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Another problem with the higher gas prices would be less automobile travel. Used to be that one would drive their car to several points in the city for shopping, but they may do less to save on fuel. Stores that used to rely on old customers returning to their favourite stores, may forgo those trips or change to closer stores. Instead of relying on parking for the automobile, they should be emphasizing the public transit available to reach their store. Would be nice if the transit agencies had timed transfers as well to allow stopovers in their customer travels.
 
Another problem with the higher gas prices would be less automobile travel.

Huh? Isn't that the idea?

I agree that, "Instead of relying on parking for the automobile, they should be emphasizing the public transit available to reach their store"...that would help a lot...that's a design issue, one which needs more attention in the mainstream media...retrofiting the suburban form.
 
One of the early architects of sprawl was Robert Moses. Now there is a musical about Robert Moses. What?

From www.nytimes.com:

Sing of the Master Builder
By ROBIN POGREBIN

A musical about Robert Moses?

How do you break into song about a guy who built and bulldozed much of the New York metropolitan area? And why would anyone want to see a production today about a public figure who reigned some 40 years ago?

Well, who better to consider these questions than Robert A. Caro, who wrote the definitive doorstop of a Moses biography that won the Pulitzer and continues to be required reading for anyone who wants to understand how power works in cities.

So a reporter invited Mr. Caro to join her for a sneak peek at the budding musical, “Robert Moses Astride New York,†a work in progress that will have its world premiere in a one-night-only free performance at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan.

Bridges rise;

Roads blast through;

Parks blossom:

Triborough, Whitestone, Throgs Neck, Verrazano;

Northern State, Southern State, Saw Mill, Henry Hudson;

Jones Beach, Riverside Park.

To be sure, the musical is considerably less comprehensive than Mr. Caro’s 1,286-page 1974 book, “The Power Broker,†which follows Moses’ career as city parks commissioner and chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. “Robert Moses Astride New York†moves through major chapters of history in just a few stanzas, and the piece to be performed Saturday is only a sampling of what the composer, Gary Fagin, ultimately hopes will become a full-fledged production featuring additional characters like the neighborhood activist Jane Jacobs and Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia. Saturday’s concert will feature the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra (Mr. Fagin is its music director and conductor), which will also perform classics by American composers like Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Leonard Bernstein and Bob Dylan.

At a piano rehearsal the other day the work sounded like an opera. It is sung through, performed by a booming tenor (Rinde Eckert), and there are no dance numbers. And Mr. Caro understandably seemed a little self-conscious, seeing it in the intimate setting of a music studio, sitting in a single straight-back chair, with only a reporter and a photographer joining him as audience. Even as Mr. Caro was observing the performance, he was being observed by them, not to mention Mr. Fagin and Mr. Eckert, who were pretty psyched to have him there.

But Mr. Caro said he enjoyed himself nonetheless. The piece took him back into the book, with its references to pivotal Moses battles like that over Central Park (Moses wanted to expand Tavern on the Green’s parking lot; parents wanted to save their playground; they won) or Moses’ bitterness at having Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller accept his resignation.

Mr. Caro said he was particularly pleased by the musical’s last section, which recalls Moses’ dedication of a bench in Flushing Meadows, one of the parks he’d built. It is the poignant scene that concludes “The Power Broker,†in which Moses wonders why he wasn’t sufficiently appreciated.

Someday, let us sit on this bench

And reflect on the gratitude of man.

And when someone asks,

“Who built this road, this bridge, this park?â€

Say: A giant, a genius.

Moses.

He built it all.

He built New York.

Mr. Caro said the bench dedication inspired the last line of the book — “Why weren’t they grateful?†— and enabled him to organize an otherwise overwhelming seven years of research and to start writing.

“In all the stuff that’s ever been written about ‘The Power Broker’ no one has ever written about the bench,†Mr. Caro told Mr. Fagin after the rehearsal. “The bench was the great moment as a writer, an epiphany: I can do this. I have the last sentence.â€

Most of all, Mr. Caro said, he was excited by the musical because it attested to the endurance of “The Power Broker,†that 37 years after it was published “we are talking about this book as if it’s a new book.â€

“All the time I was writing it, people were saying, ‘Who’s going to read a book about Robert Moses?’ because he was already being forgotten,†he added. “I said, ‘People will read this book, if I can do it right,’ and it mattered to me that the book went on beyond a couple of years. I didn’t want just one generation to know it.

“Now here they are, singing about him. It’s transmuting itself into another form of art. You feel, in a way, you did it, what you set out to accomplish.â€

Not that Mr. Caro didn’t have any quibbles with the musical. The third section, about the protests to preserve Central Park, starts with the line, “Childless women howling about your nonexistent children.†Mr. Caro said this was inaccurate. “All of these women were young mothers who rolled their baby carriages in front of the bulldozers,†he told Mr. Fagin.

Mr. Fagin pointed out that it was a quotation of Moses’ from the book. But Mr. Caro said the song made it sound like a fact. Mr. Fagin said later that he planned to change that part. “He was absolutely right,†he said of Mr. Caro.

