Why You Can't Walk to America's Newest Train Station

[@simdal3088]

17 years planning.. forgets footpath 🤣

[@extrahistory8956]

Tell me about it! Here in Dallas, our city has been attempting (and failing) to develop the Trinity River Corridor for the last 30 years. The whole affair is such a crazy, slow train wreck that I'll very much like to see someone cover it in greater detail.

[@lekhakaananta5864]

Not forgotten. Deliberately omitted for the sake of car-dominated status quo. The transit plebs must be made to feel shame and fear for their physical safety, as punishment for defying their car-overlords.

[@rishabhanand4973]

yeah. "forgets"

[@Portablesounds]

Excellent way to keep the homeless and poor out too!

[@simdal3088]

@@Portablesounds Wow, haha.

[@lukebarber9511]

What makes my blood boil is how people like John and Tony fight tooth-and-nail to "preserve the character" of miles of soulless drive-everywhere suburbia...

[@brucenadeau2172]

maybe they like the town character as is

[@james-p]

It says a lot about their personalities. Or lack thereof.

[@lukebarber9511]

Ah, yes, the "character" of anonymous cookie-cutter tract housing.

[@AssBlasster]

@@brucenadeau2172 what town character? They probably spend 95% of their free time isolated from everyone at their suburban house

[@richdobbs6595]

Yeah, but you are asking them act against their own best interest in maintaining the value of their most valueable asset. Are you advocating for making zoning unconstitutional? How about removing occupational licensing? Maybe getting rid of the Fed and going on to a gold standard? Adopting Japanese style zoning where any lower level use can be intermixed into to more restricted developments?

[@rachelvoorna6899]

The dumbest part about this is how they built a train station next to a place where almost no one lives, in a town where you have nothing to do once you get there. What a waste.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

That is how bad urban and rural planning is in the US. Virtually everything revolves around single family homes and car infrastructure. In other countries, you will ALWAYS have TODs where the stations are. Which is why the housing crisis in Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, and Austria isn't as bad as it is in the US.

[@guppy719]

@@ianhomerpura8937 Singapore as a whole is as bad if not worse than the USA as a whole.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@guppy719 care to elaborate?

[@guppy719]

@@ianhomerpura8937 There have been a lot of issues around Singaporeans getting access to housing as of late and they are looking to change the rules regarding it to deal with it. allowing more people to get housing Since it is a tiny island nation unlike the USA there simply isn't other options if you aren't rich and don't qualify.

[@Punishthefalse]

@@guppy719 That's a problem of affordable housing availability, not the accessibility. When it comes to accessibility, Singapore is second to none. Homes *are* getting more expensive there, however.

[@literallyjudas2157]

the blind backlash to human-centred walkable cities is one of the most infuriating constants in american urban development.

[@RatPfink66]

I see the same thinking applied to new passenger rail build. People _don't know_ why they're against it, so they parrot reasons picked up from politicians. Maybe the change is just too fundamental to accept?

[@literallyjudas2157]

@@RatPfink66 I wish that didn't sound like the most likely explanation. Almost 80 years of the car being elevated and all forms of public transit being designated "for the poors" and a sign of failure.

[@RatPfink66]

@@literallyjudas2157 When walking and biking are treated as forms of public transit, the situation begins to get absurd.

[@Adam-bh4zp]

@RatPfink66 @@literallyjudas2157 Yeah, this is most likely the reason. They don't want to be forced to ride public transit with "those (poor/not white) people". I've seen public transportation projects face protest in my city for this exact reason under the guise of "crime" and "neighborhood character". Just racism and classism once again

[@qjtvaddict]

@@RatPfink66 USA is a failure

[@MythicalRedFox]

What a heartbreaking and infuriating and embarrassing story. Great work as always, Alex.

[@TohaBgood2]

Repeated over and over and over all across the country. Ironically, the most left wing and the most right wing areas are the biggest culprits in doing this. You can see this same thing happening everywhere from ultra-lefty Berkeley, CA to right wing rural Idaho. We just need to start building normal towns and cities again. What we are doing right now is not sustainable. Car dependency is simply too expensive for us to continue subsidizing. The sooner we run the numbers and realize this on a local level the better.

