>... and what the death of the suburbs > ck: This should be filed with Mike & Erin's dubious wedding announcement. American cities, along with their, suburbs are transforming into small urban clusters. In all but a few major US cities with large buildings in an older "downtown," the concept of 'downtown revitalization' (70s, 80s) reeks of misplaced nostalgia. San Francisco and Seattle are the only two cities on the left coast that were developed around a core port, like most Eastern cities. The rest of America dabbled with the notion of being "real" cities (a shadow of real selves, perhaps?), but that era seems to be on its way out. Now we've got strip-center villages throughout the country, with office space, schools, and tract homes serving as neighborhoods. It's not nearly as difficult for public transportation to service such longitudinal villages as people like Andreas assume ("impossible" to go without a car in California, he wrote). Resistance to doing without a car, in California, is a cultural class phenomenon, like so much else in this state. The movie _Crash_ accurately pointed out the humiliation of a teenager in L.A. who is "reduced" to taking the bus. (Read: only losers take public transportation.) Actually, getting to school or work via bus isn't a problem in L.A. It's not even a problem in Fresno, which has the worst public transportation system in California. In San Francisco proper, having a car is quite a luxury--many people choose to do without, because of the Manhattan-like parking horrors. Even in the East Bay (Berkeley), housing and driving a car can be more of a nuisance than a "necessity." But the myth persists that everyone in California--in America--has a car, so throughout the US, shopping for food is a major big deal without a vehicle. (No little Korean markets packaging veggies and toilet paper for one, sorry.) A taxi system would be helpful, too, but this vast middle America would prefer not to consider citizens who don't have cars--disabled, elderly, greenies, etc. Andreas wrote: > it seems to me that we are in for some very radical changes to everything > we know. > ck: As long as the negative image of public transportation persists, Californians will continue to prefer gridlock over sensible, earth-friendly, people-friendly systems. We'd rather starve than give up our self-image as a nation of lone, rugged individualists. Hispanic culture is changing this reality, too. (See "immigration" thread. A shame to waste all that.) Carol ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html