Again, manufactured outrage.

Having everything around you is great, it's why people live in cities. There's no dystopian undertone to having a grocery store and other amenities around the corner and easily accessible, lol. Why would you intentionally want things further away from you?

There's plenty of real things to be angry about.

Public highways are really the people's property. In a democratic society if the majority of the public dislike the roadblocks, the local government should remove them.

I think it's valid for the public to get upset about attempts by the government to micromanage their lives in this way.

It's not just this particular issue, it's many other things which are restricting our freedoms in general, all together. Which are increasing the level of outrage against the state.

That's good because at least the public is pushing back against these things, it may get to the point where people can't take it anymore, and might start protesting en masse.

I'm really waiting for that to happen, we might find ourselves getting our civil liberties back eventually.

https://thecritic.co.uk/have-we-really-lost-the-plot/

" Pundits continue to sneer, dismissing critics of 15 minute cities (a critique, as the great Simon Cooke points out, that it’s perfectly reasonable to make) as “conspiracy theorists”. "

https://simoncooke.substack.com/p/smart-cities-are-just-muni...

"In this explanation we begin to see just how authoritarian the urban green agenda has become - not a surprise given that Moreno is an advocate of ‘smart cities’ and literally profits from authoritarian smart city technology:"

The problem only arises if you remove that option or if you penalise that action in some way.

You could just as well be saying "why not let people drive drunk and at 100mph on residential roads, and let others can choose not to?"

Sure we could say that... or we could say it's legal to drive your car onto historically pedestrian-only paths.

But we elect people to try to make decisions that benefit the most people as best as possible, and it turns out that most people don't think that "any road that currently allows cars must always allow cars" is an inalienable rule that must be followed.

Yes we should debate these things - I assume very few people would support removing all speed limits or lowering speed limits to 2mph on all roads, though there's bound to be some variance in views about what goes too far or not enough.

But in this topic of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, you've got one side saying "wouldn't it be nice if residential side roads stopped being hugely used (thanks to GPS routing apps) by through-traffic, and therefore made much better for the people living there, and for pedestrians and cyclists" while the other side instead of engaging on that actual debate instead jumps to "they want to lock us into 15min areas we won't ever be allowed to leave! It's climate fascism!"

There is nothing preventing 15-minute cities from having both pedestrian walkways as well as roads.. as most cities ALREADY do.

And oh, by the way, even a 15-minute city will have to make space for roads for vehicles. When you change houses, you aren't carrying your furniture on foot between houses, are you? or for that matter, when you call emergency (911), the cops and emergency workers are not arriving by foot. Or when you make a house, the construction equipment, material etc are not being carried in by foot either. Also, the shops in your neighbourhood are not been replenished by suppliers carrying in products on their back.

So this idea that you can suddenly replace all roads with pedestrian paths is just completely unworkable.

The block is to prevent people using the small residential street as a through-path for motorists from other areas, not to prevent any vehicle from ever using the roads.

Yes, polling indicates the majority would like to live in a 15 minute city, however that poll does not mention restricting vehicles. And of course I agree with it personally, minus the roadblocks.

People are not opposed to the concept, they are opposed to the vehicle restrictions, and the latter is what's riling up conspiracy theorists.

So what? That's what cities do. They balance needs.

They weren't told that it would expand the quantity, scope or role vehicles either, so there's nothing deceptive here.

They're selling the vision, people like the vision, so they'll execute on it assuming conspiratorial nuts don't get in the way :)

The future doesn't need to involve having exactly the same role and scope for personal-use vehicles. Change is okay! We've way over-indexed towards the needs of cars and under-indexed on the needs of human beings. It's time to revisit that contract. And look, if people don't like it, the roadblocks can come down after we give it the ol' college try. Remember the status quo is the result of arbitrary decisions and compromise, it doesn't represent a local or global optima.

So I say bring on the roadblocks.

Same if someone were to die in a house fire, because the fire brigade could not get there on time? I personally believe that those responsible for implementing this scheme should see time behind bars, possibly for criminal negligence, should that happen.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11925437/Ministers-...

