Quote:
Originally Posted by Milksteak
Pennsylvania is lucky in that we have a plethora of small towns that were established before cars became prevalent, I can name multiple towns in each county within 20-30 miles of the city that are already walkable and have a rail station into center city...not every city/state is lucky enough to be in our position...and if classy and appropriate projects continue to pick up steam like the ones above, I truly think our region will become the envy of a lot of American metros.
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I agree with you 100%, I really wish we could get some statewide policy changes to incentivize more of this type of development and investment in Pennsylvania's small towns. I want to say Pennsylvania has the highest concentration of small walkable towns and cities in the USA to be honest. Maybe 1 other state can beat us on that.
The New Urbanist approach in my opinion are nothing more than 'fake towns' and just feel silly. This is what a great deal of cities metros have developed within their suburbs over the past 15 years. And as much as I can enjoy the new King of Prussia Town Center and say this is nice. It just is not authentic, even though its approach is FAR better than traditional strip malls.
And yes, Pennsylvania is so provincial, that annexation is challenging and rarely done, but Media would benefit on several fronts if it were to annex with its surrounding municipalities. I think many municipalities across the state would benefit to be honest. As it would make services more efficient, cut costs, reduce risk and increase the measure of shared benefits in tax structure. Rendell wanted to do this while he was governor, but it never picked up steam. Most likely because these municipalities have their little fiefdoms and the leaders within them have no desire to hand over or consolidate power, and god forbid, loose their 'lifetime' post.