petition

Post by **krampus** » Wed May 23, 2007 12:40 pm

The carpool lane is all over the place anymore, I think I saw in phoenix and DC for sure.

As far as the 1.00 gasoline, 200 came and went a long time ago but there are still over a mile of dumb asses waiting on Broadway.

Post by **Alan Evil** » Wed May 23, 2007 12:57 pm

We don't do carpool lanes in Kentucky. It's more like "gigantic, single occupant luxury SUV's driving 20mph over the speed limit" left lane.

It's funny that even though I actually need a truck for work I'm able to drive a tiny little Ford Ranger (I actually haul stuff like tools, lumber, concrete, etc.) getting 20mpg. I needed a big truck last year to help haul a bunch of insulation. The rental cost me $40. But go to almost any parking lot around here and you will find utterly gigantic SUV's (Yukon, Expedition, Hummer, Sequoia, etc.) with license plates from the next county over that will carry one person to and from work every day and will, more likely than not, NEVER be used to carry then ten passengers or ton and a half of cargo for which it is rated.

There's this oh so tiny pleasure in looking over and seeing some suburbanite paying $100 to fill up their gas tank so they can get to their distant, oversized home that is costing them a fortune to heat and cool. When will the cost of commuting get so high these people will move closer to their jobs? What exactly is the allure of owning a poorly built home five times the size you need forty miles from where you work and ten miles from the nearest store?

Post by **dmw** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:14 pm

haha Krampus.... it was a cluster ^%$&@ at 4:30 in the am when my dumbass was up...... too bad I filled up last night in Shelbyville for the bargain price of $3. ^#&^%&$#& 10.
Suburban Sprawl and debt are all part of being an American, right, Alan Evil???

Post by **lordjim_2001** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:26 pm

There's one HOV lane in Phoenix and in ATL. It goes faster than any other lane during rush hour and its something like a $500 fine if you are in that lane during the HOV hours without a passenger. It's awsome, Louisville should work on something like that if they can. I know that some cities even have "through" lanes on their interstates.

FYI Most of the US will pay $5/gal before they get really pissed.

Alan I'm sorry that I live 30 miles from where I work and drive a V6 Tribute. I pay less rent for a larger duplex than I could ever get in town and still have a shorter commute time than several of my coworkers who live in town. I guess I should give up that large two bedroom duplex with a yard and move into a shit hole one bedroom apartment with a crazy land lord and even crazier neighbors. Will that make you feel better?

Post by **pigsteak** » Wed May 23, 2007 1:33 pm

nothing will make alan feel better..it's the american way...lol

Post by **Crankmas** » Wed May 23, 2007 2:08 pm

I'm in total agreement with Alan on his last post, the giant SUVs and oversized homes, while none of my business just don't pass the sniff test.

Post by **Alan Evil** » Wed May 23, 2007 10:23 pm

I've heard the "lower rent" argument before and don't buy it. If you're willing to live in a truly urban environment you can rent a whole house for cheaper than one of those row-of-boxes apartment complexes fifteen miles from downtown. I know someone that lives just about four blocks from me (I'm in a much rougher part of the neighborhood) in a very unusual, large camelback that costs him less than $1000/mo. He's could have two roommates but only has one. I guess you just have to not be afraid of black people.

And just in case you're wondering I've only had minor problems with kids where I live in the "bad" part of Louisville and a couple of car break-ins that were kind of my fault (don't leave stuff in the front seat) while my brother and sister-in-law had two vehicles stolen from their Highlands house including a truck with a toolbox containing over $5G of tools. My poor, black, fucked up neighbors in the housing projects are less likely to steal from me than my brother's white neighbors (who are probably poor and fucked up as well). But I guess spending an hour sitting in gridlock traffic every day just so you can live in an isolated, generic suburban hole is... the American way.

Post by **lordjim_2001** » Thu May 24, 2007 12:21 am

"truly urban"? What the fuck is "truly urban" Alan. I'd really like to know. Do you mean a large concentration of African Americans, because where I live now it's about 50/50 in the neighborhood. I live where I choose to live so I don't have to worry about police knocking on my door at 3AM because someone has been rolled behind my building. I live where I choose to live so I don't have to worry about drunks plowing into the building on Saturday night (by the grace of God that didn't happen because s/he took out a telephone pole first and ricocheted back into the street). Little to no crime, lots of kids around playing in the street all day, a back yard that I can almost call mine, and no fucking gridlock except for 3 minutes in the afternoon on Winchester Rd if I catch it at 5:10.

PS That "unusual large camelback" sounds like a variation of a shotgun house. If so take some pictures and give them to the Wikipedia. They didn't have any pics of humpback shotgun houses the last time I looked.

Post by **tomdarch** » Thu May 24, 2007 1:21 am

lordjim_2001 wrote:Alan I'm sorry that I live 30 miles from where I work and drive a V6 Tribute. I pay less rent for a larger duplex than I could ever get in town and still have a shorter commute time than several of my coworkers who live in town. I guess I should give up that large two bedroom duplex with a yard and move into a shit hole one bedroom apartment with a crazy land lord and even crazier neighbors. Will that make you feel better?

What's 'truly urban'? Not a lot in the US, but we can start with things like population density, access to public transportation and real diversity within the municipal boundary (both folks from around the world AND the full range from very rich to very poor all paying taxes together and voting for the same city government) In large part suburbs exists so people can segregate themselves economically. Here in the city, there's a bit of a sense that we're all in this together.

Here in a 'real city', a few lenders have figured out that when you move a two or three car family from the auto-dependent burbs to a place in the city, folks take the bus or the train to work and you go down to one car per household, people have more income available to pay a mortgage, so they are offering bigger mortgages in those cases. For a two-parent with kids family, think how much a month is spent per car on payments, insurance, gas and maintenance, then compare that to a $80 per month bus pass. Adds up doesn't it...

I grew up in an apartment, my family had ONE car for four people, in my 25 kid grammar school class we had kids on food stamps and kids who had 4 lawyers for parents (and the son of a Chilean ambassador, just to mix things up). I can't imagine living somewhere where I can't walk out the door and catch a bus, or walk to the corner to buy some milk...

So, while I'm ranting, the environmental impact per person of city vs. suburbs isn't just the wasted gas and roads. Think about housing a family in a 3000 sq. ft. house with 10k sq. ft. of lawn versus the same family in a 1500 sq. ft. apartment in a building with a shared lawn/playground. Think about how much heating/cooling is wasted from that free standing house versus apartments stacked up. Think about all the water and chemicals wasted on the lawn. It just goes on and on...

Why do suburbanites hate the earth so much?!?!

(Plus by living in the big city you can be a smug asshole like me!)

Post by **pigsteak** » Thu May 24, 2007 1:50 am

think of all the emissions you suck up in yer lungs smugboy.