Quote:
Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian
I'm not saying force anybody to do anything... but all the people figuring they can evade the taxes of the city, demand the same services and create traffic congestion (while shouting there isn't enough parking downtown... where they have chosen not to live) then their is a problem. This is what policy is.
Why do people on the peninsula pay for the sprawl of others. What is going to happen when oil prices go up again?
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I don't think people are moving anywhere to "evade" taxes. I think they are choosing where to live based on the lifestyle that they want.
Not everybody looks at highrise living as the absolute pinnacle of existence. To some, being confined to a small apartment with uninvited audible and olfactory glimpses into their neighbors' lives is not how they wish to live. Land on the peninsula is limited and thus expensive. For a household with average income the idea of owning a house on the peninsula with a backyard for their kids to play in or their dog to runabout is not a possibility. So, they choose to live a little further out of the core so they can do just that.
For those choosing to do so, car expenses are a necessity, since for the most part transit is pathetic around here, a thought which has been reinforced with our recent weather - buses on "snow plan", uncleared sidewalks, huge snowbanks to climb over in order to cross the street, etc. (conditions which also made living carless downtown quite miserable as well, I imagine). Not to mention, as has been brought up here numerous times, nobody wants to subsidize transit to the suburbs. In reality cars aren't as expensive as somebody with no experience might think, if the purchase is done sensibly and the buyer takes time to educate themselves on the subject of car ownership, maintenance and repair.
So, what would your solution be? Raise taxes in the suburbs so that the average person can't live in a house with a back yard? Should that only be something that the privileged rich can afford? Do you think that this will make people live in highrises? It would more likely cause people to want to live somewhere else, in another city...
Another aspect that I think you're not taking into account with your assessment, are the difficulties placed on commuting by our geography. Most large cities are not bound like Halifax is, on a peninsula with no real way to get off it, unless you travel back up the peninsula until you can get on a bridge or a highway outbound. Therefore the perils of traffic are magnified somewhat because of geography-imposed bottlenecks. Contrary to popular opinion, if we were to remove those bottlenecks, in building crossings near the downtown (both harbour and arm), this would relieve a lot of the perceived traffic issues. Combine this with a good transit system (by "good" I mean one that is efficient and convenient, to create an attractive alternative to taking their cars) and Bob's your uncle. Then, as if by magic, what is considered "downtown" has just expanded itself beyond the confines of the peninsula, allowing growth in those areas and attracting people away from the suburbs, 'cause who really wants to live there anyways?
Don't hold your breath thinking that rising oil prices will have any effect on car usage, by the way...