BREAKING: Obama Says Building Sprawl Stops Now!
From Green Car Congress:
Responding to a question from a city councilwoman about transportation and infrastructure in the stimulus bill during a town hall forum in Ft. Myers, Florida, President Obama said that the days of just building sprawl are over.
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From a transcript provided by Transportation for America:
Not only do we need to rebuild our roads, our bridges, our ports, our levies, our dams, but we also have to plan for the future. This is the same example of turning crisis into opportunity…Now, look, this is America. We always had the best infrastructure. We were always willing to invest in the future. Governor Crist mentioned Abraham Lincoln. In the middle of the Civil War, in the midst of all this danger and peril, what did he do? He helped move the intercontinental railroad. He helped start land grant colleges. He understood that even when you’re in the middle of crisis, you’ve got to keep your eye on the future. So transportation is not just fixing our old transportation systems but its also imaging new transportation systems.
That’s why I’d like to see high speed rail where it can be constructed. That’s why I would like to invest in mass transit because potentially that’s energy efficient and I think people are alot more open now to thinking regionally in terms of how we plan our transportation infrastructure. The days where we’re just building sprawl forever, those days are over. I think that Republicans, Democrats, everybody recognizes that that’s not a smart way to build communities. So we should be using this money to help spur this kind of innovative thinking when it comes to transportation. That will make a big difference.
Jo - they weren’t fairly well educated if they don’t remember the last housing crash around 1990. That wasn’t that long ago. My church lost their endowment because it was all in real estate. Landlords were so desperate for renters, I had a nice place for 3 month free every year on a two year lease.
I have friends who aren’t going to lose their houses even if they lose their jobs because they bought them before the market became bloated and they weren’t trying to get rich quick. When they refinanced when interest rates went lower, they put the money back in the house. They simply own more of it on a 30 and 15 year fixed - and they put 20% down to start! There house is worth less than it was a year ago, but it doesn’t matter because they aren’t selling for another 10 when the kids are out of school.
If people behaved as tho they don’t own the home until the last payment is made, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
To whomever let risky homeowners off the hook - it wasn’t banks. When we bought in 1990, you had to have so much proof of low risk. 20% down, ability to pay for housing insurance, and all that went away during the Clinton administration. That said, NO ONE was forced to buy a home. The whole predatory lender meme is a buch of hooey.
Brian beat me to it, but I’ll repeat his point anyway. Many, many people live in the suburbs (myself included) because we can’t stand the congestion, crime, noise and lack of privacy of the cities. So are you suggesting that we be relocated forcibly for the supposed “greater good”?
Now I’ll be the first to admit that the rapid transit systems in Europe are great (at least in Germany) but they work because distances in the EU are much shorter and population densities are much higher. No matter how much you wish for things to be different, the United States will never enjoy those same conditions.
LOL @ Edward….and how do you think there was a market for securitized mortgage debt? It was enabled due to Fannie Mae buying everything it could, thanks to its’ government charter. Yes it was not profitable for the banks, look at today’s stock prices!
SEC oversight has nothing to do with this issue…you are a clown! Eliminate the Community Reinvestment Act and stop insisting we who can afford housing are responsible for seeing that others who cannot are given their “right” to a mortgage. Yes this means even Black or Hispanic people! GASP!!!
An unrelated point (to the rapid transit one): I grew up in South Florida, from Homestead to Davie and prior to moving to South Carolina, lived in Pembroke Pines, comuting every day to Coral Gables.
Sprawl in South Florida is a blight and if I were to move back, I would never consider living in the suburbs. The truth is I probably will never move back, even though I love the area, because of the hideous congestion. But sprawl is the result of the problem, not the problem itself. The problem is too many people trying to move into an area that can’t support that much population. Rapid transit systems can’t do anything about that at all.
It’s simply NONE of Dearest Leaders business whether or not there is “sprawl” in my community or not.
Doubleplusnongood!
[...] He couldn’t even wait a whole day before he proved me right. [...]
Great - we can all live in little boxes in the sky, and Obama can control our thermostat and our medical care. Centralization as a step to greater government control. If you want to stop sprawl, stop making the cities unlivable. Stop using rent control in places like NYC - it means that only the rich and the entitled poor can live in the city center - the rest have to move out. Stop tolerating urban gangs and urban gangster mayors (Marion, Kwame - I am looking at you). Make the cities a good place to raise kids and the folks will stay without government coercion.
Yes,and as all you proud foot soldiers for the KENYAN,
I’m sure you’ll all volunteer to move near a rail line
and live in our shit hole cities.
@Shelby
Sprawl is a major issue in South Florida, and until someone has the presence of mind to fire-bomb Lennar, Mercedes, etc., it will continue to be a major issue.
@Emilio
You are 100% wrong - there is more than enough room to house twice the population of Miami/So. FL - just look at areas like Manhattan! The problem in Miami is the congestion, but if the building line was drawn at 117th instead of Krome, they’d be forced to build up - and WOULD! As a city becomes more vertical and more centralized, it becomes possible to live without a car and congestion disappears.
Problem 2: SO many people in Miami (my family included) are immigrants, who moved to the US because they wanted the cars, homes, etc. they saw on TV. Until the “Miami Scene” starts to turn its back on “Mad Whips” and “Pimped Out Rides”, the vertical city solution won’t hold - you are right about that.