How to Kill a Stroad
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- Опубликовано: 8 июл 2024
- There once was a monster in South Philly's core.
It messed up my audio with its deafening roar!
It killed and it maimed. Each week, an attack.
'Til some neighbors came up with a plan to fight back.
This is their saga.
Bigger list in the description:
safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diet...
Do your own research:
www.phila.gov/documents/washi...
Chapters
0:00 A Road Diet
1:23 19 to 1
2:52 The Trouble Began
4:53 The Road Diet had Won
6:09 A Deeper Reason
7:09 Actually a City Street
8:30 A Working Group
10:51 Three Main Categories
12:23 19 to 1
14:01 Time to Move On
16:09 Squarely a Matter of Equity
My mind is always boggled when there are community engagement meetings for stroad redesigns. I get that the public should be involved in changes to their neighbourhood, but these are safety interventions. People are literally dying.
We don't hold months of community meetings to install a guardrail. We just install it, because there's evidence that it saves lives. Road diets on dangerous roads should be the same.
Like he said in his conclusion, the community wanted the 3-lane design but city hall intervened. As someone who visited South Philly recently and will be moving there soon, I'm shocked anyone is content with anything about Washington avenue.
You could say the birthplace of modern democracy took it a bit too far with this one.
How are you on almost every video I watch???
i mean... a guardrail doesnt directly affect how you get to work and take daily walks that much, a street design can. Granted in a situation like this it is basically just better to change it. BUT the community meetings kinda did their job and showed time and time again that the community wanted this, the way the meetings failed was when the city that said "no, we'll make concessions to the loud minority." even when the majority knew exactly what they wanted.
People believe it's going to create gentrification. Once good infrastructure pops up people with money buy everything up and kick the poorer residents out.
It’s crazy to me that elected officials would care more about commuters passing through their neighbourhoods than the security of their constituents. Urban planning in north America has come a long way but there’s still so much work to do… Anyway, great well researched video
they have the mindset that more cars mean more money for their area. which i think is weird. if a location is safe for those living there, then i would think it would be the thing that brings in more taxes.
They don't. They only care about the checks that car and oil lobbyists cut them
Yeah if they really cared about commuters they would invest in better public transit as well as the option a
Well Kenyatta Johnson is on trial right now due to corruption, so there is that.
@@destronger5313 And you're absolutely right, ALL the statistics have shown that walkable cities and towns make way more in taxes, are safer, are cleaner, etc.
Wild: officials explicitly state that they want to build an intentionally more dangerous and less livable street to ensure nobody would actually want to live there given the choice..in the name of equity.
Keeping a neighborhood bad to keep out newcomers is not equity. It’s perpetuating the injustice we have to avoid dealing with an injustice we do not.
It is equity, which is why equity is bad.
@@Distress. no
@@Distress. that's not equity, that's nimby standing behind a cardboard equity cutout.
@@Distress. how is it equity? And why is equity bad?
@@beesindisguise5375 see Soviet Russia or Maoist China. There is a reason why China went from dirt poor to the second highest GDP after they dropped equity in favor for capitalism.
I remember my social studies teacher said something in the terms of “If you try to make everyone happy everyone will suffer” this is a perfect example of this.
That was an amazing video, but God hearing how this plan was crushed ruined my day.
I was alright until hearing that this bs was going on in a community where a THIRD of residents DON'T EVEN OWN CARS. I cannot imagine the frustration that community must feel. Great vid - almost a case study in local government failure
You said exactly what I was going to comment. Great video but horrible story/outcome. All too common though in many cities, one business owner or minority interest group can ruin a project but multiple people dying and nothing happens...
Yes!! It crushed many in the city too, they only met with those against the project which is literally a hundredth of all people in the neighborhood.
I feel the exact same way
@@Aether-222 I just moved here and it ruined my day when I heard that happened. How can the council members get away with ignoring the people? I really hope the feds book Johnson and that Squilla gets voted out.
