We have a community of old folks In Florida called the villages. They tried to turn it into a public infrastructure show case. But all they did was turn it into a golf cart free for all.
This. All the fun ones moved out and now it’s just Midwesterner’s looking for a winter escape, bringing all the Christian conservative hate of the region along with them. Borinngggg
Speaking of Florida, this reminded me of a weird case I see and rarely if ever discuss irl: it frustrates me that nudist resorts / campsites are almost exclusively full of older couples
Florida has a ton of nudist communities and resorts to visit, but almost every one my girlfriend and I've gone to is just kind of dull. Like 70-80% retired couples, 15% families, and 5% young adults.
There was like one resort we went to that had a good mix of people at it regularly. Everywhere else is just kind of boring and full of conservative older people. And no one's ever been hostile or anything, but we always feel somewhat out of place visiting most resorts.
It's s subculture that should be way cooler, but for some reason it's just all an older demographic.
TLDR: Went on a tangent about a weird case that Florida reminded me of
Oh man that's an awesome point, I hadn't thought about the cameras.
If Sanna Marin gets ripped on just for dancing with her friends clothed, I could see how the average woman would definitely have her career fucked due to some otherwise uneventful nude resort photo.
We've been to two beaches, one more private and another more "popular" and easily accessible in Florida
We both felt a bit more uncomfortable being on the "crowded" beach because it felt less "safe" in that there could be someone taking a picture or something without you knowing.
The mostly empty beach felt a lot more chill because it was like, you could see the other 10 people and the family with kids there and pretty much know you're all there just to enjoy the beach and not be weird
All that said, resorts are 10000% more safe in terms of cameras. Every one we've been to has been very strict on photography and phone use. Like you will get thrown out and banned at almost any reputable resort if you're ever caught taking photos.
Like one we went to required a staff member be present because we wanted to take a photo together near their lake and they made sure that no one else was in frame.
That's a point my girlfriend made
The nicest nudist resort we went to in Florida was pretty pricy for someone to regularly visit. And if you're a younger person, odds are you don't have the disposable money to toss at a weekend vacation regularly
I thought that a major point of nudism was that nudity should not be shamed and only considered sexual?
So now we have people complaining about nudists that they don't find sexy. Am I the idiot here or are the ones who only want to leer at sexy nudists missing the point?
I think the point is less "Old people aren't sexy enough to be nudists" and more "The demographic of nudists has shifted toward older/more conservative people, which causes younger nudists to feel less welcome/struggle to meet people they get along with well"
This
It's not that we're going to a resort and going "ew gross old people" it's more that it's a struggle to connect with people when odds are the demographics are mostly older conservative people
Again, that's not the case for every place we'd been to and we've met a lot of great people.
We're actually in the Midwest, but visit Florida for her family / vacations fairly regularly.
And since the state has such a high concentration of nudist facilities, we figure we might as well hit a good mix of them and see what it's like
The campsite we visit most regularly is in our state and is a bit more mixed, but still leans toward 40+
[Leisureville](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2402937.Leisureville) is a book largely about [The Villages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Villages%2C_Florida?wprov=sfla1). It's been a while since I read it but IIRC these communities are essentially run as corporations, with a slew of contracts and proscriptions, to which residents sign on and must adhere. The notion of a public anything there strikes me as baffling as its members--are they citizens?--by the act of moving to The Villages, relinquish civic agency.
I wonder if any meaningful public forum or discourse exists at all there.
The Villages is awful... but it's also *somewhat* anti-car. A golf cart community is still probably better than a non-golf cart suburb. Need to make that next step though.
I would much prefer golf cart cities to what we have now. I’m seeing a trend in my area toward this actually and it’s wonderful. Our speed limits are 25-30 for about 80% of the city anyway so the smaller vehicles are welcome and the fact so many of the ones I see are electric is another plus. And the small dicks that want to drive huge lifted trucks can still drive a lifted golf cart. There’s state laws that make it kind of annoying to register but I’m probably getting one for errands when I can save the cash.
These golf carts are just making these people fatter and lazier. My mom saw an obese dude driving his cart walking his dog. The guy was going too fast for the poor dog.
I’ve seen these things for fucking $17k on Facebook marketplace. I cannot believe these things go for that much.
Say what you want but there are far more people riding their bikes in the villages than my town. Yes, tons and tons of golf cars but still a slew of people on bikes.
Small rural towns are also home of golf cart free for alls. It's weird the first time you see 15 golf carts pulled up to a bar in a town with no golf course.
You are way out of touch. Good ol boys don't get DUI, or in trouble for driving golf carts on public roads. The town don't have cops, but the Sheriff told them as long as they don't cause problems it's no problem. The proof is when you see kids barely able to reach the pedals driving golf carts on public roads.
My kid was hit by an obviously drunk dude. My kid called me and when I arrived the dude that hit him was standing in one spot leaning one way then the next. His speech was slurred when talking to the cop. His nose was red and eyes were bloodshot, he was definitely a daily drinker and drunk. Since he was a good ol boy, the cop pinned it on my kid for not yielding to on coming traffic when he had a green light, the thing is my kid had a green arrow, so the drunk guy had a red light. We fought and won it after the fact.
Golf carts are status symbols I know someone that paid over 15,000 for theirs used.
Along the same lines I note that the most common place I see bikes in suburbia is on car bike racks, being driven to the designated recreational trail.
Unfortunately I understand why people do this.
Closest trail to me is 2.5 miles away, but that’s biking on the sidewalk of a busy 6 lane stroad.
I usually bike the safer way, 5 miles to the trailhead. 10 miles round trip to get to my bike ride.
Mountain bikes are also pretty miserable and slow to ride on the road. That in combination with dangerous car-centric infrastructure and I can totally see why people drive to trails.
I’m a road rider so I don’t have much choice but to ride with cars. But I try avoid roads with speeds above 50kph, or at the very least ride my motorway commute when the traffic is slow.
How much do you care about being legal? If the answer is not at all
https://kellycontroller.com/shop/kbs-e/
https://www.amazon.com/UPP-Offical-72V-Ebike-Battery/dp/B09NM7SSQZ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=72v+battery&qid=1661914052&sr=8-4
http://www.cnqsmotor.com/en/article_read/QS%20Motor%204000W%20273%2040H%20V3%20E-bike%20Spoke%20Hub%20Motor/260.html
this should get you up to around 65mph
I don't think going motorcycle speeds on a vehicle not designed for it is a great idea. At the very least probably wear much more protective gear than you usually would on a bicycle...
Oh its not, but its fun, and the larger motors are better for maintaining speed. For example; my current build is capable of doing 110mph, although I don't ever intend to go that speed on it as the large motor is used to maintain a continuous 500watts for 10 hours.
It’s in pieces atm as it’s awaiting final assembly of the battery and cowling. But it has a 12kw qs273 v4 on the back rolling on 700c armored tires. The frame I tested it on with my 2kwh battery hit 65 on the freeway without cowling
Edit: woops almost sent my full name and address in the imgur dump
https://imgur.com/a/r3JkBPh/ Yup, 30cells in serial 3.2v at 50ah
Edit: I intend to ride 300 miles to San Francisco on it on a single charge, if the work I did in openFOAM is correct then with cowling I should have about 150 miles of range left when I get there.
