One of my 'favorite' things regarding MVH is when I'm walking my dog and a car stops to ask me directions in my somewhat confusing neighborhood.
As I'm describing the way to the Christmas Story House or the Steelyard shopping development, anybody stopped in a car behind that person becomes enraged within several seconds.
They invariably lay on the horn or go squealing around the stopped driver, which makes me want to take even more time to help my fellow citizen.
I almost got in a fight with some asshole in a shopping center parking lot in the burbs over this once.
Somebody wanted directions and it took about 15 seconds to explain them, keeping an asshole behind the person I was helping from exiting the funneled design of the parking lot.
I informed the asshole after he issued some unintelligible aggro that indeed life was short and I was (not) sorry that I kept him immobile for a short moment of it.
Asshole made a move to get out and engage me and I welcomed it. Didn't happen.
Yet another incident occurred once when, years ago, I was driving to a restaurant and a friend was coming from her home in her vehicle.
I found a spot and saw her approaching where I was walking towards our destination. There were a fair amount of parking spaces available, by no means was it full.
As she approached I stood in one spot waving her over when, from behind me some asshole in a BMW comes careening into the same space stopping just short of hitting me.
From the asshole's car, the asshole screams, believe it or not, "Get The Fuck Out Of My Way," as if the asshole had a constitutional right to a share of lined asphalt.
Shamefully, I stepped aside and glared through the window. Asshole jumped on the horn. I walked away laughing.
MVH does horrible things to people, (and the environment and the economy, etc.)
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Options
It's true enough that most people need to be within 10 miles round trip of 80% of the places they go to make alternatives to the car work for them.
My daily commute is 6 miles round trip.
Assuming light traffic, round trip times:
By car: 30 minutes + 5-10 minutes to park and walk to office
$5-10 to park per day + gas and proportionate maintenance, fees, and insurance
By bus: 60 minutes + 10-15 minutes walking to office
$4.50 per day
By bicycle: 40 minutes + 10 minutes changing clothes, prepping saddle bags, walk to office
No daily fees. $10-20 a month bike maintenance?
By walking: 90 - 100 minutes
Free all round!
Curiously, increasing my distance to 10 miles round trip would only slightly increase my walking time.
The other times wouldn't change much.
My daily commute is 6 miles round trip.
Assuming light traffic, round trip times:
By car: 30 minutes + 5-10 minutes to park and walk to office
$5-10 to park per day + gas and proportionate maintenance, fees, and insurance
By bus: 60 minutes + 10-15 minutes walking to office
$4.50 per day
By bicycle: 40 minutes + 10 minutes changing clothes, prepping saddle bags, walk to office
No daily fees. $10-20 a month bike maintenance?
By walking: 90 - 100 minutes
Free all round!
Curiously, increasing my distance to 10 miles round trip would only slightly increase my walking time.
The other times wouldn't change much.
The Cost of Sprawl: An Ongoing Tragedy
Just got some fee costs for installing water and sewer service in an exurb that shouldn't even be developed:
$13,118 for sewer
$4,534 for water
Grand total of $17,652 (+ $2,453 if your sewer is tributary to another exurb)
This is before you pay the contractor to lay the pipe. (Gotta be another 20k, I imagine.)
Connection is required BTW.
All that for the privilege of driving your gas hog over 50 miles a day and destroying forestland.
All these amenities and more already exist in the city.
There are probably 100s of entire, quality houses available in the city for less than $10,000.
$13,118 for sewer
$4,534 for water
Grand total of $17,652 (+ $2,453 if your sewer is tributary to another exurb)
This is before you pay the contractor to lay the pipe. (Gotta be another 20k, I imagine.)
Connection is required BTW.
All that for the privilege of driving your gas hog over 50 miles a day and destroying forestland.
All these amenities and more already exist in the city.
There are probably 100s of entire, quality houses available in the city for less than $10,000.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
RTA Commuter Lines: A Proposal
No doubt many proposals are submitted to Cleveland's Regional Transit Authority.
Many people care about the state of transportation, and particularly public transportation in our region.
This is mine.
I've created a Google map:
Commuter Line Map
with a set of proposed stops to be served by dedicated commuter vehicles to pick up passengers at one and only one stop, to be transported downtown to the brand spanking new Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center:
STJ Transit Center
The idea of this proposal is for these commuter vehicles to run AROUND THE CLOCK
Blue Markers (Stops) every 30 Minutes
Red Markers (Stops) every 60 Minutes.
Also, one vehicle to run between each Red Stop East and one vehicle between Red Stops West.
Late night transit in Cleveland is extremely sparse, like in many cities.
Several Years ago RTA abandoned their 'Circulator' routes for a variety of mysterious reasons, some of which may be here:
Circulator Woes
These were smaller vehicles that served shorter routes and were very popular, but VERY poorly thought out.
I believe the idea was to use them merely to get customers to other Bus routes or the Rapid Train.
It's time to bring these back as actual dedicated commuter vehicles!
