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4K walk through newer American cities [not old cities like NYC]

Are you confessing that you are dumb to live in Boston instead of Florida?

Some people are fine with packing their bags and leaving their extended family for a different state or country...others aren't.

I'm comfortable where I am. In fact I'm over at my parent's place in Boston right now. Can't charge my Tesla though.
 
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Who says we are perfect? All I know is more people are flooding into the US from Asia every day than there are Americans going the other way.

It isn't that we are so great...it's that others are not great.
You have destroyed yourself and the World with Capitalism and Weapons Industry!
 
You have destroyed yourself and the World with Capitalism and Weapons Industry!

yay!!!..and what have you done for the world..other than being a spectator in the stands sitting on your hands and complaining about every ball toss instead of risking joining in and taking the heat?

Stop derailing this thread.
 
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Would love to see some small cities build out affordable neighborhoods on the design model of the French town, Le Plessis-Robinson. So people with private homes, in nearby neighborhoods, don’t feel the area is the poor side of town, it a vibrant area with affordable apartments that are rent to own.
 
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I was just watching this video about Texas earlier...

It's just a question of time until Texas outpaces California in terms of economic prowess. Many folks underestimate the sheer magnitude of Texas! Its proximity to Mexico enables Texas to export substantial quantities of goods south of the border. With its GDP nearing $3 Trillion, it's rather remarkable, especially when you consider that Lone Star State has a population of only 30 million. In 10 years, Texas is poised to surpass countries like Japan, UK, Germany, and others in terms of economic strength watch!
 
Would love to see some small cities build out affordable neighborhoods on the design model of the French town, Le Plessis-Robinson. So people with private homes, in nearby neighborhoods, don’t feel the area is the poor side of town, it a vibrant area with affordable apartments that are rent to own.

Well the problem is the old adage "This is why we can't have nice things".

The more you build for some people..the more they can destroy.
 
Well the problem is the old adage "This is why we can't have nice things".

The more you build for some people..the more they can destroy.
Are you saying enough Americans are irresponsible that we can’t try this in some of our cities? That’s why I want to see if this approach can be done in smaller towns that don’t have much going on, but can bank on their potential to charm.

Americans travel to Europe to see beautiful little compact and walkable towns. perhaps, if these catch on, it could reduce the cost of living and help people afford a home, that they can own, again.

Even that video of Austin you posted earlier is about a nice looking plaza. Many (young) people are tired of living in soulless suburbs or congested cities, and can’t afford them either.
 
Are you saying enough Americans are irresponsible that we can’t try this in some of our cities? That’s why I want to see if this approach can be done in smaller towns that don’t have much going on, but can bank on their potential to charm.

Unfortunately small cities/towns in my state have become wary of being altruistic to those in need. When they give an inch the State ends up taking a yard by overriding their consent.

A classic example of this was a small city that with great fanfare opened this beautiful new development for the elderly and those with special needs with all the latest ease-of-access amenities. The politicians and people gave each other a pat on the back for helping the community.

Everything was fine for a few years until the State finally figured out what to do with all these gang members shooting themselves and ending up as cripples in wheelchairs. They forced that small city to take them and of course even being in a wheelchair didn't stop them from being criminals. The whole development of elderly and disabled people ended up living in fear. There was nothing the small city could do about it. "This is why we can't have nice things"

Another example is with Boston being a sanctuary city and taking in too many people they had a housing and budget problem. Asking the Liberal Governor what to do they decided to fill up hotels outside of Boston with them (wouldn't want to fill up those 3 to 5 star hotels inside Boston of course..that's just craziness) and asked the towns of course to pay for the education of those under 18.

You can of course imagine that no town will ever allow another new hotel to be built within their borders. "This is why we can't have nice things"

Another example is the State of Massachusetts said every city/town needs to create a new zoning area where low income housing can be built or face State grants being pulled. Almost all complied but some paid a $400,000 yearly fine instead.

Seeing this was still not enough the State proclaimed any town that had a subway or bus system running through it had to build even more low income multi-family homes or face losing state grants.