Mr. Fagin, 59, said he had been inspired by the book since it was published. “It’s a big, big story,†he said, “not only of a man in his time but of a city, of a state.â€

Mr. Fagin himself has been involved in civic affairs — he helped fight developers’ plans for the South Street Seaport — the kinds of issues that animate “The Power Broker.â€

“For me and the people that I talk to, it’s a huge icon for us,†Mr. Fagin said.

As a result, he said, it was thrilling to have Mr. Caro at his rehearsal, adding that he was grateful for his input: “I hope this is the beginning of an opportunity where I’m able to spend some more time with him and get some more insight.â€

Whether Mr. Caro will be able to accommodate such wishes is unclear; he is deep into the fourth and final installment of his Lyndon B. Johnson opus. Taking time off from work to see the rehearsal had been hard enough; Mr. Caro doesn’t like to be far from his Smith Corona. (Yes, he still uses a typewriter.)

Yet, as the musical demonstrates, it will probably be difficult for Mr. Caro ever to move completely past “The Power Broker.†It has never been out of print in hardcover or paperback since it was first published. When President Obama presented Mr. Caro with the National Humanities Medal at the White House last year, he said, “I think about Robert Caro and reading ‘The Power Broker’ back when I was 22 years old and just being mesmerized, and I’m sure it helped to shape how I think about politics.â€

Even the men involved in the musical couldn’t help be a little awed. Both Mr. Fagin and Mr. ckert had copies of the book at the rehearsal, Mr. Fagin’s yellowed and dog-eared, with multiple Post-its sticking out of the pages. Before Mr. Caro departed, Mr. Eckert quickly went from being a leading man to being a fan, asking, “Can I get you to sign my book?â€
 
One of the worst cases of suburban sprawl is described in this article from http://dc.streetsblog.org at this link. This cul-de-sac neighbourhood is from Orlando, Florida.

Sprawl Madness: Two Houses Share Backyard, Separated by 7 Miles of Roads


It would take you more than two hours to walk between these two suburban Orlando houses with adjoining backyards, thanks to the windy, disconnected road system. Click on image for Google maps.

Just how absurd have American development patterns become over the past few decades?

Behold: Two houses with adjoining backyards in suburban Orlando. If you want to travel the streets from point A on Anna Catherine Drive to point B on Summer Rain Drive, which are only 50 feet apart, you’ll have to go a minimum of seven miles. The trip would take almost twenty minutes in a car, according to Google Maps.

Windy street patterns, full of cul-de-sacs and circles, have become such a ubiquitous feature of the suburbs that they mostly escape remark. But disconnected streets have many insidious consequences for the environment, public health, and social equity.

For one, the lack of a functional street grid funnels traffic onto wide arterial roads — which tend to be the most dangerous places for pedestrians. Furthermore, disconnected streets discourage trips by foot or bike. People who can drive have no incentive to walk or bike anywhere because the trips would be too long and dangerous, while people who can’t drive are effectively trapped in their own homes, or are highly dependent on caretakers.

The Congress for the New Urbanism’s Sustainable Street Network Principles guide outlines seven principles for walkable, safe streets. The number one principle is to “create a street network that supports communities and places.â€

A major source of the problem, CNU points out, is that current transportation engineering and funding conventions favor building individual segments of roads, as opposed to a network of streets. In 2009, CNU even had legislation supporting street networks at the federal level inserted into the CLEAN-TEA transportation bill, which died along with the climate bill that year.

In the meantime, CNU has been offering trainings on their Street Network Principles to local communities and transportation professionals. Ultimately, CNU planner Heather Smith says, they are interested in getting the principles adopted into policy at all levels of government.

Someone with influence in suburban Orlando needs to take that course.
 
Looks like folks want an expansion of the greenbelt

Whereas other parties are opposed


Since the mandate is to review the greenbelt every 10 years, does that mean the protected lands could be reduced? Or is the greenbelt (in its current state) protected forever?
 
Yes, of course.
The entire 6M GTA residents should live within the boundary of the current city of Toronto. We will have a density of 9500/sq km, half of Mumbai, Paris or Seoul.
That should be ideal.

I think the way we collect property tax is encouraging sprawl. Rather than valuation based, I think property tax should be square footage based. Additionally, impose large tolls for entering the city boundary during rush hours (like $20). I am not against choice, but irresponsible choices should come with hefty financial consequence.
 
Additionally, impose large tolls for entering the city boundary during rush hours (like $20).

That would simply encourage sprawl. The best way to encourage diffuse office development throughout the burbs is to place additional constraints and disincentives for office uses in the 416. Christ, outside the core, office development in the rest of the 416 is fragile enough without charging people $20 to get to work (given that transit is in inadequate in much of the 416 outside the core).

If one wants to discourage sprawl, and generate income through tolls, one needs to be tolling congestion throughout the GTA, not just cars trying to get downtown. On any given weekday morning, traffic is far worse at, say, Leslie and 7 than Yonge and Richmond. An ideal solution would be a GPS-based distance tolling. Driving 26 km to work at morning rush hour? That'll cost you 26 x [peak route km rate].
 
