A lot of people want to say American cities are a war zone. They’re not. The whole country is.
But there is a form of warfare happening in our cities. It’s a development war, a transport war.
It’s happening for two reasons.
First, cars don’t scale. Each car takes up space, whether moving or parked.
Second, demographics and economics are creating urban density. A research university, and the businesses that spin off from it, cluster together. The people who work there don’t always make a lot of money.
Cities, meanwhile, are trying to restrict cars. There’s a growing demand for “road diets,” narrowing streets to accommodate a more diverse transport mix. Especially electric bikes. An e-bike can let even this old man travel 5 miles in a half hour, comfortably, without a lot of sweat. The kid carrier I bought for my road bike in the 1980s is finally practical with an e-bike. Many e-bikes come with baskets for shopping or space for a passenger.
There’s also an increasing demand to get rid of urban parking. Atlanta’s MARTA lots are being replaced by mixed-use developments. Parking requirements on new developments are being waived.
If you live in a suburb, with a huge pick-up or SUV, you feel unwelcome when you come to town. I’d never drive a car in Manhattan, and cities are becoming Manhattan-ized. It’s fine as far as it goes, but there’s resistance, and pushback.
Just the other day I was nearly run over in a crosswalk near my house by a large pick-up. I yelled at the driver, who had the nerve to stop his car, turn around, and confront me about it. He didn’t have a gun, or I wouldn’t be writing this. But did he really think it would be OK to run over a pedestrian, even without the crosswalk? I think he did.
Suburban people are unwelcome in cities because the cars they need for the 30 mile commute don’t fit. Urban people are unwelcome in suburbs because e-bikes go just 10 miles per hour. Suburban people believe that if you’re not in a car you don’t belong. Urban people believe if you’re in a car you don’t belong.
It’s another example of one country becoming two.
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