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Comments by "" (@steemlenn8797) on "City Beautiful" channel.

"build a jail because it has recession-safe jobs" is one of the most depressing sentences I ever heard.
743
Have a look at Egypt's new capital. You don't need to speculate there.
352
@Kamen_Rider_Blade I strongly think "many" is wrong. Because most people who have experience with both (e.g. US suburbia and EU village) will show you the middle finger if you ask them to move back from their 3.000 people village to their former 3.000 people suburbian wasteland. There are people who want to live in a cabin in the woods. There are people who want to live in nothing that is smaller than a 20 storey building. But most just want an objectivly good place to live, means quite with close amenities and work, preferably with some green. A huge unused front yard where you can't even put up your laundry to dry is not high on the priority list.
187
@Riyoshi000 Well, it's quite impractical to build a huge city into the middle of a sand desert. It's less the distance itself but the seperation. And the little fact that there seems to be an awful lot of places reserved for military.
94
That's not a small town, that's a homestead area ;) Really one of the reasons teh US is so spread is that homesteading history. In Europe those isolated houses existed too, of course, but they have consolidated to villages or even agricultural towns (as in a few thousand people inside a wall who mostly still work on their fields in front of the wall)
62
Would need a slight renaming, Bär and Lien
52
@armorpro573 Japanese pay per hour is notoriously bad, at least for the typical salaryman. But that is because of the "mandatory" overtime, drinking events etc. that come with it. As for the rest, as always: It depends.
43
Here in Germany most (single doctor) clinics, tax accountants and lawyers have their office in what was once a normal appartment. My company has it's local office in the middle storey of an old 3 storey villa. First and third are normal renters living there (Since we don't have customers coming that isn't a problem with noise etc.)
40
@chrismanaloe3507 You win the "dumbest comment of the video" contest, congratulations!
37
No one steals them is wrong. Ther eis a real bike stealing problem in Tokyo as you can see by all the posters and police actions. That said on average it's more likely you need to buy a new bike because of age than that it gets stolen. One of the other urbanist channels just had that topic a few days ago.
35
@AndyCutright In the Netherlands, everyone owns a bike. Statistically speaking more than one. That's just the facts, Maike!
24
But the HOA can't end a rent contract? They are not part of that contract. Also can they really do that or did just nobody sue them? A HOA might set rules about the building, but a renter is no building.
21
@Randomadventureswithpaul Just because your brain is so small (or brainwashed by rightwing extremists it seems) that it can only fit one word does not mean there aren't many. I can think of at least 4 different one, each with it's own meaning, for "taking money with a mandate". btw. in German we have at least 6 words for different uses of "ticket".
19
How do planners design suburban developments in the US? They don't. They have it done once and use the same plan every time, just rotating it a bit.
19
I always found it hilarious that in the Land of the Free and most of all the Free Market, you are not allowed to build businesses in most of a town.
15
@SaveMoneySavethePlanet I call it the 10 minute law. If you reach your destination in 10 minutes, it's not far. If by car, bike or foot is what planning and design decide. And since the station is destination it can indeed feel "near" even if you end up traveling 30 minutes in total (albeit that is too much for normal shopping, but for a doctor's visit - works)
15
It's a very important destinction (especially for politician) - at least if it is what is in German: the difference between Steuer (tax) and Abgabe (levy). A tax can be freely used, a levy is for a purpose. So if you have a street building levy you can't build train tracks with it or give money to sport groups or anything else. (theoretically, people can be very inventive)
13
Did you know that the train track gauge most used throughout the world is a direct successor to the Roman horse arse? Modern mass transportation would look very different without Roman regulations!
10
@1Rab For the price of 1 iPhone 15 plus I pay 2 month of rent in Germany. And my Japan trip wil be for 3 month, starting in Hokkaido in the summer and moving down with the cooler temperatures. Still need to save the price a few iphones 15+ for that though.
10
@naddarr1 But that is what the member of the HOA has agreed upon. If those rules change, the contract with a third party (the renter) should not be affected. That would be a violation of their free contract. It's like when the rules about paint get changed. If you say houses can only be paid black when it was white before, you can't fine them 2 minutes later for having non-black houses.