Suburban drivers to blame for CO2 emissions in Toronto: Report

See link.

'Extreme' suburan commuters are responsible for far more greenhouse gas emissions than downtown residents, U of T research shows.

If Toronto wants to meet its “ambitious” greenhouse gas reduction targets, a few more bike lanes and a subway in Scarborough isn’t going to cut it, says a local climate change researcher.

The city has vowed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2050.

“We’re talking about bold reductions and to do that we need bold policies,” said University of Toronto professor Marianne Hatzopoulou.

Hatzopoulou teaches in U of T’s civil engineering department and studies the link between transportation patterns and greenhouse gas emissions in the GTA. Her research shows most emissions in the city are caused by “extreme commuters,” people who work in the old city of Toronto, but live in the outer suburbs and commute by car.

That creates an inequity, where “the people who are responsible for most of the pollution are not the ones breathing it in,” she said.

It’s also a significant barrier to reducing emissions, Hatzopoulou said. An expanding population in outlying areas, combined with job growth in the city core means even more commuters, she said.

map-web.jpg.size.xxlarge.promo.jpg

As this map clearly shows, households in Toronto’s outer suburbs produce far more transit-related CO2 emissions than those in the city’s core.

The city has certainly cleaned up its act – greenhouse gas emissions were down by 25 per cent in 2012 – but Hatzopoulou said nothing short of a “crazy bold plan” on transit and land use will allow the city to meet its 2050 goal.

“Small interventions like a bike lane, or improving pedestrian infrastructure – these things are great for health, but they’re not going make a big dent in our GHG emissions,” she said.

In addition to prioritizing “far-reaching” transit projects – as opposed to things like the downtown relief line – Hatzopoulou said officials in the GTA should consider banning new residential development in areas without access to adequate transit.

“Just as you don’t build where there’s not water or electricity, you wouldn’t build away from transit,” she said.

Hatzopoulou admits it’s a “radical” idea, but said it’s one of the few policies that could actually shift transportation patterns enough to allow Toronto meet its target.

If politicians aren’t willing to champion such policies, she said they may want to be honest with constituents about what that means for the environment.

“We’re talking about very big reductions,” she said. “Chances are we’re not going to get there, so we should either alter our expectations or come up with bold policies.”
 
Well I can't see the report, but it looks like almost all of Toronto and even a relatively decent chunk of the 905 is in the <20.00 Kg/household CO2 emissions. And then keep in mind that household sizes in the 905 are higher than in Toronto. Anyways, I'm not sure the problem is really 905ers commuting to downtown by car. Most 905ers are commuting to non-downtown locations, and non-downtown destinations are much more likely to have high car mode share than downtown. The 905ers that do commute to downtown are likely to take transit, although even so the shear length of the trip - likely longer than the suburb-suburb auto commutes, might negate a good chunk of the advantage of going by transit instead of driving.

The really high emissions are mostly in the rural outskirts of the GTA, which fortunately have few people living in them.
 
OMG!!

Chesterfield County (Virginia) plans one intersection with a monster price tag

From link.

superstreet_800_571_90.jpg


...Over the next decade Chesterfield plans to transform at least six of its widest junctions into so-called “superstreets,” multi-lane behemoths that shift the flow of traffic from perpendicular designs to 15-lane-wide, swooping intersections...

...Although the need to change infrastructure to enhance road safety is becoming the consensus across Central Virginia, the astronomical price tag of superstreets has caused many in the region to question their value. Just the redesign of the junction at Route 10 and Rivers Bend Boulevard—the first intersection slated to become a superstreet—is estimated to cost the county $64 million. The remaining five superstreets Chesterfield has in the works would similarly cost millions of dollars.

Compared to the $54 million the entire region pays to support GRTC, Greater Richmond’s sole transit provider, the price tag for this one intersection certainly seems outsized. Ross Catrow, the Executive Director of RVA Rapid Transit expressed his consternation with the superstreet’s colossal cost in a pithy tweet...
 
Mississauga has 2 times the buses, 8 times the transit operating budget, and 8 times the transit ridership of Greater Richmond despite having only 2/3 of the population (and being almost entirely post-war and suburban). And that's only MiWay, not including any GO buses or trains. Keep that in mind before you think about complaining about CO2 emissions in the 905 or want to install toll booths all along the border of the City of Toronto. Etobicoke, North York, and Scarborough... that's the real Toronto. The so-called "City of Toronto" is not exactly an urban paradise either.
 
I don't think many people realize just how different US and Canada are in terms of sprawl and car dependence. If you compare Toronto proper to Chicago proper, the difference in transit ridership is 3 times. But if you compare Mississauga or Brampton to Naperville or Schaumburg, the difference in ridership is 10 times. The biggest difference between US and Canadian urban areas is the post-war suburbs.

If you look at urban areas across Canada the past 10-15 years, the density and transit ridership have been increasing, with or without a Greenbelt. US and Canada diverged in the post-war era, and they are only continuing to diverge. Sprawl is happening in US while intensification is happening in Canada.
 

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