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How does that square with their place in the timeline Strong Towns documents? They suggest it takes almost 30 years for the maintenance burden to actually have

How does that square with their place in the timeline Strong Towns documents? They suggest it takes almost 30 years for the maintenance burden to actually have a fiscal impact.

sokoloff 4y ago
These are towns that were founded in the 1800s at the latest and some in the 1600s...
- ackfoobar 4y ago
  Were they bulldozed and rebuilt into car-centric development? From my understanding Strong Towns think "lower density, less intensely urban development" towns are fine. E.g. at 0:57 of the video, it's anything but intensely urban development. "In this example, a 100-year-old commercial block, built in the traditional style of development, drastically outperformed a shiny new development, created in the modern car-centric style."
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    I would describe Arlington (1635), Belmont (1849), Waltham (1884), Watertown (1630), Lincoln (1754), Wellesley (1881), Newton (1688 town, 1874 city) as being substantially car-centric with respect to the majority of 21-65 year old residents of those towns/cities owning a car and using a car or car service more than 250 days out of the year. Arlington would be feasible to get by without a car in many of its areas. Others would be much more difficult in the majority of the land.
    - ackfoobar 4y ago
      Looking at satellite images I would guess they would not do well financially with the infrastructure costs. But then I look at the housing prices. TimPC's explanation seems legit.
    - Steltek 4y ago
      Speaking as an Arlington resident, I would not describe it as "car centric", although cars are accommodated far more than I would like. It's still a classical streetcar suburb. The majority of Arlington's housing stock is from multifamily buildings within a couple of minutes walk to high frequency bus service (~5 minute wait).
TimPC 4y ago
Rich suburbs do fine. Many suburbs of Boston have high income earners and high property values resulting in sane levels of property tax that actually fund those regions adequately. Most of the suburbs Strong Towns criticizes have $250k homes with household incomes between 40-50k and it’s impossible to tax those residents enough to pay for their infrastructure.

How does that square with their place in the timeline Strong Towns documents? They suggest it takes almost 30 years for the maintenance burden to actually have a fiscal impact.

sokoloff 4y ago

These are towns that were founded in the 1800s at the latest and some in the 1600s...

ackfoobar 4y ago
Were they bulldozed and rebuilt into car-centric development? From my understanding Strong Towns think "lower density, less intensely urban development" towns are fine. E.g. at 0:57 of the video, it's anything but intensely urban development. "In this example, a 100-year-old commercial block, built in the traditional style of development, drastically outperformed a shiny new development, created in the modern car-centric style."
- sokoloff 4y ago
  I would describe Arlington (1635), Belmont (1849), Waltham (1884), Watertown (1630), Lincoln (1754), Wellesley (1881), Newton (1688 town, 1874 city) as being substantially car-centric with respect to the majority of 21-65 year old residents of those towns/cities owning a car and using a car or car service more than 250 days out of the year. Arlington would be feasible to get by without a car in many of its areas. Others would be much more difficult in the majority of the land.
  - ackfoobar 4y ago
    Looking at satellite images I would guess they would not do well financially with the infrastructure costs. But then I look at the housing prices. TimPC's explanation seems legit.
  - Steltek 4y ago
    Speaking as an Arlington resident, I would not describe it as "car centric", although cars are accommodated far more than I would like. It's still a classical streetcar suburb. The majority of Arlington's housing stock is from multifamily buildings within a couple of minutes walk to high frequency bus service (~5 minute wait).

TimPC 4y ago

Rich suburbs do fine. Many suburbs of Boston have high income earners and high property values resulting in sane levels of property tax that actually fund those regions adequately. Most of the suburbs Strong Towns criticizes have $250k homes with household incomes between 40-50k and it’s impossible to tax those residents enough to pay for their infrastructure.