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What would you do as president? (pg. 6)
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| shaolin_Z |
| quote: | Originally posted by christos
well if I were president i'd walk in Bill Clinton's shoes....nothing wrong with sucky sucky:whip: :clown: :disbelief |
Don't forget the cigar and blue dress ;). |
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| CHRles |
| quote: | Originally posted by metalgearsolid
3. Cut down the waste of land: Make suburbs illegal. Every one would need to live in a city of over 400,000. This would make people more open to different people and thus cut down racial crimes and the general ignorance of people. Would also leave many areas of open space. Making this country even more beautiful.
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LOL, wow just wow.
I bet that plan would go over real well in Saudi Arabia or Egypt :rolleyes: |
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| CHRles |
| quote: | Originally posted by AnotherWay83
4. As metalgear said, instead of creating cities that are more spread out, start building more centralized cities.
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Dumbest thing ever. You can't outlaw such a basic choice that all people have had since the dawn of time.
Personally I love big cities, but not everyone feels this way. Some people like to live in rural small towns, or in a small town atmosphere, but still close to the amenities of big cities. |
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| metalgearsolid |
| quote: | Originally posted by CHRles
LOL, wow just wow.
I bet that plan would go over real well in Saudi Arabia or Egypt :rolleyes: |
Well I wasn't referring to SA or Egypt face.:rolleyes: :o
The people will eventually get used to living in a city. |
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| Sunsnail |
| quote: | Originally posted by CHRles
Dumbest thing ever. You can't outlaw such a basic choice that all people have had since the dawn of time.
Personally I love big cities, but not everyone feels this way. Some people like to live in rural small towns, or in a small town atmosphere, but still close to the amenities of big cities. |
Yep, I actually intend to move out to a very rural area one day... |
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| CHRles |
| quote: | Originally posted by metalgearsolid
Well I wasn't referring to SA or Egypt face.:rolleyes: :o
The people will eventually get used to living in a city. |
What a load of crap! I see that you live in Chicago. Great city, but most people live in the Chicagoland area, not the city.
While the population has finally started to move back up in the right direction (currently at almost 3 million, but nowhere near its peak of 3.5 million in the 1950s) the population of the greater Chicago area is 9.5 million.
Or take Atlanta - 470,000 people live in the city, but over 5 million live in the metro area.
Besides, there's a loophole as to what the definition of a city is.
Jacksonville, FL for example is a city merged with its county, so the city's population of 800,000 is pretty spread out. Same deal for Louisville.
The size of Anchorage or Oklahoma City are other fine examples of cities that are far bigger in size than Chicago yet have a much smaller population.
There's a lot of reasons as to why people choose to move out of the city - safer neighborhoods, lower taxes, lower housing costs (or conversely more expensive ones), the bias that their kids will be safer in a smaller environment, the longing at an older age for a slower pace of life, etc.
Even in China and India, the world's most populated countries, most of the population doesn't live in the big cities. |
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| metalgearsolid |
| quote: | Originally posted by CHRles
I see that you live in Chicago. Great city,
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I know Chicago is very beautiful.
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Besides, there's a loophole as to what the definition of a city is.
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That is why I would be defining what a city is. And I wouldn't be president, I would claim myself king.;)
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There's a lot of reasons as to why people choose to move out of the city - safer neighborhoods, lower taxes, lower housing costs (or conversely more expensive ones), the bias that their kids will be safer in a smaller environment, the longing at an older age for a slower pace of life, etc. |
That is a bunch of BS created by some elite class that wanted to make more money. Some neighborhoods in the chicago area are more dangerous than the city itself! And taxes where I live are expensive as hell. And the taxes my brother pays in the city are less. And he lives in a really good area of Chicago(boys town or close to it).
| quote: | | Even in China and India, the world's most populated countries, most of the population doesn't live in the big cities. |
Yes, but there is a movement towards the cities. And every week in China, a city the size of Philedelphia(mostly pop) is created. And Beijing has a population of over 30million in its area. |
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| CHRles |
Key words: in its area.
There's also over 30 million people living in the Tokyo area. They don't all live in Tokyo or Yokahoma though, now do they?
Yes, there are suburbs that are more dangerous than the big city. Just look at Compton in L.A. as an example.
For the most part though, suburbs are perceived, and often are, less dangerous.
Let's also take into account cities that deteriorate. Detroit is a perfect example, and it wasn't just white flight - middle class blacks, and Arabs all moved out when they got the chance. Why do you think there's such a large Arab community in the suburb of Dearborn?
Detroit at its peak had over 1.8 million people living in it, whereas today less than 900,000 call it home (less than half!).
Political corruption, police corruption, high profile gang and drug wars, and a city that had bad riots and rising racism sealed the deal.
So as you can see, there's a lot of reasons people vie not to live in a big city. It's not just white people who sometimes make the move elsewhere - it's oftentimes anyone and everyone that can afford to do so.