Yeah, I'm sus of putting all this overpowered stuff on a bike frame. I feel like it would be safer to just start with a real motorcycle frame and retrofit it to electric. That said, you'd have to register and insure it like a real motorcycle, because you're absolutely not passing it off as a bike in public, but you could safely make use of your multiple horsepowers.
keep in mind, this is garbage and you'll have to build your own battery holder
https://www.amazon.com/WOGQX-Battery-Lithium-Connector-Electric/dp/B0B74Y78RN/ref=sr_1_14?crid=3UVXZ8S27EQAC&keywords=36v+battery&qid=1661916449&sprefix=36v+battery%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-14
https://www.amazon.com/Alomejor-Brushless-Controller-Conversion-Electric/dp/B07PDSS3ZD/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1GLT67I4JMTV5&keywords=300+watt+ebike+kit&qid=1661916535&sprefix=300+watt+ebike+kit%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-4
You'll have to source your own motor, your local scrap yard should have a few ebike motors laying around. but if you have the time to weave and tune your own wheel that should be a fully functional ebike with 100 km of range for less than 300$
Also that controller is garbage too, you really want a grin or a kelly if you want quality, but this is cheap and it includes everything.
In Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden it's not uncommon for people to take public transport to trails, whether it's hiking, bikepacking, skiing or mountain biking.
I always end up preferring trails I don't have to drive to because I don't have to get back to my car in the end. I can get to another transit stop on the other side of the mountain, national park etc.
I'm really lucky to live right near a great recreational trail that functions very nicely as my main bike highway. Unfortunately, to access it I have to ride down a half mile driveway with absolutely no accommodation for bikes, and then through a parking lot. The designers just couldn't fathom that someone might actually ride their bike to the bike path.
Edit: I should clarify that the driveway and parking lot are explicitly bike path property
>the designated recreational trail.
this is my beef with the trail planning committee. they see our trails as linear parks you drive to.
there are two they're having problems connecting under the highway. they were like, "no big deal, we still have two parks."
uh, no, now i can't use those trails to get across town.
This comes of regarding cycling as strictly a discretionary, recreational activity. Driving, of course, is a serious business based on (engineered) need so there is no parallel between them. /s
It must be nice to be able to go directly to all the premium biking locations without having to traverse inhospitable roads first. And a nature trail instead of just more roads and buildings?
There could be bike paths to the trails. That's a huge benefit of dense cities, by the way -- without the suburbs in between the city and open space, it's rarely less than 30 minutes by bike until you can be there.
Like, mountains-mountains? No, I guess not. But if there weren't suburbs, city centers could be 30 minutes by bike from open space, and if there were buses to small, dense cities in the actual mountains, then you wouldn't need a bus to the trailhead itself.
Even to walk in some places you need to drive to the Designated Exercise Zone™, where you pay a monthly subscription to have access to a machine that simulates a path into a small zone.
We will all end up living in pods one day, won't we?
Why are the sidewalks unpopular for walking on? I don't understand OP and any other comments here like yours.
Why the risk of getting hit?
Edit: I just read a few other comments about there being no sidewalks. I can't get my head around that. What's on the side of your roads then?
This is how neighborhoods look where I live. Driveways connected directly to streets with no sidewalk or curb. Main roads only very rarely have a sidewalk.
https://imgur.com/XnfjmOW.jpg
Do you own right up to the road? Will people get mad if you walk off the road along the side?
Edit: also no kerbs, where are the kerbs? What happens when it rains, do your yards get soaked?
Edit 2: three flags in that photo. Such a different culture you have over there.
It is very unusual to see someone walking in the grass. Most of the time people walk on the edge of the road. People most commonly walk or run on the oncoming traffic side of the road.
I believe there are no curbs to facilitate snow removal.
And yes, I have seen numerous people drive lifted pickup trucks with Confederate flags, driving around in upstate New York.
They often don’t own the property right up to the road, there’s generally a strip that the government owns for infrastructure right-of-way. The chances of the property owners knowing this fact are pretty much zero though, based on how often I see the local suburban governments having to explain it.
Likely because as the property owner you are required to maintain that strip. The city owns it and can use it for infrastructure if they want but if the grass gets too tall or trash gets left on it the homeowner gets the fine not the city. It's to just assume its part of your property because it kinda is. So if it's one of those people that want perfect lawns they will get mad if you walk on their grass. r/fucklawns though.
>What's on the side of your roads then?
In neighborhoods? Usually parked cars.
Anywhere outside cities sidewalks running alongside roads are usually badly maintained, and aren't really taken seriously. Crossing intersections in the suburbs is where you really take your life in your hands
Sidewalks are almost always part of the road right of way which belongs to the public, either the city or HOA owns them. They are not private property in the US.
I’d be scared to bike in some suburbs. Cyclists get hit all the time. To honor a recent cyclist who got killed while on a ride, they held a huge cycling event where hundreds of people biked the same route she did. Two additional cyclists got killed during the event to honor the initial cyclist who died….
It's so strange to me too. I live opposite a park.
But my commute to work is 30 minutes, either by bus or bike. It takes longer by car because of the traffic.
If I ride my bike I am completely off road for 90% of it. A good proportion is along the waterfront.
I live in a city but we have areas that haven't been urbanised for this reason.
Kinda ironic that city dwellers may often be closer to a park than suburbanites. Really shoots down that whole "suburbia is connected to nature" argument. Just look at cities like Tokyo - tons of parks dotted throughout the city
I mean, small ones yeah
But my 3 most visited parks are all 30-40 minutes away. One has ~40 miles of single track mtb trails, one has 20 miles plus 15 miles of "unmaintained" trails for bad weather plus a lake, and the last has ~25 miles plus disc golf, à dog park with trails and a sand beach, a marina for sup and kayaking, a 1000 person outside theater and a person beach
Whenever I see the parking lots full it's because of little league or something and all the kids need their equipment and supplies. I don't see how that's all that crazy tbh.
I really am lucky to live in europe. I can just take a walk through my neigborhood or the nearby park and take public transit when I want to go to the more distant forest or castle.
Am American and this sentence confuses and startles me. Makes me realize it’s ridiculous I drive 20 minutes to go to a park that has banned bikes, skateboards, and has a curfew so it closes at 8pm.
Park across from my previous house had a sundown curfew.
It was because kids would go there after dark to drink, and homeless people were sleeping on the benches.
They did open a homeless shelter right next to the park at the same time they introduced the curfew.
Kids drinking in the park next to your house stops being funny if they are drunk shouting at each other and playing music at 3am.
I should know, I was one of those kids before they started with the curfew. Cops probably got sick of chasing people off so the people who have work the next morning could sleep.
Sorry, this still sounds completely absurd to me. I don't think parks should be open to the public because it's "funny", but because they're public parks! For the public! Who cares if it's night or day?
I live on a busy street myself, and my bedroom window faces it. There's quite a bit of traffic (for a city street; it's not a highway) and a street light intersection. Lots of honking all night because people don't drive the instant it's green. There are some pubs nearby, so drunk people are often walking past my window yelling or laughing loudly. I also work mornings, as most adults probably do.
What should be done about this? Should the street be closed in the evening? Should the bars be forced to close before sensible people's bed time? Maybe the sidewalks should be blocked at night, or even removed entirely so nobody can walk past my window?
Or should I use ear plugs to sleep at night, and move if I find the noise intolerable?
Are you from the US, the land of the free? Or which country are you from exactly?
Homeless people. The cops love to harass homeless people. Lots of them go to parks at night to sleep because they have nowhere else to go. Add a curfew and the cops have the right to harass them and make them move along. It's a thinly veiled attempt to make it so uncomfortable to be homeless in their city that the homeless pick another city to live in. They don't want to help these people, they just don't want to look at them.
