is New York City dead?

Yeah otm

Being a car refusenik is praxis

Using words wrong over here

Sorry, didn't consider how easy it might be to not drive there! I'd still rather drive!

have you been to Untermeyer up in Yonkers? Kind of a similar situation, fancy gardens overlooking the hudson.

― dan selzer, Thursday, January 7, 2021 10:51 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, we were actually supposed to go to a light show there the other night and it got rained out. They're only like a 30 minute walk from me, I live near the Yonkers border. May check them out next time I venture down the Aqueduct trail.

We went. It was pretty but not like, insanely special!

cars are useful and fun, they just shouldn't be privately owned

Yeah, we were actually supposed to go to a light show there the other night and it got rained out. They're only like a 30 minute walk from me, I live near the Yonkers border. May check them out next time I venture down the Aqueduct trail.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, January 7, 2021 12:45 PM (fifteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ha, i went to this on new year's eve. was a nice way to get out of the house for 30 mins or so.

i've been renting a car during the pandemic so my wife and i have access to get to places outside a 2 mile radius of our apartment. we've been hiking in parks upriver and in jersey, been able to visit my parents in the suburbs, and even occasionally further (we went to acadia for our honeymoon). parking has been annoying, but worth the price of freedom.

i am certainly not convinced that i would need a car in a non pandemic situation. it's a different kind of freedom to not have to worry about a car.

Where pedestrians get to walk in a city with cars

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2466040/3206.0.jpg
Credit: Karl Jilg/Swedish Road Administration

you don't have to ban cars to make cities way, way more liveable than american cities btw.

FWIW, in spite of the many ways in which Robert Moses sucked, he had a vision of cars and roads enabling "ordinary people" (albeit probably not poor black and brown ones) to get out of the city and enjoy fresh air and nature. He was semi-populist, but in a very wrongheaded way.

*probably*

Maybe you should finish the book, dude.

Seriously, there was nothing redeemable about Moses and his idea of enjoying air and nature was to drive through or park in it.

The guy never had a drivers' license! Cars are super convenient when you are chauffeured everywhere.

Nearly every mile of waterfront in entire Metro area is unusable because this idiot put a road on it.

FWIW, in spite of the many ways in which Robert Moses sucked, he had a vision of cars and roads enabling "ordinary people" (albeit probably not poor black and brown ones) to get out of the city and enjoy fresh air and nature. He was semi-populist, but in a very wrongheaded way.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, January 7, 2021 1:45 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Terrible post

You can't drive buses on parkways because Moses intentionally built overpasses low to prevent "ordinary people" from enjoying fresh air and nature.

Don't make me post the Sick Of It All song again.

"albeit probably not poor black and brown ones" "wrongheaded"

He drove the fucking cross-bronx through the middle of a working class neighborhood of "ordinary people" and refused to move it 1/2 mile to either side to go around said neighborhood even though such alteration would have SAVED money and that neighborhood.

He was a populist in the same way that Trump is a populist i.e. actually an absolutist dictator.

These are exactly the ways that he sucked, not "despite some ways that he sucked he also did these things." They are the things.

we've been hiking in parks upriver and in jersey, been able to visit my parents in the suburbs, and even occasionally further (we went to acadia for our honeymoon). parking has been annoying, but worth the price of freedom.

i am certainly not convinced that i would need a car in a non pandemic situation. it's a different kind of freedom to not have to worry about a car.

― boz conspiracy by toby hus (voodoo chili),

recommendations please

I am actually thinking about a car in the next year-ish timeframe bc my bf lives 2 hrs away and right now I'm depending on his chauffering me around and it would be nice not to be. I rented 2x over the summer for various trips and it was a heady freedom. Still, what Doc Casino said about the common welfare is otm.

Also because I'm newly contemplating maybe not being in NYC forever but that's another whole thing and at least several years down the road.

if you're getting a car to use less than once a week and you live in nyc then there are probably cheaper rent/share options just in terms of the $$$ (planet death and opposite side parking notwithstanding).

