I was thinking of launching a kickstarter campaign to bootstrap a city-wide mesh network in my city. The idea would be to have a text-based communication network that works in emergencies, is censorship-resistant and encrypted. I could collect money for X nodes to cover the whole city by approaching cafes, bars, libraries or universities and asking them to contribute by setting up a node for them. If successful, maybe other cities would follow the example and the citizens of each would bootstrap their own networks.
Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
81–90 of 346 posts
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#82Would you mind linking to the list you’re referring to? My off-the-cuff thought was, “join Transportation Alternatives and push for more bike lanes, public transit, etc.”, as I see automobiles as one of the most significant dangers to both urban areas and even the planet. But when I google "ten most dangerous cities," they seem to list places whose danger is more poverty-driven.
A few major urban areas with high cost of ownership and good alternative options aside, a car is a self-compounding step out of poverty to most poor people and their problem with them is one of cost.
To tell these people that cars are their problem is tone deaf at best. They have a million bigger problems.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#83In addition to the many great answers here: consider putting on performances, whether you organize them or perform. Make art, and leave it in unexpected places. Sell some homemade food outside your house once in a while. Add a little surprise and delight into people's lives. It's contagious. And everyone needs joy, entertainment, and even some good-weirdness in their lives; it's not just for those with disposable income and spare time.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#84If you’re by chance in Rockford, move to an old house in Midtown, Broadway or the northwest side and fix it up. The city is intent on gentrifying downtown and near east side, but the big reductions in violent and sexual crime are happening from individuals and small non-profits pouring love and attention into other areas.
This is actually similar to the police department’s strategy with the resident officer program—-they’re choosing similar areas and quality of homes.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#85Cities are the way they are because people are desperate for work and the income to survive and they are the only visible supply. Advocate for basic income. Specifically basic income without any local cost of living adjustment. Address the source of the problem. A basic income without CoL adjustment fundamentally breaks the system forcing people to cram themselves into cities and compete over resources. It will resul…
So, provide basic income and then magically wave a wand over anything in finite supply to keep it from inflating in price?
Yes there will be inflation but it won't be unbounded and it won't be even everywhere. Cities will see increases faster because of higher demand, people on BI will have to move away from them. As long as BI is not locally CoL adjusted (Pinning to a National or State CoL value would be ok) supply and demand will adjust to the inflation.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#86Spend time with your neighbors and local businesses. That goes a long way. Learn more about what works well in the city, and what doesn't. Consider serving in a volunteer capacity with various organizations like local neighborhood councils or schools. Most importantly, if you can devote time, money, or both to local schools, you will make the biggest impact there.
Have kids? Send your kids to the local public school. That is an enormous difference maker. Don't push for dumb things (e.g. Latin), but be an effective advocate for students whose parents might be unable to get involved, and contribute time and energy to improving resources across the board.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#87Volunteer! Encourage others to do the same!
One thing I'm doing that's actually having a significant impact is helping out build local mountain biking and hiking trails. This has downstream effects as it gives kids something to do that's healthy and positive.
I have other friends that volunteer in churches and various ministries playing music which also has downstream effects.
Remember the line for the homeless shelter is very long out front, but the door on the backside of the building where volunteers enter never has a line.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#88The single best thing you can do is pick a neighborhood - not the whole city - and invest deeply. Get to know everyone in the neighborhood and understand what they want and need, then try to find ways to bring that. When you have a strong network of neighbors and a little bit of cash, you can ramp up investment by cleaning up dirty corners and getting the basic services that a neighborhood is missing. Here’s an examp…
I mean this in the most objective way possible.
The risk with urban improvement is making the area more desirable eventually prices people out of the community. So, the real question is do you help the land or current residents? When you own property it’s seriously worth considering local improvements for several reasons, but it’s also easy to confuse the two. Further, if most people in the community own property then there is a lot of overlap.
To be clear both are worthwhile, just be cognizant of what your goals are. Anyway, if you want to help people I suggest either the young as changing the trajectory of someone’s life is easier early on, or the elderly because social inclusion scales well with individual effort.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Automobiles (and their drivers) kill, maim, or injure significantly fewer people than intentionally aggressive individuals in major cities. For example, in 2017 there were 343 murders in Baltimore [0] (which I knew would be on the list before looking for one) vs. 38 fatalities due to car accidents [1]. Here's an example of a list: https://www.statista.com/statistics/217685/most-dangerous-ci... These lists are based o…
That's highly misleading. Overall cars kill way more people than murderers (at least double) in America. Baltimore just happens to be at the top of the list for murders per capita and apparently slightly below average for auto fatalities. For most cities there is a greater chance of dying from a car crash than from being murdered.
It's not misleading for major cities that I'm aware of, and especially not so for the "most dangerous" ones that the parent brought up.
It doesn't "just happen" that I picked Baltimore, it's highly relevant to the topic the parent posted raised, even if you'd like to redirect the discussion elsewhere and it doesn't represent the US as a whole.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#90The single best thing you can do is pick a neighborhood - not the whole city - and invest deeply. Get to know everyone in the neighborhood and understand what they want and need, then try to find ways to bring that. When you have a strong network of neighbors and a little bit of cash, you can ramp up investment by cleaning up dirty corners and getting the basic services that a neighborhood is missing. Here’s an examp…
for a year I lived in a city on a nice block that was near some not so nice blocks. One thing we had that the other blocks did not, was an old lady with a bunch of brooms that knocked on everyones door once a month and made us all sweep. It really made a difference.