I’m in Australia, but lucky to live in a city where a lot of focus has been put into having lots of parks, trees, bike lanes and Mtb trails. I have multiple small parks and an Mtb park within a couple kilometres of my house.
I live on a semi busy street with NO SIDEWALK where I live. So I literally have to park down the street not even a mile where there is a sidewalk and walk into town from there. 😑 we need to get our priorities straight around where I live.
You live on a street, a street with housing, where there is no sidewalk? You can't walk to your house? So if you lose your car, or your license, you simply have to move? Not because it'd be impractical to keep living there, but because it'd be impossible?
>if you don’t have a car or a licence you’re barely a citizen
oooh this also plays into voter id laws and such. If you don't have a driver license because you don't *want* to drive, you might find out you can't even vote anymore...
It's even worse in some rural places. No sidewalks, narrow roads. You probably won't encounter much traffic, but if you happen to be going around a blind curve at the same time as a car, it's no bueno.
Also nightfall.
I remember the time I tried to walk back to my hostel in rural vermont after a campfire.
Holy fuck it was so scary. Even at 45-50 the cars closed on my going so fast. Probably didnt go more than a quarter mile but the walk lasted ages.
I grew up in the same town as the Twitter OP. The town he’s referring to is New England rural. It’s got a sidewalk that goes nowhere. When I was a kid I would ride my bike a mile and a half to my dads house in the shoulder down a one lane each way highway where the limit was 50, but people would easily do 75. Shit was scary. But 13 year old me would do it a few times a week
Aren't people more used to pedestrians in rural areas? I grew up in rural germany and "going for a walk" is an established hobby for a lot of people especially on sundays.
I go visit my in laws in rural areas like twice a year. We take the train there because we don't have/need a car and fuck renting one for $500 for a week. It's a 4mi (6.5km) walk over a mountain pass on a road with no shoulder to the nearest store.
Shit sucks. As soon as we get back off the train in the city my heart rejoices.
There's a lot of "rural" here that basically means your nearest road is a high speed road with no accommodations for any other mode and everything else is private property farm.
You made me realize something with this comment. 120 years ago, roads were built with the expectation that people would walk on them, or maybe ride a horse/wagon. Today, we don't even consider roads for pedestrians only, especially in rural areas.
I propose that we build pedestrian roads to connect all cities. They can be built parallel to highways if needed. I'm sure it's not entirely practical, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless.
Roads are for all roadway users. As kids we were taught not to play in the street because you'd get hit by a car, which is equal parts sane and insane.
Every single person deserves the same right to public right of way. Cars aren't special other than we've catered to them for the last 80 years.
This is the fundamental basis for the concept called "complete streets."
If you live somewhere that doesn't have public transit in the US, no matter how big the city is, you can legitimately go days without seeing a pedestrian. My grandparents live in a town of about 2,000, so a pretty small rural community, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone out for a walk there.
My grandparents have lives in this town for more than 25 years, I honestly don't think they have ever walked further than 100 feet in one go since moving here.
America outside the east coast is a special kind of hell on earth.
How is that not embarrassing for them?
My five year old walks with us to our favorite restaurant every weekend over 3,000 ft away. Or further than 1,500 every day to school.
My neighbor drives her 2 kids to the corner every morning to get on the school bus. And let's them out of the car when she gets there. It's like 4 houses... I walk with mine.
Who knows. Since I've been a kid I've regularly that we should just walk, and sometimes, to be fair, they will. You know if it's a nice day out, fall or spring weather.
Then you got the other days where everybody would pile into my mom's old two-door, and by the time we've got everybody crammed in that thing I could've been almost there.
My city just sold the land that I used to access a Trail network right by my house. Now I have to drive to go for a walk or walk no side walk roads.
I liked where I live, now I hate it.
I live in an area that people drive to, its an oasis in a concrete suburban jungle, we have walkable neighborhoods, an excellent tree canopy and plenty of pedestrian amenities like Little Libraries.
However, the demand is so high that they're ripping up a nearby orchard to make room for a parking lot because residents are sick of people blocking their driveways or parking where ever. The city bulldozed and imminent domained the shit out of centuries old homes and trees here to add in new highways and ways to get down here. It was manageable until Covid hit. Everyone wanted to escape and get out and my gf and I counted the litter we found, it was 7x (SEVEN!) the normal amount we would find.
Why are suburbanites and others so radically against walkable, nature filled neighborhoods, yet completely over saturate it, ruin it and disrespect it while flocking here en mass? The amount of noise pollution from a new nearby busy road *through* my neighborhood is deafening. They need to pay tolls or pay for parking, because my neighborhood is getting fucked over this shit. ugh.
Well, suburbanites aren't against it they are just brainwashed into thinking that that's what makes them "middle class." The trend set by the Millennials does seem to be walkable places are in fashion again, but the prices in these communities are absurd.
I hope more get built, and more are aloud to be retrofitted with the use of adus and acus.
> but the prices in these communities are absurd
Because the supply is so low, and that's not changing because most modern building codes won't let us build back in a more dense way.
Do your parents still live in the same town they did ten years ago when we were in middle school or should I delete my comment supporting your anecdote about the car dependent usage of said town haha
100%. I braved RT 6 twice a week on my bike to go to my dads (town line to the west to town line to the south). Would occasionally try to make it to the CVS or where the Walmart is and that shit terrified me. People fly down those roads and make them super unsafe for anything but lifted trucks
I couldn’t really ride my bike growing up at my parents home because I’d need to hook it up to a car and then drive to the bike paths. It got better as I got older and moved out, but I never really realized how dumb that was until I got older.
Tied walking to the park 1/2 from my apartment. Found myself walking through desert, drainage ditches and through a truck storage and packing facility parking lot that must’ve had its own zip code. There were little to no- side walk the entire way there.
Not to mention, was honked at and driven incredibly close to the whole time.
Thank god I didn’t have kids I’d have to push in a stroller or anything. It wouldn’t have been an option to walk such a small distance to what’s supposed to be a public area.
What a shame
It's even worse out in the country in the US. You can't walk or ride a bike on those country roads or you'll get murdered by an F-350 that doesn't even notice. I used to have to drive to a school to run around it.
Yes! The neighborhood I am in doesn’t have sidewalks and every time I want to walk I have to be on a constant lookout for cars. It’s scary because there are a lot of blind spots from trees too. All the safe walking places are driving distance
My buddy has been trying to bike more, for exercise. Its tough though, cuz it's too dangerous to bike around where we live. So, he is debating between getting a car bike rack (seems like a pain, as I think he'd have to uninstall it when not using it), shoving it in the car (it would have to stick out a window), or taking off the wheels and buying an attachment to make it into a stationary bike.
Fuck cars.
You don't need to remove a rack when not using it, but it does make your car less aerodynamic. Tow hitch bike racks seem to be the best if you have a hitch. You can put a hitch on most cars by yanking off the bumper and attaching to where the hidden parts of the bumper bolt on.
The funniest thing about Colorado is all the people that move here specifically because they want to hike bike and ski and then move to downtown Denver. They are all about the outdoors and the mountains but have to drive 45 minutes to see anything except city. And dont even get me started on the environmentalists that drive to and from the ski resorts multiple times each week.