Amazing that making a street safer and better for humans is raised as a negative because it would make living there nicer. We really need more "Yes, and"; "Yes, fix our broken stroads, *and* also -abolish the housing market- build affordable housing or whatever". Loved the video btw.
Abolish the housing market?
A Bit authoritarian on that one.
I don't know about that one chief.
I agree, I don't not understand why improvement is considered a bad thing. Actually that is a lie, I do understand, people do not like change, even if that change will improve their standard of living.
@@bonda_racing3579what good is there to keep? literally anything is better than what we currently have, where everything is owned by blackrock and rent is just paying for the owner's next housing purchase.
a lottery system would be more efficient at getting people houses. And by "lottery", I mean that when a neighborhood is getting built, instead of being put on the open market for investment firms to buy everything up the second the ads get posted, there's a sign up list where anyone can sign up, and their identities checked before being sold a house. this would decrease the prices of housing because homes aren't held hostage by a mafia middle man. this would also get houses out of corporation's hands, and into real people's hands. Sure, a percentage could be sold to those corporations to rent out, with rental control so that the prices don't become unaffordable
This is a great overview of how city planning and government works. 70%-90% of people surveyed choose a plan, usually the biggest change, then 5% are against it and another 5% are against any change unless their pet peeve is addressed first. Then the city updates a PDF or a website and has some more meetings until they eventually launch another survey and start it all over again. Getting anything done is almost impossible, stopping something from changing is pretty easy. Get 5 people together and call yourself the Committee for Equality and Safety or something and put on a blue blazer and show up to some city meetings and you can halt any progress you want even against thousands.
what if I made a comittee of violence and danger and we all wore like leather jackets and biker helmets and advocated for radical changes like safer road designs
@@MaddiedoggieRun that test in the laboratory of democracy and report back please.
This is why Democracy is a farce
@@MaddiedoggieHell yeah I'll join you brother
I am so glad to have left Philly; there is an incredible culture of self destruction. "Locals locals locals" constantly in opposition to literally any change ever. Not every improvement is Gentrification!!! People are literally dying because of this inaction. It is absolutely shameful.
This is a great video, by the way. Super effective deep dive into the actual mechanisms of city planning.
Except the locals were 19:1 in opposition of this, but they did it anyway.
That's what he's talking about. The city is filled with good people but is corrupt beyond belief. The loudest and most well-connected voices routinely get victories like this. It's so sad. I have lived in the city for years and I'm also leaving--I truly believe it is the city in the US with the most squandered potential and it has made me absolutely fucking depressed seeing it wasted.
@@RodoMallard Could not have said it better myself!
If you don't mind me asking. But where did you guys relocate to? Am from NYC Brooklyn to be specific. I love the cities mass transit systems. But nyc has been on a recent decline due to how dangerous it is now.
NIMBY's will use every excuse
“Non-alcohol and non-deer” is the best qualifier for a traffic data point I think I’ve ever seen.
I like how you brought up the psychological aspect of stroads - how driving with two lanes in one direction can make it feel like you're racing someone in the other lane. I hadn't really thought about it before, but now I realize why driving on a stroad is so stressful for most people - especially Americans. Wouldn't want someone to pass you, would you? What are you, a slow poke? You have to be the fastest!
Also, nice choice of music!
What's probably more important, is the perception of your own speed you get in this situation as opposed to being next to oncoming traffic. It doesn't "feel" like you're driving fast and taking on risk. It's been shown that people have a threshold for (perceived) risk, which can act more as a floor than as a ceiling. When (the perception of) risk is reduced, people tend to behave in riskier ways until they reach their personal threshold. On a road, this usually means driving faster, but it can also mean things like multitasking while driving.
Once you know this is a thing, you see it everywhere. You could probably call it "induced speed" -- designing a road to be safe for people driving fast is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You get the speed you design for. The setting really matters too. The same stretch of road can see very different prevailing speeds of traffic just from going through an empty section without nearby buildings, or from going by buildings with large setbacks (or parking lots) as opposed to buildings built for direct sidewalk access.
