And check out his book, The Option of Urbanism: http://islandpress.org/bookstore/details.php?isbn=9781597261364

http://ugv.abcnews.go.com/player.aspx?id=4199016&tb=1

Okay. No more talking about the Forester. Sorry about that.

Exactly, I hear ya!

Office “parks” are IMHO the worst aspect of suburbia. I don’t even mind the residential subdivisions so much, just wish they had some sort of sensible connectivity, so kids could walk or bike to school without having to make ridiculous detours through the entropic spaghetti maze of cul-de-sacs.

If the US actually had sound regional planning over the years, suburbs wouldn’t have become the insidious problem they are today. If properly planned, suburbs would have just remained leafy bedroom communities instead of trying to be everything by haphazardly incorporating intensive commercial uses, further perpetuating the need for people to drive every fucking place. With proper planning, suburbs could have been better connected to city cores with strategic mass transit infrastructure instead of just big highway that encourage centrifugal growth that sucks away from the urban cores rather than compliment them.

One last comment on driving: It’ll be a lot more enjoyable when there are a lot less cars on the road!

P.S.
Crude Oil is now 118 a barrel and rising

“What, if anything, have you done to deal with ridiculous gas prices?”
I’ve become (even) more acquainted with my bike, commuting to work 2-3 times a week. It’s ~8.5 miles each way, so I don’t do it in really bad weather or when I have to show up at work early for a meeting. I’ve kept track of the distance and whatnot and I estimate I’ve saved over $150 the past year or so.

And before I catch crap from Denizen about how I should move into the city so I’m not so far away, au contraire, I live in the city of Rocha and work out in Henrietta. Not everything is located in cities these days.

Also, FWIW, my 2001 Subaru Forester gets 27 MPG on the highway.

Now I know that not everybody can do what I am doing, but there are much smaller things such as combining trips, keeping your car properly maintained, check air pressure in your tires every time you fill up, all very simple. Also, drive to maximize fuel economy. Increase your speed slowly from a traffic light or a toll booth, keep your RPM’s low, I know it is less fun, but it adds up, plus you can make a game out of trying to be fuel efficient. Also, don’t sit an let your car “warm up”, all you really are doing there is wasting gas. Get rid of your automatic car starter, you could live before it was installed, you can live without it again. Real simple stuff.

As to cars, the Prius is a hatchback Alan. Not as usable of a hatchback as others, but hey it has some of the best economy around. I’m not a huge fan of hybrids, but with diesel prices the way they are, they are definitely beating out diesels right now. As for the need for traction control, I used to be obsessed with it when I had my VW, but now that I have been driving the Tiburon for 3 winters, I really haven’t missed it. It all just comes down to good snow tires and careful driving, which I know you know about since we usually have the snow tire post come November. So, if you like the Civic, get it! It’s a great car. I would suggest a Mini Cooper also, but that might be too small for your use. Smart cars disappoint me for their fuel economy. I hear we might get the Mini Diesel next year though. Also, Honda will be rolling out diesels towards the end of the year, beginning of next, so you may just want to wait a bit longer before getting a new car.

Just my two cents! Good luck with whatever you choose to do…

you pays yer money and you takes yer choice.