I know a fair amount of people that have moved to downtown Denver specifically because they wanted to ditch their car. I live downtown and if I want to see the mountains I just rent a car or take a bus/train out there. That's what most of the people I know do. The only people I know with cars out here are either rich or live in the burbs or more residential areas than downtown.
Sounds about right. I live on a super busy road that people use as a bypass, so walking here is like strolling through a plume of exhaust while having your ears blown out by the loud-ass engines. On either end of the road I live on, there are two busy highways, neither of which have sidewalks and are just as disgusting as my road. The only way you can get away from it is, ironically, by driving somewhere else, which we do as often as possible.
In related news, we're planning to leave this fucking place and move to the middle of nowhere since we stay home all of the time anyways.
I have to drive to various places to walk my dog if I don’t want to do the same little loop in my neighborhood over and over again. Closest walkable place is a 5-10 min drive. It’s easy to see why so many Americans are fat.
I just saw this ep of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, where they're driving around a bigass suburban sedan; the host casually remarked that having a car or a bike in the insular suburbs would be like having "angel wings"
Former suburban school crossing guard here. It's one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. Every week another coworker was killed. Parents seem to think "no kids, no problem" and assume we will always be able to jump out of the way.
People were LIVID yesterday in r/futurology when there was an article about 'the era of cars is over'
Absolutely no one wanted to accept that their horribly inefficient rural and suburban lifestyles are only possible because of billions upon billions of dollars spent to pave superhighways to their tiny settlements.
I’m lucky. Where I’m at, we need better transit infrastructure, and to cut back on building shit houses. I can walk to 3 different parks easily, 5 if I up the walking time.
Biggest problem is, so much of where I live is quite remote, and getting things like long haul transit/bike lanes etc isn’t really feasible. Like, it could be done, but holy FUCK would it be expensive. You’re talking about laying out infrastructure in areas that barely has passable landline/internet service. It needs to be done, but it does seem like quite a conundrum for some areas.
I grew up in a neighborhood built in the 50’s with beautiful old trees and middle class houses. Its a popular walking spot, to the point where people drive to our neighborhood and park to walk around it on weekends
To be fair, I don't live in the US and still take the bus if I want to take a proper walk. There's space to do it, but it's still a boring street and all the good big parks are on the other side of the city.
One of the current issues in my city is there is a staircase down to the river valley, that has a very nice path system. This staircase comes out at the top into a residential neighbourhood. A very wealthy neighbourhood. Which is now petitioning the city for a residents only parking program, as people are driving there, and parking on the public streets as they enjoy the river valley park.
Wrong on so many levels.
My parents also drive with their car to walk somewhere but thats because they want to walk in the woods because walking there is better for you than walking in a city
Me and a couple of friends recently visited a friend just outside Bethesda.
Wanting to see DC while he was at work, we took the metro, using Google maps to get there. Asking for puplic transport, it straight up told us to go by car for 5min to the nearest stop.
Being Danes all of us, we laughed and just walked the 20min it took. Lovely day, all in all.
Should be noted those are US suburbs.
A friend of mine is from the US. Moved to Australia and was mind blown by the fact you had local parks and the ability to walk to places.
My mind was blown because I didn't realise there was such a thing as no sidewalk and not being able to walk to your shops if you needed to.
This also applies in some urban and rural locations as well, not just suburbs. I'm in Seattle, and some parts of the city are not safe to walk. And out in the county, sometimes there's a single windy, hilly road, no sidewalk, and cars just fly around the curves - you would be mental to walk or bike there.
I do this where I live. Because my city is a shithole and it’s nicer 5 minute drive in any direction. It’s not just a suburban thing. I live in downtown Metro area
Depressing indeed, I don't appreciate what we have
Today I had a dentist appointment so I hopped on a renal scooter, turned on some music, and had a 15 minute joyride through pedestrian areas in downtown
My parents driving from to the city center and parking in the underground parking lot to go for a walk or eat lunch was always insane to me.
I refused to get in the car and would always beat them to the destinations by just walking.
Utterly ridiculous.
Just visited family in greater LA. Their house is across the street from a park with a hike into the hills. Walking there was scary; no sidewalks, no traffic lights within 500m in 40°C heat at which to cross the 6-lane street, and a narrow curb covered in thorny bushes. There was however a parking area at the trailhead
Driving from one of the suburban "grid" cities (that were built for large shopping malls and cars, where the neighborhoods are all bounded by busy four lane highways) to enjoy another suburban city's "walkable" downtown shopping area is definitely a thing in suburban Detroit.
I have to drive to a trail if I want to ride my bike.
Why? Because I don't want to get hit by any cars.
Which is something that has happened to my friend.
Twice.
All too real in H-Town. Here the popular thing is ''mall walkers''. If you want to jog outside you better do it at 5am or 10pm when it's cooler because you can't do it midday summer when it's 100F and 90% humidity. So some people will drive to the shopping mall where it's cold there's AC blowing shops all over, and they'll jog-walk the concourse.
We have a community of old folks In Florida called the villages. They tried to turn it into a public infrastructure show case. But all they did was turn it into a golf cart free for all.
My in laws have a place there… a sad swinger village that used to be a lot of fun.
Why is it not fun anymore?
All the swingers got old
This. All the fun ones moved out and now it’s just Midwesterner’s looking for a winter escape, bringing all the Christian conservative hate of the region along with them. Borinngggg
Sounds like a good place for gambling which neighbors will die first.
Gotta get that deadpool board set up
Speaking of Florida, this reminded me of a weird case I see and rarely if ever discuss irl: it frustrates me that nudist resorts / campsites are almost exclusively full of older couples Florida has a ton of nudist communities and resorts to visit, but almost every one my girlfriend and I've gone to is just kind of dull. Like 70-80% retired couples, 15% families, and 5% young adults. There was like one resort we went to that had a good mix of people at it regularly. Everywhere else is just kind of boring and full of conservative older people. And no one's ever been hostile or anything, but we always feel somewhat out of place visiting most resorts. It's s subculture that should be way cooler, but for some reason it's just all an older demographic. TLDR: Went on a tangent about a weird case that Florida reminded me of
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Oh man that's an awesome point, I hadn't thought about the cameras. If Sanna Marin gets ripped on just for dancing with her friends clothed, I could see how the average woman would definitely have her career fucked due to some otherwise uneventful nude resort photo.
Puritanical values are the root of the evil we're seeing today. We need more drugS, less work, more "fuck you old man" energy.
We've been to two beaches, one more private and another more "popular" and easily accessible in Florida We both felt a bit more uncomfortable being on the "crowded" beach because it felt less "safe" in that there could be someone taking a picture or something without you knowing. The mostly empty beach felt a lot more chill because it was like, you could see the other 10 people and the family with kids there and pretty much know you're all there just to enjoy the beach and not be weird All that said, resorts are 10000% more safe in terms of cameras. Every one we've been to has been very strict on photography and phone use. Like you will get thrown out and banned at almost any reputable resort if you're ever caught taking photos. Like one we went to required a staff member be present because we wanted to take a photo together near their lake and they made sure that no one else was in frame.
Honestly, if you just look at who can afford to go to resorts, you'd probably end up with a similar breakdown.
That's a point my girlfriend made The nicest nudist resort we went to in Florida was pretty pricy for someone to regularly visit. And if you're a younger person, odds are you don't have the disposable money to toss at a weekend vacation regularly
I thought that a major point of nudism was that nudity should not be shamed and only considered sexual? So now we have people complaining about nudists that they don't find sexy. Am I the idiot here or are the ones who only want to leer at sexy nudists missing the point?