And yes, I understand you were joking about becoming a king.
I also think you might sadly be right about most Americans not being able to handle "soft" drugs responsibly if they were legal. |
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| Krypton |
| quote: | Originally posted by CHRles
Besides, there's a loophole as to what the definition of a city is.
Jacksonville, FL for example is a city merged with its county, so the city's population of 800,000 is pretty spread out. Same deal for Louisville.
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I lived in Louisville when they had their merger. It brought the city into the top 20 largest cities in the country.
Detroit also never had a diversified economy. It was all revolved around the american auto industry, which took a southern turn, and left detroit out in the cold. Any city that bases most of its economy on one industry is destined for failure. |
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| CHRles |
Very true Krypton.
It's sad how in the early part of the 20th Century Detroit was considered a city of the future, only to see its foundations crumble later in the century.
Suburban Detroit on the other hand, especially Oakland County, includes some of the wealthiest zip codes in the world. A good example is Troy |
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| metalgearsolid |
| quote: |
World first: In 2008, most people will live in cities
By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
For the first time in human history, the world's population is about to become mostly urban.
Citing population growth rates and migration patterns, United Nations researchers and other experts predict that some time in 2008 more people will live in cities than in rural areas.
This demographic shift is mostly taking place in Africa and Asia, largely in low-income settlements in developing countries - much of it in the 22 "megacities" whose populations will exceed 10 million and in some cases grow to more than 20 million by 2015.
The environmental, economic, and social ramifications of such trends are enormous, according to the Worldwatch Institute's annual "State of the World" report released Tuesday. Among the major challenges are the mundane features of daily living: clean water and air, sanitary waste facilities, the cost of food, and the availability of shelter and transportation.
"Unplanned and chaotic urbanization is taking a huge toll on human health and the quality of the environment, contributing to social, ecological, and economic instability in many countries," warns the report, which is written by demographers, international program officials, and other experts from the United States and other countries.
But the news is not all bad. Researchers find examples of cities from Karachi, Pakistan to Freetown, Sierra Leone to Bogotá, Colombia with projects aimed at improving the lives of urban dwellers while reducing the environmental impact of concentrated populations. These include urban farming plots, solar water heaters, economic cooperatives, improved sewer facilities, and upgraded transportation systems.
"The task of saving the world's modern cities might seem hopeless - except that it is already happening," says Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin. "Necessities from food to energy are increasingly being produced by urban pioneers inside city limits."
Still, the challenges and the probable costs of addressing them remain daunting. Eight of the 10 most populous cities are on or near earthquake faults. Some two-thirds of the cities projected to exceed 8 million residents by 2015 are in coastal areas where sea levels may rise as a result of climate change.
But the human need is more immediate. Of the 3 billion people who live in cities today, about 1 billion are in slums without clean water, adequate toilet facilities, or durable housing. Some 1.6 million urban dwellers - many if not most of them children - die each year due to causes associated with the lack of clean water and sanitation.
"For a child living in a slum, disease and violence are daily threats, while education and healthcare are often a distant hope," says Molly O'Meara Sheehan, project director of Worldwatch's 2007 report, a collection of articles and graphics produced annually since 1984.
This argues for a reassessment of global development priorities, advocates say, particularly the allocation of national and international aid. According to the Commission for Africa, launched by British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2004, problems associated with urbanization are second only to HIV/AIDS on the world's most rapidly urbanizing continent.
Yet from 1970 to 2000, aid designated for cities in developing areas was just 4 percent of total development assistance worldwide. This was the period when many countries in Africa were transitioning politically and economically from European colonialism to independence.
"Too many of us were ill prepared for our urban future," notes Anna Tibaijuka, executive director of UN-HABITAT, the United Nations agency that promotes socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing universal adequate shelter.
"The promise of independence has given way to the harsh realities of urban living," writes Dr. Tibaijuka, an agricultural economist and native of Tanzania, in the report's foreword.
By 2015, there are likely to be 59 African cities with populations between 1 million and 5 million, 65 such cities in Latin America and the Caribbean, and 253 in Asia.
"Urban centers are hubs simultaneously of breathtaking artistic innovation and some of the world's most abject and disgraceful poverty," writes Mr. Flavin. "They are the dynamos of the world economy but also the breeding grounds for alienation, religious extremism, and other sources of local and global insecurity."
Cities also exemplify the challenges and promises of sustainability. China, for example, has 16 of the world's most polluted cities. But on an island in the Yangtze River near Shanghai, China this year plans to break ground on the Dongtan ecocity project designed to be nearly self-sufficient in food, water, energy, and waste disposal for its projected 500,000 residents.
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http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0112/p25s02-wogi.html |
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| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sunsnail
Presidents build cities now? :p |
Well, I do live in a city built by a president :p |
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