The Immobile Masses: Why Traffic Is Awful and Public Transit Is Worse
Two footnotes on this article:<p>1. The problems it highlights can be reduced to low tax revenues. Our infrastructure is crumbling because we do not collect enough taxes to subsidize it. Things like roads and trains cannot (and should not) pay for themselves---they are a public good. The train might be empty at night, but the ability to take a train home prevents drunk driving, for example. One cannot put a monitory value on services like that, they speak to our collective quality of life. The SF transit situation is the direct consequence of a failing tax base. The wealth of the local tech industry is not &quot;trickling down&quot; to improve city infrastructure, in proportion to the industry&#x27;s growth.<p>2. Re: the conversation about walk-ability of cities. The key concept here is <i>density</i>. We need to value density as it allows for more compact living. Instead, municipalities in places like the Bay Area consistently vote against new construction and against zoning laws that would allow for taller, more densely populated buildings&#x2F;neighborhoods. The law of supply and demand says increase the supply of housing to make something affordable. This is not some mysterious process: there&#x27;s simply no political will on the part of existing inhabitants to &quot;devalue&quot; their residences by increasing the supply in the housing market.