The percentage of US commuters on bicycles in 1980 was 0.5%. The number of bike commuters has shot up to 0.6%, with much better bikes, and bike lanes. You can't wish that people were different than they are.
@OhTheUrbanity I live in Pittsburgh and we have a very good system of bike lanes and trails, but we also have a lot of steep hills and a winter that seems to go on for 6 months. Safety is hardly the only factor keeping people off of bikes.
@@johnmcmahon5225 I live in Montreal, which is significantly colder and snowier than Pittsburgh (and somewhat hilly, although not as much as Pittsburgh), and bike infrastructure has been very successful here.
@@OhTheUrbanity In an article in the Gazette, it said that the amount of bike riding as a form of transportation in Montreal on any given day was 3.3% in 2018, and that cycling is still primarily a form of recreation in the city. 1.8% of Pittsburghers are bike commuters. Both numbers are pretty small.
I generally agree with Jane Jacobs but bicycles are a tough sell in a place like Toronto where it is far too cold to cycle comfortably during many months of the year. In addition, people have so many errands and cart around so much baggage, that bikes are not really practical. They are more impractical still as today's parents feel the need to supervise, co-ordinate and provide chauffeur service to their children 24 hours a day. I therefore cannot think that the expense of bicycle infastructures in cities like Toronto and Hamilton will produce sufficient benefits to justify the cost. We have developed bicycle lanes here in Hamilton but they are used very little, especially in winter. Another problem with dedicated bicycle lanes along major streets is that they makes the trip longer, but when you are using your own leg power to make a trip (as opposed to biking for recreation), you want to get where you are going by the quickest route. Hamilton is not a large or congested city and there are many residential and secondary streets, as well as alleys, that are quite safe for cycling, and most people who cycle here continue to use them to get somwhere, rather than go out of their way to use one of the dedicated bicycle lanes for a longer trip.
I biked every day last winter in Montreal, a city that's significantly colder and snowier than Toronto. As long as the lanes were plowed, biking in the winter isn't that much different than walking somewhere in the winter.
Has Jane been to a farmer's market? Last time i went, asparagus cost $8 a bundle. Who can afford those? Definitely not the poor. Another yuppy fantasy.
I think possibly that she might think of farmers markets as an intrinsic part of a good community, rather than something special for the rich to show off
Ask yourself why farmers markets are only popping up in higher income areas.... and why the farmers need to sell at such high prices just to turn a small profit...
A market is not the same as a farmers market. Farmers markets consist of small local farms selling their own produce. Go to the weekly market in any town center in the Netherlands and you'll find a ton more stuff and it will be priced comparably to the grocery stores. Markets make it fun and interesting to be in a place.
Hi, I know this is an older thread, but I just want to throw in my 2¢. 🙂 *_"Another yuppy fantasy."_* Yup! So asparagus costs $8.00/bundle, and that is just waaay too pricey for most households, including mine (at least no more than enough for Christmas dinner), There's no doubt about it. But I'd suggest that maybe you're shopping at the wrong place. Those kind of prices only attract a very particular type of customer: the common North American simpleton-poseur. Many times, I've heard of vendors buying "farmers' market" type produce from Costco or Safeway (for example), for their market stall. Maybe they'll source some cheap (or even free - to them!) misshapen vegetables, or rub some soil on their cob corn husks in a few strategic spots, or mix a few unripe or bruised apples with the good ones. Voilà the authentic "10-Mile Diet" look. After that, it's just a matter of making a cardboard sign or two with a Sharpie, passing all of it off as organic and locally grown, sell it at double the Costco retail price, and rake in the dough. Just do what the Sea-Monkey or Pet Rock people did! Suckers will line up faster than you can sing "Cha Cha Cha Chia!" The vendor and customer, _they_ are the yuppies. I'd even bet that each knows _exactly_ what the other is up to. The customer wouldn't dare question the price of that asparagus, lest some eavesdropping neighbourhood Karen hear the haggling and think "Tsk tsk, homeboy can't even afford a bundle of asparagus!" And as "homeboy" leaves with his farmers' market treasures, he paints that overused, self-satisfied look on his _Backpfeifengesicht._ It's a win-win! I guess all I'm saying is, when you're part of a non-gentrified, real salt of the earth type, family and pet friendly neighbourhood with daycare and an independent coffee bar (yadda, yadda, yadda), your investigation eventually pays off, because now you know where to find the good stuff. You'd never consider buying anything from that yuppie-ass farmers' market. It's imported European oregano versus BC Bud. Sell the oregano to the yuppies, and keep the bud for yourself. In turn, he can go work on his own durn neighbourhood. I think that might be how Jane Jacobs would see it, if I may be so bold... OK, fine, whatever. I can hear your eyes rolling, you know. Sorry for the length of my rant. This quarantine is nothing but unrelenting boredom, and I just killed me some time.
soo simple to understand her words and they are soo strong, made happy to see this video
Praise the lord
Great woman
Practical wisdom
20th Century Mumbai Chawl System is a best example of neighborhood.
So far ahead of her time.
Helleluah
The percentage of US commuters on bicycles in 1980 was 0.5%. The number of bike commuters has shot up to 0.6%, with much better bikes, and bike lanes.
You can't wish that people were different than they are.
Almost nowhere in the United States (or Canada) has a complete network of protected bike lanes. Most places have a few disconnected painted lanes.
