Earlier quoted context omitted.
I belong to three different community workshops: a membership-based wood shop, a motorcycle repair shop that offers both memberships and drop-in work, and an electronics shop for members. At each I enjoy access to far better tools than I ever had at home, especially the motorcycle shop where I would never have something like a crane, a parts washer, cylinder reamers, and tire changing machines. I feel like this model…
>a motorcycle repair shop that offers both memberships and drop-in work Wow, I never heard of such a thing. Or, I heard many years ago of something vaguely like that, and also how it wasn't viable financially. I think Click & Clack said they'd tried to run a do-it-yourself-with-our-tools garage and there were too many idiots. I wasn't aware of any such thing existing in my area, anyway.
Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
91–100 of 384 posts
Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very similar situation here. Master planned community with meh build quality, but our neighborhood is designed to be transit oriented. We don't have a lot of amenities within the community, mostly just a bike trail, and a light rail stop. Hopefully some retail and a grocery store open up nearby soon, because about 500+ units are all being built within a quarter mile. And well over 1000+ within a half mile. The bike t…
The same thing happens in all new communities re: schools, sports facilities, fire departments, etc. You can argue that the developer should have to account for these needed public goods, but everyone buying knows they don't exist, then immediately complains that they don't exist once they move in.
Idk if the developer should have to account for those services. I think that's more of the role of local government. And I'm not complaining, just hoping that some things get built. I was fully aware of the lack of services when I moved in, and others should be as well.
Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
#93For those who are interested in what makes a great town, I recommend two books: Happy City by Charles Montgomery, and Strong Towns by Charles Marohn. Both were red pill/blue pill books for me on what makes a great city. When my wife and I moved we completely changed what we were looking for in a house/community. We wanted a Main Street style town. We used to love master planned communities with huge houses. In our sm…
Definitely agree! I would recommend the YouTube channel "Not Just Bikes" which has a series about the book Strong Towns and in general focuses on better city planning: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0intLFzLaudFG-xAvUEO-A
The terrible layouts of US cities and neighbourhoods are what keep me in Europe. There is nothing you can do in the US without a car because it's so car dependent and it wastes so much time compared to walking or biking places. The beautifully walkable cities you find in Europe are so much more enjoyable to live in.
Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
#94I live in a master planned community (Daybreak, Utah), and while you can definitely scoff at the building quality (state of things everywhere right now, it's all done fast and with low quality materials), it's been fantastic, especially during the pandemic. The whole neighborhood is designed to be walkable, with parks, pools, trails, train stations, grocery stores and restaurants (added in the later phases, which are…
> "Why aren't more communities built this way?"
I chose to buy a house in Ballard Seattle just so I could be near things and not have to drive (along with a bunch of streets shutdown for bike/pedistrian traffic + the Burke Gilman bike trail). It costs a lot more, and we don't have a huge yard, but you can get those things without going for a planned community if you don't mind some urban living.
When I lived in SLC I got most of the same thing (living near U of U in an old Victorian). Well, the biking was a bit harder, no trails, but it was easy enough (maybe I was just younger then, however).
Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a bit of subjective personal and professional experience with all of this (design, policy, politics, zoning, economics, etc etc etc... It ALL comes to one thing: ECONOMICS. And I don't mean a balanced budget - I am referring to greed and corruption. One may thing that greed and corruption is rampant on a federal level; no just look locally: HOS and Municipal governments (city councils etc) Did you know that ma…
> all the hedge funds are swooping in with dark money, dark legal and dark politics I'm concerned about this also. I wonder if this is something that can be mitigated somehow via referendum? It seems wrong if the will of the people in a democracy has to take a back seat to hedge fund profits, especially when it comes to a place to live. it's tough though, current homeowners don't want there to be more houses... Or ma…
It's more of a polyarchy. The U.S. system is unique (originally but unremarkable today) in two respects: written constitution, and not a monarchy. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. Madison
The argument against the first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, is that the federal government had essentially no power. The argument against the second, it it's effectively created a presidential democracy, or unitary executive. It's a model our diplomats expressly avoided when helping other countries write a constitution. It's fragile, and while it's so far been stable in the U.S. it's possible we've just been lucky so far.