8
@AJX-2 For the guild members, yes. As did the phoebus cartel for light bulb makers. (And isn't it strange that even with LEDs today, which could run 10K+ hours, they often burn out around the 1K mark?)
8
@starventure Okay, now I am sure you are trolling. Crime magnets, my ass.
8
@lifevest1 Wow that's some clasicism right there. 1) If you really mix people, you stop having "near", because it's even closer than near. 2) The "limitless negatives" are often quite limited and anyway, you see the bad parts, but not the good parts because you assume the good parts are not subsidized and you attribute bad "non-subsidized" as being subsidized. It's a bit like one of those "hidden millionaires" comedies where the fraudster is getting the VIP treatment and the millionaire is hired to clean the forgotten backyard.
7
Is there any city in the US without a Megacorp HQ or similar that is thriving?
7
@wereoctopus Just add that taxes are bad, but mandatory HOA fees are good, because they are private, means there is no check and balances, yeah!
7
@starventure Someone who doesn't want to be in walking distance to a corner store? What a strange species, haven't met that before! I can't believe humans on the other continent are so different that 80% don't want it. Not to mention that a lot of people who live there would like to live in an area with corner stores, but can't move there because it's illegal to build them.
6
I don't know how it is today, but just before Corona Uber still made billions of losses. I guess they now think (or have to try because investors are demanding) that they have enough market to push through prices.
6
No. You have smaller cars because the streets are smaller. And nobody feels like they must drive a SUV to not get turned into a soup like homogenate when they crash wth one of the tanks the Americans call pickup trucks.
6
"of course a Walmart on the outskirts of town surrounded by the usual fast food places" That is a big part of the problem. Neither of those are places of small town feeling right? You want your restaurant in what used to be the town inn, another place that is more a drinking locality and a small supermarket in the center. Preferably right between church and town hall and a park on the other side of the street with a good place for children to play. That is where life happens in a small town and this is what creates that feeling.
6
Paper cheque and pneumatic tube, things of the middle 20th century, so you can sit in your car with hurting knees instead of getting at least a bit of movement into your bones. That is so funny!
5
If you want to see really small streets, watch one of Cory May's "getting lost in..." videos where he walks through Tokyo, e.g. starting at Shinjuku Station (the worlds busiest train station) and after 15 minutes he is in alleys where you can sometimes touch both sides.
5
@bassam_salim Yeah, in those hot cities it needs to be a dit different. Old arabic cities were build with walls very close to each other so that there was also shadows. Where it was possible there was also water, cooling down everything. So maybe a modern arabic city has tunnel-like structures for foot and bike traffic? Shadowed above from the sun, open on the side to natural light? Like House | 1m free space | roof starts - small greenery and water | foot and bike path | greenery and water - roof starts | 1m free space | house
5
And a lot of the side streets are so small that cars can't even get through - at least US sized ones ;) That is why I love Cory's channel, he wanders along all those small alleys. https://www.youtube.com/c/CoryMay81
5
go to "not just bikes"
5
The car = diability thing always confuses me. From all versions of transport cars ar the least elastic to disabilities. You can have walking canes, mobility scooters, trikes... all don't need any license and can be used easier than a car. The question is not how can disabled people get around without a car, the question sis how can we allow disabled peopel to only have the option to get around in a car?
5
And now imagine: THE FUTURE! Humanity around 2000 did nothing to fight the climate catastrophe. Temperatures in India are going through the roof. 2 billion people are packing up their sparse, dried out belongings and start moving to Northern Europe and Russia. I can never understand why the people who scream about "illegal immigrants" aren't the ones most frantic about fighting climate change. Quite contrary they often hate fighting it. I wonder if the Delhi planners are thinking about that.
4
Yes, public transit stops should not be more than 500m away from the next. That way you get (theoretically) everyone within 350m of a stop, or a 5 minute walk.
