Oligarch Al Gore: Spend $90 Trillion To Ban All Cars

[kalm]

Urban planning has nothing to do with REdesigning cities.

That's called urban renewal

Redesign sounds evil. Reminds you of re-education... It's as frightening as "Gore" and "ban"!

That article you linked as well as the Tman's from the OP paint a scary picture for sure. Business Insider's is a little more reasonable and for some reason doesn't mention a "ban on cars". It does point out the claim that the money spent on planning, redevelopment, etc , is already going to happen so the theory is just spending the money more wisely which in Calderon's experience, Mexico did not do.

http://www.businessinsider.com/plan-to- ... ars-2015-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Redesigning cities has everything to do with urban planning. Cities and counties have been fighting sprawl and encouraging urban redevelopment for decades. Even uber-conservative Spokane County, much to the chagrin of developers and property owners, has encouraged growth and investment in downtown.

Portland Oregon is a great example of this with it's Max light rail, and bus system hogging 2 out of 3 lanes of downtown streets not to mention the ridiculously wide sidewalks with trees and shit. My brother has worked there in the past and I've spent some time at business seminars and it's a pain in the ass to drive much less park in downtown (expensive too), but it's very pedestrian and urban living friendly. Park your car away from downtown and take the Max.

One might suggest it's progressive, but that too is a scary word.

[YoUDeeMan]

Keep the unwashed hordes bottled up in the cities...with few modes of transportation available with which to ride out to interrupt a wealthy person's enjoyment of the countryside.

[kalm]

Keep the unwashed hordes bottled up in the cities...with few modes of transportation available with which to ride out to interrupt a wealthy person's enjoyment of the countryside.

As someone living in a stand alone subdivision outside the city, this too is in the back of my mind.

[89Hen]

One might suggest it's progressive, but that too is a scary word.

You're trying to paint with a big brush. It's a great idea for a bigger "city" trying to reinvigorate itself, or in a place where the suburbs were planned for such a change. In my county, we don't have any big cities, only small urban-ish centers and that's where the grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, banks, etc... are. When you take away surface parking, increase persons per square mile, reduce roads, etc... you're making it impossible for the rest of the county that have lived in the suburbs for decades to perform every day tasks. If you go further away from DC, the suburbs were planned with smaller shopping centers for each community so you don't have to go into the urban-ish centers unless you wanted to.

Even my little shopping center near me was proposed to go to max high density office, shops and condos with a parking garage. What was said when they proposed adding condos or senior living..

‘‘If you keep everything apart, you have people traveling a lot,” he said. ‘‘You have to drive a mile for a pint of milk. It’s ridiculous. It’s easier to keep things close together. But it’s got to be well-designed as well.”...

‘‘To me, there’s no reason why if that gas station is going to be moved, there can’t be more residential units there,” he said.

Yeah, and what about the thousands of tax payers that already live a mile from the shopping center? Fuck them?

[kalm]

One might suggest it's progressive, but that too is a scary word.

You're trying to paint with a big brush. It's a great idea for a bigger "city" trying to reinvigorate itself, or in a place where the suburbs were planned for such a change. In my county, we don't have any big cities, only small urban-ish centers and that's where the grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, banks, etc... are. When you take away surface parking, increase persons per square mile, reduce roads, etc... you're making it impossible for the rest of the county that have lived in the suburbs for decades to perform every day tasks. If you go further away from DC, the suburbs were planned with smaller shopping centers for each community so you don't have to go into the urban-ish centers unless you wanted to.

Even my little shopping center near me was proposed to go to max high density office, shops and condos with a parking garage. What was said when they proposed adding condos or senior living..

‘‘If you keep everything apart, you have people traveling a lot,” he said. ‘‘You have to drive a mile for a pint of milk. It’s ridiculous. It’s easier to keep things close together. But it’s got to be well-designed as well.”...

‘‘To me, there’s no reason why if that gas station is going to be moved, there can’t be more residential units there,” he said.

Yeah, and what about the thousands of tax payers that already live a mile from the shopping center? Fuck them?

You're not going to end sprawl, just slow it down.

[travelinman67]

Keep the unwashed hordes bottled up in the cities...with few modes of transportation available with which to ride out to interrupt a wealthy person's enjoyment of the countryside.

Also, easier management of the food-tube distribution system.

Every habitat unit will have a picture of Father Gore on the wall, and below, a tube protrudes from the wall. To obtain nurishment, simply place your mouth over the tube and rapidly, repeatedly, pull on the rubber-like collar at the base of the tube.

[Chizzang]

T-man...
Won't you be long dead by the time any of this even makes it through phase one..?
Me thinks you're getting your gaskets all heated up and leaky over nothing

I got a little secret for you T-man
I don't care about Global Climate Change - why? you might ask...
Because as far as the earth is concerned I'm dead already
I've got a few good summers left



Let the kids wory about the climate change and just go with the flow grampa...
you might actually enjoy yourself

[89Hen]

You're not going to end sprawl, just slow it down.

Why is sprawl such a bad thing? Don't say traffic. People who want to move waaaaay out and still work in DC, do so around the train system for the most part. What sprawl has actually done is move some of the jobs to new centers out in the "country" so people don't have to commute into DC or the close in suburbs to do jobs that aren't reliant on them being in DC or the close in suburbs. The answer isn't to build higher density in the towns we have, IMO it's to encourage business campuses out where the people already live.

The other issue is the assholes from Virginia who insist on working in Maryland and vice versa. On my drive home there is a small two lane road which leads from the Marriott and Lockheed HQ's to the beltway towards Virginia. It's always packed every late afternoon and evening and 7 of 10 cars I pass going the other way are Virginia tags. If you want to work in Maryland, live in Maryland. Same thing for the jackasses that live in MD and commute to Dulles, VA.

[CAA Flagship]

You're not going to end sprawl, just slow it down.

Why is sprawl such a bad thing? Don't say traffic. People who want to move waaaaay out and still work in DC, do so around the train system for the most part. What sprawl has actually done is move some of the jobs to new centers out in the "country" so people don't have to commute into DC or the close in suburbs to do jobs that aren't reliant on them being in DC or the close in suburbs. The answer isn't to build higher density in the towns we have, IMO it's to encourage business campuses out where the people already live.

The other issue is the assholes from Virginia who insist on working in Maryland and vice versa. On my drive home there is a small two lane road which leads from the Marriott and Lockheed HQ's to the beltway towards Virginia. It's always packed every late afternoon and evening and 7 of 10 cars I pass going the other way are Virginia tags. If you want to work in Maryland, live in Maryland. Same thing for the jackasses that live in MD and commute to Dulles, VA.

The people that live in Virginia and work in Maryland are much smarter than the reverse situation. You have complained enough about Maryland to know that living in VA is the much better option.

[LeadBolt]

A 7-8 mile commute from McLean, VA to either the Lockheed Martin or Marriott HQ's in MD doesn't really sound all that extreme to me. I'd bet many of the MD based workers at those company's HQ's commute 2-3 x's that far. Given the advantages of living in VA rather than MD would seem to justify it.

[89Hen]

A 7-8 mile commute from McLean, VA to either the Lockheed Martin or Marriott HQ's in MD doesn't really sound all that extreme to me. I'd bet many of the MD based workers at those company's HQ's commute 2-3 x's that far. Given the advantages of living in VA rather than MD would seem to justify it.

LB, I think you know the area though... it's not the 7-8 miles, its the fact that every one of the people going from Bethesda to McLean have to go over one bridge. And more importantly, they're in MY way creating traffic jams.