you will not get to choose where you live
― max, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:34 (twelve years ago) link
I just learned yesterday that there are plans to make the busiest street in Cambridge (Mass Ave) into a two lane street with no turn lanes so they can have massive bike lanes and extend the sidewalks for restaurants to have outdoor seating.
Given the amount of traffic currently on that street, this is a HORRIBLE idea that will cause mile long traffic jams on a local street.
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
can we turn the old man of the mountain into lofts?
― iatee, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
heh maybe they WANT to create traffic jams so that ppl sitting in their cars can watch the bikers speed past them on their way to dinner at an outdoor restaurant
― max, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:38 (twelve years ago) link
i dont care where ppl are forced to live as long as no1 can have a car and teenagers spend their time doing manual labor
― Lamp, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:40 (twelve years ago) link
im glad ur on board with my ten-point plan for "putting america back on track"
― max, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:40 (twelve years ago) link
outdoor seating
....... outdoor seating c/d:
i wouldn't sit outside a cafe, here; i feel like there's an uncomfortable dynamic between the 'just sipping my coffee' people on leisure-time & the striding passers-by going to actually do some things. but then i go to other countries and it seems idyllic.
― and my soul said you can't go there (schlump), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:41 (twelve years ago) link
from the authors of the very successful official i love cricket ten-point plan for rehabilitating new york city
― max, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:41 (twelve years ago) link
I'm curious as to how this pans out. Many of my direst predictions on puttering around w/traffic in SF have come out delightfully wrong.
― em vee equals pea queue (Michael White), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:43 (twelve years ago) link
Maybe, but they are also fucking over some of the busiest buses so it really just seems like someone who never actually navigates Cambridge came up with this idea.
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:43 (twelve years ago) link
otm
if this projected passed (I know nothing about it) I guarantee you there are studies that prove that it's not going to do what dan thinks it's going to do. cause those studies have to exist before projects like this can get anywhere. which itself is a shame.
― iatee, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:43 (twelve years ago) link
I looked it up. they're removing a parking lane, not a lane of traffic. that's not going to affect traffic at all.
― iatee, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:44 (twelve years ago) link
A road here which is pretty busy, but not traffic-jammingly so, was repainted to be two lanes, two bike lanes, and either a parking lane or center turn lane depending on the stretch. People griped but it's actually insanely better because there are lots of pedestrians and small businesses and people previously just blindly did 40 mph when they could or did a really shitty job of lane hopping to avoid cars turning to the left or to park.
― mh, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:50 (twelve years ago) link
hey guys, what's going on?
rode my bike to work yesterday, just doin' my bit :)
― the 500 gats of bartholomew thuggins (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:51 (twelve years ago) link
gj matt, you can be a ward boss in the united states of new hampsire
― max, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:51 (twelve years ago) link
There were also studies that showed The Big Dig alleviating heavy traffic in downtown Boston and on 93; guess how well that turned out (I'm not counting the roof panel that killed a woman against them for the traffic patterns).
They did something similar to Somerville Ave in Somerville; guess what street is now a parking lot during rush hour? (And that has middle turn lanes, unlike the plan I heard for Mass Ave)
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:55 (twelve years ago) link
lol this is like some evil guys got together and said "I know driving Mass Ave has been an utter horror for decades but how can we make it even worse!"
― pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:55 (twelve years ago) link
xp lol my sources suck apparently
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:56 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, not every idea like this goes as smoothly, especially when there are no alternative routes.
― mh, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:57 (twelve years ago) link
they can just ban cars from the city proper, would make it easier for everyone
― dayo, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 22:59 (twelve years ago) link
the big dig didn't alleviate heavy traffic because more road capacity inevitably leads to more traffic. they shoulda torn down the highway and left it like that. and spent $22 billion on public transit.
― iatee, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 23:01 (twelve years ago) link
more road capacity inevitably leads to more traffic.
there's an urban planning term for this, isn't there?
― dayo, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 23:03 (twelve years ago) link
yeah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_demand
― iatee, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 23:05 (twelve years ago) link
http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/04/they-made-desert-and-called-it-park.html
pretty amazing what boston did to itself over the 20th century
― iatee, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 23:15 (twelve years ago) link
iatee, where did you find your info on Mass Ave? Everything I'm finding on the City of Cambridge website leads to a broken link or a grand overview with no real detail about what they're actually going to do.