4
And some of those restrictions are totally bonkers. Like "no solar on the roof, since the house is "denkmalgeschützt" (protected building) and must retain it's look, even though the street is so small you can't even see the roof from down there.
4
Park and Ride is great - if you do it for bikes. It increases the easy distance from half a mile to two. Thanks to the pi*r² that is a LOT of additional pickup area (Which can also be served by buses for those who don't ride bikes for whatever reason.) Put the train station in the center together with services like town hall and doctors and have the bike lanes go like light from a star. Spread a few groery stores around. Have a 10 minute bus service and train access and you can have 30-50K people in this area with about 20% need for cars compared to the standard US city.
4
@Randomadventureswithpaul Haha, funny how bad your insults are. btw. look up the actual numbers for both sides. Even only counting (para)military death the US is leading by now. If you also count indirect results the US may actually be at 100 million. But hey, you are happy killing your fellow citizens by lack of health care and oversupply of guns, so what to expect! And a tip: Languages are different, but they share one trait - if you have different words, they often mean different things. Like tax and levy - I looked it up, and it is different from your and your politicion's meaning (according to faqs.in.gov who I would guess know that stuff)
4
You are aware that in basically every restauratn the food gets to you thourgh a window? it's just that someone else carries it for you instead of making a long arm in the drive-through.
4
I think Italy should just shoulder all those costs because it get's a lot of benefit from all the foreign tourists. It's an investment. That said the church surely get's a lot of money from teh state one way or the other, so... forget it.
4
Japan has many small "towns" - more villages - though if you leave the big plains. Or agricultural areas where you have a house ehre and there between fields. (The last is also true for areas in the Netherlands). I really want to make long trip along the mountain rroads through those small villages and look at all those small shrines (I like small shrines).
4
@MJ-zo5gb The Akabane video is great to show that feeling. Of course there are houses everywhere, back to back, but apart from that, it does not feel like Megapolis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW2tc3tGoM8 I followed him around on google maps :D Not always easy, but fun.
4
I always find it faszinating that Ameicans are at teh same time trained to be extremely friendly extroverts - hello stranger, well met! - and at the same time hate people who are poor with such intensity. Or maybe it is because of the trained extrovertism, it makes everything into surface only and leaves no place for empathy (which is an extremely introvert feeling).
4
By Gorbatchow not sending in Russian tanks even when the East German leders wanted it in 1989. That is why he is still seen as the person who destroyed the sowjet union by man y Russians.
4
The wrong element? Like people buying apples? How shocking!
4
Homelessness ist only a controversial thing in the US. The best way to lower homelessness is to offer homes. The best way to lower poverty is to give money. If you tell people they should first solve the problems caused by homelessness/money before you give them homes/money, it will always have worse results. Which should not be surprising, but meh... religious beliefs shrug
4
@electriccarpet4 A) Land: Where is the difference for you between owning land and life tiem leasing it (putting aside that it is a lot easier to achiece leasign it) B) Free Speech: If you think communism prevents free speech, that's wrong. Gulags also stupid. Again, that is in the ideal theoretical form, not what people might have done in the name of it - the same as with capitalism. Theoretically poverty should not exist in ideal capitalism. Or racism.
4
In many cases ~50 years ago they would put 4-6 storey appartment buildings right on the farm land, with school and grocery shop all together. (At least in East Germany) My old city (30K) had 2 of those 3K-5K micro districts put up in the 80s. Now half of that is demolished because a few years later nobody wanted to live in those anymore :( And instead single family houses (often with just 2m green on the side each ) are build there now. Talk about wasteful. There will actually be less green (that also is not open, so no soccer playing etc) but also not even half the amount of people.
4
When I see those American stroads in all the videos, it does not even feel soulless. It feels like actually soul negative, like your soul gets sucked in into those non-places.
3
@huge_balls What the "black genetics" guys conveniently ignore is the fact that the genetic difference between a black village somewhere in Africa and another black village a few hundred km away is bigger than the genetic difference between Europeans (or Asiens) and their black forefathers.
