Originally Posted by
noglider
@
Alan K, that's right. Here in Manhattan, not only do most of us not need cars, most of us don't want them. I realize it's a rare place to be like this in this country.
Changes are coming, and they're not as hard to implement as some people think. Changing people's mindsets is hard, though. I think they have to see how things have improved for them to see the changes as improvements. In other words, mere proposals don't look good. NYC still devotes a great amount of space and money for motor traffic. They're working on reducing that, and residents are pissed off.
We shall see…
People who are accustomed to high density living like the residents of Manhattan will obviously resent the huge cost of roads etc that to them is due to the rest of the people who drive cars and are part of horizontal sprawl.
[I know that I can’t imagine living in a vertically stacked box for my the rest of my life but a couple of cousins who live in Manhattan, can’t imagine living anywhere else. I am much happier in free-standing home with enough land around for a good garden, some fruit trees etc. Mostly a matter of familiarity.]
The thing that matters is how those changes will be implemented. If these changes are gradually phased in as the methodologies to support them are simultaneously developed and the masses are not burdened with precipitously higher cost of usage, it will be easier for people to accept changes. But if people perceive that these changes are forced down their throats that are also happen to be unaffordable for them, it would not be so easy to accept.