Facing housing crisis, L.A. voters back duplexes in single-family neighborhoods • Hacker News Board

Re: Facing housing crisis, L.A. voters back duplexes in single-family neighborhoods

#401

Post by mixmastamyk » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 8:03 PM UTC

quadrangle wrote: post #388

mixmastamyk wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, dense city is much more efficient than suburbs. A hundred floors is a tiny fraction of miles. There was a post here showing the costs. Most folks would prefer the “missing middle” if ever given a chance to experience it.

dense city is efficient, but density doesn't have to mean high-rises. It can be modest-rises, floors that are enough for people to still use steps to get to the top, so under 10 stories and dense, and that's probably in aggregate more efficient than high-rises. High-rises have serious problems and issues that are not just additive, and they are far harder to adapt, to change to adjust to changing contexts.

Yes, hence my mention of the missing-middle.

Re: Facing housing crisis, L.A. voters back duplexes in single-family neighborhoods

#402

Post by milkytron » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 10:25 PM UTC

perl4ever wrote: post #360

milkytron wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a car either for this exact reason. I could get a car, but the costs are just insane when compared with the alternatives. $8-10k a year in savings is usually what I come out to.

Do you find, in general, that buying smaller slices of things from service providers tends to be cheaper?

I do, but the smaller slices don't come out to the same size as what they would if I owned a car myself. I use rentals, ubers, and delivery services sparingly. If I owned, I'm sure I would drive a decent bit more.

The other commenter said that 8-10k is expensive (which it is), the big hit there comes mainly from registration fees, taxes, insurance, and parking, all of which are not cheap where I live unless I were to buy a relatively old car that has significantly depreciated, since that's how those fees are assessed.

Re: Facing housing crisis, L.A. voters back duplexes in single-family neighborhoods

#403

Post by milkytron » Thu, Dec 09, 2021, 10:33 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #366

perl4ever wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you find, in general, that buying smaller slices of things from service providers tends to be cheaper?

It depends how often you use them. Personally, $8-10K/year seems expensive unless you aren't trying to economize. I have an 11 year old ~$40Kish vehicle that I wouldn't typically pay $1K/year for maintenance and less on insurance. But there is certainly some point at which it makes economic sense to just rent, especially if you are paying to park the car. In a city with difficult parking I wouldn't pay to own a car t…

Yup, I live in a somewhat dense area with decent transit and bike commuting options. A car is more of a luxury than a necessity here and they are taxed heavily (insurance is also expensive where I live). I rent cars maybe once every few months, uber about the same amount, and never really get delivery service unless I'm with others and alcohol is involved. I fortunately do have a garage, but I use it as a gym and workshop area.

I do plan on maybe getting a car at some point, but with my current lifestyle it just doesn't make sense. Also the car market seems to be in shambles right now.