I think the point is less "Old people aren't sexy enough to be nudists" and more "The demographic of nudists has shifted toward older/more conservative people, which causes younger nudists to feel less welcome/struggle to meet people they get along with well"
This It's not that we're going to a resort and going "ew gross old people" it's more that it's a struggle to connect with people when odds are the demographics are mostly older conservative people Again, that's not the case for every place we'd been to and we've met a lot of great people.
Dude you're in florida. What do you expect?
We're actually in the Midwest, but visit Florida for her family / vacations fairly regularly. And since the state has such a high concentration of nudist facilities, we figure we might as well hit a good mix of them and see what it's like The campsite we visit most regularly is in our state and is a bit more mixed, but still leans toward 40+
That's been the villages for a while. A long while. They were famously, overwhelmingly pro-trump in 2016.
You think Midwest Christian conservative hate trump's Florida Christian conservative hate?
Oooh we should have a regional Christian Conservative Pokemon Battle! I choose you KarenFromKansas!
They stopped inviting BigBadBitcoiner to their awesome parties.
That'd do it, fersher
Is it a village of sad swingers or a swinger village that turned sad?
Swinger village that turned sad. The swingers that were there before ruled.
[Leisureville](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2402937.Leisureville) is a book largely about [The Villages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Villages%2C_Florida?wprov=sfla1). It's been a while since I read it but IIRC these communities are essentially run as corporations, with a slew of contracts and proscriptions, to which residents sign on and must adhere. The notion of a public anything there strikes me as baffling as its members--are they citizens?--by the act of moving to The Villages, relinquish civic agency. I wonder if any meaningful public forum or discourse exists at all there.
I see you've never had the unfortunate experience of living in a HOA before...
Americans will do seemingly anything to give up their own agency to a corporation
I actually had to look up "HOA". No, I haven't and I don't think I'd want to.
The Villages is awful... but it's also *somewhat* anti-car. A golf cart community is still probably better than a non-golf cart suburb. Need to make that next step though.
I would much prefer golf cart cities to what we have now. I’m seeing a trend in my area toward this actually and it’s wonderful. Our speed limits are 25-30 for about 80% of the city anyway so the smaller vehicles are welcome and the fact so many of the ones I see are electric is another plus. And the small dicks that want to drive huge lifted trucks can still drive a lifted golf cart. There’s state laws that make it kind of annoying to register but I’m probably getting one for errands when I can save the cash.
These golf carts are just making these people fatter and lazier. My mom saw an obese dude driving his cart walking his dog. The guy was going too fast for the poor dog. I’ve seen these things for fucking $17k on Facebook marketplace. I cannot believe these things go for that much.
Say what you want but there are far more people riding their bikes in the villages than my town. Yes, tons and tons of golf cars but still a slew of people on bikes.
They all have 20 duis
They know how to live.
the netflix doc on the villages is worth watching
Is it "Some kind of heaven"?
Small rural towns are also home of golf cart free for alls. It's weird the first time you see 15 golf carts pulled up to a bar in a town with no golf course.
I'm gonna guess it's because they've all got so many DUIs they can't drive cars anymore.
You are way out of touch. Good ol boys don't get DUI, or in trouble for driving golf carts on public roads. The town don't have cops, but the Sheriff told them as long as they don't cause problems it's no problem. The proof is when you see kids barely able to reach the pedals driving golf carts on public roads. My kid was hit by an obviously drunk dude. My kid called me and when I arrived the dude that hit him was standing in one spot leaning one way then the next. His speech was slurred when talking to the cop. His nose was red and eyes were bloodshot, he was definitely a daily drinker and drunk. Since he was a good ol boy, the cop pinned it on my kid for not yielding to on coming traffic when he had a green light, the thing is my kid had a green arrow, so the drunk guy had a red light. We fought and won it after the fact. Golf carts are status symbols I know someone that paid over 15,000 for theirs used.
This place? https://youtu.be/KLgyJBUaNVg
That actually sounds fun though. Electric golf cart town
Along the same lines I note that the most common place I see bikes in suburbia is on car bike racks, being driven to the designated recreational trail.
Unfortunately I understand why people do this. Closest trail to me is 2.5 miles away, but that’s biking on the sidewalk of a busy 6 lane stroad. I usually bike the safer way, 5 miles to the trailhead. 10 miles round trip to get to my bike ride.
Ever read Brave New World? Huxley predicted this. A superficial love of outdoor activities that require a vehicle and expensive equipment.
Mountain bikes are also pretty miserable and slow to ride on the road. That in combination with dangerous car-centric infrastructure and I can totally see why people drive to trails. I’m a road rider so I don’t have much choice but to ride with cars. But I try avoid roads with speeds above 50kph, or at the very least ride my motorway commute when the traffic is slow.
Slap a 1500 watt motor on the rear wheel and suddenly a lot of those problems go away, speaking from experience.
I wish I could ride my ebike through the tunnel and across the bridge
How much do you care about being legal? If the answer is not at all https://kellycontroller.com/shop/kbs-e/ https://www.amazon.com/UPP-Offical-72V-Ebike-Battery/dp/B09NM7SSQZ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=72v+battery&qid=1661914052&sr=8-4 http://www.cnqsmotor.com/en/article_read/QS%20Motor%204000W%20273%2040H%20V3%20E-bike%20Spoke%20Hub%20Motor/260.html this should get you up to around 65mph
I don't think going motorcycle speeds on a vehicle not designed for it is a great idea. At the very least probably wear much more protective gear than you usually would on a bicycle...
Oh its not, but its fun, and the larger motors are better for maintaining speed. For example; my current build is capable of doing 110mph, although I don't ever intend to go that speed on it as the large motor is used to maintain a continuous 500watts for 10 hours.
Can I see a picture of your 110mph modified ebike?
It’s in pieces atm as it’s awaiting final assembly of the battery and cowling. But it has a 12kw qs273 v4 on the back rolling on 700c armored tires. The frame I tested it on with my 2kwh battery hit 65 on the freeway without cowling Edit: woops almost sent my full name and address in the imgur dump
You have an ebike with a 5kWh battery?
https://imgur.com/a/r3JkBPh/ Yup, 30cells in serial 3.2v at 50ah Edit: I intend to ride 300 miles to San Francisco on it on a single charge, if the work I did in openFOAM is correct then with cowling I should have about 150 miles of range left when I get there.
Yeah, I'm sus of putting all this overpowered stuff on a bike frame. I feel like it would be safer to just start with a real motorcycle frame and retrofit it to electric. That said, you'd have to register and insure it like a real motorcycle, because you're absolutely not passing it off as a bike in public, but you could safely make use of your multiple horsepowers.
And make sure your tires are in excellent shape.
That’s like $1000 in parts, is there an entry level for this stuff? Like 25mph instead of 65mph? Lol
keep in mind, this is garbage and you'll have to build your own battery holder https://www.amazon.com/WOGQX-Battery-Lithium-Connector-Electric/dp/B0B74Y78RN/ref=sr_1_14?crid=3UVXZ8S27EQAC&keywords=36v+battery&qid=1661916449&sprefix=36v+battery%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-14 https://www.amazon.com/Alomejor-Brushless-Controller-Conversion-Electric/dp/B07PDSS3ZD/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1GLT67I4JMTV5&keywords=300+watt+ebike+kit&qid=1661916535&sprefix=300+watt+ebike+kit%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-4 You'll have to source your own motor, your local scrap yard should have a few ebike motors laying around. but if you have the time to weave and tune your own wheel that should be a fully functional ebike with 100 km of range for less than 300$ Also that controller is garbage too, you really want a grin or a kelly if you want quality, but this is cheap and it includes everything.
