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Good thing you used the phrase "most cities", Columbia just agreed to raise the sales tax partially to fund transit and Charlotte votoers agreed twice to raise the sales tax for transit, light rail, street car and buses. If I remember correctly, you had many posts here and other places about the welfare state of transit. Successful cities in the future will have an element of transit, Charlotte and Columbia are leading the way here in the Carolinas.
I'm still wondering about Columbia. I was living there when the first push to raise taxes for the bus system. It failed simply because the city/county could not tell anyone where the money would go. I'm assuming that since it passed, that the voting public was finally able to get some answers.
I have a theory that buses in general are associated with the lower income classes and therefore somewhat dangerous. At least I believe that may be the perception (right or wrong) here in the south. Personally, I love the concept of public transit, but honestly, I am hesitant to ride a bus. I'm kind of the same way about buses in other cities, but have no problem traveling on light rail or subways. Go figure. Even crazier is that I will ride buses in foreign cities specifically because I look at it as transportation for "every man" and therefore feel safer. That's pretty effed up, I know!
Anyhoo, the point is I wonder if it would be worth investing in trolley style buses. There's something benign and nostaglic about trolleys. For instance, I rode those all of the time when I was living in Charleston, but never stepped a foot on the bus. I know there has been talk in Greenville about expanding the downtown trolley and I really wish they would. I'll never be able to afford to live on Main Street or anywhere adjacent. Public service doesn't pay, lol. But we do hope eventually to score a fixer upper in North Main or an adjacent neighborhood. It would be awesome to have better trolley service to that area as well as the Augusta Road.
The car-free movement is a broad, informal, emergent network of individuals and organizations including social activists, urban planners and others brought together by a shared belief that cars are too dominant in most modern cities. The goal of the movement is to create places where car use is greatly reduced or eliminated, to convert road and parking space to other public uses and to rebuild compact urban environments where most destinations are within easy reach by walking, cycling or public transport
. . . Urban design component
Proponents of the car-free movement focus on both sustainable transportation options and on urban design, zoning, school placement policies, urban agriculture, telecommuting options, and housing developments that create proximity or access so that long distance transportation becomes less of a requirement of daily life.
New urbanism is an American urban design movement that arose in the early 1980s. Its goal has been to reform all aspects of real estate development and urban planning, from urban retrofits to suburban infill. New urbanist neighborhoods are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs, and to be walkable.
. . .
Car-free zones are area of a city or town where use of cars is prohibited or greatly restricted.
Living streets provide for the needs of car drivers secondary to the needs of users of the street as a whole. They are designed to be shared by pedestrians, playing children, bicyclists, and low-speed motor vehicles
Car-free zones are area of a city or town where use of cars is prohibited or greatly restricted.
I've seen these types of areas and they do create a sense of an inviting place. It would never happen here though; Greenville is lucky to have avoided a wholesale insurrection when 2 car lanes were removed from Main Street way back when. A Magnolia Park style sea of asphalt rules!
That seems a pity, but you are probably right.
I think the old mayor, Max Heller, was from Austria and was a great advocate of walkable cities, as he once knew at home in Europe. But with him gone, it may be hard to keep that direction going.
That seems a pity, but you are probably right.
I think the old mayor, Max Heller, was from Austria and was a great advocate of walkable cities, as he once knew at home in Europe. But with him gone, it may be hard to keep that direction going.
Unfortunately, as well, there is a surprising number of people who see a walkable city or mixed use development as an affront to liberty. What to us is an responsible and welcome sign of urban progress, others see as a subversive communist plot to remove our rights. It seems for now, the seas of asphalt will remain.
Unfortunately, as well, there is a surprising number of people who see a walkable city or mixed use development as an affront to liberty. What to us is an responsible and welcome sign of urban progress, others see as a subversive communist plot to remove our rights. It seems for now, the seas of asphalt will remain.
Haha.
I do find that attitude funny, and even bizarre.
No one is going to stop people from driving in America. Too many people are dependent upon it. But the drivers seem to think that they MUST dominate transport totally, and not leave any alternative choices for others.
(Watch out ! : Here comes my rant...)
The car-dependent so far control the political agenda in most cities, and PRESUME that:
+ THEIR right to drive wherever they want, and have convenient parking must be preserved
+ THEY have the right to expect others to pay for half of highway upkeep through sales taxes
+ US Military personnel must risk their lives "to keep the oil flowing", and everyone must be taxed to keep a global military presence that costs American twice as much per capita as any of its allies
+ We must all breathe toxic air, contaminated by car exhaust - clean air is not a right
+ Precious oil reserves must be burned up (at low) prices so they can keep driving
So maybe if you are frustrated and even angered by these presumptions, you have a right to be so.
