6 Comments

Agenda 21 fulfilled at some point. Heard they’re working on more viruses to try and kill more of us off.

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“Oh, and no real liberty.

Ain't no room for that in the silos.”

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Crystal City in Arlington VA is such a place and has been for decades. Essentially a "human habitrail". it's a bunch of hotels and apartment buildings linked by tunnels and underground shopping plazas to everything you need: work, shopping, fitness, health care, entertainment and Metro rail that can take you into DC proper or to the airport or beyond. Everything within a 15-minute walk. It's certainly convenient, but I could never find myself living in that environment for more than a week or so before I'd go crazy. I can see how it would appeal to a workaholic mentality, and it would sure beat sitting in I-395 or I-66 traffic for ten hours a week. Today I couldn't even stand to live in a subdivision.

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Who can resist a Monkee's reference? I live in the heart of urban Atlanta and the explosion of multi-use high rises has taken over the city. I moved into a renovated warehouse loft a decade ago in a neighborhood with a 5 story height limit. That limit has long since been bought out and 12+ story building are springing up all around me, all on two lane roads that are destined for standstill traffic. The planners take for granted that the residents will live AND work in the same neighborhood, which rarely happens. Our rail transit goes north-south and east-west on single routes so if you're not working off one of those routes you have to catch a bus. Can't take rail to the Braves stadium.

A few years ago the City decided to create a street railcar that went from nowhere to nowhere. Nobody rides it except for homeless people who are trying to stay either warm or cool. Now there's a multi-million dollar project to expand this rail car that nobody rides to our Beltline, which is a pedestrian/bike path around the city that follows the old railroad line. Nobody will ride this as well. I live on the Beltline and it was a nice thought but has devolved into a mass conglomeration of obtuse walkers, Lance Armstrong wannabes riding 30mph, drunk scooter ridings going just as fast, and even more bizarre 4 wheel vehicles. I watch the action from my deck and see the worst of humanity all at once. And the original rule on the route was no motorized vehicles. I can't use the path on the weekend lest I risk my life of being run over. Pleasant Valley, indeed. The planners had great intentions but created a Frankenstein.

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Kinda puts the lie to the "smart people running things" theory.

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I couldn't help but add something. When people complain that scooter, e-bikes, motorized skateboards, mini-ATVs, and all kinds of odd self-propelled vehicles have taken over the roughly 10 foot wide Beltline despite the fact that the rule/law is that motorized vehicles are explicitly forbidden, they get kick back from others stating that those are all electric so they're okay. I've tried to explain that they have electric motors rather than combustion engine motors, so yes they are actually motorized, and you wouldn't believe how any people believe that motor = gas engine. Actually Peter, I know you definitely will believe it.

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