The city living demands (for most) a simpler and somewhat less private experience but I'd trade being able to walk (or tram or u-bahn) everywhere and deal with local merchants for any ol' Belltown condo shithole that's bunkered off from it's environs (save for the kid-cams aimed at the alleyway junkies that bring a bit of the outdoors into the iMac monitor).

Blech.

Imagine if we had something remotely like Boston's Commuter Rail lines? (The T, the city subway lines are the non-purple ones, dead center in the map).

http://www.mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/rail/

But frankly, I am looking forward to all those suburbanites who will have to choose between food and gas ending killing their kids for food since the Hummer just HAS to have gas!! LOL!!!!!!

It's just, well, broken funding, endless construction, etc., etc., get in the way of the system actually being terribly convenient to use on a daily basis.

It’s the kind of neighborhood in which people don’t have to drive a lot, but it’s also a kind of neighborhood that barely exists in America, even in big metropolitan areas.

Summit Ave E. Best neighborhood ever.

Berlin is the most boring city in all of Europe, for what it's worth. Not really relevant, but it's true.

And what's with the Atlanta comparison in the first place? Isn't MARTA held up by envious Seattleites as an example of what federal funding can do for a transit system? Is it the ideal, or the opposite of ideal? It can't be both.

"Berlin is the most boring city...."

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Now, that said, I live in Columbus OH, in a small 1942 starter home (I think it's officially 800 square feet, though they don't count the basement, which is finished and has a fireplace) 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, with a sort-of 3rd bedroom in the basement. Little yard, big enough for the dogs. One-car garage. The neighborhood is walkable, and I could take public transportation to work, or bike there (about 6 miles away).

There are plenty of houses for sale in my neighborhood...

It's a big dream, I realize, but we need to become the leaders in car technology. We need to make them the best for OUR needs. And that includes ending dependence on all oil (for fuel).

I think car ownership is ingrained in the American consciousness, and mass transit at least carries some sort of stigma(ie for the poor or underprivileged) or maybe seen as a socialist, un-American concept etc. I am not sure why, but I am from Europe and have used mass transit most of life. I don't fully understand why American cities don't invest in public mass transit... Even NYC, which has mass transit on par with most European capitals, has trailed and been derailing forever building the 2nd Ave. subway line...

If it were on 60 square miles of flat land, and was bombed to a fine dust.

Until then, we'll have to deal with hills, and homes and buildings on all the good right-of-ways.

Those'd be the benefits. Let's talk costs for a minute.

No more federal funding will be available, as it was for other metro regions. So local families would have to pay for Dan's "rail, rail, rail." We don't have income tax, so it'd be regressive "sales tax, sales tax, and more sales tax."

Let's leave aside the cost of paying Sound Transit additional taxes, just for a second. Let's focus on what ST is doing now, with the taxes it has. Rail may be good, but is ST?

I'd really like Dan to respond to this, but everyone else should feel free to give their views as well. Given what ST is doing now, what is an appropriate amount of tax for every family in the region to be paying to it?

See, this is the inverse of the question ST asks ("is $___ worth it to you for more transit"). The question above puts the finances of families first. Again, the question: Given what ST is doing now, what is an appropriate amount of tax for every family in the region to be paying to it?

Also, the plainclothes fare-checkers that both scared and attracted me. I had more than one daydream about becoming one, dressing as a new character every morning and riding the U-bahn all day...

I see a lot of talk on Slog about how dense European cities, rail, etc. are the way to reduce congestion and get people out of their cars. But it also takes a serious individual and collective will do make this work. I just spent a week in Buenos Aires, one of the most densely populated cities I've been to. They have a subway (four lines plus more under construction), a gazillion buses that cover the city and which run many routes 24/7, and suburban commuter rail. There are shops galore everywhere you go, and since most people live in apartments, the nearest grocery, laundry, pharmacy, etc. is usually on the first floor of your building, or within a couple blocks. They also, much to my surprise, have more cars than I've ever seen, ever. Cars, cars, cars, cars, cars. Traffic is a nightmare, there's barely any parking, they've got all the density they can handle. Yet millions of people there are still driving, driving, driving. Berlin is a great example of a dense city with transit, but there is something at work that makes a person choose other options than a car. That something is definitely missing in BsAs, and needs to be factored into the dense city/transit equation. It seems like infrastructure alone isn't enough. People in BsAs don't have to rely on cars, but they still make the decision to do so.

And our urban/suburban/exurban planning actively works against meaningful public transportation systems.

That said, you need to increase transit - both QUANTITY and FREQUENCY - and reduce parking spots for low-mpg type vehicles - carrot AND stick.

Make the 13 mpg SUV driver walk half a block to the store while the 80 mpg hybrid driver parks at the entrance - reserve half the street parking for plug-in/electric only.

Then you'll see change.

That said, Tata is working on their $2500 60 mpg diesel car right now ...

So how much is each family in the taxing area paying ST now in taxes?

If any of you would just look you'd see that the annual household tax (inflation adjusted) is about $63. Buy more cheap plastic Chinese crap, pay more . . . that's how it works, and that's how it has always worked.

Let's face it, you're paying more for gas than I am ... period.

I'm writing this comment from gate D3 at Washington Dulles, actually on my way to Berlin for my 3rd time since last May. It's been a kick in the pants every time.

Fnarf @9:

Ever been to Switzerland? You know, the global paragon of economic conservativism, privacy & property-rights? Somehow they manage to have both the lowest tax rate on the European continent *and* the best public transit in the entire world, bar none -- at the same time!

And, I think one place to start, as far as getting beyond hand-waving, might be by reframing the debate to get away from this false dichotomy of "big government projects versus individual freedom" because it really isn't about compromise. The Swiss example demonstrates that you can have your cake and eat it to, and another substantive step might be to study their situation for lessons we could apply here at home.

And as an aside, Berlin's train system is almost as nice as Switzerland's, but it doesn't make as good an example. It's set against the miserable backdrop of Berlin's broken economy, still strains under the weight of reintegration and the costs of decades of economic dysfunction inherited from the eastern regime.

1. garden both flowers and veggies
2. bbq all the time

2. European city =/= blueprint for better American cities. We've burnt those bridges. We need other solutions, as Fnarf noted.

(But what is with all the high-rises, Seattle? JESUS CHRIST, those things are ugly, and expensive as hell)

3. Bellevue Ave: Container gardening. And cycling your plants tightly. I planted dandelion bulbs last fall, once they were done blooming I put them back into storage and brought out the strawberries. My tomatoes are starting on my kitchen windowsill. Herbs, bamboo and ornamental grasses I have year round, and my roommates and I throw barbecue parties anytime the weather's good.

All on one tiny, tiny balcony.