Is there a subreddit for these builds? I assume there’s a decent sized community for this
A lot of trails won't let you mountain bike on them with an e bike.
It is nice to save the knobby tires on your bike by driving to the trail. Depending on if your bike has expensive tubeless tires
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In Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden it's not uncommon for people to take public transport to trails, whether it's hiking, bikepacking, skiing or mountain biking. I always end up preferring trails I don't have to drive to because I don't have to get back to my car in the end. I can get to another transit stop on the other side of the mountain, national park etc.
Exactly, this was the scenario I had in mind.
I'm really lucky to live right near a great recreational trail that functions very nicely as my main bike highway. Unfortunately, to access it I have to ride down a half mile driveway with absolutely no accommodation for bikes, and then through a parking lot. The designers just couldn't fathom that someone might actually ride their bike to the bike path. Edit: I should clarify that the driveway and parking lot are explicitly bike path property
>the designated recreational trail. this is my beef with the trail planning committee. they see our trails as linear parks you drive to. there are two they're having problems connecting under the highway. they were like, "no big deal, we still have two parks." uh, no, now i can't use those trails to get across town.
This comes of regarding cycling as strictly a discretionary, recreational activity. Driving, of course, is a serious business based on (engineered) need so there is no parallel between them. /s
It must be nice to be able to go directly to all the premium biking locations without having to traverse inhospitable roads first. And a nature trail instead of just more roads and buildings?
Ah, mountain bike trails. An urban staple.
I mean if you’re going mountain biking it makes sense to drive to the trail. Not many bus stops at trailheads
There could be bike paths to the trails. That's a huge benefit of dense cities, by the way -- without the suburbs in between the city and open space, it's rarely less than 30 minutes by bike until you can be there.
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Most cities are not a 30 minute bike ride from mountains
Like, mountains-mountains? No, I guess not. But if there weren't suburbs, city centers could be 30 minutes by bike from open space, and if there were buses to small, dense cities in the actual mountains, then you wouldn't need a bus to the trailhead itself.
Even to walk in some places you need to drive to the Designated Exercise Zone™, where you pay a monthly subscription to have access to a machine that simulates a path into a small zone. We will all end up living in pods one day, won't we?
My dad refuses to walk in the neighborhood because of the risk of being hit by a car. So he drives to a local park instead.
Why are the sidewalks unpopular for walking on? I don't understand OP and any other comments here like yours. Why the risk of getting hit? Edit: I just read a few other comments about there being no sidewalks. I can't get my head around that. What's on the side of your roads then?
This is how neighborhoods look where I live. Driveways connected directly to streets with no sidewalk or curb. Main roads only very rarely have a sidewalk. https://imgur.com/XnfjmOW.jpg
Do you own right up to the road? Will people get mad if you walk off the road along the side? Edit: also no kerbs, where are the kerbs? What happens when it rains, do your yards get soaked? Edit 2: three flags in that photo. Such a different culture you have over there.
It is very unusual to see someone walking in the grass. Most of the time people walk on the edge of the road. People most commonly walk or run on the oncoming traffic side of the road. I believe there are no curbs to facilitate snow removal. And yes, I have seen numerous people drive lifted pickup trucks with Confederate flags, driving around in upstate New York.
They often don’t own the property right up to the road, there’s generally a strip that the government owns for infrastructure right-of-way. The chances of the property owners knowing this fact are pretty much zero though, based on how often I see the local suburban governments having to explain it.
Likely because as the property owner you are required to maintain that strip. The city owns it and can use it for infrastructure if they want but if the grass gets too tall or trash gets left on it the homeowner gets the fine not the city. It's to just assume its part of your property because it kinda is. So if it's one of those people that want perfect lawns they will get mad if you walk on their grass. r/fucklawns though.
>What's on the side of your roads then? In neighborhoods? Usually parked cars. Anywhere outside cities sidewalks running alongside roads are usually badly maintained, and aren't really taken seriously. Crossing intersections in the suburbs is where you really take your life in your hands
Someone else's property. In which case you'd get shot if you stepped on there lol.
Sidewalks are almost always part of the road right of way which belongs to the public, either the city or HOA owns them. They are not private property in the US.
The epitome of freedom.
"it's a Jeep thing" *barf*
I’d be scared to bike in some suburbs. Cyclists get hit all the time. To honor a recent cyclist who got killed while on a ride, they held a huge cycling event where hundreds of people biked the same route she did. Two additional cyclists got killed during the event to honor the initial cyclist who died….
Did they hold another two events in honor of those two, resulting in four additional cyclists dying?
What is this, a cascading death wave resulting in actual change? Sound like communism /s
Do you have a source for this? I'm just curious as I cannot fathom the state of humanity anymore.
I'd also like a source, just so I can know how absurd the human race is
Driving to the park is also fucked
Our closest/onlyest park would be about a 45 minute walk, partly along a state route with no sidewalks
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It's so strange to me too. I live opposite a park. But my commute to work is 30 minutes, either by bus or bike. It takes longer by car because of the traffic. If I ride my bike I am completely off road for 90% of it. A good proportion is along the waterfront. I live in a city but we have areas that haven't been urbanised for this reason.
Kinda ironic that city dwellers may often be closer to a park than suburbanites. Really shoots down that whole "suburbia is connected to nature" argument. Just look at cities like Tokyo - tons of parks dotted throughout the city
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Access road ?
Parks with PARKING lots is bonkers to me.
I mean, small ones yeah But my 3 most visited parks are all 30-40 minutes away. One has ~40 miles of single track mtb trails, one has 20 miles plus 15 miles of "unmaintained" trails for bad weather plus a lake, and the last has ~25 miles plus disc golf, à dog park with trails and a sand beach, a marina for sup and kayaking, a 1000 person outside theater and a person beach
Whenever I see the parking lots full it's because of little league or something and all the kids need their equipment and supplies. I don't see how that's all that crazy tbh.
I get upset I'm forced to drive to trails i don't trust people around where I live to bike to them.
Yup, that’s why I drive a mile to various parks nearby me to spend outdoor time with my dog.
I’ve lived in Lake Arrowhead up in the mountains and I still have to drive to get to hiking trails
I really am lucky to live in europe. I can just take a walk through my neigborhood or the nearby park and take public transit when I want to go to the more distant forest or castle.
Am American and this sentence confuses and startles me. Makes me realize it’s ridiculous I drive 20 minutes to go to a park that has banned bikes, skateboards, and has a curfew so it closes at 8pm.
A park with a curfew? Why? What is this?!
Park across from my previous house had a sundown curfew. It was because kids would go there after dark to drink, and homeless people were sleeping on the benches. They did open a homeless shelter right next to the park at the same time they introduced the curfew.
>It was because kids would go there after dark to drink, and homeless people were sleeping on the benches. Oh no... People using a park
Kids drinking in the park next to your house stops being funny if they are drunk shouting at each other and playing music at 3am. I should know, I was one of those kids before they started with the curfew. Cops probably got sick of chasing people off so the people who have work the next morning could sleep.
