Scribbles in the Dark

Thinking about the housing industry in the US and how Section 8 has a bad rap, how we handle low-income housing and etc, it often makes me very upset...

...but at least we're not constructing substandard buildings that collapse a decade later and kill a bunch of people, like what happens in India: http://enr.construction.com/yb/enr/article.aspx?story_id=189372884

That's just depressing.

as a citizen-urbanist and professional land planner, this made me want to break something the first time i read it.

( seriously. i wanted to punch these assholes in the face. )

~

after reading this, i couldn't decide what an appropriate course of action would be: a) cry, b) break something, or c) hate the world forever. i opted for d) post a rant online.

to put this in my perspective, ( i am extremely biased against cars. extremely. )

what this article indicates to me is that, yes, in fact, privatized mass transit did at one point work - and work well - for the major cities of the united states. unfortunately we have had half a century to entrench the idea of the automobile into the collective mind of... well, everyone.

it's not just traffic engineers and conventional city planning and oil/gas subsidies and the American ideal of private suburban life that make owning a car something everyone wants to do. because owning a car isn't something every wants (or can afford) to do. the problem is that you have to do it anyway.

nowadays, most people don't have the option of multi-modal transit (aka different ways of getting around). think of where you live now. think of how many places there are within walking distance (about 1/4-mile, or about 4 city blocks) that you can buy lunch, or mail a package, or put your kid in day care, or buy cat food, or get a book to read. how many places are within biking distance (anywhere 1/2-mile to a mile, about 15 city blocks, or the typical length from one highway intersection to the next)? where is the nearest public transit stop, and does it go in the direction you travel on a daily basis? how far is your commute to school/work, and is that distance practical to travel in any way but by private vehicle? is there anywhere within walking distance that you can sit down in the shade to eat a meal or read a book or people-watch without feeling either unwelcome or unsafe?

and to think that we had those things, and some asshole executives took away our options in order to make themselves more money.... i seriously want to break something.

Jim got me hooked on Cracked articles throughout all of Sunday, after reading ( this. )~

And then I also read these:

http://www.cracked.com/article_16920_2008-year-geeks-took-over.html

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-4-worst-things-about-writing-internet_p2/

http://www.truthaboutdeception.com/cheating-and-infidelity/stats-about-infidelity.html > http://www.salon.com/2001/01/23/monogamy_2/