Zach_the_Lizard

42 ms·

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by Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
> Not so easy to upgrade the infrastructure (transit and otherwise) to handle 4-5 times as many people living in (and traveling out of and back into) the city, OTOH. Actually, this is the part where cities shine: infrastructure costs in
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by Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
The problem is that when you stop building housing, the old, crappy housing increases in value. The investors then start purchasing these units and, if they want, gut them and make the interiors modern. Everyone else is priced out. Look at
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by Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
>I'd like to see more subways in terms of getting around, but there is plenty of logic in arguing for BRT over trains BRT can't move nearly as many people as trains can. It would take many more buses to move the same amount of
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by Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
DC has torn down a lot of things to build housing, and has converted former industrial properties into new neighborhoods (NoMA is an example). DC itself can't get rid of many of its parks because the National Park Service controls many
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by Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
I think the Chinese billionaire effect might be real, but really the chief reason housing prices are so high is because we make it difficult to build housing. This is especially true in the most economically productive metro areas, such as
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by Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
Some Federal agencies are restricted to X number of employees by law. They hire a bunch of contractors to get around this. It's not a great system.
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by Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
A lot of places ban buildings above X height or stories tall, and I'd imagine stacked trailers count as far as this goes.
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by Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
I think he should have kept quiet about leaking the documents. It may be that he never would have been caught and could have kept his freedom. I'm unsure if this would have helped his cause though. Perhaps by coming forward it served t
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by Zach_the_Lizard 11y ago
> Are there folks here who see him as less a hero more a villain? I see him as neither hero nor villain. He has undertaken certain actions, such as leaking the NSA's illegal warrantless surveillance of Americans, that took a lot of
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
> But that sort of utility wouldn't support a robust nationwide network of passenger rail. You don't need nationwide, you need regional. The East Coast and parts of the Midwest would do well with a decent train network. Sure, C
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
>Washington Metro has 6 lines, 118km. No trams (under construction?). DC is building a streetcar system. The H Street line is basically done and the streetcars are running, but there are issues to work out before it can officially open.
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
> You do have a point, of course, but in fact the problem often is that people with a bazillion dollars lobby and coerce politicians to change laws and zoning regulations, so that they could make another bazillion dollars. It may not eve
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
> I've noticed this because I ride bike to work regardless of weather, and in January in Finland, that means I'm almost alone on those nice bike paths (which are fairly well cleared of snow). I live in Arlington, VA, directly a
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
>If you have a family of 3 kids, using public transit costs more than a car. Depends on where you live and how old the kids are. In my neck of the woods, kids get to ride free up to a certain age (like 4 or 5). After that they pay adult
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
The suburban lifestyle is imposed by zoning ordinances. Your house must be set back X feet, you must use half an acre of land at a minimum, must be no more than two stories tall, must provide parking, and have a minimum square footage it ha
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
You might be able to do that, but the clause in Article Five itself doesn't say the Senate can't be killed; it says "no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate." You could abolis
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
> that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate. Above is the relevant section of Article Five. If every state agrees to removing the Senate, the Senate could be killed off entirely. Failing th
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
They exist in the north: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Wyck_Expressway
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
Frontage roads take up a lot of space and are not pedestrian-friendly, but they can help drivers. Personally, I'm not a fan of them because I like walkable cities.
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by Zach_the_Lizard 12y ago
Other parts of the country call these roads "frontage roads" or "service roads" if they are what I'm thinking of (never been to Texas). They do exist outside of Texas; I've seen them in Myrtle Beach, SC, for in
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by Zach_the_Lizard 13y ago
> That and I'm still hoping they extend the line out to Dulles so we'll finally live in a fully connected urban area that befits the density of NoVA and D.C. IMO, as another denizen of the D.C. area, the Silver Line, once compl