They didn't want this, they've been made to want this because that's what society expects out of them, due to how public transportation in this country sucks everywhere and the infrastructure in big cities is a joke. Worse, having kids in such places is terrible as childcare is expensive, there are few parks or things to do with kids that don't require you to pay for it, and the city itself isn't made for kids on strollers.
These people are now sicker, sadder, more isolated, and with less access to good jobs and education than before. Now the jobs are far away, requiring hour-long commutes and they can't even buy bread without driving, sometimes for a long time.
Whenever I visit Europe its such a wild experience, being able to take public transportation to many places, having parks all over the place, sometimes parks surrounded by restaurants and bars. It feels vibrant, with kids everywhere. I'm glad I have a large support group here in the US and we've made many friends in the burbs (mainly because they also have kids), but this is not the reality for a lot of folks.
These people can vote against this kind of zoning and can vote for transit and densification. But instead they show up in droves to city council meetings to fight against it as much as they can. They keep choosing to move further outwards once public transit expands and "the wrong people" start moving in. They complain about the neighborhood "losing its character".
You've got your head in the sand if you think these people don't exist in large numbers in suburban USA.
A few of the member cities of DART have talked about reducing funding to public transit. For a lot of the people I know, they say "great!". You act like these people don't exist.
They do exist, but they don’t exist in a vacuum, it’s decades of carbrained policies to get people to believe this is the only way to live.
And the cities that do have good public transportation (by US standards) like NYC are letting it rot, thus convincing people even more this can’t possibly work.
Also, people voting against their own interests is basically America for most of its time. They’ll continue to vote for restrictive zoning and then complain they can’t do shit and live alone and can’t make friends
Decades of carbrained policies they voted for and continue to vote for and continue to believe in.
This isn't some shadowy cabal doing things that everyone hates but somehow has no power over. These are popular policies being picked. We're never going to enact real change if we don't acknowledge people currently do want these things, and it's not obvious to them that the alternatives are better.
You and I agree the alternatives are generally better and we should at least move to give more people the option to live in car-free or at least not car dependent areas. But a ton of people honestly think that kind of a choice is a terrible idea and don't want to see it happen. And they're far from auto industry payrolls.
These people are now sicker, sadder, more isolated, and with less access to good jobs and education than before. Now the jobs are far away, requiring hour-long commutes and they can't even buy bread without driving, sometimes for a long time.
Whenever I visit Europe its such a wild experience, being able to take public transportation to many places, having parks all over the place, sometimes parks surrounded by restaurants and bars. It feels vibrant, with kids everywhere. I'm glad I have a large support group here in the US and we've made many friends in the burbs (mainly because they also have kids), but this is not the reality for a lot of folks.