@@matthewgladback8905 Yep, that's exaclty why Netherlands have narrow and "crooked" streets. So that the drivers get a real sensation of speed, and slows down naturally.
As a driver, I fully admit that I have that mindset, you never want to be passed, and seeing someone else going faster than you makes me think it's okay to go a little faster to keep up, even if I'm already doing nearly 20km/h over the limit on a 70km/h arterial road
"Gotta get there first!" "
Where?"
"I don't know! But I gotta get there first!"
@@B3Band Race you to the personal injury attorney office!
Fantastic video, tho I would not have remained that composed with how frustrating this all has been lol.
Also you can't sneak route 18 Rutgers footage in there without me noticing 2:18
(me on the way to class after running out of b-roll)
Well, now that we've swapped places, you can complain about Philly stroads and I'll go after those New Brunswick parking garages. If you're gathering Philly urbanism intel and need help, I can point you in the right direction!
@@alexwithclipboard haha true, definitely soon™
YOO ALAN WHATS UP my fellow Rutgers engineer
The most striking thing is that the people who would oppose something like this arguing from either misinformation or are deliberately lying.
It's unbelievable that people think Washington Ave is fine today or tomorrow. It's crazy to think that driving on a sidewalk and parking on it is normal. Thank you for producing this video, it was well toned and provided good context.
I've visited a lot of cities and found that Philadelphia drivers are the worst. They should all lose their licenses!
Thanks for making this! I was at the final meeting, and man, what a disappointment. The fact that there are on-street bike lanes in the final design doesn't bode well for safety. The speed cushion treatments just seem lazy too. Plowing in winter? Guess we'll have to remove the cushions. Let's also not forget that Kenyatta Johnson's bribery trial is now underway!
Yeah, I didn't want to go needlessly ad hominem, but...
@@alexwithclipboard funny/depressing how his corruption charges are focused on zoning restrictions too 🙃
@@alexwithclipboard that's not needless, that's entirely relevant. So long as you only allege that's perfectly intellectually honest to include.
I think I'll leave that to the prosecutors.
@@alexwithclipboard Justice isn't just in the hands of our court system. Discussing the case publicly could help keep him from being re-elected as long as you're intellectually honest. I, obviously, don't have all the facts but alleged corruption like that could have had an effect on this specific issue and as such it's important to note. Hell it almost feels more dishonest to leave it out of the video, speaking as an outside observer.
You have a great future on this platform, your content is amazing even though you've just started.
Fr 🙏
Oh man I fully believe this is a star in the making. This dude has got a great voice, his writing and editing are solid even if there’s many edges to smooth. Can’t wait to see what comes of it
@@federicomeuter4850 absolutely! this level of professionalism, clarity, creativity, and ‘voice’ is really only common amongst the best of journalists
It's the fact that he has a young Tom Scott face
Already a RUclips pro at under 5k subscribers!
Incredible work. I help advocate for safer streets in the SF area, and what constantly boggles me is how much sway the naysayers get. But even that it was far more astonishing to see that 19-1 residents in the final survey wanted change in favor of safety, yet leadership still compromised the 3-lane plan to the mixed option. Why does "NO" get so much more power than "YES"???
Because that one naysayer in the room of 20 is probably an older property owner - the local elected official’s golden ticket.
Young people barely give enough of a fuck to vote for the leader of the free world, let alone get involved in the beauraucratic nitty-gritty of local politics. And most of your donors will likely be property owners. So the NIMBY Boomers who think that their home town is one bike lane away from turning into Manhattan come to city council-level issues on a fucking throne.
Because they should have held an actual referendum, period.
Let me guess your a 1% tech worker and not a working class person who is being priced out of their community
@@dogguy8603 safety is more important
@@dogguy8603 Why do you only want better environments for the wealthy? Build policy that keeps working class people in the neighborhood and pricing affordable, don't sacrifice safety and poor conditions just because.
