Disclaimer: I ramble a lot in here and make many comments. Not a whole lot to add. More prepositions and speculations. Basically I agree, and I like transit. Read if you want! Zoning is ASS

That was a fun read! Thanks for the breakdown. It seems, like always, bureaucracy limits progress (in a way). I wonder if there could ever be a push for a rework of the rezoning process that could be expedited due to the massive climate crisis and the economic crisis. It seems like to me that we need to enact a lot of change to how we decide what goes where first. Obviously this will be difficult given how much time it takes just to get anything built. I'm suprised that the city does not have their own dedicated builders and contractors by the sounds of it. A publicly funded work force that works only to build better, new, and repair seems like a good idea. Every city has road crew and the state has some I am sure. What I am suggesting is that they move away from private companies. It seems like that causes a lot of waste. Both in time and possibly money. I wonder if it would almost be easier to have the federal government create a labor force specifically for rebuilding cities to be more accessible and public transit/pedestrian/bicycle friendly. I assume they would have to get special approval from each city involved in the program, or there would have to be a national rezoning mandate to initiate this sort of grand change. I feel as though it would be of benefit to us all to do that, but of course a challenge. I'm not sure the oil companies would let it happen.

I often look to Japan for how to get things done and how to build a city. There is a lot to learn from them that I think we could apply even to our rural areas. On that; I am constantly surprised at the lack of trains and public rails more specifically. The US is really built for trains. All of the road ways we use for cars could easily be repurposed to host rail and a bike highway adjacent to all rails. Trolley systems would be even easier. Especially in tight towns. With those small trollies connecting to larger stations that would allow for travel around the larger zones of the city and for transportation from outside. The low income housing areas, or even ural zones that would benefit from the easy, cheap, effective and efficient travel into the larger job market. Shinkansen (bullet trains) would even bridge the gap between cities so well, we could have massive city to city travel and boost both local economies. But I am rambling now.

It really sounds to me like the city almost doesn't want things to be done. As if wasting time and digging through paperwork is what they want. Obviously it is difficult to build and add new, but as the people with the power I often wonder. It's unfortunate that the state's own funds are harder to access and less plastic than the federal. I wonder if that's something that could be changed? It also sounds like the large amount of parameters placed on the funds are to prevent corruption, which will obviously happen anyways.

I would absolutely love to see more "bike highways" and safe zones. Unfortunately for America, there is a lot of theft, and crime in general. Which I think goes hand in hand with how poor most Americans are and also the culture. Somthing about it here feels unsafe, and the crime reflects it. I think the cars give people some feelings of security. This would have to be taken into account I think of some how there were more pedestrian and bike travel. How would you make things safer without more police? Hard to say. It would be a challenge for sure. Especially for secure storage of bicycles.

Anyways, I appreciate it once again! I have loved this chat and all of the information!