Quote:
Originally Posted by windypeg
I don't get how the boomers still think "The more lanes of traffic, the better." Back in their heyday in the 70s & 80s they started plowing as many vehicles into downtown Winnipeg as possible and knocking down buildings to put up more parking. Not surprisingly this is the same time frame during which downtown Winnipeg emptied out and died. Yet they still don't see the correlation.
Most people over 40 here still seem to think:
"More Lanes + More Parking = Successful City"
Jacobs-esque urbanists would say giving an area over to traffic and parking like that will kill it and the case study of downtown Winnipeg seems to verify that, yet many still don't get it.
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I don't think that boomers think "the more lanes of traffic, the better". I think many think, rightly or wrongly, "traffic has been getting worse over the years, why are we taking lanes out of commission for something that is lightly used". I don't agree necessarily, but I get where they're coming from.
What I find more troubling is that many forumers seem almost flabergasted that others might not share their opinion 100% (especially some hyper-urbanist opinions that aren't yet mainstream). Personally, I don't agree with a lot of the things Skylar or Riverman say (and yes, some of their comments come across as rude), but I do recognize that they do represent what a lot of everyday Winnipeggers feel and say. Instead of saying "I can't believe that's what they think! Unbelievable!", try to understand where it's coming from, and find some middle ground.
Because they're the types of people we're going to have to convince of our urban ideals if we want anything to change.
I've definitely noticed that over my 15+ years of browsing this site, it's become more of an echo-chamber than ever. You can see that by the overwhelmingly similar responses to polls and comments. It's too bad, because I think healthy debate and reflecting on our own sometimes dogmatic ideals of urbanism will help move things along in this city, rather than just being a forum that preaches to the choir.
/rant