7 Likes
They are officially no longer ‘too sexy,’ for anything.
13 Likes
6 Likes
How could I possibly forget Rob the Cashbox?
10 Likes
4 Likes
Oof, hard pass, I already feel dumber for having only read the rough description of what these cranks are on about.
14 Likes
So the conspiracy fools are blaming corporations for this idea while said corporations are trying to get people to buy more cars, live much further out from cities into communities that have significantly less competition in areas with regard to retail, food, education and medical care that are much more dominated by those same corporations? All while right wingers complain about people not living within their own means? Rural america gets poorer with the only store in town is Dollar General, Walmart being the only department store in their county with the closest hospital being an almost half hour drive away if they’re lucky. All of that involves a ton of gas plus wear and tear on your car which isn’t cheap. And if you suddenly develop an eyesight problem or a physical handicap you’re pretty much up shit’s creek trying to get simple tasks done in small town usa.
These idiots are getting had. If living that way is such an idea lifestyle, then why haven’t a bunch of people moved to Wyoming?
14 Likes
I live in a small Canadian city, half an hour from a large one. We have a new subdivision being planned here that was to include a school, a park, a grocery/ shopping strip, and connection to public transit. These assholes campaigned against against anything but houses being built because of this 15 minute city nonsense. They wrote threatening letters and come protest at city council meetings because the city had the audacity to apply for a government grant for planning accessible cities. The city ended up withdrawing their application because of these assholes.
Reading this in the local “newspaper”/flyer distributor my head nearly exploded. WTAF?
17 Likes
I think you covered all the reasons in the paragraph above this question - they can’t afford to.
6 Likes
next step:
“Walkability is a conspiracy to eliminate cars.”
In a way it is… if every building sits alone in a sea of asphalt, you can’t walk anywhere without determination.
7 Likes
I have to say, something I really didn’t expect out of the 21st century was that, for even the most straightforward, innocuous attempts to make life better, there would be some insane right-wing counter-movement to keep/make things fucked up. It’s deeply disheartening. Trying to fix the difficult problems in the world is hard enough without the things that should be easy being made difficult as well.
So much right-wing politics these days seems to consist of “Reduce our quality of life!” So it fits right in, I guess.
It sure as fuck is exhausting to have to live with them.
I can’t read about these groups and their beliefs without feeling my urge to live drain away…
13 Likes
Honestly? 15-minute cities make driving more enjoyable and manageable. If people aren’t constantly forced to drive to accomplish anything, then there’s less traffic on the roads. When you’re in traffic, you are traffic. Forcing everyone to drive everywhere bottlenecks everyone at the traffic lights and there’s no way to actually increase throughput at those points. Pushing more cars, more lanes just means more gridlock. I, too, really wanted to have my morning commute be a 15 mph trip through a parking lot 
Edit: Then consider all the longterm suburban sprawl forcing everyone out to the margins cutting social connections with everyone, then said expanding projects falling behind on maintenance and becoming pothole collections. All you’re doing is buying into becoming the next 20 year’s blight with an empty big-box store across the street and HOA dues.
(I may have opinions…)
11 Likes
I’ve a feeling the oil tycoons and such who push this conspiracy live in essentially an evil villain complex where every imaginable convenience is a short golf cart ride away.
7 Likes
What the …? Well that’s disappointing. It’s better than some group that I’m heavily invested in their music or something, but I do enjoy that one song in a flashback to my younger days kind of way. At least they’re very unlikely to get another hit.
We’ve always done that. Cities have zoning areas such as residential or commercial, high rise and single family dwellings. Many jobs require licensing and certification, and businesses also must follow laws and regulations regarding their industry. (You really wouldn’t want any fool start up a basement kidney flushing service in their spare room.) Cars have all kinds of operating restrictions! Gah.
7 Likes
R F Kennedy Jnr and his “Children’s Health Defense” are on-board with 15-minute-city conspiracies to supplement his usual antivax grifting. Apparently “walkability” is the new threat to children’s health.
So he must see money to be made somewhere.
6 Likes
Don’t they know that Q stands for Queer?
5 Likes
As opposed to never walking anywhere, presumably.
9 Likes
At the rate he’s going, RFK Jr. will eventually start insisting that fast food burgers are the foundation of a healthy childhood diet.
I’m seriously wondering how much of this conspiracism against 15-minute cities is being quietly funded by the fossil fuel industry and car manufacturers and dealers. I know that the conspiracy against L.A.'s Red Car trolley lines is mostly a myth but almost a century later there are some powerful and well-funded corporate interests with a history of running disinfo ops and astroturf front groups that don’t want to see car-centric urban design go away anytime soon.
8 Likes
Or being hit by speeding cars.
While the driver is on the phone (I’ve seen too many cars recently having mounted pavements, raised cycle lanes, or jus crashed into stuff with nobody else around not to think it’s absolutely epidemic).
I expect the vehicular homicide rates will be up this year.
5 Likes
Far Right Said Fred
17 Likes