@OhTheUrbanity I live in Pittsburgh and we have a very good system of bike lanes and trails, but we also have a lot of steep hills and a winter that seems to go on for 6 months. Safety is hardly the only factor keeping people off of bikes.
@@johnmcmahon5225 I live in Montreal, which is significantly colder and snowier than Pittsburgh (and somewhat hilly, although not as much as Pittsburgh), and bike infrastructure has been very successful here.
@@OhTheUrbanity In an article in the Gazette, it said that the amount of bike riding as a form of transportation in Montreal on any given day was 3.3% in 2018, and that cycling is still primarily a form of recreation in the city.
1.8% of Pittsburghers are bike commuters. Both numbers are pretty small.
I generally agree with Jane Jacobs but bicycles are a tough sell in a place like Toronto where it is far too cold to cycle comfortably during many months of the year. In addition, people have so many errands and cart around so much baggage, that bikes are not really practical. They are more impractical still as today's parents feel the need to supervise, co-ordinate and provide chauffeur service to their children 24 hours a day. I therefore cannot think that the expense of bicycle infastructures in cities like Toronto and Hamilton will produce sufficient benefits to justify the cost. We have developed bicycle lanes here in Hamilton but they are used very little, especially in winter.
Another problem with dedicated bicycle lanes along major streets is that they makes the trip longer, but when you are using your own leg power to make a trip (as opposed to biking for recreation), you want to get where you are going by the quickest route. Hamilton is not a large or congested city and there are many residential and secondary streets, as well as alleys, that are quite safe for cycling, and most people who cycle here continue to use them to get somwhere, rather than go out of their way to use one of the dedicated bicycle lanes for a longer trip.
Cycling in winter may be more doable than you think: th-cam.com/video/Uhx-26GfCBU/w-d-xo.html
I biked every day last winter in Montreal, a city that's significantly colder and snowier than Toronto. As long as the lanes were plowed, biking in the winter isn't that much different than walking somewhere in the winter.
Japan is the ideal city jane jacobs trying to suggest.
holy robert moseses batman
yeah, Japan is the best example
gugel brought me here
Japan
yeah it's called living in Downtown and can only be afforded by the yuppies.
Or we can build traditional neighborhoods across the city, not just downtown and the neighborhoods on the edge of it. Just a thought you know
Has Jane been to a farmer's market?
Last time i went, asparagus cost $8 a bundle. Who can afford those? Definitely not the poor. Another yuppy fantasy.
I think possibly that she might think of farmers markets as an intrinsic part of a good community, rather than something special for the rich to show off
Ask yourself why farmers markets are only popping up in higher income areas.... and why the farmers need to sell at such high prices just to turn a small profit...
A lot of the "farm produce" at our market here in Hamilton comes from the Ontario Food Distribution Centre - the same place the grocery chains get it.
A market is not the same as a farmers market. Farmers markets consist of small local farms selling their own produce. Go to the weekly market in any town center in the Netherlands and you'll find a ton more stuff and it will be priced comparably to the grocery stores. Markets make it fun and interesting to be in a place.
Hi, I know this is an older thread, but I just want to throw in my 2¢. 🙂
*_"Another yuppy fantasy."_*
Yup! So asparagus costs $8.00/bundle, and that is just waaay too pricey for most households, including mine (at least no more than enough for Christmas dinner), There's no doubt about it.
But I'd suggest that maybe you're shopping at the wrong place. Those kind of prices only attract a very particular type of customer: the common North American simpleton-poseur. Many times, I've heard of vendors buying "farmers' market" type produce from Costco or Safeway (for example), for their market stall. Maybe they'll source some cheap (or even free - to them!) misshapen vegetables, or rub some soil on their cob corn husks in a few strategic spots, or mix a few unripe or bruised apples with the good ones. Voilà the authentic "10-Mile Diet" look.
After that, it's just a matter of making a cardboard sign or two with a Sharpie, passing all of it off as organic and locally grown, sell it at double the Costco retail price, and rake in the dough. Just do what the Sea-Monkey or Pet Rock people did! Suckers will line up faster than you can sing "Cha Cha Cha Chia!"
The vendor and customer, _they_ are the yuppies. I'd even bet that each knows _exactly_ what the other is up to. The customer wouldn't dare question the price of that asparagus, lest some eavesdropping neighbourhood Karen hear the haggling and think "Tsk tsk, homeboy can't even afford a bundle of asparagus!" And as "homeboy" leaves with his farmers' market treasures, he paints that overused, self-satisfied look on his _Backpfeifengesicht._ It's a win-win!
I guess all I'm saying is, when you're part of a non-gentrified, real salt of the earth type, family and pet friendly neighbourhood with daycare and an independent coffee bar (yadda, yadda, yadda), your investigation eventually pays off, because now you know where to find the good stuff. You'd never consider buying anything from that yuppie-ass farmers' market.
It's imported European oregano versus BC Bud. Sell the oregano to the yuppies, and keep the bud for yourself. In turn, he can go work on his own durn neighbourhood. I think that might be how Jane Jacobs would see it, if I may be so bold... OK, fine, whatever. I can hear your eyes rolling, you know.
Sorry for the length of my rant. This quarantine is nothing but unrelenting boredom, and I just killed me some time.