In the dc area we get suburbanites arguing that “not owning a car is privilege” to argue against any rebalancing of the car vs. other use allocation of space.

100% aware of all that and my post was grossly understated. But just making the point that prior to all that it was pretty hard for the non wealthy of any race to get out of the city. Maybe a better way to put it would be that there was an optimistic view of cars at the tome as personal freedom machines.

i mean ... that's true? car culture is a poll tax that only people who can afford to live in the most expensive parts of the most expensive cities in america can choose to avoid paying.

(xp)

xxxxp I'm sure you're right, caek! But the rental places are all like 10 miles away so even after I get the rental car back here I still need a ride home. :)

No question doc casinos post is otm. Sometimes we need large scale policy solutions to become our better selves though. It’s always hard to swim upstream.

don't they have share cars on the street? xp

recommendations please

How about the Ramapo-Dunderberg trail in Harriman State Park, it's a 10 min walk from the Tuxedo rail station. It's insanely beautiful there, def one of my favorite hikes in the area.
There's also an affordable AMC campsite in Harriman with glamping options that will pick you up at Tuxedo station in their shuttle bus. Open to non-members of course.

if i was still in new york i would be into one of these https://electrek.co/2020/05/04/niu-nqi-gts-sport-electric-scooter-launch-usa-america/

it's cheaper than most cargo ebikes!

(ah lol charging. nevertheless!)

I use my scooter lots but of course they're terrible for emissions! And there's a big bridge up here that I can't always safely ride on, with traffic and wind concerns. (I'm in the country mostly these days.)

recommendations please

― calstars, Thursday, January 7, 2021 2:28 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

hudson highlands has bull hill and breakneck ridge, though they can be crowded on nice days. harriman state park is pretty, there's a lake plus a 10-mile trail (ramapo-dunderberg, as deflatormouse mentioned), and another 5-mile trail (plus more, those two are the ones we did, though). there's also bear mountain park, which has some beautiful trails, some more strenuous than others.

all of those are about 90 mins from brooklyn.

man alive why did you even live in the city in the first place

in orbit where are you these days?

Xxp metro-north is obv super convenient to breakneck/bull hill as well

I never really feel like going more than 2 miles from my house in gosh darn Seattle so I can’t fathom where it is you New Yorkers are driving to exactly.

Back and forth between my place in Bk and here: www.facebook.com/VillageOfWalden/

oh cool

man alive why did you even live in the city in the first place

― is right unfortunately (silby), Thursday, 7 January 2021 19:53 (one hour ago) link

I mean, it was fun when I was younger, but I wanted to get out for at least the last five years.

The crowds at Breakneck Ridge get kind of crazy because it's so close to the train stop and such a nice hike. Probably less so nowadays. Still, go early in the AM or go on a less than nice day.

i mean ... that's true? car culture is a poll tax that only people who can afford to live in the most expensive parts of the most expensive cities in america can choose to avoid paying.

i have been running in the middle of the streets lately toward traffic and it definitely ups the adrenaline. hope i don't die! most people give me lots of leeway but every so often there's one crazy who wants to make a point who all but swerves to clip me. haw haw look at that guy running on an empty street so that he doesn't freak people with their kid out by not wearing a mask because he's trying to exercise and still socially distance, think i'll maybe kill him

Great job

Vaccination lines across NYC are moving slowly. The reason: lots of restrictions about who is eligible and a disorganized delivery system. As a result it's often difficult, to schedule enough people at once to justify opening a vial of vaccine. https://t.co/Z0EcmPP1AZ

— Joe Goldstein (@JoeKGoldstein) January 8, 2021

related: Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/11/nyregion/andrew-yang-manhattan-apartment-new-york.html

‘“Can you imagine trying to have two kids on virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment, and then trying to do work yourself?” Mr. Yang said in the initial interview.’

This fucking guy