3
A lot of Germans would disagree. I don't have problems with them, I never got shot, maybe because I just don't drive above speed limits. Though I have seen temporary police speed checks where it's clearly the infrastructure's fault for (slight) speeding and I don't approve of that. One was where you had to drive uphill through slight curves, so you pressed more on the pedal. After that it's sloghly downhill in a straight line. If you don't drive that daily, you invariably end up a bit too fast. And naturally you would go off the gas and just coast... and that is where they were standing. It was not even a dangerous area, except right at the start there weren't even houses on one side, so practically nobody crossing the street. I drove that daily for 3 years and saw probably 5 people crossing. In that place, getting ticked for driving 56km/h instead of the allowed 50 km/h does feel like pure money making.
3
@yashagrawal88 Tokyo is 1) The metropolitan area of Toyko. 2) the 13 districts of Toyko and 3) the ward of Tokyo (if I got the names right)
3
What? You just have to spread out faster than people are coming. (dramatic orchestra oomph) Only the light is the speed limit!
3
You might want to add that the "building highways in poor (=non white) neighborhoods" was very often intentional. "Clear the slums" and move unwanted people away.
3
What a horror! You must run into so many of "those people!" ;) And all the neighborhoods must be full of destroyed character and totally boring.
3
Drive-throughs make sense in the densest of towns where there is not parking spot. Everywhere else just leave your friggin' car goddamit!! Why are Americans unable to walk 20m? Not to mention that using a drive-through is so inconvenient, sitting there in your metal box...
3
@sorenjunkers3834 Yes, It's like highway traffic, just that there are about 10.000 times more people transported and you actually get to your destination on time.
3
My kindergarden was 7 minutes away. I walked home alone with 5+6 years. (just one street to cross, mostly go around a school area) My school, you might guess, was about 15 seconds if I ran and the street was free ;)
3
@electriccarpet4 The thing is that all examples of "communism" people generally think of are not examples of Communism, often nto even of Socialism, but simply autocrats/dictatorships under this one guise (there are many "capitalist" dictatorships too). Jesus lived in a communism based group, but nobody talks about that for example ;) Cuba is also such an dictatorship example and Venezuela is imho an example of the Resource Course (as is e.g. Nigeria on the capitalist-democratic side for decades, and I don't have much hope for the current slight trend to the better). Putting that aise, as nothing close to real communism has never existed on a big scale, nobody can really say what it would look like. The most likely "ideological ideal" for your dog example would be that it is a nature preserve and you watch over it ;) The main point being thought that as a communist personality you would see for yourself that one person cannot have that much land for his dog alone and would not even ask for it, for the good of everyone. And since I don't believe you could ever have the vast majority being that way, that is the main reason why grand scale communism will never exist imho. btw. When the government decides that stuff because the people are still not that far deveoped on individual scale and need to be educated - that is the stage of Socialism. A necessary prerequisit to communism where the state makes (and forces, if needed) people act correctly. (Ideologically speaking again) But that is really way to much for youtube comments ;)
3
@daniloss1319 USA, country of unlimited impossibilities!
3
Stand still in the Midwest during midday and tell me you don't sweat. Not everything that is limping is a comparison, as we Germans would say.
3
@Homer-OJ-Simpson For a long time many cities had a very strict urbon growth boundary - a wall. Nobody wanted to live outside. If those towns didn't grow after the walls were becoming meaningles, they are still very packed.
3
District heating? THAT'S COMMUNISM!!! UnAmerican! I used to live where you got heating and warm water from a 1km far plant. It was HOT. They feed it with 76 and I got it at 74 I think. Now I live where I have to make the hot water myself in a small unit. It's a trickle compared to the gush before and also never as hot. I really miss the easiness. Also, if somethign would happen know who long it would take for someone to come repair it. If something stops working that the town uses to heat thousands of people, they have their own staff coming in an emergency.
2
I would contest the conclusion that a 4% premium in HOA homes means that people prefer them, if 80% of houses are build in one. It more likely just means that the private developers have snatched up the better locations and only the worst ones are left out, those who get lower prices. (Also I am not sure if the study considers that the fee means the people buying houses of same characteristics are wealthier, meaning less price sensitive.)
