really jarring coming back to the US after traveling to Asia for the last three weeks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people saying the US has given up on development and infrastructure need to get out more. You’re spending too much time in the Northeast. Head South and West, my friends.

Rail infrastructure is every bit, if not more important as type of infrastructure as roads.

Does Australia have an impressive rail infrastructure? I don’t see how a country as large as ours (similar to Australia) could have high speed passenger rail outside of the northeast. It’s like complaining one can’t sail a boat between LA and NY.

Sure you could, start by connecting major metropolitan areas. LA to SF (you could even expand that from San Diego up to Seattle). Houston-Dallas-Austin-San Antonio. Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Orlando-Tampa. Extend the Acela past DC through Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Atlanta. Chicago-St. Louis.

You don’t have to connect the entire country to make huge changes.

Why would rail travelers pay to visit Seattle or San Francisco ? Both cities are near collapse and with city-centers which are decrepit shadows of their former selves.

Even Starbucks is pulling out of Seattle after all the bad blm riots, and even more ludicrous lawmaking which followed.

[Anonymous]

Government procurement rules are utterly draconian and prevent real innovation pretty much everywhere.

Spending on military to keep other countries safe limits our ability to invest in our own.

I believe those are the biggest two reasons why our infrastructure is crumbling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people saying the US has given up on development and infrastructure need to get out more. You’re spending too much time in the Northeast. Head South and West, my friends.

Rail infrastructure is every bit, if not more important as type of infrastructure as roads.

Does Australia have an impressive rail infrastructure? I don’t see how a country as large as ours (similar to Australia) could have high speed passenger rail outside of the northeast. It’s like complaining one can’t sail a boat between LA and NY.

Stupid comparison. Australia has 25 million people, the US has 332 million.

[Anonymous]

No one does NIMBY quite like the US. So much of the cost per mile of any infrastructure here is the cost of taking, then the cost of impact statements, then the cost of litigation, then the cost of change orders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people saying the US has given up on development and infrastructure need to get out more. You’re spending too much time in the Northeast. Head South and West, my friends.

Rail infrastructure is every bit, if not more important as type of infrastructure as roads.

Does Australia have an impressive rail infrastructure? I don’t see how a country as large as ours (similar to Australia) could have high speed passenger rail outside of the northeast. It’s like complaining one can’t sail a boat between LA and NY.

Sure you could, start by connecting major metropolitan areas. LA to SF (you could even expand that from San Diego up to Seattle). Houston-Dallas-Austin-San Antonio. Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Orlando-Tampa. Extend the Acela past DC through Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Atlanta. Chicago-St. Louis.

You don’t have to connect the entire country to make huge changes.

Why would rail travelers pay to visit Seattle or San Francisco ? Both cities are near collapse and with city-centers which are decrepit shadows of their former selves.

Even Starbucks is pulling out of Seattle after all the bad blm riots, and even more ludicrous lawmaking which followed.

And how is this relevant to the discussion on infrastructure? Please stay focused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people saying the US has given up on development and infrastructure need to get out more. You’re spending too much time in the Northeast. Head South and West, my friends.

Rail infrastructure is every bit, if not more important as type of infrastructure as roads.

Does Australia have an impressive rail infrastructure? I don’t see how a country as large as ours (similar to Australia) could have high speed passenger rail outside of the northeast. It’s like complaining one can’t sail a boat between LA and NY.

Sure you could, start by connecting major metropolitan areas. LA to SF (you could even expand that from San Diego up to Seattle). Houston-Dallas-Austin-San Antonio. Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Orlando-Tampa. Extend the Acela past DC through Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Atlanta. Chicago-St. Louis.

You don’t have to connect the entire country to make huge changes.

Why would rail travelers pay to visit Seattle or San Francisco ? Both cities are near collapse and with city-centers which are decrepit shadows of their former selves.

Even Starbucks is pulling out of Seattle after all the bad blm riots, and even more ludicrous lawmaking which followed.

And how is this relevant to the discussion on infrastructure? Please stay focused.

Building rail is important as we work to reimagine and rebuild cities - but we need to be thoughtful rather than just build rail.

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2023/1/3/dont-add-trains-sidewalks-and-bike-lanes-to-your-city

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people saying the US has given up on development and infrastructure need to get out more. You’re spending too much time in the Northeast. Head South and West, my friends.

Rail infrastructure is every bit, if not more important as type of infrastructure as roads.

Does Australia have an impressive rail infrastructure? I don’t see how a country as large as ours (similar to Australia) could have high speed passenger rail outside of the northeast. It’s like complaining one can’t sail a boat between LA and NY.

Sure you could, start by connecting major metropolitan areas. LA to SF (you could even expand that from San Diego up to Seattle). Houston-Dallas-Austin-San Antonio. Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Orlando-Tampa. Extend the Acela past DC through Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Atlanta. Chicago-St. Louis.

You don’t have to connect the entire country to make huge changes.

