Comments by "Colorme Dubious" (@colormedubious4747) on "Can we fix the suburbs?" video.

1) I feel like I've seen this before... oh, right, it's basically a video version of the 1995 Newsweek article "How to Fix the Suburbs." 2) A better example of mall redevelopment is The Crossings in Mountain View CA because it used recycled materials from the mall structure, has been completed for two decades, has an integrated CalTrain station, and will eventually also be served by the CAHSR. 3) I think you underestimate the sheer mass of people who despise their HOA.
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@laurie7689 A number of studies have shown that busier through streets help DETER crime because there are more eyes scanning the environment. More property crimes tend to occur in cul-de-sacs, on dead-end streets, and (counterintuitively) in gated communities (where you are FAR more likely to be burgled or vandalized by your neighbor's bored kids than by a random stranger -- and police patrols are virtually nonexistent). You can still have traffic calming measures in place on busy streets. It's not as if these are mutually exclusive design choices.
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That is a REMARKABLE assertion, given that a common critique of suburban streets is their insane width (typically 50 feet wide) that can easily accommodate the most ridiculous unnecessarily huge firefighting equipment. They also encourage dangerous speeds, which is why traffic calming measures are becoming more widespread.
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@barryrobbins7694 Sure. Duany, et al addressed the incoherence of winding roads and unnecessary cul-de-sacs in "Suburban Nation." They also addressed the problems caused by inappropriately wide streets serving low density single-use neighborhoods. "Strong Towns" addressed this issue from an economic perspective (calling it a "Ponzi scheme" with justifiable malice aforethought). The maze and bottlenecks, in and of their shape, do not cost us ridiculous sums of money to maintain over the decades. The streets' WIDTH does. Every foot of unnecessary width is another slice of land that cannot accommodate dwelling units (or anything else), adds undesirable impervious cover, forces the construction of additional costly utility infrastructure (which costs money to maintain), does not generate tax revenue, and costs a king's ransom to maintain over its lifetime. I stand by my assertion.
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@barryrobbins7694 The authors favor skinny streets in grid patterns and explain that cul-de-sacs should only exist where topography dictates (to conform a neighborhood to shorelines and foothills, primarily).
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@Anti-Taxxer That's been changing since the 80s. Many jurisdictions now have TOD ordinances, mixed-use zoning designations, or parallel development codes, while others allow it on a case-by-case basis. My city has a parallel TND code that developers can opt for.
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@barryrobbins7694 I'm not even sure why you brought up the Zimmerman case nor the point you thought you were making, but I think you misspelled "Neighborhood Watch volunteer who was acquitted on both counts by a duly empaneled jury." Isn't suburban design the topic at hand?
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