From: dean@vexcel.com (dean alaska)
Subject: Re: Cars, Cities and Choices
Keywords: Cars Transit Cities
Organization: VEXCEL Corporation, Boulder, CO
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 16:04:58 GMT

In article <4605@balrog.ctron.com> smith@ctron.com writes:
>In article <ajpbart.711966671@adam.adelaide.edu.au>, ajpbart@adam.adelaide.edu.au (Paul Barter) writes:
>
>Not only wrong, but idiotic as well.  Cities don't "decay" because of cars,
>they merely make it happen faster.  Even a railway can make it happen if the
>rail goes to someplace WITH LOWER TAXES!!!  People leave cities because they
>are damned expensive places to live if you aren't on the public dole in one
>form or another.  When push comes to shove and budget must be balanced, people
>tend to decide that all the wonderful benefits of the city don't mean beans if
>they have to sleep on a subway grating.  Of course, some people made that
>choice.
>
>>Once a city has become dispersed it is very difficult for transit to be
>
>Cities don't "become dispersed" the density remains the same, it's the same or
>worse in NY and the same or worse on every major city.  What gets dispersed is
>the TAX BASE, as people who can afford to move away from confiscatory taxes do
>so.  Why can't you utopian nitwits realize that people don't like paying an
>extra 10% on everything they buy over and above the special income tax, the
>parking fees, the jaywalking tickets, the high rents, etc.  etc.  etc.  Cities
>are very expensive places to live, pure and simple.
>
These complaints about taxation in the city are total generalizations.  I
don't doubt they are true in some instances, but Paul is correct is many
cases.  I left the city because of congestion and the high cost of living.
Its true that taxes are lower in the smaller city I live in now, but the 
difference in _local_ taxes is marginal for me.  State tax differentials
are larger, but that doesn't relate to living in the city.

Higher congestions in dense cities _has_ made bicycling harder.  The 
cars drive much faster when they can, makiing it more dangerous for
bikes.

Sprawl is a major issue in the west but I believe that this sprawl
started not becasue of taxes but because of the desire to avoid
density and to avoid minorities.  Cars made the sprawl possible.
Eastern cities were well developed before there were cars so they
have a higher dinsity in the older parts but they still have
modern LA-style sprawl on the outside.  This did lead to a loss
of tax base, which now feeds upon itself as those can afford
services move away from those who can't, but I don't believe it
started that way.

Larry, is name-calling a personality trait for you or is it a
proven fact that everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot?

>Larry Smith (smith@ctron.com) No, I don't speak for Cabletron.
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>Daily I'd go over to Congress - that grand old benevolent national asylum - and
>report on the inmates there.  Never seen a body of men with tongues more handy,
>or information more uncertain.  If one of those men had been present when the
>Deity was on the point of saying "Let there be light" we never would've had it.


-- 

		dingo in boulder	(dean@vexcel.com)
Newsgroups: sci.environment,sci.energy,sci.physics