I dunno, it’s weird. I proposed a light rail line along a new arterial road in my city that’ll connect the 99 to a UC campus. It doesn’t have a ton of development on it yet, so it’d be relatively easy to make it work. The mayor laughed and said “open your wallet”, and also informed me that public transit just doesn’t work in the US. I’ve embarked on a campaign of turning up to each city council meeting to re-educate them three minutes at a time.
It’s kinda weird because like…America is super big and super stretched apart. And we really did put off viable transit for so long. I am not really sure what else to say, because it makes me sad. But I am living in the suburbs for the first time in a hundred years and it feels so lonely out here. Like everyone is participating in their daily cycles, but ultimately everyone is an isolated bear in a cave. Likewise there are no sidewalks, and the few kids I do see playing are constantly wandering the streets that are filled with mega-trucks. I sort of feel like I entered one of the layers of hell, and want to escape. But for now I am here, and perhaps I won’t be in the future. But where I am at isn’t really even all that urbanized as a whole. So, shrugs.
And I am not saying lay concrete down on every corner. And I do think that urban spaces are filled to the brim with a lot of toxins. And lack a lot of nature, outside of pigeons and a couple of trees per block. I don’t know as a whole. It feels like we expanded too much as a people. Which makes me feel frustrated yet again. So I’m just gunna sit here and let you wizards wiz it up. Cause I can’t seem to get past the first part which is valid but not really conducive to anything.
America is stretched out, but that mostly referred to Alaska and everything west of the Mississippi and a narrow line of the Pacific ocean. Stick to east of the Mississippi or within 50 miles of the Pacific ocean and you find Americans are dense enough for good transit. However nobody builds good transit, and we are not dense enough to put up with bad transit.
Oh yeah for sure, I tried to explain this to my gal who is a west coaster. She doesn’t get it, but I like urban density. But I also think there’s still issues in that department as I don’t think the funds that are needed for upkeep are put in as well as they could be. Also someone talked Ohio (was it you?) and I can’t really imagine Ohians (is this the right way to say it? Hahaha) that are really interested in large scale public transit. At least in my own experience. Because like Michiganders (and Wisconsinites I’d say) they’re pretty set in their ways and don’t particularly enjoy change. But that’s just my own take. I think a lot of the NorEast does it right. And ideally, that’s where I’d like to land. But there’s a lot that the NorEast does wrong too. And in general we really fucked up by not really being egalitarian with our urban planning or upkeep.
I am still baffled as to how you can be somewhere with humans and it’s absurd to be “walking” and it’s a common thing across America in a lot of places. And try crossing a highway on foot. It’s a nightmare that you might not even know you’re heading towards until you get there. Bugs me out.
America is super big and super stretched apart
Perfect for long-distance rail travel. Just get in the train, wait X minutes to get to the next town over, and get out. It’s literally how the west was colonized in the second half of the 19th century.
What makes America bad for public transit isn’t that the nation is spread out, it’s that suburbs are a death knell with how spread out they are. I honestly don’t think there’s a way to make suburbs self-sustainable short of quadrupling the US’ population so you can get decent density even there. Sort of like the SF Bay Area except actually building medium density housing instead of having >8 people to a low density home.
More realistically, the suburbs will probably have to be scrapped. It’s not like those homes were built to last, anyway. Just don’t replace them when they need to be condemned.
As for there not being enough greenery in cities, that’s just a matter of choice, isn’t it? Pedestrian boulevards can be lined with trees, building facades with ivy, public parks next to apartment blocks, etc. etc. Almost all the toxins in western urban areas today are from car tire dust and exhaust. Just ban motorized personal vehicles except mobility scooters and e-bikes, and most of what you seem to hate about urban areas can just go away.
I mean, we’ve got the rails. So I am not saying it’s like we don’t have rails. But more so I mean the urban density just isn’t there (which is what you’re talking about with the suburbs). But also that usually comes with industry, and there’s so much space in America that just doesn’t pull the level of industry and even if there’s “cities” it basically just ends up having cities that look like burbs or like they’re from the 70s (because I think a lot of architecture is from there or the 80s). And I know Japan has the bullet train, but it’s way smaller than here. Idk what’s going on in China, so I can’t talk there. But I will also say that in America a lot of public transit is intentionally used to keep group a away from group b. So extending that access isn’t seen as desireable.
Idk, I give the mayor a lot of shit, but he’s a pretty alright dude. He’s constantly out volunteering in the community to pick up trash or feed the homeless. He also rides our pretty poor bus network every day.
Have you been trying to gather more supporters to join you in this crusade? One person speaking for 3 minutes every week is, I suspect, less likely to be successful than 10 people doing the same, even if it’s not all of them every week. (Though 10 people turning up consistently, and growing in numbers, is even better, obviously.)
That’s right politicians, it’s once again time for CONDITIONAL_SOUP’S THREE MINUTES OF TRANSIT.
It is in the valley, so, yeah, there’s a lot of default car brain to fight. That said, a lot of people I’ve spoken with here tend to agree with me, and really dislike being tied to a car. Even the mayor said that he agreed in spirit, but there was just no way to fund it. I think the gap that must be crossed here is much smaller than I expected going into it.
I lived in the valley for a few years and am glad to hear that people are receptive to it as is the mayor but I’m unsurprised that there isn’t much political will to make it happen. Good on you for fighting the good fight though, I appreciate you
