Dealing with stupid people. (COMC)


Sometimes I get tweaked. I get tweaked by people who speak out of their ass. People who talk about something, say they want the world to change, but only IF EVERYONE ELSE CHANGES!

It’s like NIMBY - Not In My BackYard. Things are perfect, it’s easy to take up a cause until you yourself are required to sacrifice or follow some rules. Case in point, a friend on Flickr posted a photo of an empty lot in Williamsburg where a garage is being built. Parking garages are just ugly. Ewwwwww... parking garage! Ewwww...

On a level, I can understand. People may not find parking garages the most attractive structures but, they have a function. Given the choice between a parking garage and a neighborhood where traffic is always congested, there’s a ton of double parking and people are driving round and round looking for a place to park? Well, I’ll take the parking garage.

Then, in the comments under the photo,develops this discussion about how EVIL the autmobile is. It’s just evil. Evil! EVIL!

So, here is the comment stream for the aforementioned pic:

Just what the neighborhood needed

(picture)

A parking garage! (I am being sarcastic.)

world of pj says: Actually, given how crowded the neighborhood has become - it probably does need it.

animalvegetable says: I don't think any dense neighborhood needs a parking lot. I think we need more bicycle parking, more ferries to manhattan, a pedestrian bridge to manhattan, more buses and streetcars. we don't need more cars on the streets. parking lots were gotten rid of in soho and in astor place to great success. this parking lot will probably meet that eventual end. the century of the car is over.

dirtycrumbs says: lol!

Well said av!

:-)

So gross... and a disgrace considering Williamsburg has the highest % of bike commuters in Brooklyn.

Ugh. This pisses me off.

I actually think the cure-all for gentrification is car-free zoning. No yuppies will ever corrupt a neighborhood if they can't bring their cars. And it's win-win b/c housing would be more affordable (less space you have spend accommodating 2000 pound steel boxes...) and alternative transportation options would be more appealing - so poor people won't get priced out...

Williamsburg would be a lot better off if it took that turn a few years back. Inviting all the cars in will only hasten its demise and speed up its inevitable SoHo-ification.

Javier Hernandez-Miyares says: since my jeep was stolen in 1995, i have lived happiest in nyc without a motorcar. if u won't use public transportation, then please move to mississippi. we won't miss you.

world of pj says: Okay, in order... a parking lot brings people into the neighborhood. It keeps on street parking cleared up, although you personally may not like it, the merchants in your neighborhood are more than happy to have more people streaming into your ’hood to pay for the rather high square footage costs of commercial space.

Also, having a safe place to park your vehicle? Kinda avoids stuff like this happening - since my jeep was stolen in 1995.

Gentrification?

Ha!

I get the sense you are gentrification buddy! Because long before you showed up on the scene there was a whole community of people living in that neighborhood and the rather huge influx of folks like you managed to do one thing... displace the original residents and make it impossible for them to remain in a neighborhood where they have roots and memories.

It cracks me up to ride the “L” train, see all those freshly scrubbed faces and remember what it was like to ride the same line 25 years ago.

You want to advocate something besides a parking lot? How about construction of true low-income housing? And I’m not talking about the kind of thing some midwestern import can share with four friends either.

As far as moving to Mississippi? Sunday I walked eight miles through the city, maybe nine. I enjoy walking through the city and I enjoy it a lot more than riding the subway or the bus at times. However, there are also parts of the city that are underserved by public transportation. Cars are a reality, get used to them - maybe you’re the one who should move to a place where they don’t have them?

world of pj says: Oh, and while I’m at it... as far as you bicycle clowns go.

First thing the city should do is license anyone who owns a bicycle the way motor vehicle operators are licensed and force you all to carry insurance.

Second you should be subject to all the same laws and rules of the road I’ve seen bicycle riders in this town flaunt on a daily basis. You know those rules, ones like driving with the flow of traffic, staying in the bicycle line, obeying traffic signals.

After being hit by one of you idiots, who just happened to be riding the wrong way on a street and having to force the guy to hang around for the police (which was funny just watching him try to lie by giving false information and getting caught in the lie), I have little sympathy for any of you at all.