2
Ahem... this you mean? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQjY7DiTP_I
2
The thing with Uber is that it only works profitable (if at all, do they now make profit?) where public transit can also be profitable - and a lot less impactful on the environment. And of course Uber does this by exploiting it's "contractors". If they would be hold to the same rules as taxi companies, they could not work - which tells you how effective Uber really is.
2
Once per day. And then it gets even worse. Every time I watch something about US railways, I have to fight to hold back the tears.
2
The obvious thing (from someone only looking at it on google maps), would be to reroute the BART trains along 1st and 2nd street using mission street. And the loop at the end of mission street could be extended towards the transit center and 1st street.
2
We don't need small, enclosed quiet areas. We simply need quiet cities.
2
@NarutoUzumaki-xd4db I am sure you have never heard of nail houses lol
2
wow, those Salt Lake city "streets" could make a really nice neighborhood if you indeed put houses in the center, make one of the resulting streets in slow car lane and the other into a pedestrian zone witt bike access. Nice place for caffes, book stores, small offices and bakeries.
2
@Moon Shine Oh yes, typical reaction from the US. There is either suburbia or New York. That's because many of you don't know anything else. "Normal" towns (for a European) haven't been build in the US for half a century. And my views are not niche, you just can't have them because of your lack of experience. Those in the US who actually experience it are very happy with it, as you can see by the fact that the few "EU-style" neighborhoods that exist are at the top end of housing prices.
2
Even in the badly inspired single family homes ares that have cropped up in the last decades, planning makes sure there is at least one small shopping area (e.g. for an ALDI) close, and kindergarden and school are required to be nearby (to a certain extend). Also single doctors, lawyers and similar professions can simply use an appartment as office.
2
What happens when there are 4?
1
@death_parade Thank you for your long, detailed reply. Unfortunately it totally misses the point I made. Except half way point 4, which is what I was talking about: If we (as all humanity) don't stop climate change, most of Indians will have to go somewhere else or die. In no point at all was I talking about if India does enough or not on a country level to stop climate change.
1
Are you talking about the country that had several big ecomonic crises caused by neoliberal low-tax policies? (e.g. around 2000 and after 2016)
1
That is picture book example of Socialism, so it won't happen in the US. PATRIOTS will prevent it!!!
1
@caroler59 I am not sure which one of us missed the irony.
1
But those definitions are official like from the government Can't trust those guys! In Germany the borders are 50, 2000, 5000, 20K, 100K (1M) btw.
1
@heidirabenau511 Of course! They don't even have pods for every person! (In case you didn't catch it, that is a joke about those people who call everything and the world communist aka bad just because someone else profits too.)
1
I now so want a proposal to turn that river walk into a highway just to seet he reaction of the people who drive there by car to have a walk.
1
@bbokc6942 Wow, that fha institution sounds like something so bureocratic that the Reps should have insta demolished it under Trump. And strange that "all the noise etc. comes from the renters" is something I never hear from countries with many renters. Is that pschological or is there a real correlation behind it? And if true, what is the cause?
1
This is not about traffic, this is about extreme short-term parking in a very very stupid way.
1
They really scrapped their whole "restaurant" to build a second lane? Insane!
1
And don't forget Chongqing 32 million people on even more km² than Delhi. There is just no international definition of an city area, so the numbers for the same place can be all over the board depending who you ask.
1
I never thought about speed limiting on bikes is about others (well, not as main reason, it's just a secondary effect) but as a protection for the rider themself. As with cars above ~50mph, the risk for bike riders for serious or even deadly injury in an accident is dramatically increasing at ~20mph. You know, all that pesky "speed aquared" fromy physics and upper limits of how much our bodies can take. That is the reason for the 25km/h limit here in Europe. I don't think it's pure coincidence that self-injury seems to be less of a topic in the states. Just another example of "if I want to do X to myself, I have the f** right to do it! Except when smoking grass."
1
That makes for some good scary stories!
