You have a somewhat weird assumption of what I’m trying to tell you.
I don’t want everyone to live in an apartment. But they are needed for a healthy city. The residential suburbs made of of single family homes that the US is building everywhere are not sustainable. The infrastructure costs far outweigh the tax revenue they’ll every generate. The people living there have to have a car to get around because everything is too far away. This just can’t work in the long run.
there’s these things called ‘privacy’ and ‘property’ that normal people aspire to have and that apartments are the polar opposite of.
That’s plain wrong. My neighbors have no idea about what I do in my apartment. I never let them inside and there is no need to do that. Heck I don’t even know their names Even my landlord was never inside since I rented it.
And why do I need to own it? What advantage is there? I would be stuck to this place as property isn’t that easy to sell.
My parents are trying selling the family house they built themselves for almost 2 years now. They are now too old to maintain it and none of the children wants it. We all have our own lives. That’s the reality for most of the people that own property: You are stuck with it whether you like it or not.
at their master’s beck and call
Do you have some kind of delusion?
it’s crazy that you are on the fediverse and yet you want to have your real life situation be exactly as centralized as the platforms you are here to escape.
Those two don’t compare. At all. You’ll always need to have some kind of central ‘power’ to coordinate efforts and resources. Here the instance is the center that’s doing that, much like a city does. And if I don’t like the instance I switch to another one like if I don’t like a city I’ll move.
I live in a small town of just 20k people in an apartment. It’s perfectly fine.
Mount a flag to it. Quad bikes often add them so you can see them behind obstacles.
My mother brought my sister and me to kindergarten and elementary school on one bike early in the morning in every weather. After school she collected us and then went to buy groceries before returning home.
A colleague of mine rides with his son to the kindergarten, each on his own bike.
It works. You just have to work out how to do it. Concentrate on what you can do with a bike instead of what you can’t.
Nah, I switched to cycling because of the weather. In the winter it took me longer to clear the car windows of snow and ice that the actual drive to my work. Now with a bike I’m about as fast as with my car in total. But a bike costs less than a car - by a lot! It’s something like 50-80 bucks per year including a service at my local bike dealer. That wouldn’t get me enough gas to keep my car running for a month.
If weather is a concern for you then you need to research how to cloth yourself for different kind of weathers. It’s perfectly fine to ride by bike in -15 °C (5 F) or strong rain with the right kind of clothes.
You mean not dense enough (as in high concentration of people).
Commutes need to be short enough that bikes are a reasonable alternate mode of transportation. That means you have to get to work and shopping within 30 minutes or it isn’t feasible for most folks.
That can only work if they get rid of a lot of residential suburbs and instead build condos and apartments close to places that offer a lot of jobs. Then it’ll work out.
I don’t ride in the rain
That’s probably the difference between us. I ride all-year all-weather.
Commuters ride cheap bikes. The most expensive stuff is usually your clothes, they are like Star Trek tech today.
I drove cars for years until I was fed up that I need more time to clear the windows of ice in the winter than the actual drive. That’s when I switched first to a moped, then to an e-scooter (the small one which you stand on) and then to an e-bike.
It’s such a difference to be out in the open. It’s fun.
I’ll never go back owning a car. They cost a lot more than my bike and I always feel stressed using them (driving = maintaining focus all the time, that is stress).
I now don’t need to go to a gym anymore. Cycling is enough to keep me fit.
we need better long-range public transportation!
That’s what trains are for.
What you actually need is a different city design. Office and housing need to be within 2-3 miles not 20-30, then bikes, buses and stuff become reasonable alternative modes of transportation. Even buying groceries could be done without a car.
But the US of A chose to move housing out of the cities into suburbs dozens of miles away. As long as you don’t change that you’ll stay car-dependent. It’s just too far.
It will also help to build more apartments that are cheap to rent. That increased concentration of people will make it possible for small local markets, restaurants, etc. to survive. Cost of living should also go down a bit because you’ll reach more people with less infrastructure. That’ll also increase tax revenue for the city. It’s win-win for everyone.
If the 70 year old has problems with keeping balance there are trikes too. And if the knees hurt get an e-bike or e-trike. 👍
A bit of easy maintenance should be possible for everyone. Just clean and lube the chain every month. Check tire pressure every two to four weeks (depending on how fast they lose air).
And once a year do a complete checkup either by yourself or by a bike shop.
You should easily get 10 years of life out of your bike. 20 years might be possible too.
Wax can flake off leaving that space unprotected. You have to check it more regularly than a lubed chain and dry it off after rain. It’s not uncommon for a waxed chain to rust. But a big pro is cleanness of the chain and you won’t get greasy hands.
Personally I keep using (eco-friendly) lube. Yes the chain gets dirty fast but I don’t care. :D
As was said before: The genes are already passed onto the next generation. It doesn’t matter if the parents become stupid now. There’s no evolutionary advantage to become more or less stupid at this point.
It became like it is now by some random chance(s).
There was something amiss before. Nobody starts compromising the system just a few months before getting fired.
That also indicates there’s more to the story than it seems.