A German in America

[drothgery]

Well, Europe was lucky because it already had a very high population density before the car was invented. Thus, sprawl is not nearly as pervasive there as in the USA, and most settlements are a lot more compact which keeps travel distances down.

As a result, Europe is able to withstand gas price increases much better than the USA - because there is little sprawl, there are actually real alternatives to cars possible.

Suggested reading: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226076911

Suffice to say that to the degree that there's less sprawl in Europe today than in the US today, it's almost entirely due to government regulation.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Suggested reading: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226076911

Suffice to say that to the degree that there's less sprawl in Europe today than in the US today, it's almost entirely due to government regulation.

Well, I don't quite buy this, but I will have a look at it. While European cities also have their suburban belts, they've always had the problem that existing communities were already in place, and so new neighborhoods had to be built around them. So the lots for individual houses turned out to be a lot smaller, and the streets a lot narrower. So they made maximum use out of them:

- The houses mostly have two or three floors, plus a basement.
- The garages were often directly built as closely to the street, skipping the long driveways.
- The sidewalks were built next to the street without being separated by a strip of greens.
- Instead of filling the rest of the lot with one big expanse of green, it's traditionally filled with a mixture of hedges, trees, and gardens, thus maximizing its use and making it appear larger.

Even well-off families often live like this. And I really don't think we are missing out in terms of life quality just because we don't have an American-style sprawl - quite the contrary.

 

[Aries_Omega]

I want to say first...I normally don't read blogs. I am not interested in what a person thinks of toast. Your blog on the other hand is VERY interesting and a pleasure to read. I do have a few comments though.

LA and California with rain. Yes...we are scared of it. Most of California is a desert...at least southern California is. You want a real treat...snow in the South, like North Carolina and especially in northern Virginia, near Washington DC where I live. Northern Virginia's seem to think that because the state of Virgina is a Southern state and sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War (or as some schools still call it the "War of Northern Aggression") that they are somehow magically immune to getting snow. When the news says we have a storm coming and we are getting snow it seems that EVERYBODY goes out and prepares for Armageddon. I am an Army veteran and was stationed in Colorado. Knowing what snowfall is truly like I find this behavior hilarious. What we get is insignificant compared to what I have seen and considered a "normal winter".

If you ever get to make it out to this area you'll see some interesting things. We have lots of museums and monuments being that it's the capital of the country and all but you will see what I call an odd study in contradictions. Being not a native of the area I found how things contradicted each other here. We have the metro rail system and great bus schedules here but we also have some of the worst traffic problems here then I have ever seen. You see a lot of "eco-friendly" business and stores here but they don't use said public transportation or even carpool because "I make enough money to drive in and pay for parking". It's about a 50/50 split if they drive a hybrid or some kind of gas guzzler. Had one guy said he why he drove this thing...I want to say he said it was a Unimog is because he could afford it and wanted to show people he had money and that he was an environmentally conscious because he is driving the same thing he drove when he volunteered to do disaster relief in Europe. Sad thing is he had a metro stop two blocks away from his store. I have nostalgia for things I drove long ago that I have good memories of but you won't see me driving around in a humvee or even worst some street legal version of the M3 Bradley even if it would make traffic easier.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

If you ever get to make it out to this area you'll see some interesting things.

Well, I am currently contemplating where to go for my week of vacation in the first week of June. Washington DC and NYC are at the top of my list, but I haven't decided to which of those I will go...

 

[Villano]

NYC, no doubt (of course, I used to live there, so I'm probably biased).

 

[DarkKestral]

I'd say it probably would depend on your wishlist of "things to do," as NY has more entertainment (theaters, major shopping areas, and things like that) related tourist spots while Washington has more historical and politically related tourist spots. However, it's not entirely universal. So look around, see what interests you, then go there.

 

[DarkKestral]

Jurgen: those flags involved in digging, the utilities DO keep maps. The problem is simply that the stuff underground occasionally moves, so the maps aren't always correct. the actual pipes and lines can be a meter or two off from where the lines are expected to be, so they come out and find the actual location after consulting the map.

And sadly, yeah, we don't have centralized health care. That's probably likely to change sooner or later; a major part of the presidential race has involved candidates stating their positions on how to create a national health care system that rewards preventative care properly while also paying for emergency care appropriately. However, the pharma companies complain that under such a regime, they'd be forced to go under as apparently "Europeans don't pay enough to account for the companies' R&D costs." (Am I correct in my guess Germany has capped prices on pharmaceuticals?) This may or may not be true, but they're MAJOR lobbyists, and they seem to promise cushy jobs to any ex-Congress critter if they're willing to go back as a lobbyist. So they have some significant power. Frankly, if it was an issue, I'd expect their profits to be lower, but eh..

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Having lived both in the North and the South...

Yes- in the South, a few inches of snow is cause for alarm, if not outright panic. The cities- not to mention the people themselves- aren't equipped to handle the weather.

In Western Kentucky, where I'm from, we have a lot of bad roads that become nearly unpassable with a half inch of snow. Great fun.

Brad

 

[Thunderfoot]

While true, parts of upstate NY and much of Pennsylvania is culturally rust belt (pretty much wrap around the great lakes from Buffalo to Milwaukee, with a splotch heading out to Pittsburgh), which I tend to think of a 'Midwestern'. Of course, I'm originally from Cleveland suburbia...

NY? Pennsylvania - Midwest? - HAHAHAHA! As a born and bred Heartland Illinois boy, (that's that area WAYYYYY down south right in the corner between Missouri, Kentucky and Arkansas - there isn't a New Yorker born I would even CONSIDER to be Midwestern and Pennsylvania, though pretty and definitely less urban and snobbish than the rest of the Mid-Atlantic North-Eastern states is a far cry from the Midwest.

I may live in Maryland now, hon, but I am a Midwestern boy trough and through y'all.

 

[Thunderfoot]

<SNIP>
And sadly, yeah, we don't have centralized health care. That's probably likely to change sooner or later; a major part of the presidential race has involved candidates stating their positions on how to create a national health care system that rewards preventative care properly while also paying for emergency care appropriately. However, the pharma companies complain that under such a regime, they'd be forced to go under as apparently "Europeans don't pay enough to account for the companies' R&D costs." (Am I correct in my guess Germany has capped prices on pharmaceuticals?) This may or may not be true, but they're MAJOR lobbyists, and they seem to promise cushy jobs to any ex-Congress critter if they're willing to go back as a lobbyist. So they have some significant power. Frankly, if it was an issue, I'd expect their profits to be lower, but eh..

God I hope not. As an American that spent three lovely years in Germany, I will say there are a lot of things I miss about that country, the food, the beer, the food, the beer, the history, the beer. Health care isn't one of them, standardized, yes, efficient, ehhh, stone aged technology, right on! Complain about the cost all you want, but while centralized health care may be cheaper, you get what you pay for and that isn't much.