This is an INCREDIBLY well-made video. Engaging presentation with crazy levels of detail while remaining accessible, tightly written and edited that makes 20 minutes go by in a snap, and presented with personality that makes an ungodly boring subject actually FUN.
I'm a 50 something architect and I watch a lot of urban planning type videos, but GEEZE man! You are the king at telling these stories in an inspiring, compelling way! I hope it wins a documentary film award. You certainly deserve one.
As a European looking to move to America/Canada in the future I really appreciated seeing a very localised and very unique example of America's overreliance on car based infrastructure. I was recommended this video out of the blue and had no idea it was evergreen content. You have an incredibly strong base for your future content, but I would be careful about your appeal to emotions, as it can be distracting in places, and take away from your points.
Great work :)
If you don't absolutely have to, don't move to the US. Outside of major urban centers, the car dependency is out of control. Sometimes, even in city centers there are stroads though.
Oh dear god, do not move to this dumpster fire of a country! You have no clue how horrible it is here. The USA does a great job advertising to the world how we're some sort of paradise on earth where dreams come true. We 110% are not anything of the sort. The reality is we are a decaying empire of violence, poverty and wasted opportunity. All of our cities are filthy blood-soaked hellscapes, our suburbs are soulless consumerist wastelands and countryside a vast expanse of misery and decay with the occasional national park. If you must move to this continent, go to Canada, which is nominally better. Ultimately however, you're better off staying in Europe.
If you move to North America, I highly recommend you take into consideration local public transport options. Living near a metro or tram station for example would greatly enable you to reduce your car dependency. I'm sure you know that, but not a lot of places here have that opportunity.
Why would anyone from Europe want to move to NA?
Yeah I'm genuinely curious. I can't see of any good reason to move to the US, except if I was given a "too good to be true" job
So the meetings are actually worse than in parks and rec, chalisse, it is a shame that cars still get that preferential treatment even when citizens explicitly want another option.
Disgusting that the engineering firm was incentivised by the small opposition to screw safety, opt for auto throughput instead. US cities are drowning in automobile traffic and TPTB's response is "MOAR ROADS!"
Excellent, and very depressing, video. Subscribing.
I live in Montreal and I'm near a stroad myself, a monster of an 8 lane boulevard. There are plans to turn it into a 4 lane road (2 lanes on each side of the treeline) with a BRT running down the middle, but I'm afraid for the future of that plan. I really hope it goes through.
Montreal is (re)building streets as long as I am in this country. Truck driving started in 2005. Difficult town to navigate with a high truck and confusing wide stroads indeed.
Amazing recap on all the Washington Ave drama. It really is such a shame how Philadelphia has such a history of terrible municipal leadership. I do think we have a lot of potential in terms of support and infrastructure but we’re never going to get anywhere if these council members are too focused on ensuring their spouse has a cushy no-show job.
Also great to see another 5th square member on RUclips!
I was at that open house (I’m actually in the pic at 0:38, I’m the emo kid towards the back lmfao) and the tension in that gymnasium was well beyond intense. While going around the panels and hearing citizens speak to various OTIS officials, it’s clear that the intention is not to create a safer Washington Ave. Its to make it easier to drive. You’d expect people who’s careers it is to answer questions competently in regards to induced demand and the decrease of safety, but nope. It’s not like they were even trying. Absolutely abysmal that things went down this way, and a clear sign of what to expect for future projects.
At the open house, I asked an OTIS employee why mixed lanes are safer. They said so that the more dangerous intersections can be made safer while allowing traffic flow. I pointed at the map they had with the number of fatalities based on intersection, specifically at Broad & Washington where there was the most and asked why that was the part staying the same. They said because they didn't want traffic to build up 🤦. Obviously shows where the priorities lay
Really appreciate you sticking with a high production quality right off the bat. Very well done all around - makes for a sobering and persuasive argument. Really hope this one reaches a wide audience. I'm so glad I get to be around for the growth of this channel - I can tell it has a bright future!