Only reason people take trains in Europe is because they can’t afford to drive. Very few people would choose to take a train between Raleigh and Atlanta. They drive. Most people aren’t going to a central business district. A car provides the freedom to get where you want when you want. Americans value freedom.

We also take because it's often faster than driving, because it's we can sit in the train and relax or do some work and because it's environmentally better. We also absolutely hate being stuck in our car for too long, where as Americans seem to actually enjoy the experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You people saying the US has given up on development and infrastructure need to get out more. You’re spending too much time in the Northeast. Head South and West, my friends.

Rail infrastructure is every bit, if not more important as type of infrastructure as roads.

Does Australia have an impressive rail infrastructure? I don’t see how a country as large as ours (similar to Australia) could have high speed passenger rail outside of the northeast. It’s like complaining one can’t sail a boat between LA and NY.

Sure you could, start by connecting major metropolitan areas. LA to SF (you could even expand that from San Diego up to Seattle). Houston-Dallas-Austin-San Antonio. Miami-Ft Lauderdale-Orlando-Tampa. Extend the Acela past DC through Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Atlanta. Chicago-St. Louis.

You don’t have to connect the entire country to make huge changes.

To be fair, traditionally we’ve had smaller cars in Europe. Not meant to be comfortable for long trips. (That is changing, though, and I’m seeing bigger cars everywhere). If we had U.S. fuel prices and larger cars, I think more people would be inclined to drive.
Only reason people take trains in Europe is because they can’t afford to drive. Very few people would choose to take a train between Raleigh and Atlanta. They drive. Most people aren’t going to a central business district. A car provides the freedom to get where you want when you want. Americans value freedom.

We also take because it's often faster than driving, because it's we can sit in the train and relax or do some work and because it's environmentally better. We also absolutely hate being stuck in our car for too long, where as Americans seem to actually enjoy the experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one does NIMBY quite like the US. So much of the cost per mile of any infrastructure here is the cost of taking, then the cost of impact statements, then the cost of litigation, then the cost of change orders

But it seems the US can’t even just keep existing infrastructure well maintained much less build new infrastructure.

[Anonymous]

Rail is hands down better for the environment than flying or driving. So I’d prefer the limited infrastructure funding go to rail rather than marginally nicer baggage carousels.

I actually prefer the train to NYC over flying, what with getting out to National, going through security, and so on.

The problem is the longer time rail takes compared to flying to places beyond NYC or Richmond VA. (Rail is probably faster than driving for these longer trips, so the comparison is flying). For a trip to Atlanta, it would be hard to make a case to my employer that I should take the longer train trip. There would need to be a shift in employer povs.

And making that long train trip on a vacation with small children would also be tough. I guess I could have sold my train-crazy toddler son on it, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Singapore for the first time and after hearing how incredibly clean and modern it is from many people I was really surprised by the amount of litter I saw all over as well as the strange dearth of garbage cans anywhere. I wasn’t nearly as impressed as I expected to be.

Singapore was very disappointing to me. I wanted an Asian Cultural experience and it felt like how an Asian country pretending to be an American City. Like the towns in Russia that were built to mimic American life for spy training. It was weird and sterile and when I finally got to see what tourists don't see it was perverted and scary and nauseating. I was so glad to get home.

[Anonymous]

See section 3. Very interesting to compare distribution of passengers rail lines in US vs Europe.

https://themindcircle.com/perspective-changing-maps/?fbclid=IwAR1G6RLKT86VPMDpArVEH6C_8vC6snZu7fwtGwJ01HEo7ve2AK3NUt30cG8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you never heard of the coffin homes in Hong Kong or Guryong Village in S Korea? You were a tourist in a series of small countries and now you think you are worldly enough to criticize the place that gave you the opportunities and privilege to visit those countries to begin with?

Is so crazy how stupid Americans have a knee jerk reaction to any criticism. Take your blinders off, gun loving dolts.

[Anonymous]

Japan is amazing, like going to the future. Very, very clean and everything works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Singapore for the first time and after hearing how incredibly clean and modern it is from many people I was really surprised by the amount of litter I saw all over as well as the strange dearth of garbage cans anywhere. I wasn’t nearly as impressed as I expected to be.

Singapore was very disappointing to me. I wanted an Asian Cultural experience and it felt like how an Asian country pretending to be an American City. Like the towns in Russia that were built to mimic American life for spy training. It was weird and sterile and when I finally got to see what tourists don't see it was perverted and scary and nauseating. I was so glad to get home.

San Fran, Seattle, and NYC were all disappointing to me. Here they are built up to be some kind of beautiful cities and the crown jewels of America, yet when you go there, there are homeless everywhere, shanty tent towns everywhere, trash strewn everywhere, hypodermic needles in the streets you need to look out for so that you don't step on them. What's really nauseating is the sheer quantity of human feces and urine on the streets in San Fran. OMG the smell of San Fran in the summer is revolting. It's like walking through a cloud of hepatitis so thick you could cut it with a knife.