Comments on: NYT Extols German Anarchist Commune

By: proreason

proreason — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:42:00 +0000

“It’s a good idea just an unbalanced one …”

Personally, I prefer to control my my transportation rather than having my transportation control me.

By: caligirl9

caligirl9 — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:14:51 +0000

This “commune” is called Transit-oriented development and it’s the BIG thing here in the Bay Area. In San Jose, they tend to pop up next to or close to a light rail station.

Very convenient if you are a light rail user for a work commute (me). Very inconvenient if you need a car because parking spaces are minimized and some rental properties require additional rent if you have more than one car. VERY inconvenient if you want to visit a friend who lives in one of those places and you choose to drive your car to see them!

This photo will help you understand the potentially ugly side of TOD.

Go here: http://www.railpictures.net/vi.....nseq=34337

This is the San Jose Diridon Station. To the left you will see a brick building; that is the station itself. Pretty old brick building, restored by the community and with public funds, named for the “father of Silicon Valley Rail,” Rod Diridon. You are looking at Caltrain and Amtrack trains; downtown SJ is in the background; the light rail station is off to the right at a lower grade, and the light rail train tunnels underneath this mess.

If the BART train (pretty unlikely but who knows) and high-speed rail ever gets here, this is where it will come.

Also to the right (unseen) is an upscale condo development and a TOD-oriented townhouse development.

Here is the townhouse development: http://www.vta.org/projects/va.....helter.jpg
The rail station is to the right and elevated.

Once (proposed) BART gets there, and (proposed) high-speed rail gets built, there will be 600 trains go through there every day (includes light rail). The station will be expanded with some sort of modernistic glass enclosure.

I’d kill myself. There are no grocery stores within walking distance of any of this, and this stop is actually at the San Jose Arena (where the famously-choking NHL Sharks play). And if you are able to rent/own something in a TOD in this area, the rents are higher, despite the noise and inconvenience if you still need a car.

It’s a good idea just an unbalanced one …

By: BillK

BillK — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:44:29 +0000

Did you ever notice that the first rule of propaganda is always followed by giving things like this a name that forces its desirability on you?

They named it “smart planning” themselves.

How could it not be good?

By: beautyofreason

beautyofreason — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:04:24 +0000

Yep, that’s my goal in life: I want to live in a small space squeezed next to dozens of other families and to have the government use their superfluous taxation to dissuade me from using the modern combustion engine. Progress.

P.S. I used to trek 20 minutes in cold, rain, and snow through a field to get to a studio art class held in a building off the main stretch of the campus. It sucked. I was so happy when I bought my first car and clocked a travel time of 3 minutes – in the cozy warmth!

By: 12 Gauge Rage

12 Gauge Rage — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:53:11 +0000

Well said.

By: proreason

proreason — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:21:55 +0000

“There must be something in the water in Europe ”

99.9% of Europeans are descended from serfs who spent their lives working for the aristocracy.

47% of Americans are descended from people who left Europe to live as free men.

By: 12 Gauge Rage

12 Gauge Rage — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:49:00 +0000

There must be something in the water in Europe that gives them their Star Trek Borg mentality of feeling that every one and everything belongs to the collective (The State). Most Europeans will never understand how the average American values their privacy and space.

By: proreason

proreason — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:22:42 +0000

2 acres!!!!

you’re gonna have a whole village on your property.

What a patriot you will be.

I’d ask for Henrietta. She looks like such a sweet deadbeat.

By: pdsand

pdsand — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:07:04 +0000

We don’t things like this in America, because we believe in private property. Let the EPA promote away.
It makes me sick everytime I hear about stupid Greensburg, Kansas. Leading the way by rebuilding the town green. I always think, ‘that’s great. Let’s all destroy our cities so we can rebuild them green’. It’s ridiculous. I always liked the response in Biloxi, MS to Hurricane Katrina. The private citizens lost a lot of their private property, and they rebuilt it exactly as they saw fit. No town councils, no sitting down at the table to talk about the best way moving forward. It was great. And American.

By: DGA

DGA — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:59:21 +0000

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is promoting “car reduced” communities, and legislators are starting to act, if cautiously. Many experts expect public transport serving suburbs to play a much larger role in a new six-year federal transportation bill to be approved this year, Mr. Goldberg said…

Oh yeah, I want to live somewhere like that, where I have little ability to do as I please, to work as I please because I have to base my life on little issues like small distances that were a problem 150 years ago when we had to ride horses!
I think I’ll go out tonight in my 350ci box truck that does 10 to the gallon, and burn up some gas just to offset this ridiculous idea, and to piss people like this off.

By: wterrier

wterrier — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:43:12 +0000

SG, amazing deconstruction of another NYT pure propaganda piece, especially the pics from Wikipedia.com.

“…former residents of these structures (‘sixteen (of which) were re-appropriated by the city’) have taken up residence in a diverse assortment of cars, vans…named Wagenplatz”. lol

Again Steve, the work you do is invaluable!

By: VMAN

VMAN — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:40:10 +0000

I saw a news story the other day about a city in Michigan, I believe that it was Grand Rapids but I’m not sure, where they were tearing down houses and people were moving into the city center to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the city. The area where the houses were torn down became “green space”. Has anyone heard of this to elaborate on it? Another thing is the other day I had a census worker come to the door and ask I our house was a single family dwelling. Our house is about 3300 sq ft. They also asked if there were any other inhabited buildings on the property. We have a little over 2 acres. I kind of got spooked later thinking that the bamster might want a couple of other families to move in with us or build a few more houses on the property. I’m sure in his mind no one should have as much room as we do.

By: gipper

gipper — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:48:57 +0000

“The stylish row houses…trimmed with exotic woods and elaborate balconies…”

This makes you think of a quaint New York borough or Chicago neighborhood. Well, I’ve never been to Vauban, but I’ve been to Freiburg when I was stationed in Germany. Those row houses the story is talking about are most likely spartan apartment buildings! Real estate is very expensive in Germany, so many people rent apartments.

Sean Hannity is right when he talks about how Americans have the greatest standard of living in the world. And now much of that standard is being taken away by Obummer.

By: ptat

ptat — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:27:10 +0000

Shame on you, Dangerous! You sound like a blatant consumer living in a capitalist society. How crass. Not to worry, though, Obama is making sure to CHANGE things so the likes of you will just give up and fall in line, HOPEless.

By: Liberals Demise

Liberals Demise — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:50:56 +0000

The same for the “Great Society” minorities.
Let us not forget about the 12 million new Illegal Whatever hyphenated Americans they want or insist on being called.

By: Dangerous

Dangerous — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:42:44 +0000

I don’t know why anyone would choose to live like this. I finished University not that long ago, and I’m busily saving up for a house down payment, which includes not paying to own, insure or fuel a car. If it weren’t for a friend who I owe many a beer to for rides here and there, I wouldn’t be able to pull this off. As soon as I’ve got the cash together, you’d better believe I want the independence my own home and vehicle can provide.