To quote an observation from Red Forman: Dumbass!

This is like genius Bloomberg’s idea for congestion pricing. It’s such a great idea, why? Because it gives New Yorkers the chance to have othere people pay their freight.

New York does have a marvelous transit system and I take advantage of it but, let’s get one thing straight! Funding for that marvelous transit system, it’s done on the backs of drivers.

All the city-centric who think it’s a great idea for the rest of the world to pay to make your life some idyllic perfect paradise, here are some real suggestions for you:

First, charge a bus and subway fare that costs what it actually takes to run all those trains and buses without subsidies. In other words, without federal funding (from the highway transportation fund), without the money that is diverted from the maintenance and upkeep of roads. This includes quite a bit of money that is directed at public transportation from tolls on bridges and tunnels. Facilities that had the tolls instituted originally to pay for their construction and upkeep and that have provided a steady revenue stream for public transportation for decades. Oh, and while we’re at it - let’s get rid of the tax on gasoline that every driver pays at the pump, or rather let‘s take the money from gasoline taxes and put it only towards roads.

Second, hey I agree - the city has great public transportation!

So if you live in the five boroughs, you don’t need a car! CERTAINLY IF YOU LIVE IN THE FIVE BOROUGHS YOU DON’T NEED AN SUV! So, why not tax those city residents or charge NYC residents a premium for owning a car? Let’s go one step further, let’s base the tax around gross vehicle weight! So, you live in Williamsburg or Manhattan and feel the need to drive something that gets 15 miles to the gallon, you should pay for the privelege. Certainly, you aren’t going off-roading so what’s the point in owning such a large vehicle?

While we’re at it. Let‘s talk about the whole congestion pricing plan.

I’ve lived in and around New York for a long time and I can tell you that the part of Manhattan below 96th street down to the Battery is not the only part of NYC to be subject to congestion. Somehow, the dim bulb who is the mayor believes it is. My question though is this: if you live in the congestion zone (that very expensive, desirable part of the city), why do you own a car!?!? With the many bus and subway lines there is absolutely no need for it! So rather than charging people outside the congestion zone, why aren’t they charging the people who live in the congestion zone $500 a year for owning a car?

See, that way if they instituted the congestion zone pricing, it would be fair to everyone. If you tried to dodge the fee for owning a car by registering it out of state, outside of the city (both of which are way illegal) you would have to pay the congestion charge like everybody else.

The silence from the mayor’s office on this was deafening.

Third, I’m serious about licensing bicyclists! They should have done that a long time ago! I can’t begin to tell you the many stories I’ve heard of people getting hit or nearly hit by bicyclists on city streets. I drive a scooter as well as a car.

Any motorcycle or scooter is two wheeled and still has to follow traffic laws.

Why?

cause there is a danger of an accident, bicyclists in the city are no different. They should be licensed, registered and required to carry insurance. They should also get ticketed the for breaking traffic laws. This means all those guys who can’t be bothered to stop because of a light or who ride the wrong way up the street or on the wrong side of the street should be hit with the kind of tickets motorists are! Let ’em get a nice $110 or $160 ticket and see how quickly the city gets enough revenue to run the transit system.

Fourth, get rid of cabs. Cabs are not public transportation! Any idiot who actually talks about outlawing cars but then parks his or her ass in the back of a cab to ride out to the airport or back home to the boroughs after a night out partying with friends just is full of sh*t! Plain and simple, a cab is a convenience, riding in a cab means that you are opting for convenience over the public transportation system.

Let’s face facts here, the other thing people in the five boroughs don’t seem to recognize is how much their convenience is built on the backs of the internal combustion engine. City dwellers want to pretend it’s the passenger car that’s the problem and turn a blind eye to trucks when practically everything, EVERYTHING in New York City is transported by truck.

It’s the very thing that cuts the legs out of the argument of these flower power morons. They enjoy the convenience of everything being a few blocks from where they live because IT’S TRUCKED THERE! Of course, when you talk to these idiots they just skip over that fact.

(cleaning out my closet from 10/08)