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125 sats \ 12 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 21 Aug 2023 \ parent \ on: What's a weird social "norm" that shouldn't be so normal? meta
i just want more biking and more walkable cities, is that too much to ask?
No, you're asking too little. 😄 Cars shouldn't be allowed in city centers.
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Firstly, cities are shitcoins. Secondly, I spent years driving around a major city visiting customers, suppliers, training employees, working projects at up to 30 plus sites across the city. Most days I would be at 4-5 different locations, often carting tools, equipment, supplies with me. I spent hours driving to get to back and forth from the places I had to be. Even if it was feasible to take some form of transit with all the crap I had to lug around, it would have taken me at least 3 times as long to get there.
So then you say. Ok it's understood that goods need to enter the city centre so we still need trucks and we need construction and maintenance people and people who need to work at multiple sites not easily accessible by transit to be permitted to bring cars and trucks into city centre but no one else. Who enforces this? Are you going to have to register your vehicle for city access and then have surveillance tech or cops monitoring every car/truck coming in?
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Tolled drivable service tunnels is one solution
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Fair if you are planning a new city from scratch. Nightmare if you want to redesign cities in this way.
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For sure. I'm consciously being unreasonable 😂
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Firstly, suburbs are centrally planned shitcoins. Secondly, if the biking/transit infrastructure is good there is no need for any laws or enforcers whatsoever. People use the better transportation on their own - incentives like in Bitcoin.
So then you say. Ok then this even leaves more room for those that actually need a car - making the transportation better for everyone no downsides through market incentives.
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A car in almost all instances when you have to travel more than a 15 minute walk to your destination is better transportation than buses, streetcars, subways. Biking is a nice option if it isn't excessively hot, cold, raining or snowing.
Suburbs are like bitcoin held with a custodian. Better than shitcoin cities but still not perfect.
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Suburbs are like a shitcoin: centrally planned, using huge amounts of space inefficiently and trapping people in their NPC pre planned lives like it traps shitcoins in crap pyramid schemes.
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I grew up in the suburbs and it was quite a lovely childhood.
I lived in the city for 20 years and it was great when I was in my 20s. Less great in my early 30s. Kind of shit with a wife and one kid and just total shit with a wife and two kids.
I mean if you like your kids crossing major throughways at rush hour to go play at the park with their friends where degenerate druggies left their needles and beer cans from the night before (and this is in one of the nicest areas of the city) or having your wife and newborn baby who have been up all night woken up at 7am to jackhammering because they are building another ugly ass concrete, steel and glass shoebox container next to you. If you like paying $1200sqft for your shoebox. If you like driving around in insane traffic and construction delays every day or riding subways and buses with crazy people, drunk and high people, people who smell like they haven't showered in a month. If you like every place you go being totally packed and taking twice as long to get food or groceries etc because lines are insane. If you like your surroundings to be concrete, steel, glass, flashing lights, garbage and filth.
Then cities are for you. More power to you. Personally I believe most people who live in cities just suffer from stockholm syndrome. There are certain jobs, industries, lifestyles that really suit cities but I am certain at least 50% of people who live in cities would be a lot happier if they just got the fuck out.
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You're confusing suburban with rural.
I guess you grew up rural and want to raise your children rural. Which I can totally understand.
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No, I grew up in a suburb of Toronto. Now we live in a small town around 2 hours outside of the city.
I get what you are saying. Suburbs aren't that much better than the city but still preferable in my book.