1
I am not a fan of naming things after "sponsors", but in this case it makes sense. The landmark tower is right there after all. And that is a lot of money. I would have bounded the naming rights to salesforce having at least 50% of current jobs in a 2 block distance though.
1
US people about Socialism: It's BAD! The state is paying part of the wages for some companies! Also US people about Capitalism: It's GOOD! The state is paying more than the wages for some companies!
1
Wait, wait, what????????? 15 pounds waste per week at home? +9 more pounds? What? That is more than my waste in a month! How do you even do that??
1
99% of the world is not a resident of the USA and has not be enslaved to such rediculous building infrastructure builds. And for most people 25kmh is fast enough, if the infrastructure is right (not to mention dangers). 25km is enough to get from one end to other in most million cities in the world after all.
1
@Weryl You talk like ebike and public transport are mutually exclusive options instead of synergistic methods O.o
1
As someone who is relativly big and whose grandmother once lived in an old building with exceptionally low ceiling, I fully approve of that decision. My head still hurts thinking about a specific place, and my grandmother is dead for 8 years now.
1
Taxes are theft! But paying mandatory HOA fees is alright, because it's private, baby!
1
@mrttgrg No, but it's a huge amount of people who there, and quite a number who would not be coming if the Vatican (and the museum and the cathedral) did not exist. Not all of the 7 million visitors are Italy round tour tourists who just happen to stop there too.
1
My town of 3000 people once even had two stations (well, one was literally a concrete bus stop house with rails :D) Today we only have bus connections left. After reunification and job loss etc. too many people jumped to car.
1
I would love to have you have a look at Egypt's new capital, espeically from a political view - for whom and whom not the city is build.
1
Yeah, everything from the 60s on is probably not so great because of cars. But we still have a lot of old places left, and that is how we know which one is better.
1
Why not? Is there a reason why people in a poor country should be less likely to go for the one place they think life will be better, compared to a country where there are other good places in reality?
1
NIMBYs are everywhere. Like with wind power. "I don't want that in my sight? Why don't you build them in the city? The energy is for the city people after all, I hav eno benefit from it!" (As if people in the suburbs/villages don't use electricity. But just imagine telling those village NIMBYs who drive with their car into the town daily for work, that the city should get rid of car roads (or at least the big arteries in/out of the city). After all, the city dwellers don't use them, why should they pay for roads that mostly used by the suburbanites who don't even want wind turbines to be build!!
1
@CostashMTB If a normal bike meets all your needs, you don't even think about buying an ebike, so I don't see the point of your post. Either a normal bike is all you need, or an ebike is better than every alternative.
1
At least in the US every suburban house block looks different! That is, the mail post - if the HOA allows it.
1
@yang8244 HOA
1
WOW! The villages is such an abomination! People not even have a big green around their houses, so why live in an SFH? And it's all old people, so why is everythign so far away? There are a lot fo houses where a shopping centre is on the other side of a fence from your backyard, but it's more than 2 miles away to actually get there! And an area with 4 churches o it and nothing else except a handful of houses. Didn't churches wanted to be close to the people? Single usage designations, my ass!
1
A gated commuity is foremost a failure of the local resident's brain to uphold reason over instincts.
1
Divorce Ranch may be the strangest word I have ever come across.
1
I think of those more in terms of constant village transit. If there is one every 5 minutes less than 5 minutes walk away, you could even use it to "drive" to work.
1
Is that a reupload? I got serious "haven't I seen that before?" vibes.
1
Just say you build a highway and stealthily change the ashpalt for rails.
1
Are there laws in the US that prevent people from renting out cheap? For example in Germany there is this hideous financial rule that if you don't rent out (to a certain % of) market rate, you are doing it as a hobby and cannot deduct all maintenenance costs from the taxes. So if you have people that you want to give a cheap home, you also have to shoulder a part of the costs yourself instead of only not making profit.
1
wow, some people are quite crazy about a bunch of bones. Also I think it's not a infraction on the religous rights of a person to relocate graves. After all, the "person" is dead and cannot feel anything (or do religion).