[@ummmbye1228]

Unrelated but I feel like y’all just have a virus on your device that’ll add “great work as always” in your comments

[@cut_and_cover]

Alex Davis, master hacker.

[@Alex-tx2dh]

Work so good, I subscribed instantly. I wanted to subscribe after just 3min, but I held back until the end. Yeah, that's going on my playlists

[@micosstar]

@@ummmbye1228enjoy KZbin.

[@asinglesliceofbread7089]

I saw this odd station while (sigh) driving to see some relatives nearby and thought "huh, that looks really odd in terms of placement, you've got zero chance of walking there", and sure enough ran into this video a few days later - it's neat knowing the history now. Thank you for putting time and care into curious local stuff like this!

[@warw]

This video has no business being this well done. You've done an incredible job and should be proud of it. Extraordinarily excited for anything you put out in the future.

[@C.Church]

Honestly, I have a minor issue with rhetorical persuasion (manipulation) by showing the Baltimore Parkway at off peak time and labeling it as congested in "quotation marks" And the part where a ~20yr old with 20yrs of hindsight materials (for which other people put in all the hard work to reach that point) a bit smugly proclaiming how he'd have ALSO written that particular bit of analysis (which again, is far down the timeline) is a bit much. But it is a good video.

[@cut_and_cover]

@@C.Church The audacity, to assume a mere child such as myself could author such a Mona Lisa of planning documents as TRANSITioning to TOD 2007.

[@C.Church]

@@cut_and_cover It's not about being a child. It is about the same as moving to place and reading 20yrs of documents and saying "Well of course I see the answer. Why can't they?" It's not your age. It's lack of perspective that makes it smug.

[@C.Church]

@@cut_and_cover Also I take it you concede the rhetoric. 👍

[@cut_and_cover]

@@C.Church Okay, so all I was saying was that TRANSITioning to TOD 2007 was pretty much exactly what I would have written. I don't think it's a masterpiece. It just ideologically matches me exactly. Is that so smug to point out?

[@BicyclesAndStreetcars]

I'm about halfway through the video. It is so incredibly depressing to hear how this good plan was destroyed. I wish we could have nice things here in the States. By all rights, we should.

[@synthstatic9889]

The question is “Why can’t we?” The other question is “Why do people in Europe and Asia have nice things?”

[@kevinp.h157]

@@synthstatic9889 I have a better question: “why do a lot of Americans love or prefer cars so much that they’ll dismiss any other form of transport?”

[@AndrewAMartin]

@@kevinp.h157 Just adding that this is southeast Pennsylvania, where it took decades both to finish the Blue Route and to complete I-95 around Philadelphia's airport. Corruption and incompetence (and LOTS of NIMBY-ism) surround every infrastructure project of every kind...

[@eddiejc1]

It's all about keeping people out. People who oppose these plans sincerely believe that anybody who can't afford a house or a car are losers, and they want barriers to keep those people away from them at all times, and those same people would rather spend hours driving in a dangerous car to work than have a shorter commute by train solely because they don't want to sit next to anybody else.

[@eddiejc1]

@@kevinp.h157 Because they would rather be surrounded by a metal cage than have to sit next to somebody else they don't like or are afraid of.

[@OpGod-sx8lw]

NIMBY’s honestly amaze me with their stupidity. “NOOO how DARE you try to build a SIDEWALK here? The AUDACITY! It’ll RUIN the smalltown vibe! Now lets get back to the construction of that 9 story tall parking garage.”

[@_SP64_]

They would probably whine about anything that has to do with a train honestly.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

People fear change. But whether they like it or not, change is inevitable as the planet continues to move forward and society evolves. Things absolutely cannot stay the same. The type of change we invoke is up to each and every one of us. Trains are the future, and so is transit-oriented development. Where frustrated drivers are stuck in traffic, trains move past with ease. Sure trains get cancelled, but it's not like the highways are perfect either with all its road work. People in Japan and France opposed high-speed rail, and now both systems are PRAISED. Rail leads to real-estate boom, towns popped up in the western US because of rail. Middletown thought they dodged a bullet, but it's only the beginning.