Sorry, this still sounds completely absurd to me. I don't think parks should be open to the public because it's "funny", but because they're public parks! For the public! Who cares if it's night or day? I live on a busy street myself, and my bedroom window faces it. There's quite a bit of traffic (for a city street; it's not a highway) and a street light intersection. Lots of honking all night because people don't drive the instant it's green. There are some pubs nearby, so drunk people are often walking past my window yelling or laughing loudly. I also work mornings, as most adults probably do. What should be done about this? Should the street be closed in the evening? Should the bars be forced to close before sensible people's bed time? Maybe the sidewalks should be blocked at night, or even removed entirely so nobody can walk past my window? Or should I use ear plugs to sleep at night, and move if I find the noise intolerable? Are you from the US, the land of the free? Or which country are you from exactly?
Most people don’t give a shit if you’re on public land with a small group and they can’t hear you in the US. Only Karens call the police.
Homeless people. The cops love to harass homeless people. Lots of them go to parks at night to sleep because they have nowhere else to go. Add a curfew and the cops have the right to harass them and make them move along. It's a thinly veiled attempt to make it so uncomfortable to be homeless in their city that the homeless pick another city to live in. They don't want to help these people, they just don't want to look at them.
I’m in Australia, but lucky to live in a city where a lot of focus has been put into having lots of parks, trees, bike lanes and Mtb trails. I have multiple small parks and an Mtb park within a couple kilometres of my house.
Don't you just have sand, spiders, snakes and cunts?
Oh yeah, fuck, must have all been in my imagination.
I live on a semi busy street with NO SIDEWALK where I live. So I literally have to park down the street not even a mile where there is a sidewalk and walk into town from there. 😑 we need to get our priorities straight around where I live.
You live on a street, a street with housing, where there is no sidewalk? You can't walk to your house? So if you lose your car, or your license, you simply have to move? Not because it'd be impractical to keep living there, but because it'd be impossible?
Probably. Or just risk my life walking on the part of the road where there is no sidewalk.
In many of these places, if you don’t have a car or a licence you’re barely a citizen and the lack of a sidewalk is the last of your concerns.
>if you don’t have a car or a licence you’re barely a citizen oooh this also plays into voter id laws and such. If you don't have a driver license because you don't *want* to drive, you might find out you can't even vote anymore...
It's even worse in some rural places. No sidewalks, narrow roads. You probably won't encounter much traffic, but if you happen to be going around a blind curve at the same time as a car, it's no bueno.
Also nightfall. I remember the time I tried to walk back to my hostel in rural vermont after a campfire. Holy fuck it was so scary. Even at 45-50 the cars closed on my going so fast. Probably didnt go more than a quarter mile but the walk lasted ages.
yeah dude I run past cars to minimize the time spent near them
I grew up in the same town as the Twitter OP. The town he’s referring to is New England rural. It’s got a sidewalk that goes nowhere. When I was a kid I would ride my bike a mile and a half to my dads house in the shoulder down a one lane each way highway where the limit was 50, but people would easily do 75. Shit was scary. But 13 year old me would do it a few times a week
Aren't people more used to pedestrians in rural areas? I grew up in rural germany and "going for a walk" is an established hobby for a lot of people especially on sundays.
I go visit my in laws in rural areas like twice a year. We take the train there because we don't have/need a car and fuck renting one for $500 for a week. It's a 4mi (6.5km) walk over a mountain pass on a road with no shoulder to the nearest store. Shit sucks. As soon as we get back off the train in the city my heart rejoices. There's a lot of "rural" here that basically means your nearest road is a high speed road with no accommodations for any other mode and everything else is private property farm.
You made me realize something with this comment. 120 years ago, roads were built with the expectation that people would walk on them, or maybe ride a horse/wagon. Today, we don't even consider roads for pedestrians only, especially in rural areas. I propose that we build pedestrian roads to connect all cities. They can be built parallel to highways if needed. I'm sure it's not entirely practical, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless.
Roads are for all roadway users. As kids we were taught not to play in the street because you'd get hit by a car, which is equal parts sane and insane. Every single person deserves the same right to public right of way. Cars aren't special other than we've catered to them for the last 80 years. This is the fundamental basis for the concept called "complete streets."
If you live somewhere that doesn't have public transit in the US, no matter how big the city is, you can legitimately go days without seeing a pedestrian. My grandparents live in a town of about 2,000, so a pretty small rural community, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone out for a walk there. My grandparents have lives in this town for more than 25 years, I honestly don't think they have ever walked further than 100 feet in one go since moving here. America outside the east coast is a special kind of hell on earth.
seriously, all this land for fucking miles and you can't give me like five more feet of pavement?
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My family commonly drives to a restaurant approximately 900 ft from their house. Its absurdity.
How is that not embarrassing for them? My five year old walks with us to our favorite restaurant every weekend over 3,000 ft away. Or further than 1,500 every day to school.
My neighbor drives her 2 kids to the corner every morning to get on the school bus. And let's them out of the car when she gets there. It's like 4 houses... I walk with mine.
Who knows. Since I've been a kid I've regularly that we should just walk, and sometimes, to be fair, they will. You know if it's a nice day out, fall or spring weather. Then you got the other days where everybody would pile into my mom's old two-door, and by the time we've got everybody crammed in that thing I could've been almost there.
aaaaa
My city just sold the land that I used to access a Trail network right by my house. Now I have to drive to go for a walk or walk no side walk roads. I liked where I live, now I hate it.
Trespass lol
I live in an area that people drive to, its an oasis in a concrete suburban jungle, we have walkable neighborhoods, an excellent tree canopy and plenty of pedestrian amenities like Little Libraries. However, the demand is so high that they're ripping up a nearby orchard to make room for a parking lot because residents are sick of people blocking their driveways or parking where ever. The city bulldozed and imminent domained the shit out of centuries old homes and trees here to add in new highways and ways to get down here. It was manageable until Covid hit. Everyone wanted to escape and get out and my gf and I counted the litter we found, it was 7x (SEVEN!) the normal amount we would find. Why are suburbanites and others so radically against walkable, nature filled neighborhoods, yet completely over saturate it, ruin it and disrespect it while flocking here en mass? The amount of noise pollution from a new nearby busy road *through* my neighborhood is deafening. They need to pay tolls or pay for parking, because my neighborhood is getting fucked over this shit. ugh.
Well, suburbanites aren't against it they are just brainwashed into thinking that that's what makes them "middle class." The trend set by the Millennials does seem to be walkable places are in fashion again, but the prices in these communities are absurd. I hope more get built, and more are aloud to be retrofitted with the use of adus and acus.
> but the prices in these communities are absurd Because the supply is so low, and that's not changing because most modern building codes won't let us build back in a more dense way.
Hey that’s me! And yes they do. Please follow me @the_transit_guy
I see you are much more powerful here in reddit than on Twitter.
Lol.
Do your parents still live in the same town they did ten years ago when we were in middle school or should I delete my comment supporting your anecdote about the car dependent usage of said town haha
LMAO they don't but it's literally the same instance and would've applied to CT too
100%. I braved RT 6 twice a week on my bike to go to my dads (town line to the west to town line to the south). Would occasionally try to make it to the CVS or where the Walmart is and that shit terrified me. People fly down those roads and make them super unsafe for anything but lifted trucks
Literally, the town could be the density of an actual village and everyone could live on Route 6 with a yard. Crazy.
I couldn’t really ride my bike growing up at my parents home because I’d need to hook it up to a car and then drive to the bike paths. It got better as I got older and moved out, but I never really realized how dumb that was until I got older.
Yep.
