@technocrit Using taxpayer money that they're granted due to the outsourcing of government functions like NASA and communications to bail out their incompetent boss's other failing business which was initially built on tax credits supposedly created to address climate change. None of Musk's companies are profitable, they're just good at stealing from the mooks who run governments.
PedestrianError
@vsg @technocrit This has all gotten much worse over the last few decades as state governments have systematically defunded public higher education and tried to "run it like a business" instead of an essential public service at the same time as degrees were becoming more essential to earning a living wage.
@vsg @technocrit Most don't have enough for all their students and they're expensive to live in if they are available. A lot of larger schools are surrounded by outrageously expensive private for-profit student housing complexes built on the ability to overcharge teenagers living off student loans for crappy accommodations without them understanding how badly they're being ripped off. Meanwhile homeowners near universities lobby to ban affordable rentals to protect their property values.
@CompactFlax @lechekaflan Much of what I hear from New Yorkers lately is complaints that Transportation Alternatives has become too centrist during his time there.
@brbposting @Taldan Reading a paper map and looking up directions before you drive and then remembering them are critical skills that should be on driving tests.
@Jollyllama That's important and needed grassroots work, but it would be made a lot easier if universities reformed their civil engineering curriculum to reflect scientific understanding of the harms caused by promoting cars and trucks as the primary modes of transportation so that advocates didn't have to start by providing basic education to alleged professional experts who have been granted a degree that gives them power to rearrange communities.
@canihasaccount I hope all the other faculty at NC State gang up on the civil engineering department to demand changes in what and how they teach. NCDOT is a terrible, deeply anti-pedestrian state DOT that does everything it can to prevent meaningful safety improvements and the bulk of their workforce comes from NC State.
@setsneedtofeed @Vaya Your chances of getting punched, groped, or pickpocketed on public transit are still far lower than your chances of suffering bodily injury or property damage from a non-fatal traffic crash.
@Vaya So if we're going to deploy the military domestically in the name of public safety, the best use of their resources would be to park their tanks on highways and stroads to block off excess lanes and prevent the extreme speeding that's so rampant on US roads.
@BanMe @AA5B Cameras do nothing for people who are hit with the vehicle because the driver is operating it negligently or to reduce the environmental impact (in fact they increase it by using more energy & rare earth minerals). Cameras are a very expensive harm reduction strategy, not a full solution to the problem of oversized vehicles.
@Fabrik872 @Sine_Fine_Belli Though we're not the majority, there are plenty of USians who don't live in sprawl hell and there's probably some correlation between going to public downtown events and living and/or working near downtown. Suburbanites who commute to a downtown office are likely to be somewhat more familiar with transit options than their neighbors who never leave suburbia.