But a polyarchy doesn't guarantee democracy, even representative democracy. It certainly wasn't pluralistic at its founding: white, male, land owners. It took a long time to unwind that and here we are with most states in one form or another trying to make it harder for people to vote. Can a democracy democratically undemocratize itself? Sure.
If it wants to weaken or even obsolete democracy, by any combination of action or inaction, that's what will happen. One of the classic examples is the principate period of the Roman Empire. It had the veneer of a democracy, including having a senate, but there was an emperor who had all the real authority. That period lasted over 200 years, so it's not like we'd necessarily see the end to elections, laws, casting aside the constitution, or any of the other institutions we think display proof of "democracy".
Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having lived down the street from this site, I'm also skeptical. Tempe has some bike infrastructure, but the high temperatures four months of the year and the spread-out nature of the larger Phoenix metro makes a car a priority for most people, and cities (including Tempe and neighboring Mesa) design around that. There's a bike path to the west of this site that runs north-south but terminates after only a couple mil…
I went to ASU (in the 90s) and my family is still in the area, and I typically (and perhaps stupidly) visit in June... and when I go back to the old "neighborhood" I always see a ton of people riding their bikes around in the June heat. With an e-bike, 2 miles is nothing.
E-bikes are game changers, agree there. I'll take a 15 mile bike ride on my e-bike and it's a breeze with pedal assist.
Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
#97All the houses are single bedroom? They expect no kids at all?
Honestly, I think they nailed their target demographic for the lie they are trying to sell.
Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
#98I don't see why anyone would call this a "neighborhood". As far as I can tell, it's just a single apartment complex that doesn't have parking, right?
Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
#99"Neighborhood" is a bit of a stretch. This is an apartment complex.
Shhhh....you'll ruin the illusion. It's marketing aimed at a narrowly defined demographic that is highly attuned for this kind of imagery (Heaven on Earth, for some). As a ruse, it's rather well-done.
Re: Culdesac Tempe: The first car-free neighborhood built from scratch in the US
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having lived down the street from this site, I'm also skeptical. Tempe has some bike infrastructure, but the high temperatures four months of the year and the spread-out nature of the larger Phoenix metro makes a car a priority for most people, and cities (including Tempe and neighboring Mesa) design around that. There's a bike path to the west of this site that runs north-south but terminates after only a couple mil…
I went to ASU (in the 90s) and my family is still in the area, and I typically (and perhaps stupidly) visit in June... and when I go back to the old "neighborhood" I always see a ton of people riding their bikes around in the June heat. With an e-bike, 2 miles is nothing.
You can definitely bike if that's your thing, I mean it's 35C right now, but there are a lot of times when it's 40-45C. Or occasionally 50C.
This could theoretically be good for someone who works from home primarily, but you really do need access to a car to get around Phoenix in general. Some day you're going to want to visit, say, the Renaissance Faire and biking from Tempe to Apache Junction is unlikely to be an attractive option for most people. And I pity any Uber drivers that get contracted to help get someone through the traffic jam for that.
There are a decent amount of bike lanes and whatnot, but the city was optimized for cars, which is why all the self-driving tests are there and you can see a Waymo every other day or so, including that new smaller car.
The light rail is great if you want to go to downtown Phoenix or the ball park and maybe for ASU, but a bit less attractive for many other destinations. Meikong Plaza and H-Mart on Dobson aren't very far from the light rail, but walking ~1 mile in 45C weather with groceries only works for the younger and healthier folks. Asiana or Fujiya are probably non-starters for someone using the light rail, being 2-3 miles away. Don't get me wrong, you can take your bike onto the light rail (or bus) and get there, but it's a significant effort and if it's one of those few days that hits 50C, most people's willpower will give out.
I'm surprised they don't compromise a bit and have a handful of community cars that are shared by some agreement. Then again, I suppose that Uber/Waymo can take over there. It honestly looks pretty cool, but we tend to use the cars a lot and outdoor stuff is only attractive between October and May or so.