Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
101–110 of 208 posts
Re: Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a reason suburbs are located directly adjacent to density and not islands of development in the middle of nowhere. Suburbs survive by proximity to density and, in most cases, pay no taxes to support that density. Further, they use the state (via zoning laws) to prevent the natural development of more housing within their borders, guaranteeing a perpetual state of dependence, and ensuring that prices stay high…
This point of view ignores the fact that suburbs are also necessary for employers to be able to have an ample worker pool without paying salaries that are high enough to afford city-only residents (a cost that would go even higher as more people moved into a city for work). Many people in suburbs who work in cities would not be able to afford living in that city, or, flat out refuse to because cities aren't always th…
As I said elsewhere in the thread, larger apartments plus adequate soundproofing would go a long way to making urban living realistic for families.
Re: Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
#103Why are Chicago, San Fran, NYC, Philly, etc so in debt? Bad government policies. Not because of some ponzi scheme. https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/wasted-tax-dollars/ $365K In Taxpayer Dollars To Teach People How To Fish? You can look at every one of these cities and see them making bad government policies that placed them in this situation.
This sounds like a free activity or daycamp for kids[1]. I don't see what the big deal is. Gives kids a hobby and keeps them from getting into trouble. Probably a net savings long term when you consider the cost of dealing with youth crime.
By this name logic, public libraries and museums are also a waste of money.
[1] https://kids-fishing.com/fishing-chicago/
Edit: It's also worth considering the scale of the problem vs the cost of a program like this. The article says that the state is billions in debt, meanwhile this costs .35 million - probably less than the average house in Illinois. A debt of billions seems more structural in nature than small, possibly unwise spends like this. This is the political equivalent of boomers telling young people that they could afford a house if only they cut back on avocado toast.
Re: Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why should every small sub-section of geographies "pay-out" for themselves. The whole point of higher level organizing constructs (company, conglomerate, state, country) is we take systemically better decisions - which at a nation level will involve keeping people with different preferences united under the nation's big idea by supporting the diversity of preferences. If to take an example Google insisted every devel…
The problem with that analogy is, suburbs doesn't benefit anyone besides the people living in them. So, by that logic, they should sustain themselves. Maps, Docs, and etc provide value to people outside themselves.
This is incorrect on a political and economic level. Fwiw I live in lower Manhattan, so I’m not saying this because I benefit from suburban subsidies. But if the country as whole subsidizes roads and services for a suburb of net positive income tax payers with otherwise low usage of welfare services, there is an economic logic to that. And obviously it gets votes.
As much as I like living in a dense area and riding my bike, the rise of the YouTube educated urban planner has led to a lot conclusions that aren’t particularly sound. Doing a flaw P&L on a small town and deciding, in so many words, that it shouldn’t exist is peak smugness.
Re: Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
#105Tearing out cement and putting down differently arranged cement is just wasteful. The Channel likes to dwell on how the Netherlands do all these things, but the creator fails to ever mention what pays for them there.
Hint - It's oil and gas revenue.
Re: Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
#106I am biased because I quite like living in the suburbs, and get quite suspicious when some manifesto comes up that dictates I should feel bad for it. Why is the solution to live in better designed cities instead of better designed suburbs? Are cities still necessary given the modern conditions?
It's because a lot of the problem has to do with how Car centric the US is and Suburbs in particular are extremely car dependent. It's not super clear you can change that without massively rebuilding them.
So take an example: let's say you want to go grocery shopping from your home in a walk-able urban center, it could be a 10 minute walk to get that done.
In my suburban neighborhood a 6 minute drive to the nearest grocery store becomes a 50 minute walk along 3 lane highways.
Re: Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
We need both to be better designed. I live in what I suppose you could call a better-designed suburb (or small city; it's all semantics). My suburb of DC has a dense downtown with metro rail and bus access. It has plenty of walkability and apartments/condos for people who want that. It also has townhouses and single-family homes within walking distance of downtown. As you get further from the downtown, it becomes mor…
> Ultimately, retrofitting the suburbs is the great challenge of the 21st century. We need more walkability and density in their cores. Basically, we need to bring back streetcar suburbs (which is what my town is, and after going through decades of losing density, it has been transformed). > And then cities need to become better designed for more people, especially people with families and retirees. Ultimately, it al…
But that was always the intent of suburbs, live here and work elsewhere. Public Transportation is the issue, not jobs in suburbs.
Re: Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. I'm in a smallish town that owns its own power and water utility and maintains its own roads, and isn't "wealthy" or "exceptionally taxed" compared to other areas. I suspect there are bad suburbs somewhere, but here ain't it.
> I'm in a smallish town that owns its own power and water utility and maintains its own roads, and isn't "wealthy" or "exceptionally taxed" compared to other areas Are you in a net contributor state as well? I live in a similar town, but it's in Wyoming, a state which benefits from federal transfers from urban centers.
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Re: Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm in a smallish town that owns its own power and water utility and maintains its own roads, and isn't "wealthy" or "exceptionally taxed" compared to other areas Are you in a net contributor state as well? I live in a similar town, but it's in Wyoming, a state which benefits from federal transfers from urban centers.
Not sure, is there a list of "net contributor" states? And I suspect those look at federal budgets only, and ignore the other methods of "contributing".
> is there a list of "net contributor" states?
Yup [1].
> ignore the other methods of "contributing"
Nobody is arguing we write off New Mexico, Mississippi or West Virginia. But their lifestyles are subsidized by Delaware (special case), Minnesota, New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut and New York. (Scaling the net contribution to GDP removes much of the partisan slant introduced by urban centers having more people, and thus bigger numbers, as well as leaning blue.)
[1] https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2011/08/01/the-red-...
Re: Why American cities are broke (2021) [video]
#110It is easy to complain about the issues surrounding suburbia. What I don't see much of is how to fix it. How do we fix the issues of suburbia without tearing it all down and starting over?