Reply #45: It's not a bait and switch at all... [View All]

Go re-read the post and you'll probably see that I'm right here.

Let me help you:

You want to know what started the me first attitude in America?

I said started. Started - not that it was the only cause of our problems.

The beginning of sprawl in America dates back to post-war development which was not developed along the traditional grid system we saw in urban America. And your employment centers were few and far between. Look at the photo and find a decent commercialized center there. I see something that looks like a church...and then? Maybe a school?

The ultimate idea of affordable housing developed away from the city isn't necessarily evil. However, the way they developed the idea has led us down the path of suburban sprawl.

Compare suburban neighborhoods built pre-war and shortly after the war to the housing developments of the 1950s and you'll see what I mean. They were detached from most of the city, had little connection to public transit, were developed along massive highways and encouraged the usage of the automobile (which was even further pushed by the creation of massive freeways which often went right through historical and established urban neighborhoods just to so the white folk could get out of the city as fast as possible).



Yeah, that's just awesome, isn't it?

That was the creation of the Chrysler Freeway in Detroit.



Beyond that, my economic center point isn't horseshit. There are suburban offices complex (often sprawling and disconnected from any form of public transportation - which again requires the need to DRIVE) - but a great deal of American urban areas (both suburban and urban) have their economic center in the downtown area.

That's why, you know, they have all those tall office buildings. ;)

In fact, a great deal of these cities balloon in population during the day.

And your father wasn't responsible for the problem, he only reinforced the problem. As do those who continue to move further and further outward into the suburban mess.

As for my comment, I stand by it. Do you not agree that most who live in suburban America tend to be Republican?

Certainly by a wider number than Republicans in inner-city America.

So yeah, the beginning selfish nature of our society began with the create of sprawl. Not necessarily the idea of suburban America (that was created a few decades before...). However, once the sprawl began, we didn't look back.

And because of it, we've created a monster that we can't control anymore.