? (was: Re: carfree roadblocks (was: package delivery))

> I do have a comment to Colin about his invitation to move to NYC. ARE
> YOU NUTS! (just joking) Sure, it's practical for one to be car free
> in NYC, but the place is jammed with the noisy foul beasts. Not for

You're right :(

> me Colin. What I want is to be able to be mostly car independent, to
> be away from the things, to enjoy a quiet clean polution free home.
> So very early on in this thread we find that a car free city means
> different things to different people. I don't really want to live in
> a very high density village either. Not like I need an acre of my
> own, but a 20 story apartment building, no.
>
> So let's see if we can each project what we would like to see in the
> car free city/village. We don't need to agree. But if each of us has
> a completely different vision, then we better go and find some other
> people to work this with.

All I want to see is no cars/trucks/buses: preferably only human powered transportation devices (though bicycles can be a problem also: visit UC Santa Barbara and watch what happens when classes change). If there are above ground things that might run people over/otherwise disturb the peace, they could be trams like in boston or amsterdam, or perhaps even buses. At least there would not be a constant stream of traffic that takes up space, makes noise, and that must be avoided. Streets should be no wider than one of today's standard lanes (maybe two if it could be kept from being dead space).

Unfortunately, if there was a carfree city of 12000 in Kansas today I still might not move there (though I'd check it out), as there's more I want from life than carfreeness (like olympic size swimming pools).

Actually, I'm not even sure I want to keep paying rent, which is to say I hope there's a nice spot for the homeless people in your carfree city.

--

I lived in Monterey for 2+ years... The social advantages of living in NYC so far outweigh the cars. (like aged women for one (monterey is practically a retirement community); I could go on and on- whatever I might want to do here-- Also, the NYPL-- also check out http://meetup.com and register with an NYC zip code. I really could go on and on-- in many ways this place is a wonderland if you're open to it).

Truly the cars are wearing on me-- last weekend I had to go on a winter campout to a place where there are few people and _no_ cars (Harriman SP via west of hudson metro north train), and have been contemplating returning to the forest to live off squirrels and such, or becoming a sailor.

And there are carfree places (some that are people free) here too-- inwood park, riverbank SP, the steps at columbia, the Hudson River, etc.

I don't think buildings over 4 stories are evil, in fact, when I go to the outer boroughs (Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island) and the buildings get smaller, I get a bit sad because I know there are fewer people and more cars / people.


Also, the higher up you get, the further away from the horns, sirens, and flamboyant over-amplified Jesus people/ street musicians you are.


>
> BTW, we need a lot more people here. How are we going to do that?

evangelism, spam (things I'm not in the mood to do at the moment) What we really need to do is create an evangelical religion with some of the tenets of Mormonism. Maybe even with the large family bit, but at least with the two years of missionary service. Thanks to Joel we may have our religious text/website already...

evangelism, seriously, something few non-dogmatically religious, non angry activist type people like to do. (me included. Maybe I'm changing?)

We need our prophets and leaders. The rest of us are lucky to have Joel and David Caesar (and all the others with different related projects)!

Colin





ps: do let me know if you want to move here. The more hardcore carfree there are here, the better! I'd love it if manhattan beat SF in the carfree dept. Too many books (e.g., Ecotopia, My Ishmael) paint manhattan as the HQ of the old way. (but really, that's only the upper east side)

pps: they evacuated lower manhattan by foot. All bridges and subways were shut down to all but bikes, pedestrians (not in the subways), and gov't vehicles. South of 14th and then canal, was closed to cars (and most pedestrians) for a long time.

on the flip side, larry dean olsen's _outdoor survival skills_ mentions that the evacuation plan for seattle in the event of something nuclear in the harbor is to seal all the bridges and leave the people there (tell them to stay in their homes). Civil Defense decided they'd be helpless anywhere else.

oh, if you haven't read Tom Brown's _Field guide to nature observation and tracking_ it is very cool. Thomas Elpel is also neat: http://www.hollowtop.com.