A fairer system would increase taxes on gasoline, so these various subsidies and incentives-to-drive would disappear. Then, the US might have $6-10 per gallon gasoline prices, as most advanced countries on our planet have. Higher prices would accelerate the trend away from suburban living, and leave the US less dependent on foreign oil.
But the auto-addicted want to drive the country over the cliff, burning up all the cheap oil, while it still exists, and then ... maybe when a market shock forces prices higher, finally deal with the addiction, and seek some alternatives.
I am determined not to wait for that last minute. We can CHOOSE to live somewhere where being Carfree is a viable possibility - and by renting or buying real estate in areas like that EXPAND the size of areas where cars are not the sole option. Why not join my in this (somewhat lonely?) mission.
We have been talking a great deal about car costs...
But I am still interested in the WHERE part. That is, WHERE I might live comfortably in Greenville without owning a car.
Here's one idea that I had when I visited Greenville about 18 months ago. I thought we (my girlfriend and I might live comfortably at the Brio Condo at 1001 South Church St. My logic was that this was close enough to downtown that I could walk, take a bus, or cycle.
Do people know areas that would be a better choice?
I just wanted to chime in with a few thoughts here.... I have been a resident at The Brio since July 2008 and I have to say that I walk to downtown a fair amount. I work in another city so I don't have the luxury of working from home (Jealous!) but when I go downtown I walk most of the time. Over the last 18 months they have done a 5.1 Million dollar renovation on Church street going into downtown and as a result of this the sidewalks are nice and wide which makes it a more pleasant experience.
This will add over 300 new luxury apartments for rent and also 16,000 SF of restaurant and retail space. I think for that square footage it would be a few small restaurant or boutique type things but I'm not sure. I don't think you'll get a grocery store or anything like that. The closest grocery store is the Publix at McBee Station. It's not a far walk but it might be a little rough if you have a bunch of heavy groceries to bring back. I believe wholeheartedly that this new development will be the next catalyst for growing this area out. The street renovations triggered this project and hopefully this project will trigger further development.
I have also heard that they will be starting a trolley service down Church street in the next year or so and this would make things even easier on the walking crowd. I read somewhere this was dependent on federal funds so take that with a grain of salt.
Also, I have a friend that lives downtown and doesn't own a car, but they use ZipCar when they absolutely needed a car. I don't know what the pricing structure is on that but they had nothing but good things to say about it. Adding all of that together, you can walk downtown on a new sidewalk currently, but in the near future you should be able to take a trolley car down to main street and the ZipCar rental (I believe) is out of the garage behind the Westin Poinsett.
Sorry if this was more of a ramble - feel free to message me or reply if you have any questions on the above.
Pretty sure the 8-10k involves a car payment of some sort, unless you work for BMW where you get a nice lease option... and how nice a ride you want to have. (remember, don't spend more than 25% of your monthly income on Rims!) Most families with 2 paid-for vehicles probably spend ~5k/year. ($60 gas/week, $300 tax/year, $100 insurance/mo + maintenance - oil, tires, etc).
What? I've never heard that suggested before. You aren't supposed to spend much more than that on housing. I highly doubt that a financial planner worth their salt would tell you it is o.k. to spend that much every year on a stupid car payment -- especially if you aren't using it to make sales calls or driving clients around in it. If all you do is drive to and from work, it CERTAINLY is not worth spending that much.
I just wanted to chime in with a few thoughts here.... I have been a resident at The Brio since July 2008 and I have to say that I walk to downtown a fair amount. I work in another city so I don't have the luxury of working from home (Jealous!) but when I go downtown I walk most of the time. Over the last 18 months they have done a 5.1 Million dollar renovation on Church street going into downtown and as a result of this the sidewalks are nice and wide which makes it a more pleasant experience.
This will add over 300 new luxury apartments for rent and also 16,000 SF of restaurant and retail space...
Excellent post!
Just the sort of information that I have been looking for here
A few questions:
+ Have you tried using a bicycle for traveling into town? If not, why not?
+ Do you ever use the bus? Is it convenient and frequent enough?
+ Can you say more about the street renovation, was it only on the sidewalks? What else?
+ The new 300-apt development, is it nearby?
+ Do you think new developments and Density will develop along the route into the city?
+ Are there many Zip car outlets?
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