Many people care about the state of transportation, and particularly public transportation in our region.
This is mine.
I've created a Google map:
Commuter Line Map
with a set of proposed stops to be served by dedicated commuter vehicles to pick up passengers at one and only one stop, to be transported downtown to the brand spanking new Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center:
STJ Transit Center
The idea of this proposal is for these commuter vehicles to run AROUND THE CLOCK
Blue Markers (Stops) every 30 Minutes
Red Markers (Stops) every 60 Minutes.
Also, one vehicle to run between each Red Stop East and one vehicle between Red Stops West.
Late night transit in Cleveland is extremely sparse, like in many cities.
Several Years ago RTA abandoned their 'Circulator' routes for a variety of mysterious reasons, some of which may be here:
Circulator Woes
These were smaller vehicles that served shorter routes and were very popular, but VERY poorly thought out.
I believe the idea was to use them merely to get customers to other Bus routes or the Rapid Train.
It's time to bring these back as actual dedicated commuter vehicles!
Back To The City: Part 1
Any decrease in car dependency will require re-establishing dense population patterns: it's simple geography.
I started out to write about the current state of the 'inner city,' schools, race, crime, etc., but this contribution from Meagen Farrell on +Rust Wire , an important blog by +Angie Schmitt once again knocked me on my ass:
Living in Hough
You absolutely must read not only that contribution, but the 4 preceding ones, to which links are provided at the top.
I live in a Cleveland neighborhood known as Tremont, (or The Southside if you're a traditionalist,) in which I was lucky enough to purchase a house in 1993, just as the area was beginning to grow in popularity.
First, the usual suspects, The Artists began purchasing crappy homes from slumlords and the children of older ethnic families in the 1980s. Then the Bars and Restaurants moved in. (Michael Symon's first big hit "Lola" started here.)
It is now too expensive for most young people to acquire a house despite the poor quality of the late 1800s (worse) to early 1900s (better) construction.
There are many expensive rehabs and expensive modern construction homes in the last 2-10 years as well.
All well and good. I expect, and have personally benefitted from this kind of change, well aware of the anger, unfairness, and controversy it can cause among the dispossessed and/or early 'pioneers' not as lucky as myself. I am willing to move again however, as the disparity on display here has begun to bother me.
Point is, most people are wondering where the next neighborhood is going to be.
Freshwater Cleveland is publishing a series on that very topic, such as this one on the North Collinwood effort:
Next Neighborhood
Distressingly, I see most people forced out of Tremont heading West in a pattern eerily similar to that of my parents, who ended up far East in Mentor, Ohio where I went to school, and learned nothing. (So much for good school systems.)
Mentor was once a tiny, quaint village now turned into a hellhole of strip mall sprawl by the federally supported mandate to clear the cities, provided by the gazillions of dollars invested in the highway system.
The way the Feds still pour money into these systems, you would think the mandate were still in place.
Why are my friends trickling West, (even those who started East as I did?)
I am a white guy.
My father, (born in Hough) is a frightening spectre on the beach. That side of my family is as white as Obama's maternal grandfather:
Chris Rock
This is where black people live in Cuyahoga County:
Nodis GIS
None of my friends are racist. They are all good-hearted and right-minded people. We are all deeply affected by racism.
This is a conversation avoided for over 50 years.
It may finally be happening.
I started out to write about the current state of the 'inner city,' schools, race, crime, etc., but this contribution from Meagen Farrell on +Rust Wire , an important blog by +Angie Schmitt once again knocked me on my ass:
Living in Hough
You absolutely must read not only that contribution, but the 4 preceding ones, to which links are provided at the top.
I live in a Cleveland neighborhood known as Tremont, (or The Southside if you're a traditionalist,) in which I was lucky enough to purchase a house in 1993, just as the area was beginning to grow in popularity.
First, the usual suspects, The Artists began purchasing crappy homes from slumlords and the children of older ethnic families in the 1980s. Then the Bars and Restaurants moved in. (Michael Symon's first big hit "Lola" started here.)
It is now too expensive for most young people to acquire a house despite the poor quality of the late 1800s (worse) to early 1900s (better) construction.
There are many expensive rehabs and expensive modern construction homes in the last 2-10 years as well.
All well and good. I expect, and have personally benefitted from this kind of change, well aware of the anger, unfairness, and controversy it can cause among the dispossessed and/or early 'pioneers' not as lucky as myself. I am willing to move again however, as the disparity on display here has begun to bother me.
Point is, most people are wondering where the next neighborhood is going to be.
Freshwater Cleveland is publishing a series on that very topic, such as this one on the North Collinwood effort:
Next Neighborhood
Distressingly, I see most people forced out of Tremont heading West in a pattern eerily similar to that of my parents, who ended up far East in Mentor, Ohio where I went to school, and learned nothing. (So much for good school systems.)
Mentor was once a tiny, quaint village now turned into a hellhole of strip mall sprawl by the federally supported mandate to clear the cities, provided by the gazillions of dollars invested in the highway system.
