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["Thomas C. Meggs" <tom AT plik.net>]

On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, Michael Winslow Czeiszperger wrote:
> Maybe you were there a while back? The parks are integrated into and
> among the houses. The open space consists of:

Yeah it occurs to me I really don't have a good conception of the layout
of Southern Village.

> Also, good points about the relationship between the automobile and
> suburban land use. I have a picture of my grandparent's house which was
> built 150 years ago. The picture is about 100 years old, and you can
> clearly see the light rail system that connected all of the towns in
> those days.

Yeah, it's kind of baffling. We used to have light rail all over the
country and in almost every city.

> I don't think the point is to not drive at all, at least not for
> everyone, but rather to reduce the number of car trips. Theoretically
> if you reduce the number of hours everyone in the neighborhood is in
> their cars you can support the increased density and population without
> affecting the road system nearly as much as a traditional suburb.

Absolutely, car's do have a place, but not in population centers. They
just don't scale. In fact, repeatedly it has been shown that all building
new roads does is increase congestion, because people drive more.  It is
an endless battle. The only way to cut congestion is to not drive. Good,
safe, and reliable public transportation should be provided.

Imagine if you could get on a train in downtown Chapel Hill and wind up in
Raleigh less then 15 minutes later? Of course it would be even better if
Raleigh had half way decent land use. ;)

Regards,
Tom