Where the Preliterate Live.
The Dear Leader's house.
Posted on 06/11/2008 7:04:33 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The next US president must improve America's car-dominated cities by levying London-style congestion charges and cracking down on sprawl, British researchers said yesterday.
Barack Obama or John McCain must end eight years of "laissez faire" urban policy under the Bush administration and take on America's car-loving public, employing vehicle charging in places such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, says a joint report by the UK's Centre for Cities think-tank and the US Brookings Institution.
It urges a new incumbent of the White House to emulate policies that have been credited with improving British cities, including limits on building on greenfield sites until swaths of redundant brownfield land in cities are used up, and targets for higher density development that demand fewer car journeys and makes walking in cities easier.
"Sprawl has to stop in the states, but they don't know how to do it and there are lessons that can be learned from Britain," said Dermot Finch, director of Centre for Cities, the urban policy research unit. "The federal government has been largely absent from urban policy during the Bush administration. For example, transport policy has been about investing in roads. What America needs is sustainable green economic growth."
Last year Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, tried to introduce a congestion charge in Manhattan but the plan was vetoed by the state legislature and the governor of New York, said Finch. He added that city leaders in Miami, San Fransisco and Seattle were considering similar vehicle pricing measures, but said US cities continued to suffer from a lack of political leadership from Washington.
"National leaders, from Michael Heseltine to Gordon Brown, have given UK cities their high-profile attention," he said. "These champions have helped cities like Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds transform themselves in recent decades."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Americans “must” do this and “must” do that? Must?
MYOB.
Yep, They’ve totally made a mess of Britain, now they want to move on to us.
Sounds awkward as stated, but as soon as americans are issued internal passports, and have to apply for permission to relocate our residences, change jobs, buy cars and real estate, have children, etc. such measures can be applied much more efficiently.
In France the rioting muslim youth burn the cars regularly to prevent sprawl, now that’s commitment!
Duly noted, Britain. Now F-O!
Have these policies improved one's chances of not being robbed, raped or beheaded by the local Muslim yobs?
No, I thought not.
Exactly. I wasn’t even sure I was reading it correctly. A European “think tank” has conducted research and concluded what the US must do in its own cities? In order to achieve what end?
Urban sprawl is an oxymoron.
Like how to shrivel from a world power into a servant class for Muslm invaders within 100 years? No thanks.
England is about the same area as North Carolina. However, England has a population of 50 million while North Carolina’s is less than 9 million. No comparison in transportation conditions.
Apparently the Brits didn’t get the memo about something that happened 232 years ago.
Having taught US History to kids from 6th grade thru 12th I've been asked many good questions.Several of them involve where does the Constitution say the government can____ fill in the blank with a govt program that always says "we know and you don't know what's best."
Right, when England can figure out that they have too many Mooslims, then they can make suggestions, in the meantime, Britian should mind it’s own damn problems!
These are the same people who have screamed about America “imposing its will on the world,” now telling us what we “must” do.
Total hypocrites.
As someone who spent three hours getting from Dover to Heathrow on a bus traveling on a six lane highway (called an Interstate here) I wonder who in the hell is putting this type of nonsense out. The total distance we had to travel was around 80 miles.
The Dear Leader's house.
I can’t even begin to comprehend the control freaks over on the left.
Sorry, sort of off subject, but I had to mention, a new term entered the media lexicon and is appearing with regularity:
“Centrist Economics” it’s clever, it’s feels good, sounds like “the middle ground” => same old socialism
Oh yeah. That's right, forgot. The Dems are always complaining about what the rest of the world thinks of us as if we should make all decisions based on whether the world will like us or not.
Yup. That policy is working with Iran. And it worked wonderfully with Saddam. And so on....
/sarc
The real world doesn't work that way. Yes, we need allies and friends. However, those “allies and friends” are also competitors.
================
There sure are,brother.
I don’t care what British experts think. Look at the mess they’ve made!
As of 1776 we are thankfully no longer part of Britain.
“The elitist slobs want the working man to ride a bike, live in a shack and eat grass. They want us to do this while they continue to fly in private jets, drive in limousines and live in mansions. “
This is exactly what I believe is happening.
We need to get this message out. The problem is we also need candidates that will say this too.
Oppressive taxes and regulations for big cities...I’m good with that.
They all vote Rat anyway...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Contact the Environment editor
environment@guardian.co.uk
Liberals (socialists/authoritarians) keep inventing new Code Talk for their policies. They are also calling themselves “Progressives.” Same old garbage.
If it did, who'd bail your sorry arses out of the next World War?
From the article:
“The joint report also calls for improved tax breaks for the urban poor in the US.”
Anyone who knows anything about “the urban poor in the US” knows the only way to give them “improved tax breaks” is to give them more direct handouts, like the “Earned Income Tax Credit”.
GW ping
Yeah.....the limp-wristed socialist limeys should mind their own damn business!
Get your own screwed up house in order, Britain!
I don’t know about ya’ll but I’m ready to exercise my 2nd amendment right and throw off an already tyranical government and provide new guards. Uh, kinda like we already did once to these Brits.
Boston tea party anyone?
Riiiiight....
OK, you can start telling us how to live, just as soon as you buy a friggin’ tooth brush and toothpaste, and brush those horrible yellow teeth of yours! That goes for all 50 million of you! Sheeesh!
British researchers might want to mind their own darn business, instead of trying to tell us what we should or shouldn’t do.
Vietvet
Does this guy think we just got off a turnip truck; excuse me, lorry!?
A Nation the size of Kansas is saying we need to stop the sprawl! The word Megalopolis was coined for the United States. We have the greatest portion of the tallest buildings on Earth. We have gone up and spread out quite well in a little over five-hundred years. Britain has been packing people in like cordwood for two-thousand years and has no room left to sprawl even if it wished to.
Kansas - 82,277 sq. mile
Great Britain - 80,823 sq. mile - population 58,845,700 = 728 persons per Sq. Mile
United States of America - 3,794,066 sq mi - population 304,289,000 = 80 persons per Sq. Mile
Who is sprawling whom and who cares? "Lessons can be learned from Britain", in a pigs eye!
"Sprawl has to stop." Translation: we leftists want to control you, and if you live too far away, it's very difficult to do that. So we will pass laws that will make you live in small rabbit hutches and make you walk or ride a bicycle. Don't worry, we will very shortly pass laws limiting your food consumption too.
Every liberals wet dream, tax 'em huge and forbid them to leave with anti sprawl laws.
Perhaps they'll support us in sending 20+ million illegals back home. That would take a big bite out of urban sprawl.
One simple question: What gives ANYONE the RIGHT to do this to any American?
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