http://tropophilia.com/2008/06/02/density-congestion-and-car-culture/ the love of change Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:45:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://tropophilia.com/2008/06/02/density-congestion-and-car-culture/#comment-1336 Monday Links: June 9th, 2008 | Tropophilia Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:53:05 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=312#comment-1336 [...] up on my biking-related post last week, Columbus Ohio announced that it will be implementing a $170 million biking plan.  According to [...] [...] up on my biking-related post last week, Columbus Ohio announced that it will be implementing a $170 million biking plan.  According to [...]

]]> http://tropophilia.com/2008/06/02/density-congestion-and-car-culture/#comment-1274 Chris Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:01:12 +0000 http://tropophilia.com/?p=312#comment-1274 I wish I had the expertise to add some useful information to this topic (especially since density is the big hot-button issue in Austin's local elections), but here's how not to deal with sprawl on a very local level: Austin has all these charming neighborhoods--Hyde Park, North Loop, South Congress, etc.--and they all have their own completely un-charming fascist neighborhood groups. A new development on a tract of land previously owned by the state ran into opposition from the Hyde Park neighborhood group, who feared the increased density adjacent to Hyde Park would bring increased congestion to the neighborhood. They wanted a park instead. The completely stupid compromise reached by the neighborhood and the developer was to close off the 50th St access to the new development from not just cars but bikes and foot-traffic as well. (Of course, the FD needs access, so there'll be a road where now the street dead-ends, but it will have a locked gate.) <a href="http://austinzoning.typepad.com/austincontrarian/2008/04/this-is-pretty.html" rel="nofollow">Here's the whole story</a> from a <a href="http://austinzoning.typepad.com/austincontrarian/" rel="nofollow">blog</a> I think you'll find pretty interesting. I wish I had the expertise to add some useful information to this topic (especially since density is the big hot-button issue in Austin’s local elections), but here’s how not to deal with sprawl on a very local level: Austin has all these charming neighborhoods–Hyde Park, North Loop, South Congress, etc.–and they all have their own completely un-charming fascist neighborhood groups. A new development on a tract of land previously owned by the state ran into opposition from the Hyde Park neighborhood group, who feared the increased density adjacent to Hyde Park would bring increased congestion to the neighborhood. They wanted a park instead. The completely stupid compromise reached by the neighborhood and the developer was to close off the 50th St access to the new development from not just cars but bikes and foot-traffic as well. (Of course, the FD needs access, so there’ll be a road where now the street dead-ends, but it will have a locked gate.) Here’s the whole story from a blog I think you’ll find pretty interesting.

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