Re:Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto in...
by BXLE_1-1-BitIs1 on Monday December 21, 2020 @10:41PM
(#25502595)
Post WWII bylaws mandated super wide streets and wide separation between houses, ostensibly for fire protection. I spent Grade 6 through 13 (Ontario prolonged the torture) in a new build Toronto suburb. Virtually no transit to speak of and the nearest bus stop a twenty minute walk away, followed by nearly an hour to get downtown. Cycling was faster - still is,even with decades of transit improvements.
After high school I moved to the inner city and stayed clear of the suburbs.
Today I'm in a walkable century old dense neighborhood in a small regional center, but have to drive to get groceries. The car can stay parked for a week.
Re:Jaywalking decriminalization, 100 years after the auto in...
by greyhair on Tuesday December 22, 2020 @09:52AM
(#25506748)
Other than commuting, and grocery shopping, my car also stays parked. My wife and I only looked at small urban areas to live (we both lived urban when we met). I have telecommuted through COVID, and in the last year, I have only put 3500 miles on my car (now fourteen years old), and that includes three months of commuting before we went 100% on-line.
You can do that and still have density. Things were built like that pre-WW2; see street view of this Toronto, Canada neighbourhood:
* https://www.google.com/maps/place/150+Westminster+Ave,+Toron...
Those houses (actually land) are very expensive now, but that's because urban living is now cool again. Up until the late-1990s they were quite affordable because all the Cool Kids wanted to live in the suburbs: downtown was mostly for immigrants post-WW2.
There's a bus line to the west of there (Parkside), a streetcar line to the east (Roncesvalles), and both of those connect to a subway line (Bloor). And one doesn't have to give up their car: it simply becomes optional for day-to-day stuff instead of being a necessity.
There's no reason why post-War suburbs couldn't have been built this way. The above neighbourhood was a suburb of Toronto and folks commuted via streetcar "to the city".
For slightly smaller sized homes, but still with backyards and laneway garages, see the next street over:
* https://www.google.com/maps/place/50+Geoffrey+St,+Toronto,+O...