• ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    2 months ago

    I grew up in a town in Ohio where the famous abolitionist John Brown (hanged in 1859 after his abortive raid on Harpers Ferry) had built a tannery in the 1840s 1835 that was still standing in 1976. To celebrate the bicentennial, the city council had it condemned and torn down, to make way for … a parking lot. Hilariously, the council claimed it was a danger because it was about to collapse, but it took three days to demolish and they had to bring in special heavy equipment to do it after their wrecking balls failed to make a dent in it. This thing had been built with massive 40-foot long oak beams with 12"x8" cross-sections that showed no signs of rot (my dad salvaged a piece of one of these beams and set it up as a bench in our garden, and it was still in good shape in 2012 despite being outside the whole time), so it could have easily been preserved as a historical site. In fact it had been declared an official historical site by the state just days before its destruction but the town council simply ignored that.

    Pic

    • FireRetardant@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      2 months ago

      Won’t anyone think of the poor suburbanites? These walkable cities are so hostile to them, where can they park their chevy suburban megacab ultrawide edition?

      • Wrufieotnak@feddit.orgEnglish
        9·
        2 months ago

        Even worse, this is in Würzburg, so in Germany. We don’t even have suburban areas as bad as the USA. In fact, to the left of the picture is a sign for a public transport stop. Still, Germany is strongly controlled by the car lobby.

        • Pechente@feddit.orgEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          Yeah and carbrain is pretty widespread. Im also surprised how many people who mainly use their car have absolutely no idea about the 49€ ticket, despite it making international headlines every now and then.

          • azimir@lemmy.mlEnglish
            3·
            2 months ago

            Our family visited Germany this past summer. I really wanted to get the 49€ tickets, but the system to buy them is cumbersome and we weren’t around that long.

            Now, we did have a visit in summer 2002. We still have our 9€ tickets from that trip. It was a wonder to be able to get around so cheaply.

        • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.netEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Not as bad as the US isn’t saying much. I just looked at an aerial image and there’s still a fair bit of sprawl around the city center.

    • Diplomjodler@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      Ironically, it’s always the local businesses that rabidly defend giving everything over to parking spaces. At this point I’ve given up on inner cities in Germany. They’re dying and those idiots are speeding up their own demise because they’re completely unwilling to even consider any alternative.

      • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        Here in Helsinki I’ve been seeing some local restaurants converting the parking spots up front into patio space for the summer.

        Once it was clear they could choose between two parked cars, or four more tables for customers, a lot seem to be picking the latter.

        • azimir@lemmy.mlEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          I’m often impressed with Finland. The attitudes and decision making the nation expresses are often very grounded and data driven.

          The trams in Helsinki were also phenomenal. I loved getting around town so easily.

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      Here in the towns around a lot of these parking lots are also used for those. The parking is open for cars when not used for other things. A sign Warns when parking is not allowed when market is setup. And other days the parking is closed off. The rest of the time it can be used for parking. I thinks that’s at least good use of the space.

  • JASN_DE@lemmy.worldEnglish
    41·
    2 months ago

    So who here has actually been to Würzburg and who’s simply parroting the community motto?

    • gkpy@feddit.orgOPEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      went today. the rest of the inner city is great and walkable. but this is still an eyesore and made me think of this community right away

    • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      I’ve been there. I have to admit, I was tired after our cycling and having this gigantic field of asphalt separating the house from the city center just made me feel more tired. The rest of the city is pretty nicely walkable and has trams.