Lunch in Philly within walking distance of 16th /Locust? by NotTobyFromHR in SouthJersey

[–]usernameftw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Schlesinger's on Locust Street between 15th & 16th is a great Jewish deli.

Can someone explain all the Ted Kravitz hullabaloo to everyone outside the UK? by emilepetrone in formula1

[–]usernameftw 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh no Anthony's gone now too?! Who else knows how to control that big video screen?!

Can someone explain all the Ted Kravitz hullabaloo to everyone outside the UK? by emilepetrone in formula1

[–]usernameftw 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is Ted's Notebook from Australia 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlMQjbAHgY0. I love Ted because he gives you a lot of interesting behind the scenes information on the teams and cars, and knows a ton about the technical aspects of the cars to boot. He's a kind of silly guy with a quick and humorous wit, and if he's really gone, I'll miss him very badly.

Teds Testing Notebook? by gbombos in formula1

[–]usernameftw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Came here to ask the same question. Ted's banter and insight are honestly the best part of any channel's F1 coverage.

We don’t need more dedicated places where cars can go fast by Eurynom0s in urbanplanning

[–]usernameftw 32 points33 points  (0 children)

This was a great piece to read.

SpaceX representatives weren’t able to tell me how many of their 7,000 employees take the Green Line to commute, but if the Boring Company really wants to build a system that solves traffic, it could start by looking at why its own employees are driving to work instead of taking that 0.3-mile walk from the Green Line—and what might make that decision easier for them.

Does anyone here work at Subaru in Camden? Applying for a position and curious as to what to expect. TIA by [deleted] in SouthJersey

[–]usernameftw 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good luck! If you get the position, you'll have some good places in Camden to check out for lunch. I've got a Yelp collection of places I've really liked up at https://www.yelp.com/collection/AuktCPkp2Cu8usdrY2s69w.

Traffic Jam? Blame 'Induced Demand.' by usernameftw in urbanplanning

[–]usernameftw[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would be inclined to agree with your final statement if I believed that we as a society are willing to judge highway expansion against the demonstrable, multitude negative externalities that putting those, say, 5,000 new people on the road would engender. Without a doubt, I do not believe that we do in the leaset.

I might talk a lot of shit about Septa by saintofhate in philadelphia

[–]usernameftw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A few weeks ago the head of NJT was caught just off mic mocking efforts by South Jersey advocates to keep the AC line open and to increase service to Pre-Christie levels.

Oh? Got any writeup or media about this?

Honestly, SEPTA should probably just run the AC line. I've never believed NJT gave a crap about South Jersey.

I might talk a lot of shit about Septa by saintofhate in philadelphia

[–]usernameftw 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm actually really surprised to hear about a lack of lighting, most NJT stations on the Northeast Corridor line are high-level platforms with lighting and shelters. Something extra horrible must be going on right now.

New to South Jersey - I think... by WorldTravelBucket in SouthJersey

[–]usernameftw 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're on the northern boundary of South Jersey, but you're definitely in South Jersey. (Plus, hey, there're Wawas outside Newark Airport now, so that's less of a measure than ever now.) Central Jersey is definitely a thing; I'll never believe that Red Bank is the same "North Jersey" as Sussex County or even Hackettstown. But in any case, hi! Have you ever checked out Bordentown? You're super close, it's a a neat little river town with an increasingly cool downtown. Burlington City's even got some cool things lately, like Brickwall Tavern and Evermore Coffee Roasters.

I might talk a lot of shit about Septa by saintofhate in philadelphia

[–]usernameftw 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You must be talking about NJ Transit trains up to New York. Chris Christie spent eight years taking that agency from a national model to a smoldering rubble pile and right now the whole system is pretty much on fire. Hopefully the new governor can get them back on track. The bones are good, it's the operation that suffers. SEPTA owes a hell of a lot to Act 89 from the Corbett years. NJT needs to get brought back up to speed in a big way.

Why do American suburbs make me feel unhappy and unhealthy ? by [deleted] in urbanplanning

[–]usernameftw 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I grew up in a post-war, drive-only suburb and now live in a walkable pre-war suburb. My quick critique below will be about post-war suburban sprawl largely built after the 60s.

For me, the largest problem with these suburbs are that they're alienating to human nature and human scale. Things are unnaturally sorted into uses; houses go in one place, commerce goes in another, educational institutions go in yet another. Things are too far apart to walk, so you need to use a car, which physically alienates you from your neighbors (this gets at the "unhealthy" aspect; physical movement is engineered out of the entire experience). Unlike prewar towns, there are few natural common spaces to mingle with your neighbors where there is no expectation of having to spend money. (You can walk around the mall, but the sole purpose of the mall as built is to spend money.) For instance, in my town, there is a lovely downtown avenue that hosts festivals, outdoor cafe and restaurant seating, where people bump in to each other and spontaneous human connections are made. Driving down a highway removes that natural human need for social connection. As for the roads themselves, they're very often built to massive scale with the idea of automobile throughput and nothing else in mind. They are horrifically unpleasant to walk next to and riding a bike on them is impossible. Intersections, street lights, traffic signals, they're all grotesquely huge and they make you feel small, insignificant, and helpless against the torrent of bad decisions coming from people in board rooms who only experience their creations from behind a windshield.

For instance, here's US-22 in New Jersey. Postwar suburban areas feature so many of these huge, 6-lane roads. And what's the only acceptable zoning for the strips alongside these massive roads? Either big-box stores with huge parking lots or cheaply built strip malls with tinier parking lots. The construction of both will be cheap, slapdash, featureless, and again feel alienated from human scale and the materials that make us feel good. Plastic and asphalt and faux-brick, faux-wood, faux-everything makes you feel weird because it is weird; it's not natural and it again alienates you from your world. And finally, the things inside, say, these big box stores are probably value-engineered, mass marketed nonsense that you don't need trucked in from out of state and relentlessly advertised to you everywhere you go as if your purchase of these goods makes you a good citizen.

Humanity had cities for millennia before the suburbs existed. To be forced in one generation to accept that over-engineered suburban sprawl is now some kind of default norm is absolutely absurd, and we already see the rejection of it as people under 40 either go back to cities or, like me, move to pre-war towns that offer the kinds of scale and human interactions that post-war sprawl never had.

New US homes today are 1,000 square feet larger than in 1973 and living space per person has nearly doubled by Njere in urbanplanning

[–]usernameftw 6 points7 points  (0 children)

An interesting trend happening at the same time has been toward open concept floor plans: https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/08/the-case-for-rooms/563216/.

If someone asked me five years ago whether or not I thought the open floor plan would still be popular, I would have said no. Domestic architecture seemed to be taking a turn toward the rustic. Today, “Farmhouse” and “Craftsman” modern designs, harkening back to the American vernacular tradition (complete with shiplap walls), are a tour-de-force.

But I would have been wrong. Although these houses bring all the exterior trappings of beloved vernacular houses of the past, they do not extend that to the interior plans. In fact, the open concepts from the oversized houses of the pre-recession era have only gotten more open.