More verification suburbs in decline

From NineShifter Guy Felder of Houston, here's a story more verification suburbs and cars in decline, trains and dense neighborhoods on the rise:

"This year's Kinder Houston Area Survey found strong support for mass transit and a growing number of people who say they want to live within walking distance of work and shopping, reflecting what survey founder Stephen Klineberg predicts will become a fundamental shift in one of the nation's most car-centric cities.

It's not just $4-a-gallon gas, he said.

"The suburbs were beautiful when only a few of us were living out there," he said. "The romance with the automobile is fading."

The survey has tracked the attitudes of Houstonians for more than 30 years.

NineShift picture of train while riding another train.

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Alas, it seems roads still get a pass on their finances, while trains are held to a much higher standard:

http://thepoliticalenvironment.blogspot.com/2012/05/awesome-example-of-roadsrail-double.html

[D. P. Lubic]

And from the east, in nothing less than the conservative, pro-car, Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304811304577370044093629550.html?mod=WSJAsia_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_Top

Of course, we have a really interesting comment (following the article) by someone who doesn't think much of the idea, with harsh words about building and railroads in California:

‘”OneBayArea” is the “vision” being pushed by ABAG and MTC, unelected and unaccountable bureaucracies. It is about “equitable outcomes” and “social equity.” It is being done in the name of reducing greenhouse gas, but it admits that it will not achieve any reduction. Ask how greenhouse gas reduction factors into “equitable outcomes.”

“The housing will be subsidized housing for “very, very low” and “very low” income people. This is a move to force people to live in stack&pack highrises, ban auto use, and override local zoning and control. Communities are being mandated to build thousands of these subsidized units. Some communities have resisted, challenging the data used to come up with the number of mandated units. Interestingly, when a couple of Marin County communities resisted, ABAG backed off very quickly and drastically reduced the allocations. ABAG fears public debate about its mandates. Palo Alto also is resisting. This has been going on behind closed doors. The word is just getting out to the general public, and then only to those who seek out information.

“It purports to be related to projected job growth, but the numbers tell a different story. Marin, for example, has lost jobs for 20 years, and there is no indication it will experience a reversal any time soon. ABAG backed off its numbers, saying there had been an error in calculations. If Corte Madera and Napa had not resisted, the staggeringly expensive “error” would have gone unnoticed.

“The “visioners” have been criticized for using “delphi” tactics to control outcomes at the very few public meetings. The meetings themselves were packed with bureaucrat insiders, skewing the “vote” on purported options to fulfill the “vision.” Parts of the manuals are cut and pasted from UN Agenda 21.

Government is waiving or fast-tracking environmental studies in order to rush these projects through. Of course developers want to do these–no environmental hassles, and heavy subsidies.

“This read like a paid advertisement for stack&pack subsidized housing, but it neglected to mention the heavy subsidies. I got a good laugh at the hair stylist who said the train was not audible 100 feet away. Anyone considering a move should spend a lot of time “testing” the claim that there is no vibration or noise. In California, the quality of much construction is so shoddy (no insulation because it’s not needed for weather, so there is none for sound) that people hear their neighbors snoring and using the toilet. There is no reason to believe additional units will be any better.

“This is being pushed by environmental and “social justice” extremists out to punish people who worked hard and were able to establish a decent lifestyle in a single family home. They want everybody to have the same lifestyle, next to a train track. Much of the rhetoric is heavily racist and anti-white. The groups consulted about what planning should look like were “minority” and “underserved” folks.

“Everything I’ve written can be fact-checked.”