The small town of Holden (pop ~19,000) is balking and of course is being taken to court over it.
While Holden does not contain any transit stations, it borders Worcester, which does, so it is still subject to the law.
town officials have said they will not comply with the law, and instead will pass up the grant opportunities.

Now as for the housing situation the city of Boston has tons of empty lots and abandoned buildings. To say they don't have any room is laughable. They could in a snap authorize fifty 30 story buildings in some old neighborhood. The issue is that no developer is going to build anything at a loss. Nobody wants to pay. Cities cry for more housing but don't want to pay for it -> make some town pay instead.
 
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Unfortunately small cities/towns in my state have become wary of being altruistic to those in need. When they give an inch the State ends up taking a yard by overriding their consent.

A classic example of this was a small city that with great fanfare opened this beautiful new development for the elderly and those with special needs with all the latest ease-of-access amenities. The politicians and people gave each other a pat on the back for helping the community.

Everything was fine for a few years until the State finally figured out what to do with all these gang members shooting themselves and ending up as cripples in wheelchairs. They forced that small city to take them and of course even being in a wheelchair didn't stop them from being criminals. The whole development of elderly and disabled people ended up living in fear. There was nothing the small city could do about it. "This is why we can't have nice things"

Another example is with Boston being a sanctuary city and taking in too many people they had a housing and budget problem. Asking the Liberal Governor what to do they decided to fill up hotels outside of Boston with them (wouldn't want to fill up those 3 to 5 star hotels inside Boston of course..that's just craziness) and asked the towns of course to pay for the education of those under 18.

You can of course imagine that no town will ever allow another new hotel to be built within their borders. "This is why we can't have nice things"

Another example is the State of Massachusetts said every city/town needs to create a new zoning area where low income housing can be built or face State grants being pulled. Almost all complied but some paid a $400,000 yearly fine instead.

Seeing this was still not enough the State proclaimed any town that had a subway or bus system running through it had to build even more low income multi-family homes or face losing state grants.

The small town of Holden (pop ~19,000) is balking and of course is being taken to court over it.



Now as for the housing situation the city of Boston has tons of empty lots and abandoned buildings. To say they don't have any room is laughable. They could in a snap authorize fifty 30 story buildings in some old neighborhood. The issue is that no developer is going to build anything at a loss. Nobody wants to pay. Cities cry for more housing but don't want to pay for it -> make some town pay instead.
Yeah, until the housing demand is met in the big cities, I guess it’s not worth it to build nice things in smaller cities, for fear the state governments will sent people to them.

But it’s the large “projects” apartment buildings that have no sense/chance of ownership by their tenants and only exacerbate the problem of lawlessness.
 
Yeah, until the housing demand is met in the big cities, I guess it’s not worth it to build nice things in smaller cities, for fear the state governments will sent people to them.

But it’s the large “projects” apartment buildings that have no sense/chance of ownership by their tenants and only exacerbate the problem of lawlessness.

The bottom line is that older city populations are decreasing as the mid to higher income earners move to the suburbs. Cities are desperately trying to stay alive by welcoming ANYONE (even if they are illegal) who wants to move there. Unfortunately the people who end up moving there are not the biggest taxpayers causing budgets/services to be strained even further in a vicious circle. After all this encouragement to get people to move there they end up dumping the most undesirables (ie poorest) onto towns. Which only makes towns hate bigger cities even more.

Boston claims they have no room. That is ridiculous.
Boston had a population in the 800,000s in the 1950s. Now it is in the 600,000s. Do we really think housing was torn down?

yeah...well check this out.
The Citywide Land Audit identified City-owned land that was vacant or underutilized and presented a high opportunity for redevelopment

audit.png

This is not a tiny percentage of the city...and remember this is only the city owned land BTW.

They want nearby towns (which are close to 100% utilized) to tear down their perfectly good infrastructure and put up multifamily to help take on the city's overflow. :cuckoo:

One issue is smaller cities ARE actually building multi-family units however they are not usually "affordable housing". They end up stealing the people Boston would expect to get with their higher-end housing.
 
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