Kudos on a well researched, thought provoking & fully transparent home-video production. The planned vision for our public right-of-ways is central to our quality of life in rapidly urbanizing metropolises worldwide (particularly in car-centric North America). The future is looking bright with activists like yourself - thanks for making my day.
I live in Minneapolis, between two major county roads undergoing massive planned/pilot-stage changes, and I’m about to attend an open house in support of a 4-3 conversion this week. This video was both heartening in some ways and sobering in others, but it gives me hope that there are folks fighting for the same sorts of changes, street by street, across the country.
AMAZINGLY DONE! Can't wait to see what you produce next!
This was really good. I hope you get more attention. I hope enough people see this and the politicians are forced to answer for their failures.
I can't believe they really pulled "equity" out as a reason to kill option A, they really must think the voters are all stupid. Hopefully those responsible are voted out but I can't say I'm very optimistic for that. Great video, and really valuable insight on a project I knew nothing about!
It's not that hard to believe. Improvement really does mean pushing out people who can't afford to live in areas wealthier people desire to be in. It's definitely cynical to say, "Keep it dangerous so that no one will want to outbid me for my apartment when the lease is up," but desperate, Pyrrhic decisions are kind of in the nature of the status quo where people without resources having to contend with the desires of people with them. You fight with the weapons you have at hand. Good leaders figure out how to get everyone to drop their weapons and compromise on truly equitable terms.
Equity is a good reason to kill an option. I don't know if it's the case here because I think there is some context missing that I can't point my finger to at this time, but a comment about how the option A supporters shut everyone else down further down this thread may be part of the reason why.
@@puffpuffin1 Having bullish supporters doesn't make an option "right" or "wrong", but damn if they don't end up being detractors. However, claiming they canceled the redesign for "equity", is bullshit. Especially because the majority of the residence wanted the change and a significant portion of residents would benefit from the redesign. In general for the Modern USA, if a politician claims they are doing something out of morality, they're lying thru their teeth or have an inflated ego and infantilize/demonize the people affected by their decisions.
@@Daehpo Saying equity is bullshit in planning only shows your lack of empathy for people not like you.
@@puffpuffin1 The option A supporters were the overwhelming majority of participants. 3 lanes was changed to require unanimous approval because the government advanced the position that the roads being too nice and people not dying would gentrify the neighborhood. Those against change were in the extreme minority as was seen in the second survey, but they were given massively outsized influence.
This video was absolutely excellent, great job covering this. Its so frustrating how the stage was set, with overwhelming survey support and data to back up the decision, and yet it still ended up not happening. Crushing.
As cars get bigger, out roads get more dangerous. channels like yours are doing gods work. thank you
Idk where you learned to make engaging documentaries and be so involved in local politics but you're killing it dude, excited for more urban planning content
This kind of stuff is awesome for sharing with friends to explain how mishandled stuff is. Thanks for making it! I'm a Jersey suburbanite who regularly cycles into Philly and hahahaha south philly bike lanes oh god noooooo
Imagine being a person who would actually argue that a certain design would make a road nicer so more people would want to live near it and that's why we shouldn't use that design.
Your strength is in your script. You are a very good writer. Keep putting out videos so we can continue to advocate for repairing the car-dependant hellscape that we're stuck in.
i live only a few blocks east of washington ave and basically avoid ever going west of washington ave. on bike or on foot. that road stresses me out. great video, im so devastated the restructuring was canned.
8:11 - I actively drove on these converted roads in Flint, Mi. The one furthest south is Fenton Road. They ended up converting the upper part, which is really nice. The 4 lanes before were really tight and because of the population loss it didn't matter for traffic. All around most Flint roads can be slimmed down without a bad effect because of population loss. It may not translate well though. I do enjoy a center turn lane over 4 lanes without a turn lane.
i got this video in my recommended feed, and as an avid armchair urbanist from Australia, I'm glad I watched this.
