You're not wrong that such things make a city less walkable, but there's also a strong argument that just punishing people, instead of, you know, addressing the underlying problem doesn't solve the problem either. It just sets up a situation where people bounce from jail (due to the realities of living on the streets) to the homeless encampment (due to unpaid fines preventing them from earning any money). Like, the w…
> the whole reason the West Oakland homeless encampment has such an enormous garbage pile problem I lived in West Oakland for several years during the first .com bubble. People with houses there often didn't sign up for garbage service (or if they had, they didn't pay). I had to put a damned padlock on my garbage can just so I didn't have my own garbage dumped out and replaced by the freeloaders living next to me. Th…
That kind of looks like a capitalism and privatization problem from here where trash is a municipal service and paid for by taxes?
Can you source that fact? I'm seeing both violent and property crime as statistically way down over the few decades.
My anecdotal experience visiting LA and SF in 2022 was wild - homeless and mentally ill people yelling, being a public nuissance, defecating on the streets, multi-story tents on the same block as the Hollywood stars. It bewildered me that the same state that houses Apple and Google can’t afford to help these people. Whilst I am empathetic and understand that these people need help, I wouldn’t let an 8 year old roam t…
I think this is a dominating perspective for a lot of people. A few neighborhoods in LA and SF get infinitely more news coverage than the thousands of quiet urban places where nothing spectacular is going wrong, which creates an illusion of widespread despair.
I’m not saying crime or homelessness don’t exist, but urban LA is just not representative.
It is shocking that the richest state in the history of the world can’t figure out how to help the people with nowhere to go.
What do you mean by "decline in public safety"? The violent crime rate has dropped to around half what it was in the '90s: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/us-c... Property crime is down similarly. I understand that some people feel so afraid of homeless people or street addicts that they assume they must be in danger whenever they witness such poverty, but crime statistics do not support this…
Crime is down since the 90s and up since 2018.
I'm a little suspect of any claims or numbers outside of murder counts nowadays. Unreported crime was an issue before but now that police have embraced a sort of slacker/work-to-rule/soft-strike attitude to their jobs since they don't feel appreciated after civilians dared to protest their bad behavior, there's a feedback loop of: crime happens, cops are called, nothing is done, another crime happens, no one bothers to report it. It's not just the cops that are a problem either, the revolving door where criminals that do get brought in are right back out on bail is demoralizing cops and civilians alike. If real crime rates were decreasing, wouldn't we see the system that handles them also improving? Instead it looks like a shit show, thus the numbers are probably kinda bullshit.
What do you mean by "decline in public safety"? The violent crime rate has dropped to around half what it was in the '90s: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/us-c... Property crime is down similarly. I understand that some people feel so afraid of homeless people or street addicts that they assume they must be in danger whenever they witness such poverty, but crime statistics do not support this…
Crime is down since the 90s and up since 2018.
Yes, that is shown in the data I linked, but the rebound is much smaller than the previous drop.
The US already has the highest incarceration rate of any developed country, and it's not even close (we're #5, slotting in right behind Turkmenistan). Your solution to society's ills seems to be more "punishment." Do you think the wrong people are in jail? Or is there something unique to American society makes us have more people deserving of imprisonment than almost any other country in the world?
I do not care. I also do not live in the US. I live in a country where child rape gets you probation, so I guess I want more people in prison. On further thought, maybe I actually don't, but I do not think that is the discussion.
OK, well, you're commenting on a list that primarily addresses the US.
The focus on ground-level retail as opposed to multi-story retail is a bit disappointing. This Substack post from Noah Smith does a really great job explaining why density for retail is also an important part of creating walkable neighborhoods: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/a-better-way-to-build-a-downto...
I'm a little suspect of any claims or numbers outside of murder counts nowadays. Unreported crime was an issue before but now that police have embraced a sort of slacker/work-to-rule/soft-strike attitude to their jobs since they don't feel appreciated after civilians dared to protest their bad behavior, there's a feedback loop of: crime happens, cops are called, nothing is done, another crime happens, no one bothers…
I agree, this is also clear when looking at how often traffic laws are broken with no police reaction.
My dream is for my section of my town to ban cars. It’s already heavy pedestrian but if the cars went away (and everyone had to walk or e-bike or mobility scooter in the zone) it would be a utopia. Sure there’d be some issues to address and frustrations but we’d figure it out. The net would be amazingly positive.
How would people be able to "express their personality" by removing their muffler or putting a two foot lift on their truck?