient, as well as streets that are safe to work, that would be a different story. To get there though, we'd need to do a huge cleanup and massive infrastructure programs. It'd be nice, I agree, but pure wishful thinking for most American cities. People like you would refuse to do the necesary cleanup to get us to that point, because as of where we are now, it would have to be pretty drastic.

As in, to be blunt, mass incarcerations, mass deportations, and/or mass executions drastic. You're never going there. Ergo, it ain't ever happening.

 

[JohnEngelman]

rotflmao

Now make it a BIG metro area with a far worse crime problem, likely even longer commutes, and likely as not laws that would result in me being proesecuted for defending myself and it's not just no, it's Fuck, No!

Now, make that city zero crime, zero psychoes on the street, clean and modern public transit that's fast and convenient, as well as streets that are safe to work, that would be a different story. To get there though, we'd need to do a huge cleanup and massive infrastructure programs. It'd be nice, I agree, but pure wishful thinking for most American cities. People like you would refuse to do the necesary cleanup to get us to that point, because as of where we are now, it would have to be pretty drastic.

As in, to be blunt, mass incarcerations, mass deportations, and/or mass executions drastic. You're never going there. Ergo, it ain't ever happening.

The presence of a demographic characterized by crime and favored by laws passed by liberals interferes with many liberal efforts to make the United States a better place to live in.

 

[Sir_Timo_Volodok]

I also work shifts, and some of those are night shifts.

You might not have the option even if willing to wait for it.

Our metro (PDX) has a solid transit network, by North American standards, but it's utterly useless for 3rd shift workers and nightlife revelers. All routes constrict sharply after 9PM and shut down entirely at midnight. You either have a car or pay for rideshare/taxi at those hours.

Outside of New York City, I don't think there's a metro in the U.S. with a decent 24/7 transit system. I've lived in a few that had limited 24/7 service but nothing that I'd describe as solid/decent. Most, like my current one, have nothing.

 

[Littletoo]

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.

I'd move downtown in a New York minute if I could afford it. Instead I take the train in from the 'burbs every day.


After that girl got stabbed I'm always afraid, since I have "good genes." I grew up in an inner city mixed race school. I was never afraid of black guys. But I am now.

 

[Sir_Timo_Volodok]

I was never afraid of black guys. But I am now.

That didn't have anything to do with the fact he was black. It had everything to do with the fact he was batshit crazy. Your real beef is with the criminal justice and mental healthcare systems, both of which let him, the victim, and the rest of us down.

 

[JohnEngelman]

That didn't have anything to do with the fact he was black. It had everything to do with the fact he was batshit crazy. Your real beef is with the criminal justice and mental healthcare systems, both of which let him, the victim, and the rest of us down.

The blacks who mugged me, robbed me at gunpoint, and nearly murdered me were not mentally ill. No white person, no Asian, and no Hispanic has ever committed a crime against me.