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If the old city centers are crowded and expensive because they're so desirable, then why do we need any new solution? Can't we just copy paste the old stuff outward in every direction in concentric circles from the old downtown?

I've never understood all the headscratching on this topic. Everyone likes charming little streets, plazas, coffee shops, locally owned restaurants. Just let people have it!

It seems like it had othe problems apart from being discontinuous from the city. There are lots of areas like this in the US which are contiguous with the city, that still end up as dead zones.

Did anyone really believe this was a good idea? I feel like the developers' need to turn a profit and the government's need to impose itself don't leave any good ideas on the table. Instead they focus on packaging up the same bad ideas just with different marketing.

When it inevitably doesn't work as promised, they just say oops, and move onto the next project.

I'm afraid I don't get your point either. Hit man?

The police overreached here, and the only thing that protected the victim was, of all things, Twitter.

The police are supposed to be the good guys, but that obviously wasn't the case here. My comment was merely expressing surprise at the irony of the situation.

They also could have done the complete opposite. Imagine your life being in the hands of Twitter.

Could you explain some more about how they were good administrators? I always had the impression that they were good conquerors but bad administrators. They'd conquer you then leave you alone as long as you paid your taxes.

If you tell me that the Romans or Persians were good administrators, that makes sense. We know they implemented laws, tax systems, roads, construction projects, etc. Do we have evidence that the Mongols did the same and did it as effectively?

I'm not the person you posed the question to, nor am I challenging what you're saying.

However, it was my understanding that cities that resisted them would sometimes be destroyed en masse. They didn't need to kill them all with bows and arrows. They would round everyone up and bury them in a hole or execute them.

Hulegu himself put the death toll in Baghdad at 200,000. I think that widescale murder was entirely possible at the time.

It would be difficult to name ethnicities or cultures that were wiped out, precisely because they were wiped out, wouldn't it?

I'm trying to follow, but having a hard time. The Mongols were NOT brutal and they WERE great administrators? So why was their reign so short?

I don't trust the laws. I think they're either implemented on behalf of the hotel chains, or else they only entrench people who already got "permits" for short term rentals, which now become basically golden tickets. I seriously doubt we'll see rents drop significantly anywhere.

In what way do the rich lose money here?

The big property owners will get subsidies to repurpose the now useless buildings. Corporate chain businesses will simply close down and continue making money elsewhere. Corporate office tenants will negotiate lower leases for smaller spaces.

Meanwhile, small businesses close and never come back. Downtown areas get abandoned and taken over by homeless. Property taxes of remaining residents will likely go up to make up for shortfalls.

The rich and the big corporations are going to be fine no matter how this shakes out. It's the normal people who are likely to come out worse off.

Are they incompetent or just aren't even trying? I ask myself this question all the time.

But wouldn't the pharmaceutical companies do it themselves in-house then?

Isn't this how drugs get developed? Even worse, the research is done using public funds, and then privatized and commercialized later.

It's a great organization, but different chapters have different vibes.

They might range from super diverse and fun groups that also like to go for drinks after the meeting, to suburban professionals who race home the minute it's over. YMMV.

It still exists but at least in the big city where I live, about half of the meetups are online only, which defeats the whole original purpose of the site.

I also notice that a lot of the groups just act as feeders to bring people into the same one or two events.

Sadly Meetup is not what it used to be, even though I feel like it's needed more than ever.

Trains only work if people live close enough to walk to the station and if the destination station is walking distance to where they want to go.

Driving to a train station, then later taking a bus or cab when I get off the train is ridiculous. I would rather just drive.