The way the Feds still pour money into these systems, you would think the mandate were still in place.
Why are my friends trickling West, (even those who started East as I did?)
I am a white guy.
My father, (born in Hough) is a frightening spectre on the beach. That side of my family is as white as Obama's maternal grandfather:
Chris Rock
This is where black people live in Cuyahoga County:
Nodis GIS
None of my friends are racist. They are all good-hearted and right-minded people. We are all deeply affected by racism.
This is a conversation avoided for over 50 years.
It may finally be happening.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
War On Cars
Ha Ha Ha!
I love the use of Tea Party phrases in vogue right now.
I prefer 'Taking the ROW Back!'
Today's automobiles are the peak of technology.
I don't think they can be improved much in terms of safety, comfort, agility and power. They truly are marvels of the modern world and a far cry from the crapbuckets I drove in the 70s.
I retain a small, modern, efficient car and a motorscooter. (Personally, I hope this is my last four-wheeler.)
What preceded even me however were hundreds of years of Private vs. Public space, or 'property' if you like.
The tenets of public space demand that public space be shared equally, providing as close to a perfect opportunity of access as possible.
For only the last hundred years our public Rights Of Way have been given to automobiles. Even sidewalks are shrinking in the case where some brainwashed 'traffic engineer' believes 'increased flow' is the answer to volume.
No one should expect to move any faster than 20-25 MPH in an urbanized area. Residential neighborhoods should be even slower.
There's no 'war on cars.' Cars are gonna be just fine!
I love the use of Tea Party phrases in vogue right now.
I prefer 'Taking the ROW Back!'
Today's automobiles are the peak of technology.
I don't think they can be improved much in terms of safety, comfort, agility and power. They truly are marvels of the modern world and a far cry from the crapbuckets I drove in the 70s.
I retain a small, modern, efficient car and a motorscooter. (Personally, I hope this is my last four-wheeler.)
What preceded even me however were hundreds of years of Private vs. Public space, or 'property' if you like.
The tenets of public space demand that public space be shared equally, providing as close to a perfect opportunity of access as possible.
For only the last hundred years our public Rights Of Way have been given to automobiles. Even sidewalks are shrinking in the case where some brainwashed 'traffic engineer' believes 'increased flow' is the answer to volume.
No one should expect to move any faster than 20-25 MPH in an urbanized area. Residential neighborhoods should be even slower.
There's no 'war on cars.' Cars are gonna be just fine!
Sprawl and Valuation
Some Observations
Related: Automobiles are now estimated to cost around $10,000 per year to own over their life span.
Those costs will never go down. 6-8 YRS = 60 to 80K.
As the inner and even second ring suburbs now struggle with housing maintenance and infrastructure costs, I feel there are only two places to purchase a home that will protect your 'investment':
1. Any of the pseudo-trendy 'new' exurbs.
This is a false value in most cases. The housing is typically poor quality and only of a certain 'perceived' value, which is best 'flipped' before another exurb becomes more trendy, or ex-urban expansion over-extends as we saw in the recent housing crash. Needless to say, an exurb needs a car with its additional costs. Your tax rates may be low however, as there is no infrastructure to fix: yet.
2. A trendy neighborhood in a city.
Of course we're all aware of the issues involved: poor schools, ineffective political 'leadership,' crime, etc.
The benefits of living in a city include the Arts and social interaction, existing infrastructure, and, well LIFE.
We're in a lukewarm period of return: Neighborhoods are 'hot,' existing residents are squeezed, invaders eventually leave to send their kids to a 'good' school, (which actually means 'culturally similar to their own.')
My 125 year-old crappy house has increased in value 5 fold.
Just sayin.
Come back and start a new 'trendy' neighborhood. I'll move there with ya.
Related: Automobiles are now estimated to cost around $10,000 per year to own over their life span.
Those costs will never go down. 6-8 YRS = 60 to 80K.
As the inner and even second ring suburbs now struggle with housing maintenance and infrastructure costs, I feel there are only two places to purchase a home that will protect your 'investment':
1. Any of the pseudo-trendy 'new' exurbs.
This is a false value in most cases. The housing is typically poor quality and only of a certain 'perceived' value, which is best 'flipped' before another exurb becomes more trendy, or ex-urban expansion over-extends as we saw in the recent housing crash. Needless to say, an exurb needs a car with its additional costs. Your tax rates may be low however, as there is no infrastructure to fix: yet.
2. A trendy neighborhood in a city.
Of course we're all aware of the issues involved: poor schools, ineffective political 'leadership,' crime, etc.
The benefits of living in a city include the Arts and social interaction, existing infrastructure, and, well LIFE.
We're in a lukewarm period of return: Neighborhoods are 'hot,' existing residents are squeezed, invaders eventually leave to send their kids to a 'good' school, (which actually means 'culturally similar to their own.')
My 125 year-old crappy house has increased in value 5 fold.
Just sayin.
Come back and start a new 'trendy' neighborhood. I'll move there with ya.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)