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Decades ago when the West was developed, there was very little value placed on the existing stuff. Five people died constructing the Empire State building. Do y

Decades ago when the West was developed, there was very little value placed on the existing stuff. Five people died constructing the Empire State building. Do you imagine the uproar if that happens today? I bet human life was valued much less back then. Similarly, lots of neighborhoods were erased to make way for highways, railroads and industrial plants. Nowadays, try constructing an industrial plant in a major city center and you will discover that people care a lot of their clean air and clear water. There is also a related but separate aspect where environmental activists erected barriers to slow down any development. You still feel its effects today where CEQA is weaponized to slow down a small apartment housing.

themitigating 4y ago
Of course all cities should strive to be like Houston, a city surrounded and intersected by highways. The lower part of Manhattan would have had a highway through it but instead it'sa cultural epicenter (https://untappedcities.com/2013/09/11/nyc-that-never-was-robert-moses-lower-manhattan-expressway-lomex/ https://untappedcities.com/2013/09/11/nyc-that-never-was-rob...)
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago
  If the highway were there the cultural epicenter would just be elsewhere. It doesn’t really matter where your infrastructure is. You need X infrastructure for Y people and development will naturally happen to take advantage of it. In Boston they did the reverse of your example. They took a subway and moved it in to fill the void where a highway was supposed to go before it got cancelled. If they hadn’t cancelled the highway that subway would still be where it used to be. As an aside, the people who cancelled it really have a lot of blood on their hands because a bunch of major surface streets got developed into main thoroughfares as a result and we all know how good it is to have a highway speed road that isn’t grade separated from cross streets, pedestrians and cyclists…
- asdff 4y ago
  To be fair with both the lower and mid manhattan expressway plans, they were at one point planning for buildings being built above and below the elevated grades. It wasn't just going to be dead space.
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oasisbob 4y ago
> Five people died constructing the Empire State building. Do you imagine the uproar if that happens today? People still die on construction projects all the time, on relatively uninteresting things even. eg, in 2019 four people died when a crane working above a Google office building in Seattle collapsed. It was local news for a few weeks, but I'm not sure it had any other effects, regulatory or otherwise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_crane_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_crane_collapse

themitigating 4y ago

Of course all cities should strive to be like Houston, a city surrounded and intersected by highways. The lower part of Manhattan would have had a highway through it but instead it'sa cultural epicenter (https://untappedcities.com/2013/09/11/nyc-that-never-was-robert-moses-lower-manhattan-expressway-lomex/ https://untappedcities.com/2013/09/11/nyc-that-never-was-rob...)

dsfyu404ed 4y ago
If the highway were there the cultural epicenter would just be elsewhere. It doesn’t really matter where your infrastructure is. You need X infrastructure for Y people and development will naturally happen to take advantage of it. In Boston they did the reverse of your example. They took a subway and moved it in to fill the void where a highway was supposed to go before it got cancelled. If they hadn’t cancelled the highway that subway would still be where it used to be. As an aside, the people who cancelled it really have a lot of blood on their hands because a bunch of major surface streets got developed into main thoroughfares as a result and we all know how good it is to have a highway speed road that isn’t grade separated from cross streets, pedestrians and cyclists…
asdff 4y ago
To be fair with both the lower and mid manhattan expressway plans, they were at one point planning for buildings being built above and below the elevated grades. It wasn't just going to be dead space.

deleted 4y ago

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oasisbob 4y ago

> Five people died constructing the Empire State building. Do you imagine the uproar if that happens today? People still die on construction projects all the time, on relatively uninteresting things even. eg, in 2019 four people died when a crane working above a Google office building in Seattle collapsed. It was local news for a few weeks, but I'm not sure it had any other effects, regulatory or otherwise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_crane_collapse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_crane_collapse