Quote:
Originally Posted by lrt's friend
I would say that we cannot and should not control the housing market too much. The government is going to screw it up. I don't want to live in a city where strict controls result in a large portion of the population living in low quality high rises. We have seen this in 'projects' in American cities and in communist countries. This should never be our goal.
Transit reacts to reality and will always be subsidized by the taxpayer, just as roads are fully subsidized by the taxpayer. Building a toll ring around the city without a transit alternative is an extreme response, and restricts the urban population as much as exurbans. I don't want to live in an urban prison.
The idea of a bus free downtown is a ridiculous goal. The small number of exurban commuter buses will have negligible impact on traffic. If it ever became a problem, we will need to be thinking of commuter rail service.
|
What an absolutely misguided comment. I think you lack some knowledge on how cities function. You look at the city from a very small town/country point of view. Can I assume you aren't from the city?
1) "low quality high rises"? You do realize that modern high rises are built to high standards and inspected throughout construction. Meanwhile SFH are quickly thrown together using dated construction techniques, cheap low-end materials, and chainsaw precision. If anything is low quality it is the modern cookie cutter SFH.
2) Governments should 100% step in and regulate the housing market. The government will screw it up? Look what private business has done. We are in a national housing crisis. We shouldn't just be allowed to build whatever we want, wherever we want. Look at what that has done to some American cities that are sprawling out indefinitely.
3) Why do you equate living in a high rise with living in the "projects". You do realize wealthy people around the world live in high rises, even here in Ottawa. Your idea of living in a poorly built SFH outside of the city = wealth is very backwards. It seems you have drank the suburban-dream marketing koolaid.
4) We should be tolling highways and making urban transit free. We should not be awarding people from buying cheap suburban/exurban homes and commuting. If you want to live 50 miles outside the city and think of city living as "an urban prison" then maybe the city isn't for you. Perhaps you'd be better suited to a Cornwall, kingston, or Peterborough, where you can more easily live a country lifestyle.
It's well documented that the modern suburbs were the biggest misallocation of resources in world history. They have destroyed the prosperity cities across North America. If it wasn't for urban tax payers subsidizing your suburban/exurban lifestyle you would be paying astronomical property taxes. This is a trend that cannot continue and governments are finally beginning to come to this reality. If you think Ottawa is too urban now, just wait. It needs to get way more urban and strictly regulate suburban growth/SFH construction.
But this discussion has gotten way off topic.
Threaded Mode