June 22, 2011
The American suburbs are a giant Ponzi scheme
We've done this because, as with any Ponzi scheme, new growth provides the illusion of prosperity. In the near term, revenue grows, while the corresponding maintenance obligations -- which are not counted on the public balance sheet -- are a generation away.
You'll definitely enjoy reading this article in its entirety. That's assuming you like reading horror stories that is.
"...over thousands of years, people have traditionally built places scaled to the individual. It is only the last two generations that we have scaled places to the automobile."
ReplyDeleteThat rather ignores several generations where places were scaled to the commuter railways - if not in the US, then certainly in Europe. Plus the bus and the tram.
dearieme,
ReplyDeleteIt does fit rather well with the Seattle area though. Sigh.
We are about as far from bullet trains as far can get. We have opted instead to build a $4.25 billion car tunnel. That's just an estimate of course. If I was a betting man, I'd bet a dollar to win a dime that it will cost more than that.