To take a break from the election (which I am disappointed in too) here is an interesting story I found on Discovery News.
http://news.discovery.com/tech/high-gas-prices-suburbs-slums-110321.html
Americans rarely think much about zoning, but it governs almost every facet of how we live our lives. And unintended consequences of 50-year-old zoning codes may be about to turn some of our loveliest and quietest suburbs into the next slums.
Why? Simply because they've been built too far away from everything else, and we won't be able to afford the gasoline it takes to go to and fro.
Suburbs: slums of the future?
This idea has been floated with every gas scare but it still may be true.
Slums aren't likely.
They will hire Ock to design an interurban/trolley system.
Mobility will be restored. The suburbs will return to peace once again.
Yeah, slums aren't likely. Maybe abandoned or not able to sell brand new houses to people. We're certainly already seeing that.
Its kinda impossible to be a true slum just because suburbs & their sub-divisions lack the connectivity & infill around them that inner city neighborhoods have.
Have to agree, abandonment is more likely than slum. Although in Jacksonville most suburbs have their own infrastructure, strip mall style. So other than work they may just be OK. Bored, but OK.
I say let it happen...let it happen big time and them maybe cities like ours will suffer enough to curb endless building but to build. Personally i think that the city planner should be the big guy in town...not the other idiots that suck millions and millions of cash from our city all while sitting on thier ass' doin' their time til retirement. If i have to see another subdivision or strip mall i'm going to puke.
Nah, we'll just follow the Orlando model. They overbuilt and had tons of empty homes 5-6 years ago and young entrepreneurs were purchasing the nice-ish homes in the burbs and loading them with grow lights.
It seems the opposite is just as likely.
Companies & entertainment districts may just as easily move closer to the workforce / population.
Jacksonville is prime example of this. Look at all the business parks spread throughout the burbs compared to the companies located downtown. Here it is especially true that the bulk of the corporate workforce is not commuting to the urban core. Not until recently did they even come downtown to play. Bars & restaurants in prime locations like the Landing rarely survive.
Riverside's growth compared to the Southside was minimal during that time. Even now in the depths of the "Great Recession", gas prices over $3 a gallon and a heavily populated Riverside / Avondale, small business' continue to struggle in 5 Points.
I was just a pup in 92... but I did frequent 5 points. I lived in 'Now Hear This' always looking for new music... but at that time I was bumming rides from Mandarin. If gas prices were as high as they are now... my friends and I wouldn't have been able to make the weekly trips.
That record store changed my life, seriously. Music became an obsession. New bands, new genres, b-sides & rarities. I couldn't get enough. I started playing music. I met a kid at the store and we started a band and from then on that was almost all I did. NHT was the only place I knew of at that time where you could actually listen to hundreds of bands before actually purchasing an album.
Why did they close up shop? Was it because CD warehouse sprouted up all over town with listening booths of their own?
This thread should probably be split...
Quote from: stephendare on March 24, 2011, 10:23:18 AM
Quote from: Shwaz on March 24, 2011, 10:17:55 AM
That record store changed my life, seriously. Music became an obsession. New bands, new genres, b-sides & rarities. I couldn't get enough. I started playing music. I met a kid at the store and we started a band and from then on that was almost all I did. NHT was the only place I knew of at that time where you could actually listen to hundreds of bands before actually purchasing an album.
Why did they close up shop? Was it because CD warehouse sprouted up all over town with listening booths of their own?
This thread should probably be split...
If I remember correctly it was a combination of Napster and the ridiculous rent prices of the 2000s.
Makes sense. Suggestion walls in music stores were replaced by forums & chat rooms... the wait & ordering process of new music replaced by downloading leaked albums. As simple and convenient as iTunes & bit torrents have made things... it will never replace the excitement of putting on those big head phones and discovering a new band.
I was an 80s kid (and some of the 90s too) & grew up during the era of the arcade, so I can relate to the missing the record stores. Kinda goes along the same lines. Home video gaming can never replace going to an arcade with a pocket full of quarters, hanging out w friends, having a crowd watch you beat Double Dragon, etc.
Hmm, someone should bring back the local arcade & do it up all retro like.
Stephen, this sounds like a good project for you?? I've got an authentic (and working) Ms Pac-Man & Phoenix arcade cabinets that I would donate to the cause. :)
And you're right, this thread has gone off the rails. ;D
Oh, and speaking of that, might I recommend the documentary The King Of Kong. Its awesome.
http://www.amazon.com/King-Kong-Fistful-Quarters/dp/B000XQ4HR8
Quote from: peestandingup on March 24, 2011, 01:03:33 PM
I was an 80s kid (and some of the 90s too) & grew up during the era of the arcade, so I can relate to the missing the record stores. Kinda goes along the same lines. Home video gaming can never replace going to an arcade with a pocket full of quarters, hanging out w friends, having a crowd watch you beat Double Dragon, etc.
Hmm, someone should bring back the local arcade & do it up all retro like.
Stephen, this sounds like a good project for you?? I've got an authentic (and working) Ms Pac-Man & Phoenix arcade cabinets that I would donate to the cause. :)
And you're right, this thread has gone off the rails. ;D
I think an Arcade & Bar / Lounge & Laundromat would be an excellent addition to 5 Points / Riverside.
After being in India where I saw real slums, I can guarantee that our suburbs won't turn into true slums anytime soon.
Maybe he meant Indiana :D
Or Detroit, which is now smaller than Jacksonville.