I just drove over a pothole that was the entire width of the road. No way to avoid it. I thought I was going to go in. Holy fuck, if you're going to destroy public transit, then make sure your alternative actually works!
I just drove over a pothole that was the entire width of the road. No way to avoid it. I thought I was going to go in. Holy fuck, if you're going to destroy public transit, then make sure your alternative actually works!
I can tell you, actually! Basically, the US federal and state governments heavily subsidize new development. Because of the low cost of investing in these subsidized projects, and because they spur short term economic growth, cities are heavily incentivized to expand the suburban sprawl as fast as they possibly can. However, that short-term growth isn't nearly enough to cover long-term maintenance of the infrastructure, and cities are left with an ever-growing financial burden that they can only offset with... you guessed it, more new development. It's a ponzi scheme, and it's systemically bankrupting American cities in order to transfer their wealth to real-estate developers.
https://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IsMeKl-Sv0&
Ugh. I had forgotten about that dynamic. Its absolutely true, especially in California, where property taxes go up less than inflation, unless it changes hands. So cities don't give a shit about the old neighborhoods. Making them nice doesn't help their tax revenue. Creating new developments on the other hand, bring in new, full price property taxes. All they have to do is let some developer grease the wheels of government a little bit, and they make some protected land available for building.
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Oh hell yes
Yes. So glad to see another person tuned in to this problem. You or me better make a big effort post on this soon. I feel like I'm going insane trying to spread this info.