tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24215087.post332439382045974837..comments2023-05-14T07:51:18.017-05:00Comments on The Suburban Christian: The Suburban ChallengeAl Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04407264726681695790noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24215087.post-20482101944976613482009-01-22T10:00:00.000-06:002009-01-22T10:00:00.000-06:00"And all levels of government need to reinvent the..."And all levels of government need to reinvent the physical landscape. We need to create walkable communities and more public transit to link people in the burbs to jobs, schools, concert halls and sports fields that may be in the next neighborhood, the next municipality or the next county. As much as they may love their SUVs, suburbanites would benefit from lower greenhouse-gas emissions; less traffic and higher housing values (proximity to transit boosts home prices)."<BR/><BR/>I think this is the most important part of the article. However, it also means that governments have to put a lot of money in up front. I don't know if many will be willing to do so. <BR/><BR/>The congress for new Urbanism posted an article promoting a stimulus bill that would produce some of this. <BR/>http://www.cnu.org/node/2596<BR/><BR/>There should be no rift between city and suburb, but suburban design is not stable and sustainable that is being proven by the article and has been proven my countless other incidents. Cities and their suburbs can work together, but I don't know who suburbs will maintain stability without becoming more urban (that doesn't mean downtown urban, but traditional neighborhood urban). <BR/><BR/>I also did worry about one part of the article. It suggested that inner-city non-profits move out to the suburbs and target the poor there. I support caring for the poor in the suburbs, but I think that needs to be a new breed to non-profits the issues and the landscape of suburbia and suburban poverty is different (bus tokens vs gas money), the inner-city non-profits are already bogged down and overworked and I believe that suburban non-profits would be able to create better community than branches of urban non-profits. I also think for suburbia to shed its escapist characterization that community members need to turn to community members.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com