This is a great video
It’s really inspiring to see a young person be involved and producing content like this! Great work!
"2003, when I was 1" hit me like a truck
Strong, cohesive, pursuasive, legible. This is an amazing example of the types of videos that urbanists and advocates need to be putting out there.
Great stuff. 👍
This is high quality.
Excited to see what you make next.
Great video and amazing presentation. Keep making these videos, they are very informational, and these stories need to be seen by as many as possible!
I agree with NotJustBikes and find it weird that America is only looking at their own studies like the rest of the world doesn't exist. You don't have to study something that has long since been proven in Europe.
This is really well-done! Persuasive, well-researched, good editing and pacing, interesting and informative!
Wow, awesome video again. Really liked the diary-style storytelling in this one. Really sad to hear the plan was scrapped. Honestly maybe this is a chance for advocacy groups to go further. 3 lanes isn't enough. 78 feet is huge, should be more than enough to remove street parking and put in protected bike lanes, bus lanes, and two travel lanes (one in each direction).
Yeah, the lane widths here must be out of control. Like, in Cities: Skylines you could get (on both sides) a car lane, bus lane, on-street parking, bike lane, and sidewalks in 24m, which is almost exactly that size. Not to mention, you'll actually get *more* passenger capacity with a configuration like this, not less. (Cars suck at moving people, almost anything else is better.) It should also encourage more people to take the bus (due to better service), bike, or walk (due to better separation from traffic.) This will actually address the traffic problem. You don't address traffic problems by building more lane-miles, that's just not how traffic works.
This is such a well put together video and I love seeing new channels discuss urban planning, for such a small channel the quality of the video is great, keep it up
WOW!!! what an amazing video! omg!!!!! REALLY WELL DONE!! Amazing script, locations, info, primary sources and the audio was amazing for your budget and chosen locations!!!
Hi Alex, This is my third time coming back and watching this video and I'm blown away each time. It's a great video and you should be proud of doing this kind of work to make this information about your neighborhood known. Best of luck with whatever you go on to do, whether you post it to RUclips or not!
Thank you for the kind words. Though I should let you know, I don't live in South Philly.
This is amazing journalism and storytelling. I'm amazed at how good you are while only being 20.
You just got a new subscriber. Much respect brother, I always love to see a young person with passion who's willing to put in work. Just keep posting and treat this channel as a business, and you'll go far
Your videos have gotten better and better. You're on track to become one of the best informative RUclips channels out there and I can't wait to see what else you've got in store as you grow.
This project was disastrous and it reminded me of my own local (much larger) road in NYC that was redesigned in a few different phases/stages. I hope, for Philly's sake, something good comes of all of this-- even if it takes years. Here in NYC, we had a staggering number of accidents and pedestrian deaths before anything was done.
This is really great. You've got a lot of clever visuals in here, very engaging & really cool!
The people who overrode this should pay out of their own pockets for every person killed or injured as a result of this decision.
I’m so glad my algorithm showed me this video. I’m looking forward to your future videos!
Very well edited and put together video! You are incredibly well spoken!
I'm not in Philly so can't comment on any of the actual discussion points, but I do want to say that I think you've done a wonderful job on this video. Well produced, well presented and well worthy of a sub. Looking forward to more content from you.
Wow! That was a fantastically well made video. I am looking forward to hearing more about urbanism and Philly from you. We have many of the same issues here in Baltimore.
Always great to see a new video from you, Alex!
Great stuff! Love your videos, looking forward to seeing your research and journalism journey continue!
I live right by Washington Ave and cross it almost daily. I had no idea about all this history -- thanks for the informative video!
Clearly, OTS didn't do a good enough job reaching out to the Washington Ave community.
@@mrbyzantine0528 I think they really didn't care to and were just going through the motions
Hey there, like your content a lot and love this Washington Ave in depth....