By the way, in the comments section of that Daily Mail article, the majority of the readers disagree with the blockades. I'm not sure if that's representative of the whole of the general public, but it certainly looks like most people don't like it.

And because you know the reality is no new stores/shops etc are being "created" to facilitate any such goal. The reality is people simply order everything on Amazon instead.

Perhaps you can point to how these schemes are funding shops?

The article mentions Hammersmith and Fulham. That has plenty of these roadblocks dating from around that time. I'm not sure if it was a Labour or Conservative initiative, but the Conservatives certainly had plenty of time to remove them.

For example the gates along the roads leading south from Fulham Road: https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/51.48011/-0.19237

This should not be a left vs. right issue, but our political system and public debate has deteriorated into black-vs-white arguments.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/driving-advice/what-is-ra...

The roadblocks in the 15 minute cities have been imposed to control the residents, to reduce their freedom and autonomy, to satisfy environmental goals. That is the difference.

Instead of being a left vs. right issue, instead I think it's an authoritarian vs. libertarian issue. On one side we have those advocating for more state control, in the name of the greater good. And on the other side we have those for personal freedom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Political_Compass ?

I can just as easily argue that the blocks increase freedom and autonomy (especially of children and elderly) since they can now use their local roads safely and/or independently.

Whatever binary classification you choose, I don't want to shape a debate around it. It is too simple. Great for bad headlines, +1s on Facebook and so on, but detrimental to public discourse and society.

There are increasing feelings of alienation from elected officials across the west, I imagine you somehow feel that whoever did this doesn't represent the people. Maybe thats what you should be adressing. It's not some election stealing or whatever, its just bubbles between political class and everyone else, we need good communication imo. Some way for elected officials to have to spend time in their communities

And I do feel that the actions of authorities here might not represent the values of the people. That it's a typical power grab by authorities, in many cases those "small minded" bureaucrats who micromanage and want to police the minutiae of daily lives. Not that different to the "bin police" here in the UK who hand out fines and warnings for not recycling.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/10/rubbish-...

That's making people angry. And conspiracy theorists are latching on to it too. But ordinary people are right to be upset about it.

With the "15 minute city" roadblocks and the "bin police" the overall benefit to the community from the measures is far outweighed by the inconvenience and control. In particular the feeling that you are being "ordered about" by the local government. It's micromanagement, and almost a form of bullying.

Yes, the alienation we are feeling is because the government is implementing the agenda of activist pressure groups and prioritizing that over the people's will.

Those pressure groups having minority opinions. And we are seeing that play out in multiple areas of society, including the restriction of freedom of speech here in the UK in order to prevent offense to minorities, such as transgender or LGBT people. Something the general public strongly opposes.

we live in a democracy. Authorities serve us. We shouldn't be rolling our eyes and saying "oh I guess that's just what they do". Imo that kind of cynicism's going to lead to our society crumbling - it's the reason democracy falls in undeveloped countries, because everyone assumes the elites are just corrupt to the core and so dont engage. Personally I don't think it's a "power grab" or whatever, the person who did it won't be serving after their term is done anyway.

I find it unusual to even frame it in that regard - if you talk to politicians, they aren't out for themselves, they're trying to make everyone's lives better. They might have a different idea of how to do it, because their experience doesn't match most people's, and endless lobbying organisations try to target them with information to influence what they think needs solving.

However, I suggest you try to find statistics about what the public believes, as well as read the actual text of laws and find out about how they are actually enforced. Because there is a lot of misinformation about the government targeted to people you (and separately to people like me)

A lot of said misinformation paints the government in a caricatured light, as though they believe everything you stand against. The government of the UK has been Conservative for many years, and I find it hard to believe they would restrict free speech for the benefit of LGBT people.

"Joe Lycett and Sophie Duker take on Croydon Council over the Parsons Mead LTN (Low Traffic Neighbourhood) which has left locals racking up hundreds of pounds in fines."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0ooxIHXvj4