B. Carfree

I have been sitting in on waaaay too many meetings with elected officials and city planners lately, as well as some counter-meetings with neighborhood associations. Our state has mandated that cities loosen up on accessory dwelling units to a level that could literally double the density of any given neighborhood. In addition, because of our severe housing shortage and huge homeless problem, my city is also looking at a construction tax to fund more affordable housing.

Do you know what the number one concern of literally everyone in the room about all this is? The likelihood that it will increase traffic. No one cares about the added number of people, only the added number of cars those people (may) bring with them.

By the way, our traffic levels are laughingly light compared to what is normal in most places. We're a county about the size of Connecticut but with only 350k people and even fewer in our neighboring counties. I hate every car, but I have a lot of time between hateful moments.

Maelochs

Right, but also irrelevant.

The planning committee is Not concerned with quality of life. The planning board is concerned with things like roads, zoning, traffic flow, tax revenue vs expenditures .... The planning board doesn't care in the slightest if people are unhappy. Their concern with traffic is focused on their issues: how many cars can the roads handle, where will we or can we add lanes, will we need to modify traffic lights, where will we have gridlock.

They don't care directly if everyone is miserable, living packed together too tightly to actually live, impinging on one another's spaces .... because that is not something a government can Afford to consider. Mental health doesn't get attention except in extreme cases, where people become threats to themselves or others.

The fact that a planning board doesn't consider the impact of increased population density on the well-being of residents doesn't mean it is not a real issue. It's just that the government builds roads, supplies utilities, and hauls trash ... and focuses on those things.

prairiepedaler

Incidental, but related in the terms of motivating people to change their buying habits through careful manipulation by masters like this guy: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nyti...nays-obit.html

prairiepedaler

Here's a couple of videos on traffic management and people (not car) friendly city regions in general. I think cop unions might object to implementation of these intersection initiatives as it would severely reduce ticket quota and therefore fattened cop pensions.

Poynton Regenerated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vzDDMzq7d0

James Kunstler: How bad architecture wrecked cities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ZeXnmDZMQ
(I don't know why the guy is emulating "Loud Howard" but I guess that's his style)

McBTC

The fix for too many people may not always be limiting cars--








TOO MANY BICYCLES IN BEIJING

Daniel4

It's just as easy to Google and find images of piles of cars.

https://goo.gl/images/GKrRa5