Re: Gas Solution: Reasonable?

On Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:45:08 -0400, John Lansford
<jlnsford@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Clark F Morris <cfmpublic@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Much of the US already has European like densities.

Depends on how you define "much", I guess. I'd point out that only
the largest metropolitan areas in the US have European population
densities, and those areas make up less than 5% of the nation.

Allowing (not
mandating) development that has greater density could do wonders. My
wife watches Small Space Big Style on HGTV and I am astounded at the
prices that people will pay to live in spaces well under 1200 square
feet (down to 400 square feet).

So if you can't afford such a place, where do you live? Answer:
further out of town where prices are lower and more affordable. You
can't mandate both dense living and low prices.

If the developers are encouraged to build such spaces, a lot more of
them will be built. I suspect that one reason affordable housing is
out in the hinterlands is that many communities try to zone out the
less affluent. When my wife and I move out of our farmhouse, we
probably will be going into about 1100 - 1200 square feet of living
space and definitely within hobbling distance of the nearest transit
line. Amazingly, there are senior apartments in the town closest to
us which meet that requirement.

Yes, there is a large percentage of
people who want large lots (John Lansford, I assume being one),

Not exactly sure why you singled me out on this issue. Larry Gross
lives on a larger piece of land then I do, btw, and further out from
where he worked.

I remembered some of your postings about not liking living in an
apartment where you could hear the neighbors next door. In my case, I
spent most of my life living in apartments so I like it. However when
I got married 16 years ago, part of the deal was moving northeast and
living on a farm. I'm still just a city (or more accurately inner
suburban) boy living in the country.

but
there are others who appreciate and want dense urban living.

Sure, and rising gas prices are causing land prices "closer in" to
rise dramatically, pricing out those who might wish to live near where
they work but can't afford the higher housing costs.

Even
relatively dense suburban living has its devotees as evidenced by the
North Shore suburbs of Chicago. There is a mean between the free for
all that is Houston and the very strict usage segregation in some
other areas. And then how do we avoid the tendency for communities to
zone the lower income people out, in part with large lot zoning?

Interestingly, many of the Japanese private railroads are part of
large conglomerates which include real estate and department stores
(the Odakyu Railway and department store come to mind).

Germany is reviving rural rail in some places. Note that most Western
European Countries still have an overwhelming majority of the trips by
automobile. There are a number of trips in the US that could be
diverted to transit and fairly high speed (the Midwest proposal) to
very high speed rail (the California proposal) because the cities are
close enough together.

Airlines are already warning that they may cut back or eliminate
flights to small/medium sized cities, basically forcing those
communities to rely only on bus service for public transportation to
other locations.

Many rail lines are on slow speed rights of way and for tax and other
reasons those and others have been pared back so there is little spare
capacity. Having said that, rail offers the best potential for
providing automobile competitive timing between moderate size centers.
As someone who on occasion uses Acadian lines buses for the 100 plus
mile trip to Halifax, bus isn't in the same league.

John Lansford, PE
.

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