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:02 (twelve years ago) link
http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-20/yourtown/29452001_1_bike-lanes-bike-crashes-project-limits
To install the lanes properly, she said, would require removing parking on the eastern side of the street, on which traffic goes north toward Cambridge, she said. The city would work with businesses with regard to loading zones and handicapped parking, she said, as well as adjust bus loading zones. According to the city, that lane would eliminate about 71 parking spaces.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uFUHFHFY8IA/Ta35BfuoeVI/AAAAAAAABro/_0euE0GJCRc/s400/readmassave.png
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:04 (twelve years ago) link
lol, that is the part of Mass Ave in Boston, not Cambridge (aka not what I was talking about)
again it appears either my sources are full of shit or the actual info about the area I'm talking about isn't actually available
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:06 (twelve years ago) link
actually
although eliminating parking in that section of town, where it already sucks to park, is just awesome
I am guessing there is a coalition of garage owners lurking in the background of this
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:07 (twelve years ago) link
well, garage owners are the only people who are offering you the market rate for parking. downtown parking should be difficult and expensive!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/business/economy/15view.html?src=busln%3Ehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/business/economy/15view.html
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:12 (twelve years ago) link
and I imagine parking is metered there, not free, but that's still a considerable subsidy
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:13 (twelve years ago) link
...
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:14 (twelve years ago) link
crazy world huh!
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:15 (twelve years ago) link
we're talking about meters where you get a $40 ticket if you feed for more than 2 hours that last until 8 PM, these things actually do generate a lot of revenue for the city of Boston
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:17 (twelve years ago) link
a lot of revenue =/= revenue you'd get at the market rate for parking. when parking meters can actually charge you the market rate for a space, you'll almost always be able to find a spot downtown. parking is hard in a neighborhood like that because it's too cheap.
in sf they're already doing this: http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-07-27/bay-area/21999181_1_sfpark-san-francisco-meters
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:22 (twelve years ago) link
Parking is hard in that neighborhood because at least 80% of it is resident-only, which will also get you a $40 ticket if you don't have a permit.
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:26 (twelve years ago) link
yeah they should get rid of that too
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:26 (twelve years ago) link
you are insane
― Tal Berkowitz - Vaccine advocate (DJP), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:28 (twelve years ago) link
you take a lot of things for granted w/ the way we parcel out public space!
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:31 (twelve years ago) link
I look forward to our glorious future when only fabulously wealthy people can afford to park anywhere.
― the emancipation of distraction (askance johnson), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:36 (twelve years ago) link
maybe we'll find a reason to fund public transit if middle class people take it again
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 02:37 (twelve years ago) link
That actually makes a lot of sense. Poor people will have to pay more for parking so they'll have less money to spend on food and won't get so fat. Then the middle classes will get fatter since they'll be sitting twice as long on public transportation as they do in their cars. Then everything will be more equal.
― the wheelie king (wk), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 03:16 (twelve years ago) link
"Then the middle classes will get fatter since they'll be sitting twice as long on public transportation as they do in their cars. "
citation needed
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 03:18 (twelve years ago) link
wk first on the beach boys thread now here, I feel like somebody just paid for a professional troll to follow me
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 03:19 (twelve years ago) link
amazing really
― stalk me shithead (from the makers of tickle me elmo) (k3vin k.), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 03:21 (twelve years ago) link
he's upset...about something...idk
― stalk me shithead (from the makers of tickle me elmo) (k3vin k.), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 03:22 (twelve years ago) link
I just want to say that here in Madison, WI, State Street, the major downtown thoroughfare, was turned from a four-lane street to pedestrian/bikes/buses only in 1974, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody here who wishes it had never been done. We don't park in front of the store, we park in a city garage as the good lord intended.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 04:11 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/nyregion/new-york-picks-alta-to-run-bike-share-program.html
― dayo, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 20:33 (twelve years ago) link
it's gonna be great
tho I personally still don't feel like much of manhattan is safe enough to bike around.
― iatee, Wednesday, 14 September 2011 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
sounds like utopia
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 14 September 2011 21:31 (twelve years ago) link