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Big Kahuna Donating Member (903 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:24 PM
Original message
Car Free Cities
http://www.carfree.com/

The idea is to build a completely new, planned city, with great public transportation, a European feel, lots of open green space, and a greater sense of community.

Over the past few weeks there's been a lot of talk about "Should New Orleans be rebuilt"? "What are we going to do with all these poor displaced people?"

Rather than FEMA trailer parks, maybe we should be thinking of turning a big cornfield in Nebraska into this kind community?











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ayeshahaqqiqa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:26 PM
Response to Original message
1. I think it is a good idea
but the location of said city should be planned carefully so there are enough jobs to support the population.

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TallahasseeGrannie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:26 PM
Response to Original message
2. I don't drive. I love it. n/t
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Longhorn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:29 PM
Response to Original message
3. Don't forget the bike paths!
It would be great to be able to shop, commute, and ride for fun without dealing with all that auto traffic!
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barenakedbiker Donating Member (34 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:31 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. America Already Has The Best Bike Paths
The problem is the price of gas is still too low.
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:33 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. America does not. Getting from point A to point B on a bike here
would get you run over by a soccer mom in an Ford Expedition.
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barenakedbiker Donating Member (34 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:34 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. I ride 10 miles every day...
I am still here.
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:36 PM
Response to Reply #8
11. You live somewhere in the US that is very different from here.
So please don't judge the whole US by your 10 miles, its a big country!

Have you ever ridden in Manhattan, for example?
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barenakedbiker Donating Member (34 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:39 PM
Response to Reply #11
14. Yes, I have ridden in Mahattan
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:41 PM
Response to Reply #14
16. Does that fall under the category of "best bike paths"?
:)
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barenakedbiker Donating Member (34 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:44 PM
Response to Reply #16
22. Screw That!
Just take over the streets.
www.critical-mass.org
http://donsorsa.smugmug.com/gallery/761502
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barenakedbiker Donating Member (34 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:40 PM
Response to Reply #11
15. So have my friends
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:42 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. I have too. But not since my bones were much faster-healing.....
Edited on Mon Sep-19-05 06:43 PM by BlueEyedSon
oh, and I have a scar (some idiot opeded a car door in front of me).

Anyway, you would admit it's not for everyone, yes?
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barenakedbiker Donating Member (34 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:45 PM
Response to Reply #18
24. You need to stay away from the car doors
and, take your lane.

www.critical-mass.org
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barenakedbiker Donating Member (34 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:47 PM
Response to Reply #18
25. Bikes probably not for..
the elderly with arthritis.
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phusion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:36 PM
Response to Reply #3
10. Our "bike paths" here
usually consist of an extra white stripe along the shoulder which is littered full of broken glass and other debris.

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barenakedbiker Donating Member (34 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:41 PM
Response to Reply #10
17. You already have bike paths....
The problem is the price of gas is still too low.
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phusion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:43 PM
Response to Reply #17
20. I guess you missed my point?
:shrug:
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:43 PM
Response to Reply #17
21. Maybe salaries are too high?
:rofl:
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BlueEyedSon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:33 PM
Response to Original message
6. Where are the solar panels/windmills?
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phusion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:33 PM
Response to Original message
7. H.S. Thompson tried to do something similar in Aspen
Edited on Mon Sep-19-05 06:36 PM by phusion
when he ran for Sheriff. I realize Aspen is not the same size of the community that site is envisioning, but he had some good ideas:

"Our program, basically, was to drive the real estate goons completely out of the valley: to prevent the State Highway Department from bringing a four-lane highway into the town and in fact to ban all auto traffic from every downtown street. Turn them all into grassy malls where everybody, even freaks, could do whatever's right. The cops would become trash collectors and maintenance men for a fleet of municipal bicycles, for anybody to use. No more huge, space-killing apartment buildings to block the view, from any downtown street, of anybody who might want to look up and see the mountains. No more land-rapes, no more busts for "flute playing" or "blocking the sidewalk"...fuck the tourists, dead-end the highway, zone the greedheads out of existence, and in general create a town where people could live like human beings, instead of slaves to some bogus sense of Progress that is driving us all mad."

I would absolutely love living somewhere like that...Driving sucks!
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CantGetFooledAgain Donating Member (635 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:35 PM
Response to Original message
9. That kind of thinking is brilliant
If we build it, they will come. People would get on waiting lists to live in that kind of community.

Thanks for the link, I look forward to learning more about this.
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RJRoss Donating Member (98 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:38 PM
Response to Original message
12. Where are the McMansions?
Murkins love their big ol' empty houses, jammed asshole to elbow right next to one the other.

I love the "urban village" idea - I hate having to drive to buy my groceries.
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barenakedbiker Donating Member (34 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:38 PM
Response to Original message
13. Get a Grip!
Rather than FEMA trailer parks, maybe we should be thinking of turning a big cornfield in Nebraska into this kind community?

Since when has the government has come up with any good ideas. Remember, democracy is nothing more than the mass acceptance of mediocracy.
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Big Kahuna Donating Member (903 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 07:03 PM
Response to Reply #13
27. Get a grip yourself...
Read the website.

Blessed be
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:42 PM
Response to Original message
19. I thought that said CAT-free cities...I was ready to sic my tigers on you!
Now that I see what the post is really about, I think it's a great idea.
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Big Kahuna Donating Member (903 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 07:23 PM
Response to Reply #19
30. Never!
I love cats! Plus, they keep the city rat & plague free! :)
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GreenPartyVoter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 07:46 PM
Response to Reply #30
31. Not to mention they are so cute-iful. *g*
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DBoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:44 PM
Response to Original message
23. Paul Goodman wrote an essay long ago
on banning cars from Manhattan:

http://www.bopsecrets.org/CF/goodman-cars.htm
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magnolia Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 06:55 PM
Response to Original message
26. Another plus:
Walking and bike riding would force Americans to get more exercise which would cut down on obesity, improve mental and physical health. Not having to breath exhaust would improve health too.

The drug companies, health insurance and medical industry owns us. We can fight back by improving our health.
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dcfirefighter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 07:13 PM
Response to Original message
28. It's a nice book
I've had it for years (or had it, I lent it out).
The website is great, though, highly recommend it.
Had I won that $250 Megamillions, I'da bought me a big ranch somewhere and built one.
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maxsolomon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 07:20 PM
Response to Original message
29. don't ban the cars
TAX them like they do in central London!

New Orleans can be a walking city - the numbers of residents without cars proves that.

this will make your blood boil:

http://americandreamcoalition.org/pad05.html
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dcfirefighter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 08:29 PM
Response to Reply #29
33. some of their points are true
but they talk out of both sides of their mouth: "the American Dream Coalition supports giving people freedom of choice in how they use their land and what forms of transportation they use, provided only that people pay the full costs of their choices"

Pay the full cost of your choice.

Your right to swing your fist ends short of my nose.

You take the best land, you by definition, exclude me.

Pay the full present annual value of that land, and see how many automobile suburbs are left in 20 years.
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Big Kahuna Donating Member (903 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Sep-19-05 08:07 PM
Response to Original message
32. bump?
Well, you never know till you try! :)
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