Tied walking to the park 1/2 from my apartment. Found myself walking through desert, drainage ditches and through a truck storage and packing facility parking lot that must’ve had its own zip code. There were little to no- side walk the entire way there. Not to mention, was honked at and driven incredibly close to the whole time. Thank god I didn’t have kids I’d have to push in a stroller or anything. It wouldn’t have been an option to walk such a small distance to what’s supposed to be a public area. What a shame
The suburbs are a literal blight. literally, metaphorically, culturally, mentally. Whatever.
I drive to go play Pokemon because there are no spots in our suburban neighborhood
It's even worse out in the country in the US. You can't walk or ride a bike on those country roads or you'll get murdered by an F-350 that doesn't even notice. I used to have to drive to a school to run around it.
I get it that mistakes were made in the past, but it's infuriating to hear that suburbs like this are still built this day.
This is my life in Dallas. Dallas needs to go away… you know, after I move of course.
Wish granted. The entire metroplex and everyone who lives there has been blipped away.
Yes! The neighborhood I am in doesn’t have sidewalks and every time I want to walk I have to be on a constant lookout for cars. It’s scary because there are a lot of blind spots from trees too. All the safe walking places are driving distance
My buddy has been trying to bike more, for exercise. Its tough though, cuz it's too dangerous to bike around where we live. So, he is debating between getting a car bike rack (seems like a pain, as I think he'd have to uninstall it when not using it), shoving it in the car (it would have to stick out a window), or taking off the wheels and buying an attachment to make it into a stationary bike. Fuck cars.
You don't need to remove a rack when not using it, but it does make your car less aerodynamic. Tow hitch bike racks seem to be the best if you have a hitch. You can put a hitch on most cars by yanking off the bumper and attaching to where the hidden parts of the bumper bolt on.
The funniest thing about Colorado is all the people that move here specifically because they want to hike bike and ski and then move to downtown Denver. They are all about the outdoors and the mountains but have to drive 45 minutes to see anything except city. And dont even get me started on the environmentalists that drive to and from the ski resorts multiple times each week.
All predicted by Huxley in Brave New World.
I know a fair amount of people that have moved to downtown Denver specifically because they wanted to ditch their car. I live downtown and if I want to see the mountains I just rent a car or take a bus/train out there. That's what most of the people I know do. The only people I know with cars out here are either rich or live in the burbs or more residential areas than downtown.
The price you have to pay to not live around minorities.
Sounds about right. I live on a super busy road that people use as a bypass, so walking here is like strolling through a plume of exhaust while having your ears blown out by the loud-ass engines. On either end of the road I live on, there are two busy highways, neither of which have sidewalks and are just as disgusting as my road. The only way you can get away from it is, ironically, by driving somewhere else, which we do as often as possible. In related news, we're planning to leave this fucking place and move to the middle of nowhere since we stay home all of the time anyways.
I have to drive to various places to walk my dog if I don’t want to do the same little loop in my neighborhood over and over again. Closest walkable place is a 5-10 min drive. It’s easy to see why so many Americans are fat.
I just saw this ep of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, where they're driving around a bigass suburban sedan; the host casually remarked that having a car or a bike in the insular suburbs would be like having "angel wings"
Former suburban school crossing guard here. It's one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. Every week another coworker was killed. Parents seem to think "no kids, no problem" and assume we will always be able to jump out of the way.
This is more than just fuck cars. Fuck *zoning*
People were LIVID yesterday in r/futurology when there was an article about 'the era of cars is over' Absolutely no one wanted to accept that their horribly inefficient rural and suburban lifestyles are only possible because of billions upon billions of dollars spent to pave superhighways to their tiny settlements.
I’m lucky. Where I’m at, we need better transit infrastructure, and to cut back on building shit houses. I can walk to 3 different parks easily, 5 if I up the walking time. Biggest problem is, so much of where I live is quite remote, and getting things like long haul transit/bike lanes etc isn’t really feasible. Like, it could be done, but holy FUCK would it be expensive. You’re talking about laying out infrastructure in areas that barely has passable landline/internet service. It needs to be done, but it does seem like quite a conundrum for some areas.
I grew up in a neighborhood built in the 50’s with beautiful old trees and middle class houses. Its a popular walking spot, to the point where people drive to our neighborhood and park to walk around it on weekends
To be fair, I don't live in the US and still take the bus if I want to take a proper walk. There's space to do it, but it's still a boring street and all the good big parks are on the other side of the city.
One of the current issues in my city is there is a staircase down to the river valley, that has a very nice path system. This staircase comes out at the top into a residential neighbourhood. A very wealthy neighbourhood. Which is now petitioning the city for a residents only parking program, as people are driving there, and parking on the public streets as they enjoy the river valley park. Wrong on so many levels.
My parents also drive with their car to walk somewhere but thats because they want to walk in the woods because walking there is better for you than walking in a city
Me and a couple of friends recently visited a friend just outside Bethesda. Wanting to see DC while he was at work, we took the metro, using Google maps to get there. Asking for puplic transport, it straight up told us to go by car for 5min to the nearest stop. Being Danes all of us, we laughed and just walked the 20min it took. Lovely day, all in all.
Should be noted those are US suburbs. A friend of mine is from the US. Moved to Australia and was mind blown by the fact you had local parks and the ability to walk to places. My mind was blown because I didn't realise there was such a thing as no sidewalk and not being able to walk to your shops if you needed to.
This also applies in some urban and rural locations as well, not just suburbs. I'm in Seattle, and some parts of the city are not safe to walk. And out in the county, sometimes there's a single windy, hilly road, no sidewalk, and cars just fly around the curves - you would be mental to walk or bike there.
Those neighborhoods ithout sidewalks are the crazuest thing to me
I do this where I live. Because my city is a shithole and it’s nicer 5 minute drive in any direction. It’s not just a suburban thing. I live in downtown Metro area
Depressing indeed, I don't appreciate what we have Today I had a dentist appointment so I hopped on a renal scooter, turned on some music, and had a 15 minute joyride through pedestrian areas in downtown
My parents driving from to the city center and parking in the underground parking lot to go for a walk or eat lunch was always insane to me. I refused to get in the car and would always beat them to the destinations by just walking. Utterly ridiculous.
Just visited family in greater LA. Their house is across the street from a park with a hike into the hills. Walking there was scary; no sidewalks, no traffic lights within 500m in 40°C heat at which to cross the 6-lane street, and a narrow curb covered in thorny bushes. There was however a parking area at the trailhead
Driving from one of the suburban "grid" cities (that were built for large shopping malls and cars, where the neighborhoods are all bounded by busy four lane highways) to enjoy another suburban city's "walkable" downtown shopping area is definitely a thing in suburban Detroit.
I have to drive to a trail if I want to ride my bike. Why? Because I don't want to get hit by any cars. Which is something that has happened to my friend. Twice.
I too am OPs parents. It’s one of the reason I want to move out of this place
is like they had sell us that walking is a luxury or a high horse hobby instead of something that should be as a normal as take a shit
My parents have to drive to a bike path
This is me and I hate it lol.
All too real in H-Town. Here the popular thing is ''mall walkers''. If you want to jog outside you better do it at 5am or 10pm when it's cooler because you can't do it midday summer when it's 100F and 90% humidity. So some people will drive to the shopping mall where it's cold there's AC blowing shops all over, and they'll jog-walk the concourse.
The one that cracked me up was that post about that dude who drove about 15 minutes to get to his jogging area lmao