[@LetsTakeWalk]

Classic case of "That's why we can't have nice things."

[@nulnoh219]

Cuz 2 guys.

[@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7]

@@nulnoh219 cuz that means less green space

[@kristoffersparegodt420]

@@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7 Parking lot’s are not green spaces 😆

[@brucenadeau2172]

what if the town is way they like you would complain if came to your town and want to change thing

[@Strudlfaust]

"Personally I think town centers are awesome, but what they proposed was a shopping destination that people happen to live in...." Dude, you just described the definition if a town centre

[@64ankka]

As a European, this was really sad to watch, but also super interesting to see there is a movement against this kind of planning in USA. Especially younger people seem to be in favour of walkability and public transit. I suppose time will tell if they will forget about it once they become older and just drive everywhere, or will they slowly manage to make America's cities more liveable?

[@qjtvaddict]

They will make USA modern but it will take decades

[@starventure]

For you to understand this better, you would have to take a journey to places such as Philadelphia and Harrisburg, walk around there, then take a journey out to places such as York and Lancaster. Open your eyes, take a good look around you to see what’s going on, and then think very hard about why these anti-urbanist decisions have been made.

[@sinisterdesign]

I believe what @@starventure is saying is, it's racism.

[@Tabrias07]

As a Philadelphian, I'm looking at buying a house up the mountains in a town with as small a population as possible. Walkable cities and more neighbors are the opposite of what I want.

[@christianknuchel]

Chance are they'll just move out of there to a place that's actually built for people, not automobile industry stock traders.

[@bbaction101]

What an incredible in depth case study. I'm a transit planner but I believe videos like these can have a much greater impact than anything I could do professionally. You have people's attention with this, so I think a great next step is to turn it into a call to action. This video sort of ends in a somewhat depressing conclusion and I think viewers would benefit from a case study where things went right. Can America still build sustainable, human focused development and how can regular folks help make that happen in their communities?

[@RatPfink66]

The lack of a call to action might be due to the documentarians' perceived remit. But I agree the conclusion is a depressing one. Put short, people don't know the first thing about urban planning, and when they interact with it, they can rarely do so in a way that really protects the community's interests. The question of how regular folks can help make ANYTHING happen in the public interest is really the question of the age. Right now there is not a lot of public discussion of that question. It's better for ALL established interests that way - except, of course, the public, who are supposed to forget they have an interest beyond the self.

[@bbaction101]

@@RatPfink66 Regular folks can come together and make change as shown in the video. It's just that they got together to oppose the development and succeeded. Perhaps we need to take their strategy and do the same thing except we need to support projects like this. I do think that it's hard to galvanize support for something however, so a better strategy could be to oppose the end result we see in this video. We want places to walk, less death on roads, more housing for families and a better environment for our children. If we want these things we have to fight for them like these people fight these developments.

[@RatPfink66]

@@bbaction101 it's a similar situation to US political parties. they don't think alike, but at least one studies the other's strategies and learns from them. ONLY one.

[@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7]

@@RatPfink66 there was a park next to house when I lived in the suburbs

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7 still not enough

[@Maranville]

The weirdest thing about the NIMBY phenomenon is that these folks don't *necessarily* have any financial, legal or political power, let alone voting majorities. Much of the time they're literally just loud, but for some reason we're too polite to ignore them.

[@christianknuchel]

Interestingly, it seems very easy for most people to ignore the interests of homeless people. I guess politeness moves in strange ways.

[@yunleung2631]

Yeah. I’m interested in why they have any power at all. Cant we just ignore them?

[@patriot9487]

It's not that we should ignore them; we should destroy them

[@lumpy8704]

@@yunleung2631 No you can't since this is a local government problem. Notice that these guys are or were members of local government. In a relatively small town/county everyone knows eachother and no one wants step on peoples toes, especially if they are living near them. For legislatures or regular citizens the benefits of this development are great but for some guy who is a county executive the amount of people you can piss off and keep your seat is very low, even if the rewards (lots of tax money and your county you supposedly care about being better) are great. In this situation the state or federal government should have some way to force the project and disregard the NIMBYs, but this is America.

