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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 1142
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 2:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Interesting article from the rabble-rousers at CounterPunch. Your resource-sucking suburban life just got slightly less devastating; meanwhile, sprawl goes right on, with a slightly nicer image.

One excerpt:

4. It ain't green to build as if space for homes has nothing to do with transportation.

Detroit and St. Louis are some of the worst examples of US cities which have huge vacant areas in the center which are surrounded by vast suburbs. This damages the ability to have an efficient mass transportation system, which requires high density to (a) make sure bus and train cars are full and (b) enable people to walk and bike for most trips.

Oblivious to issues of density, green builders typically advertise how many cars fit into their eco-friendly garages. The vision of neighborhoods without cars, without driveways and without parking spaces does not make it into many design plans.

See more at http://www.counterpunch.com/fi tz07052007.html
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 1143
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 3:53 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Other good points:

If the house is "green" why aren't trees used to shade it from sun and wind? If the house is green, why is it built brand-new to last 50 years only? Etc.
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Charlottepaul
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Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1257
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 6:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well not everything is black and white in the green world. Certainly some things are more or less 'green.' But what is the issue of this thread? I think that most people already understand that Detroit isn't very green, right? http://www.modeldmedia.com/dev elopmentnews/CAYmc10007.aspx
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 1144
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 8:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think it's a relevant criticism. If true, NO NEW SUBURBAN DETROIT HOUSE CAN BE CALLED GREEN.
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Goat
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Username: Goat

Post Number: 9515
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 8:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The cost to service a suburb (water, electricity, phone...) is cost prohibitive compared with the density of an urban city. I had recently read that it is about 1.6 times the cost.
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 1145
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 9:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Actually, maybe I'm missing something. Are any sales people or ads claiming that suburban Detroit houses are built green? Or is that something that's happening elsewhere? Is anybody familiar enough with buying new homes in Detroit to know?
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Quozl
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Username: Quozl

Post Number: 856
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 10:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

NO NEW SUBURBAN DETROIT HOUSE CAN BE CALLED GREEN.

This looks like a suburban greenhouse to me...



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Rfban
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Username: Rfban

Post Number: 116
Registered: 02-2004
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 10:15 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yep, That's pretty green, and pink and white and red..... Where is this?
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Professorscott
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Username: Professorscott

Post Number: 526
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 10:24 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The cost to service any parcel of land is a direct function of the amount of street frontage. Infrastructure costs are linear: it costs $x per mile to run a water main, and so on.

So an 80 foot lot costs twice as much to service as a 40 foot lot.

In the real old days back in Noo Yawk whence I com, property tax was based on street frontage alone, the government then being practical and realizing the tax should have something to do with the cost. That's why there are so many five and six story buildings that are on lots not much wider than a single-width manufactured home.
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 1146
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 10:25 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

No fair! That's a "greenhouse"! ;)
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Quozl
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Username: Quozl

Post Number: 858
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 10:26 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands, very suburban locale...
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 1147
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 10:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

When I lived in New York, I thought it was weird that the water rates were decided on frontage. (I think they've gone metered since then.) But it makes sense now.
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Jb3
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Username: Jb3

Post Number: 108
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 3:14 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Actually, maybe I'm missing something. Are any sales people or ads claiming that suburban Detroit houses are built green? Or is that something that's happening elsewhere? Is anybody familiar enough with buying new homes in Detroit to know?"

It's a tough market around here right now an buyers/renters are demanding anything other than the lowest cost possible, which is very 'green' prohibitive. But on the upside, check out this previuos forum.

https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/5/104667.html?1183406615
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Jb3
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Username: Jb3

Post Number: 113
Registered: 06-2007
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2007 - 9:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

'...are[n't] demanding...'

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