1
What is enver mentioned when it comes to housing shortage is the fact that the space per head has increased dramatically in the last ~50 years. So even with the same number of people, if you still have the same space, a lot fo them won't have a house. I am very guilty of that too, but my area has quite a bit of empty rentals. Which leads to another problem: The huge amount of peole who have moved from where living space is to where jobs are. That was (and is) a huge problem in East Germany, since in the "socialist" days, jobs where created where people lived. And it is the same in areas in the US like Detroit (moved away) or the Silican valley (moved to).
1
I am sure your confusion is because you never learned the actual definitions (or did not nother to adjust your thinking to them). In Germany for example there are official categories for under 50 people, 50-2000 (village), 2000-5000, 5000-20000 (literally small town), 20K-100K, 100K+ (and million cities but we have so few it's not a real category). But normal people just differentiate between village and city (we only have one word Stadt for town/city ) and may add small or big to it, similar to the above definitions but without respect to the official numbers, purely subjective.
1
The fun thing is that all those european cities had no "proper" city planning until a century ago too, when the danger of cars created the need for "proper" planning
1
@Zaydan Naufal That's the point I ask libertarians (everything works better without the state, rights are absolute!) all the time: How do you build a road if on every route there is someone who does not want to sell the land? And everything breaks down with that easy question.
1
I think what is often forgotten about this "bleack uniform" buildings is that e.g. in East Germany in the 70s, it was where everyone wanted to live in, because the alternatives were worse. Your own toilet! for example instead of a shared one on the half stair (or the little houes with the heart in the yard).
1
They do, if you stop looking locally. A tax break is lost revenue, giving it may simply change the city where it is happening, but that is all.
1
Education is not a natural right of the parents. You could argue that it is a natural right of the children, but then it would of course show blatently that the state can do that too (and if it weren't for seggregation wanting parent's meddling) better in almost all cases. Also I would put the Freedom of not having to care about the school because all are the same good higher than the Freedom to choose the best, in the case I can afford it.
1
I don't. I know how it ends once Gandhi arrives in atomic age!
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We call the tools to do that "bags" and for advanced bike users there is a thing called a "basket" you can put on the back of your bike to carry two of those bags so you don't have to hang them on the handles. Worst case (big family) you can get a strange contraption called a "cargo bike" for 1/4 the price of a small car to haul all the grocery you need (or your new dishwasher) from the shop to your home. Bonus point: It doubles as a mama taxi for small children.
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@acedude112 I am too, because what would I do with all that frozen stuff? I mean if you buy fresh stuff, you need a family of 10 that you can't do with 3 bags for 2-3 days. (And in that case I gladly "allow" you a car to haul that if you don't like cargo bikes. It's still a bit stupid, but a lot less than taking a car to buy a pack of cigarettes.)
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Owning a home without owning it - I know that! Funnily enough so many people who live in this socialism don't like it named as socialism.
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That is because Tokyo is not a city. It's more like a county in US terms. Akihabara, Shibuja etc. are all cities/wards on their own making up the Tokyo Metropolitan area. They have their own town halls and their own centers and their own "suburbs". In fact the famous landmark building "Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building" which is referred to as the "town hall" of Tokyo, stands in the city of Shinjuku.
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That heavily depends on the town. Generally there is "young leaving the town to find work" and "young families coming (back) there" (for the small town feeling you could say). Depending on how big the second movement is, the average age can vary drastly.
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@Moon Shine I am not crying, how the hell could you get to think this? Fact is that it is basically illegal in the US to build anything except suburban sprawl or towers. And from what I can read a lot of those living in suburbs don't enjoy it. They hate bad streets, having to driver themselves and their kids all the time and all the other stuff. But yeah, be as snobby as you want. It's not my problem. I live in an appartment in a 3 storey house 600m from the office I am working in and I definitely pay a lot less than if I would life in a single family home, so I can afford to stop working when I am 50 even without being in a high income job. If that suburban stupidity wasn't also destroying my life with it's waste, I could happily ignore what happens on the other side of the ocean.
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