Comments by "Bushrod Rust Johnson" (@MilwaukeeF40C) on "Why are there so many strip malls?" video.

@OatmealTheCrazy When it is worthwhile it is done.
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@Untergrundmaschine American small towns are completely walkable. Most are not more than a mile long. Before cars existed rural residents used to walk for miles to these types of towns, no sidewalk or bike path needed. All of the same roads are still there and in fact easier to walk on with pavement.
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@barvdw Zoning is a fringe issue. Populism led to governments subsidizing the shit out of road infrastructure and real estate debt that skews the market away from higher density development. Almost all "zones" are created on vacant, soon to be developed land because that is what the private developer is trying to get approval for. Apartment buildings, commercial, and industrial property zoning changes quite often to get redeveloped.
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@the_tel There is almost nothing that prevents a developer with money from getting approval for "mixed use". It just doesn't sell in places where there is ample room to build apartments and houses away from commercial traffic. Existing single family residential areas are really the only developments that get stuck being what they are.
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@linuxman7777 Old downtown aesthetics just seem quaint now. There was nothing special about them when they were built, I know scholars of architecture who can identify mass produced storefront facades and masonry ornamentation. These places will often not be considered worthy of historic preservation if design is their only factor.
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Most people don't have to drive far to get to a strip mall. Who carries groceries on a bicycle?
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@ChristianWS. The English term is Granny cart. You are a grandma.
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@Untergrundmaschine Sidewalks are extremely common in U.S. suburbs in "downtowns" and on most side streets and it is not impossible to walk anywhere, people just won't cross the multilane arterial roads very much or do any errands on foot. Almost nobody ever had a horse, let alone a carriage. Before cars, the towns were centered around railroad stops or some old mill and walking absolutely was the primary local transportation until the early 1900s. People used to walk all day through whole 30 mile counties and stay at "inns" and shit, do business, and walk back.
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@barvdw There are plenty of stores in walking distance in the suburbs, most strip malls have houses or rental properties right behind them. People just don't walk for errands. Zoning is not at all the issue here, because mixed buildings do get built and there are variances for everything. Commercial investors are probably less likely to want to locate away from a main road, than apartment renters having an issue with being near or above a store. However, almost nobody would pick an apartment above a store along these multilane highways with a bunch of parking lots around when there are tons of new properties off side streets. So who would build such a unit expecting certain quality of tenants? Often you will see older apartment buildings that were built close to busy highways before they were widened. Those are all Section 8 now.
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@chaotickreg7024 A strip mall in Berwyn, Illinois was once known for some notable outdoor artwork in the parking lot and a unique McDonald's.
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@eltiggy7031 The only "system" that successfully prioritizes human well being is self interest.
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@Untergrundmaschine Only upper class people and farmers had personal access to draft animals. There wasn't any room or time for that shit for normal townfolk and country laborers couldn't afford them wither. As for roads being inconvenient for pedestrians, the only thing really to blame for that is "greater good" collectivism that led to the government turning roads in to what they are now with artificial subsidies. You can ride a bike down most country roads in the U.S., they aren't that busy. The spandex dipshits do it all the time.
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The housing is all behind the commercial property. Zoning is probably less of an issue for car dealers than the internal incentives/requirements for inventory that the corporate financiers have. Last year I got paid to measure and prove how much potential inventory space a dealership company had in their lots. It seemed shady.
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Modern day land developers do not accept cross access arrangements very much. People buy huge chunks of land and waste it.
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@Strideo1 "As an American who lives in a more urban walkable area I can't stand strip malls. They helped destroy the charming mains streets and commercial villages we centered neighborhoods around before the automobile became the sole focus of city planning." Road subsidies should be blamed. The idealistic setting you desire was what existed during a more free market before the government started interfering in transportation and land use.
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@octorokpie You can get cryogenically packaged pizza shipped by FedEx.
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@linuxman7777 "Main streets" are actually not that efficient.
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@IXPrometheusXI People will take advantage of cars as much as they do as long as roads cost "nothing" to them. It is as simple as that.
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@eltiggy7031 Voluntarism, which can include capitalism as well as voluntary socialism for all the nutcases.
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@barvdw Planning commercial locations in the middle of new housing developments, away from main roads, just isn't done regardless of zoning. Potential store investors want to be where the traffic is, with more than a small neighborhood-only customer base. The nearest houses would also automatically have a slightly lower value. The last things that still get put in the middle of house lots are elementary schools and parks. It has been fashion for over half a century to put everything else on the edge of new neighborhoods, along the arterial roads that were there when it was still farmland or woods. New arterial roads rarely get built either (developers would have to "dedicate" the land for them), the local governments just widen the old ones.
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@clintcarpentier2424 Spelling like a jackass and not addressing statements is not adding anything.
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@swinde Right in-right out entrances are gay. I always go left.
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@Strideo1 "The high rents in those old main street neighborhoods obviously shows demands for those types of neighborhoods that are not being met sufficiently by city planners" "Planners" and policy will not be able to competently force outcomes in to existence.
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@TimothyFitch Car companies didn't have to lobby for shit. It was populism, everyone thought that subsidized roads and subsidized real estate credit was a good idea. But that is far as fuck from a free market. Its what happens when everything is up for a vote.
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1/2 off gentleman's lattes.
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Defund the roads!
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Older mid century ones can actually be quite interesting.
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