[lesser_satan]

Is this newspaper owned by a developer? I don't think there was even one dissenting view in that piece!

[sageb1]

And the smart growth vultures swarm.

[RTINSC]

"Weak or no pedestrian crossings lead to low qualities of life, Zykofsky said, with the creation of a sedentary lifestyle."

There will be mandatory walkathons every meorning at 6 AM. Be there or be square.

[LibFreeOrDie]

"...public transit..."

Sure, unionized transportation, like it works great in NYC and Boston...

[Psycho_Bunny]

Utopia?

Ukiah?

I guess if you're stoned out of your mind, anywhere can be utopia.

 

[Thunder90]

Doing this would better able these cronies to get gun control, higher taxes, and a world government.

[Brett66]

Candy-coated socialism, it's still socialism though...

[Intolerant in NJ]

...a lifestyle endangered by sprawl directly leads to decreased quality of life, because of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and early death, not to mention increased health care costs for individuals and the public and private sector...talk simplistic catastrophizing...I walk three to four miles a day three or four days a week in out wide-streeted, sometimes sidewalked and sometimes not, heavily and also sparsely traveled road mid-sized town with no trouble, but see very few other walkers...'most anyplace is "walkable" but you have to convince people that exercise is good for them and get them away from their TV's and fast food before that walkability does much good....

Lord save us from planners, control freaks, and utopians whether they want to save our economies or our environments......

[Vince Ferrer]

toward a near-utopian life for Ukiahans -- full of walkable communities

I distinctly remember being promised moving sidewalks, flying cars, and anti-gravity belts in my youth.

[Vince Ferrer]

In the 80s, there was a comic book series called Mister X. The interesting twist of this comic was that Mister X was not a superhero, he was an architect. He designed a perfect city, a combination of architecture and psychology, where every line and angle created good feelings and promoted mental health among its population.

The man went insane with the pressure of his job, and was committed to a hospital. By the time he was released, his city had been built, except not quite what he had designed. In the real city, every angle and line was subtly changed, and now was slowly driving its citizens into insanity, violence, and suicide.

I always think of this comic book when I see these city planners planning utopias.

[yankeedame]

"Onward to Ukiah! A planned Community!"

[heleny]

a near-utopian life for Ukiahans -- full of walkable communities, slower traffic and more prominent greenscaping.
...
With wider streets, drivers instinctively speed, resulting in more accidents, he said, but narrower ... roads help

IOW, "traffic-unfriendly" planning, which leaving no room for growth (since most things and people depend on cars to go anywhere) and a high likelihood of future traffic jams.

[mewzilla]

but narrower, more pedestrian friendly roads help across the board

Not if there's on-street parking on one or both sides of the road. Ever watch an emergency vehicle try to make it down a narrow street with parked cars, especially big ones, on one or both sides? That ain't going to help response time.

[wolfcreek]

My Wife bought a strapless bra in Ukiah.

[metesky]

These people are on my personal enemies list:

American Planning Association

Smart Growth Online

Here are a couple of good articles that indicts both Smart Growth and light rail: Dense Thinkers: The New Urban Planning Nightmare by Randal O'Toole, REASON, January 1999

The Pleasantville Solution - The war on "sprawl" promises "livability" but delivers repression, intolerance--and more traffic.

And any "public meeting demands that this gem be reposted: So, Have You Been Delphi'd?

[Rudder]

The increasing lack of mobility -- children today walk to school less than half of the rate their parents did -- leads to a few astounding statistics.

This has nothing to do with growth, smart or otherwise, and it's not due to lack of mobility.

[RJL]

Four erudite speakers presented a path toward a near-utopian life for Ukiahans -- full of walkable communities, slower traffic and more prominent greenscaping.

Did these "erudite speakers" point out that when you stack citizen fifty stories high it creates an urban high crime killing zone?

[TChris]

"Smart Growth"^TM: A better name for your Socialist dreams!

(Paid for by the brotherhood of advanced socialist marketers, 2006, all rights reserved)

[RJL]

John Anderson, a developer with the New Urban Builders, discussed how to move the theoretics to on-the-ground creation. He poked fun at typical neighborhood structures with garages facing roads, bland facades and wide streets that eventually lead parents to demand speed bumps to slow traffic.

Ooooh, John is so enlightened! I just hope he is only investing his time and money into his nirvana and not the taxpayers.

No garages facing roads? Is he calling for back yard alleyways? Wouldn’t that mean two roads instead of one? That’s two roads devouring greenery, and two roads that need to be built and maintained.

No wide streets? Where will visitors and the people without garages park? Parking on an already narrow street will make it dangerous.

Here in the cities of Minneapolis & St. Paul a snowfall requires citizens to only park on one side of the street on one day, and the other side the next day so it can be plowed curb to curb. This makes sense, but it’s a pain having to move your car to the other side of the street at the appointed hour. Of course if you make a mistake, the city happily tows your car at a heavy fee and fine which must be paid before you can pick up your car at the impound lot. No doubt there are many thousands of folks who wish they had a nice garage instead of having to park on the narrow streets.

If some fool like John wants to build this nonsense, that’s fine, but don’t force us to pay for it or live in it. If it’s so smart the citizens will vote with their dollars and move to it. The trouble is that liberals love nothing better than ramming their stupidity down our throats with the force of law.