I have been trying to raise attention about how Philly's system is failing tenants. There are too few L&I Inspectors which means that landlords are able to pressure tenants for months before their inspection requests are heard (119 days between request and inspection in my case). The city then gives the landlord 3 30-day long second chances... Then once refer to court, scheduling that is a months long wait. I reported an issue May 28th last year and it still hasn't been resolved. My landlord in fact filed after my request and tried evicting me as I was stuck waiting for an inspector.
I have been in touch with a few council offices. They have been passing well-intentioned bills, however they have neglected to think about how enforcement would happen. So in effect a lot of the new AirBnB laws, the emergency repairs with liens against the property, and the basic landlord tenant act have no teeth.
I can go on about this at length. I have examples, and am aiming to speak to council about it soon. I have been hoping to get this message out there though. We also need to reconsider if AirBnB is healthy... Hotel rooms sit empty, meanwhile year-long apartments are acting like hotel rooms and stealing apartments away from those in most need. If gentrifiers really want to help out, they would demand empty hotels make their prices more affordable so that AirBnB will stop squeezing the lower middle of the rental market...
I had three neighbors and my senior Black neighbor recently left because she couldnt take the landlord abuse any longer... It's been 10 months, and the landlord has been restricted from renewing their license... Their AirBnB? Still renting and undermining tenant ability to pressure landlords to act. Call AirBnB and inform them, they aren't terribly interested.
Hmmm. Here's what I think you should do. Write an op-ed for WHYY PlanPhilly. Seriously, I sent one in and they published it. If you have a ready made opinion piece written with a journalistic tone, they'll probably use it. Especially if it has original reporting contextualized by well researched analysis. They love that. Just be very careful attacking individuals in your writing. They get jittery about that, since they want to maintain their aura of neutrality.
Wait, how is this so good? Your writing and presentation is top notch! Keep it up!!!
Dude, you did an excellent job on this video. Very informative, thoughtful, entertaining, & meaningful. You also did a great job with pacing the video to ensure retention. Two thumbs up my dude!
I really appreciate how well researched your video is and the light hearted bits. Having been to Europe and knowing Philly from visiting Family. The city has a lot of potential to have the best urban design in the US. It's a city where things have been built to a human scale and cars just seem to have no room. I love having a car, but I'd love to be able to go out for a weekend and not have to worry about driving the whole time like in Texas.
Well done, I learned a lot and it is very obvious that WA Ave needs to go on a diet, a heartbreaking end. Thanks for sharing the story.
Just been working my way through your videos Alex - they're brilliant, thankyou!
This is a great video, very well produced and well told!
Great video! I see a lot of documentaries that criticize how poor our infrastructure is but few that actually highlight the processes and politics that allow it to be. Keep up the good work! I hope to see more of your videos.
Great video, I grew up in south Ocean County and now travel into / thru Philly regularly, glad to see someone finally discussing this area specifically, this part of the east coast is atrocious with urban planning
You have great delivery and I really enjoyed this video. Don't stop!
This is some quality journalism right here! Great job, bro!
ALEX This is some high quality content! Keep killing it (and stroads, lol)!
My new life goal is to make a video this good about the recent history of my town's main stroad. great work and incredible musical talents, keep it up.
It took me two months, so definitely doable. My advice is that for hyper local things like this, talking to people and doing original reporting is way easier and more effective than trying to get information off the internet.
excellent video man, the editing, information, and narrative are all stellar. Keep up the good fight and thanks for making this content. Folks need more of these local stories to better plan in their own corners of the country.
