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If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

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Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#301

Post by gumby »

cscurmudgeon wrote: post #279
bichiliad wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can find a ton of much worse examples than the US, but the US is just vastly far behind Europe (i.e. Spain, to which OP was comparing the US to). Plus, it's worth mentioning that while Tokyo has a lot of mixed-traffic streets, the streets are small, have very low speed limits, and have strong restrictions on the size and type of car that can actually be within the city. It's less like you're walking in traffic an…

Unpopular opinion: We (US) should stop subsidizing Europe's security while they are better than us and can afford to do so. https://cvafoundation.org/does-the-us-subsidize-european-def...

> Unpopular opinion: We (US) should stop subsidizing Europe's security

It's cheaper to subsidize European defense than to let them arm up and start fighting again. The lack of large militaries in the second half of the 20th century has lead to the longest period of peace in Europe in about 1500 years.

What would be smart, as has been shown by the invasion of Ukraine, would be to integrate the NATO supply chains more deeply (for the same reason we do multipath and redundant routing). This wouldn't threaten US jobs or safety, but instead make the whole system more resilient.

(Honestly I don't know why supply chain people don't talk to networking people and consider multipath, bufferbloat, and the like. The finance people wicked down those supply chains and have resulted in too many single points of failure.)

Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#302

Post by mschuster91 »

kccqzy wrote: post #300
jhot wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the US in a "platinum rated" bike city (so there are a relatively high amount of bike commuters) and have gone through drive throughs on my bike a handful of times. Every time I have been served but told not to do it again.

But did they explain why?

Probably, as usual, liability insurance issues.

Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#303

Post by JoshTriplett »

lozenge wrote: post #289
JoshTriplett wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People may stop on thei walk home to get dinner items each night! I'm glad that people who want that have that option, but that sounds incredibly unpleasant to me. I'd much rather minimize the total amount of time spent shopping.

If the shop is on the way, then it's 0 minutes spent on transport, the only time spent is the actual time in the shop.

Correlated information: I also find commuting unpleasant, and work from home.

Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#304

Post by kiratp »

sdeframond wrote: post #272
wantoncl wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NYC bike messengers. And rollerbladers. Not sure how it is now, but in the late 90's they were exactly as the other poster described. Fail to yield, swerving in front of buses and flipping off the drivers if they honked. Utter contempt for everyone else. I was in far more danger of getting injured by them than any vehicle, and this was Manhattan traffic. Plenty of stories of grandmas getting knocked down by rollers a…

> flipping off the drivers if they honked Honking within urban areas is forbidden unless used to prevent immediate danger (well, in France anyway). Honking for "educational purpose", ie to yell at someone, is a major nuisance. Every honk annoys dozens of people around the driver, wakes up babies and so on. Friends, don't let friends honk inconsiderately.

This is not true in the US, at least in Washington state for example. Honking = speech

https://law.justia.com/cases/washington/supreme-court/2011/8...

Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#305

Post by kccqzy »

mlinksva wrote: post #167
voisin wrote: post #9

If we want a shift to walking, we need cities to plant around 100x the number of trees they have. Ever walk through an old, mature neighbourhood? Usually there are tons of people on the sidewalks, and a primary reason is that there are mature trees providing plenty of shade. Then try walking in a new neighbourhood with barely any shade. It is awful.

I spend lots of time walking through old, mature neighbourhoods with mature trees. Usually the sidewalks are empty, because stuff is too spread out to be walkable, and there just aren't enough people for sidewalks to be full. Yes, mostly in the US, but I've also observed this outside the US. Leafy+dense enough to be vibrant areas are really nice, but the exception. The thing that really makes new neighborhoods awful…

I observe that in a 1950s neighborhood with mature trees. The sidewalks are only for people to exercise themselves (jogging) or their dogs, not as a means to get to a destination.

Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#306

Post by InertBrake »

laserlight wrote: post #290
cscurmudgeon wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unpopular opinion: We (US) should stop subsidizing Europe's security while they are better than us and can afford to do so. https://cvafoundation.org/does-the-us-subsidize-european-def...

Did you reply to the wrong thread? Where did defense subsidies come from?

Without really reading the article, I think maybe the parent's point is that the US basically pays for large portions of defense and security of Europe, especially when it comes to the need for blue water navies to protect trade. That frees up a lot of time, money, and manpower for them to spend on not defense, and spend instead on infrastructure and nice things. It's also nice that another effect Pax Americana has contributed to is that the majority of Europe has stopped starting progress-destroying wars with each other every two decades.

The US doesn't get that benefit as the self-employed enforcer, and I'm sure we're all aware of how insanely massive the defense budget is.

Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#307

Post by Fricken »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #109
wnc3141 wrote: post #96

I think what's being noticed here, as in many urbanist conversations, is that our urban conditions are primarily reflective of the vastly unequal socio-economic structure we have at large. In places where the working poor are the most disadvantaged, there also tends to be the highest auto dependency. (Think American South, Panama City, Panama etc) To Soap box for a moment, almost all of our problems are reflective of…

Don't agree with this at all. On one hand, it's kind of a tautology - sure, if you're in a city that is very car-dependent, it's a disadvantage to the working poor because owning a car costs money. But in the US there are also (usually older) cities with relatively great public transportation that are more walkable that also have enormous amounts of wealth inequality. Doesn't really have anything to do with inequalit…

Lack of adequate transportation has been cited as the biggest barrier to upward economic mobility

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/07/upshot/transportation-eme...

Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#308

Post by jeromegv »

kccqzy wrote: post #300
jhot wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the US in a "platinum rated" bike city (so there are a relatively high amount of bike commuters) and have gone through drive throughs on my bike a handful of times. Every time I have been served but told not to do it again.

But did they explain why?

You need a certain amount of revenue to be able to afford a car. Easy way to get rid of indesirables at night

Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#309

Post by bombcar »

mschuster91 wrote: post #302
kccqzy wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But did they explain why?

Probably, as usual, liability insurance issues.

This is exactly it, a walker/biker can easily be run over.

But where it’s common the workers often look the other way.

Re: If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity

#310

Post by grecy »

tvaughan wrote: post #258
degrews wrote: post #106

I moved from Spain to the US, and I often find myself trying to explain to people back home just how miserable and even humiliating the pedestrian experience is here. Here are some other examples of things that I think contribute to the hostile walking experience in the US: * Cars parked in short driveways often extend all the way across the sidewalk. Even if you can easily step off onto the road to walk around them…

> I often find myself trying to explain to people back home just how miserable and even humiliating the pedestrian experience is here. Same. I’ve lived in Los Ángeles and Amsterdam, and it is impossible to explain to my friends and family just how awful the quality of life is in LA precisely because of the difference in attitudes and priorities over cars. Perhaps some have “nicer” (aka bigger) houses in LA than they…

Every time a politician anywhere in the world suggests adding more freeways or more lanes to freeways, I think they should be forced to live in LA for a year and do a ~1 hour commute each way in traffic.

They need to see first hand what happens when you just add more freeways and more lanes. It's not good.

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