I generally agree with the critiques of pod subdivisions and huge blocks. Good neighborhoods are porous, IMO.
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• Nobody needs to live in a glorified loading dock.
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I'd think the benefit of the snout house is you can build a "normal", cheap home for the middle class that people want to buy on a much smaller lot than you could have if the garage was detached and around the back. In Houston we see houses like this pop up in older, neglected areas like Sunnyside, Acres Homes, Northline, etc. It's a way of bringing people back into inner neighborhoods which are affordable.
It's not urban density like author thinks of, but when you build this quasi suburban density it makes better use of existing infrastructure, reduces the need for outward sprawl, and helps the fiscal conditions of the city by revitalizing existing areas. In gentrified areas, a ban on the snout house and other strict form based zoning might mean some new urbanist style housing since what people care about more is the location than the housing. But in cheap areas, I bet small lots just get ignored because the market is for the conventional suburban home.
I think the aesthetic argument is foolish and subjective. In some neighborhoods people use their garages as porches, an open garage is an invitation to kids that the kid who lives there is available to play.
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Four-Lane Death Roads
• These are the result of transportation planners shoehorning four lanes of traffic into a narrow right-of-way that won't accommodate much else
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No, these are a result of a reality where cities are just really huge and sometimes we need to accommodate cross town traffic. The alternative is to wide the road by destroying all the homes and businesses along it.