OKC Light Rail System?

[Just the facts]

As long as we've jumped the shark, is there a reason people need to be able to go from DC to Baltimore in under 20 minutes?

To get from the mistress in Baltimore to the House floor for a vote?

[Garin]

[Just the facts]

Just curious Garin, do you think public tax dollars should go to subsidize private vehicles?

[Garin]

Just curious Garin, do you think public tax dollars should go to subsidize private vehicles?

What do they do with the 45-50 cents a gallon they tax me for gas?

[Just the facts]

What do they do with the 45-50 cents a gallon they tax me for gas?

They use it to pay about 1/2 the cost of road maintenance. The rest of the road maintenance money is taken out of the general fund. The federal gasoline tax hasn't covered the cost of road maintenance since 1959. Of course, that doesn't take into count the cost of sending our military all over the world to keep oil prices below market level (which I imagine you also support) - and lets not forget the auto bailouts, Obamacare, ADA, etc... that are a direct result of the auto-culture. To be honest, I don't understand how any person associated with the TeaParty or has an inkling of fiscal responsibility can be associated with the auto-culture.

[Garin]

They use it to pay about 1/2 the cost of road maintenance. The rest of the road maintenance money is taken out of the general fund. The federal gasoline tax hasn't covered the cost of road maintenance since 1959. Of course, that doesn't take into count the cost of sending our military all over the world to keep oil prices below market level (which I imagine you also support) - and lets not forget the auto bailouts, Obamacare, ADA, etc... that are a direct result of the auto-culture. To be honest, I don't understand how any person associated with the TeaParty or has an inkling of fiscal responsibility can be associated with the auto-culture.

I am totally against our military being spread all over this world. Bring them home and protect our borders sounds a lot better to me and use the left over money to keep our roads in order.

I drive over 40k miles per year for my job and I can not do that on a train, I've personally never understood why people want to live on top of each other like they do in NY, I enjoy my house, yard, and neighborhood. Are we suppose to abandon the suburbs altogether and move into the city and live like fish in a barrel waiting on the train.... I don't think that would ever fly on a city as spread out as OKC.

[Just the facts]

I am totally against our military being spread all over this world. Bring them home and protect our borders sounds a lot better to me and use the left over money to keep our roads in order.

I drive over 40k miles per year for my job and I can not do that on a train, I've personally never understood why people want to live on top of each other like they do in NY, I enjoy my house, yard, and neighborhood. Are we suppose to abandon the suburbs altogether and move into the city and live like fish in a barrel waiting on the train.... I don't think that would ever fly on a city as spread out as OKC.

I am glad to hear that on your first point. I am a recovering war-monger myself.

I don't know what line of work you do but if we didn't have 60 years of the auto-culture you probably wouldn't have to drive 40,000 a year because everything would be closer together, and if you did still have to drive 40,000 miles the roads would be a lot less crowded (assuming you do a lot of rural driving). Either way - you win.

As for living on top of each other like NYC, the built environment of urban residential development run across all levels of density. NYC just happens to be at the extreme end and isn't even good urbanism (thanks in large part to Robert Moses and his attempt to turn NYC into an auto-centric place). There are many nodes on the rural to urban transect that I am sure you would find not only tolerable, but desirable if the city and developers made it available to you. Sadly though, many traditional options have been made illegal over the years and we are just now starting to undo all these laws.

New Urbanism T3 Residential in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

[betts]

I am totally against our military being spread all over this world. Bring them home and protect our borders sounds a lot better to me and use the left over money to keep our roads in order.

I drive over 40k miles per year for my job and I can not do that on a train, I've personally never understood why people want to live on top of each other like they do in NY, I enjoy my house, yard, and neighborhood. Are we suppose to abandon the suburbs altogether and move into the city and live like fish in a barrel waiting on the train.... I don't think that would ever fly on a city as spread out as OKC.

No one is suggesting we abandon the suburbs. Until a few years ago, living downtown was not an option for many and that is changing. Some of us appreciate density and living like fish in a barrel, but diversity in all things is good. What I do think is not necessarily a good thing is the design of many suburbs, with rows and rows of houses located far from services. The Plaza District and Capitol Hill are reminders of when there were regional shops, groceries banks, restaurants and small businesses with houses clustered around them. So, you could walk or travel short distances from your home for services and you had a meeting place for neighbors. I believe that's a better arrangement, regardless of how far from the city center you live. Nichols Hills is an area that never lost that design and I believe it's one of the reasons it remained such a popular place to live. The Plaza is used all the time by residents of the area.

[Just the facts]

Betts, what you described is 'tent-pole' urbanism and is represented today by the 5 minute pedestrian shed and neighborhood model. The center of each neighborhood is within a 5 minute walk (1/4 mile) of the people who live in the neighborhood and then neighborhood centers are connected with mass transit which results in a mass-transit stop every 1/2 mile.

For those who don't believe in climate change just substitute debt, money, and cost for global warming and emissions where appropriate. The solution is the same.

[CaptDave]

Downtown Edmond could become an excellent example of this. If I had the means, I would develop a mixed use residential project somewhere between UCO and the Farmer's Market. There is enough vacant or underutilized land within the "downtown" area of Edmond where it could become very nice - walkable to just about anything one needs for basic subsistence and easily walkable to transit (present and future). A person could live in downtown Edmond and work in the OKC CBD or go to school at OU if the transit corridors are ever developed as we hope. The central business district of Edmond is intact and thriving and enough of an attraction on its own that I think multi-family residential would be very successful. For all the fussing and sniping directed toward the "suburbanity" of Edmond, it could easily become one of the areas best new urbanist enclaves with transit connections to most parts of the metro.

[OKCisOK4me]

My guess is Garin is in the oil field.

[Garin]

My guess is Garin is in the oil field.

Building material sales and I rarely leave the metro......

[Just the facts]

Building material sales and I rarely leave the metro......

While you probably couldn't use a rail system for work imagine making all your sales calls within a higher density 5 mile radius that a rail system would produce. Your level of productivity would go through the roof by just eliminating the travel time from customer to customer. How many hours do you think it took you to drive 40,000 miles? I estimate around 1,200 hours and most full-time people only work 2,000 hours per year.

[Garin]

I would say at least half of my day is spent driving I start checking jobs around 6am and Im usually home by 5:30 in the evening. I make calls from El Reno to Harrah and Guthrie to Paulsvalley. I'm salary and commission so I work a lot of hours each day in comparison to our hourly guys.

[hoya]

I would say at least half of my day is spent driving I start checking jobs around 6am and Im usually home by 5:30 in the evening. I make calls from El Reno to Harrah and Guthrie to Paulsvalley. I'm salary and commission so I work a lot of hours each day in comparison to our hourly guys.

Something that took a while to finally sink in for me... not everything has to fit my lifestyle. I don't want to live piled on top of other people either, but a lot of people enjoy that kind of life. It's exciting and fun for them. I'm a generally boring person whose idea of a perfect Saturday night is cooking dinner and watching an old movie by myself or reading a book, but I understand some people like to go out and do things, like talk to people. Yech.

For Oklahoma City to be taken seriously as something other than a tumbleweed-filled cowtown, we need functional mass transit. It's something I want our city to have even if I personally will never use it. Strong urban neighborhoods will give us tremendous economic growth.