🚀 go-pugleaf

Jason (jbodnarc@milliken-mills.markham.on.ca) writes:
>
>I have a simple sollution.  What we have to do is start off by designing
>any new neighborhoods for people, not for cars.  

agreed.

>If you live in the
>suburbs, you may recognize the fact that the most obvious feature of any
>house is the garage.  What I say is to do this.  First, lay out all
>streets in a grid fashion.  Second, build all houses and buildings
>within a few feet of the roadside.  Third, build shorter blocks and
>straight streets.  

hmmm. how many of us dream of moving out of our apartments into 
a house on a crooked
street on a long block, set back pretty far from the road :-)
maybe if we were more optimistic about our neighbors, we wouldn't
mind living closer together.

>Fourth, build alleyways behind the houses for cars to park.  

good idea. require subdivisions to do this.
bike riding in the suburbs would be much safer if
you didn't have to worry about being doored. where i live, the
county (contra costa) has painted bike lanes, that are separated
from the sidewalk by parked cars. If someone opens a door in front
of you and you have time to avoid it, you would have to swerve
out into traffic (of course there is no way you would have time
to check over your shoulder so you could make an informed decision
between between dental work and death). We should do like they
do in Holland:  

-----------------------------------------------------------
 sidewalk
========================================
 bike lane
========================================

 road
   --  --  --  --  --  -- -- 


=====================================================
 bike lane
=====================
 sidewalk
-----------------

The '====' indicates a curb, a real physical separation to protect
the weaker/slower party from neighboring traffic.
Notice that there's no provision for cars parking along the 
street in this case. This is often, though not always the case,
in Holland.

> Then, you design a public transit system that is efficient.
>Meaning to say that the buses are bigger and more comfortable.  You
>could even buy a new Hydrogen Fuel Cell based bus from Ballard Power
>systems (located in Vancouver--their buses are going to be tested in
>California next year).  

not so sure about this. might be better to go with small cheap busses
that are mass-produced, easy to fix and get parts for, and are full of 
passengers rather than big expensive ones that run nearly empty.

>When these things are done, all that is left is
>to implement community programs that get the people involved in the
>community.  These type of design will allow people to access everything
>on foot, or by bus, as opposed to driving everywhere.  Seaside Florida
>is the perfect example.

what part? when I was in st. pete/clearwater over Xmas there sure
seemed to be lots of cars.

>
>Jason Bodnarczuk

we could use some more live music and innovative/foreign films out
in the suburbs.

we need to make mass transit, walking, and bicycling safe and convenient.
We need to spend money to sweep up the broken glass and debris, trim
branches, replace missing manhole covers, etc.

-Mitch Craig
 San Ramon, Ca