Notices by allan (allan@mastodon.club), page 8

I found a pair of khakis out shopping that look like regular pants on the outside and have a secret draw string on the inside. I feel so called out by this.

@kai for years students at main campus (just south of downtown across the river) were a big reason why a lot of bars and theatres downtown stayed alive. It was a short hop on the LRT.

Especially the movie theatre since all the other ones are way out in the 'burbs and hard to get to if you don't have a car, and most students who are not from Alberta don't have cars.

@kai it frustrates me because, when I travel, I often take public transit and so many other cities do it so much better. But generally they built most of their neighbourhoods when trains were dominant and that is still in their bones.

I will basically make any excuse to rant at people about how once you've visited Tokyo, and seen how a civilized people do transit, everywhere else is just garbage and offensive.

@kai I had a job once where to take transit to work took over an hour, but driving was only 20-25min. All because I had to make two connections and the buses were not synchronized (lots of waiting for the next bus, which is on a half hour frequency)

@kai that's true.

I spent the first decade I lived in Edmonton without a car, so I had to make the argument for carless living endlessly, but the financials of it only ever made sense if you didn't already have a car.

Getting around via public transit is much cheaper than buying, insuring, and fuelling a car. But if you've already got one...why not drive?

I eventually got one because transit doesn't serve where I work. Car ownership is virtually mandatory.

I wonder how different the world would be if we taxed other things like we tax property.

When I bought my car, for example, I had to pay tax (GST) but I don't have to pay a yearly tax to the city just for having a car. What would car-ownership look like if you had to pay a yearly tax based on the assessed value of your car?

Relatedly what would cities be like if we financed them like other levels of government, through sales and income tax, no through property tax?