Great video! The CVS sequence was a nice touch! Keep up the awesome work, hope to see more soon
The suburbanization of the United States was not merely a matter of new infrastructures. As in Second Empire Paris, it entailed a radical transformation in lifestyles, bringing new products from housing to refrigerators and air conditioners, as well as two cars in the driveway and an enormous increase in the consumption of oil. It also altered the political landscape, as subsidized home-ownership for the middle classes changed the focus of community action towards the defence of property values and individualized identities, turning the suburban vote towards conservative republicanism. Debt-encumbered homeowners, it was argued, were less likely to go on strike. This project successfully absorbed the surplus and assured social stability, albeit at the cost of hollowing out the inner cities and generating urban unrest amongst those, chiefly African-Americans, who were denied access to the new prosperity. - david harvey.
This is a great video! Super well made, and bringing light to a lot of issues. I wish people were better heard by their elected officials- it's so trash that the time of transportation is put ahead of the safety of individuals. I also really apreciate you mentioning the victims, it reminds everyone why this is so important. Thank you
Such a high quality video with comedy mixed in. Your channel is gonna get huge! Can't wait for all the topics you will cover.
Realy fantastic video, and also huge props for licensing your video under CC! We all benefit when information is free and accessible, especially when that information is as important as this.
This is incredible content, and I look forward to seeing what you do in the future.
People wonder why democratic engagement in the United States is so low? This is why. The way things currently work, at all levels, mean the voices of communities impacted by the decisions being made genuinely do not matter.
And this is at the local level. Imagine how much worse it is at the state and federal level.
I mean, in Europe we have done all the risk assessment. We know how to build safe roads. 10 years of fighting for road planning, that is INSANE, you guys don't need to re-invent the wheel, we have done the calculations already. Just hire talents from Europe to fix your cities. ;) By the way, awesome channel. Really cool to see someone so young being engaged in a topic like this!
I just discovered your channel and I'm so impressed! You have very quickly become one of my favorite urbanists on RUclips - right up there with channels like Not Just Bikes and Shifter. Thank you so much. With young, smart, articulate people like you, the future of North American cities is bound to be brighter. 😊
Great video Alex. Well researched and impressively presented.
Wow, more people really need to see this, especially those in Philly. It's crazy that such a small opposition group can put a stop to such a widely supported decision.
You're doing quality work! I hope the people of South Philly get some decent politicians to make their community safer and more affordable.
Hey there hoss, love your video. Great to see good people trying to make their community better.
Great video, really interesting. Thanks for all of the hard work that you put into this.
As a cyclist, I've been hit at least a three times on Washington Ave.
Are you serious? I mean, I believe it. That's horrible. Hopefully it gets safer this year.
Truly an awesome channel! I like the deep dive you took into stroads and how we can improve them, but also the speedbumps (haha) that come along the way to safer streets.
It worries me seeing many people going to youtube to rant or barrate about how much the suburbs suck. As much as their views are understandable (and agreeable to me), I feel as though hating anything post-war suburban is the new trendy thing, instead of making productive discussion with and for everyone, which I feel this video aims to do. Thank you so much, & love from NZ!
This was beautifully done. ❤
this is one of the most impressive and comprehensive videos I have ever seen
Sadly a story repeated time and time again. Cities pretending to care about Vision Zero but then doing the opposite because drivers don’t want to cede an inch despite often being transients through the neighborhoods we live in.
I live off Washington Ave and cycle on it every day. Really sad to see this is the plan that's moving forward. They should've stuck to their guns with all of the supporting data and moved forward with the best and safest option.
Really awesome work, just binged your other videos, too. Looking forward to more great stuff from this channel!
you make really clean videos, which is fantastic
I live in Philly and been following this for awhile. I'm supportive of the road diet. it seemed like a really well thought out plan that wouldn't reduce traffic throughput anyways. But there's this group that opposed of repurposing a parking lot in to apartment for the poor, and now opposing the road diet. I hate them. Everyone else in that neighborhood support the road diet. But those NIMBY vocal minority always in the way of progress.
You are Amazing. This is a sad storry. We can do better.
As a philly-area resident and urbanism enthuasiast, i love your videos. keep up the good work!
Loved this video Alex! Great job! Xoxo