[@Splenda257]

Utterly false to assume that somehow the resulting development is anything other than what the residents wanted. The developer had a fair hearing in the court of public opinion for the town center concept but wasn't able to convince people it was a good idea. I've driven before on Route 1 south of Granite Run, and I know exactly why the people there didn't want it. There's already too much traffic. The regional rails in Philadelphia are out of date and should be phased out instead of expanded. Most people don't need a train to Center City. If you want denser development along Route 1, the road needs a metro line that can link together all of the amenities along Route 1 from Philadelphia to to Wawa. That would make the Route 1 corridor a place where a person could actually contemplate living car free and induce demand for denser development. Expanding the regional rail line to Wawa is a backwards looking mistake.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

But you CAN walk to any Pyongyang Metro station. The whole of Pyongyang is walkable and bicycle-friendly. Not to mention there are trams and trolleybuses too! The Pyongyang Metro began operating in 1973, a year before Seoul opened their first metro line. People may not like states dominated by one party, but at least we get things done without arguments. Look at how China grew their HSR system, now covering every province

[@ianhomerpura8937]

When will you build a metro line south of the Taedong River?

[@ClayinSWVA]

You have to do it that way when no one can afford cars.

[@lachlanp4198]

I love how satire yet true this is

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@ClayinSWVA to be fair, car-centrism definitely isn't the way to go nowadays.

[@Poisson4147]

The Paris Métro is designed so no station is more than 500m away on foot.

[@mjseltzer22]

I've lived in this area my whole life and would buy in a community like the original plan in a heartbeat. You've made an excellent video. This is such scandalously bad land use that l hope more people watch it and the story gets picked up by other media. What a wasted opportunity to build much needed housing.

[@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7]

I lived in the suburbs and there was a park next to my house

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7 where do you live?

[@brucenadeau2172]

the thing was the train was coming because the people from this town drove to the nearest train station causing traffic problems there i notice this was a guy who did not live in the town he never ask what the people of this town wanted

[@derp3044]

@@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7 nice. too bad the nearest grocery store was probably pretty far away

[@user-wp6qo6ru7g]

This is an absolutely sensational video! I just can’t understand though why we allow outspoken people (usually a small minority) who live in a community before being developed to have so much power that they get to decide on what gets developed, even though they don’t own the land but just love adjacent to it

[@0xsergy]

people that don't understand that once this plan succeeds their "traffic" would disappear along with the smog and pollution from cars driving everywhere.

[@Punishthefalse]

@@0xsergy Yes but that means they have to leave their cars at home most of the time unless they are leaving town, and that's just not acceptable for a typical American.

[@0xsergy]

@@Punishthefalse big oil says car = good. Big oil always right. I am dumb american.

[@Punishthefalse]

@@0xsergy It all comes down to the individualistic mentality of a typical American that has been nurtured since the founding of the country. Me first, damn everyone else.

[@Pensyfan19]

Another fantastic documentary looking into TOD history and development. Videos like this are absolutely essential to understanding what qualifies as transit oriented developments, and what can be considered misinformation by politicians and planners. Keep up the great work, and continue to inspire new generations of YIMBYs!

[@goldeagle1824]

Another absolutely amazing video! It's mind-boggling that 17 years of planning led to this level of mediocrity.

[@darthwiizius]

Erm....Here in the UK the idea of building a "town" without a town centre to serve as a hub for retail, administration and public transport would be seen as a non-starter. It would never be approved in the first instance as it would be unsustainable in the long term. When we build a town we build it to be permanent and to form it's own identity and culture (well Stevenage has an identity but the only cultures it's ever produce is the STDs in the local women's knickers). What the developers wanted to build was a standard nuclear town, a town built around a centre within walking distance from the housing around surrounding it, every UK town for centuries has been built this way, I live in one of the new builds, it's about 120 years old and is the blueprint for the New Towns that copied it, cheaply, like Stevenage but the mix of a nuclear town with plenty of interior green spaces and additional local amenities within surrounding housing and industrial/commercial areas further lowering the need for car use is pretty much the standardised design here.

[@DavidShepheard]

Excellent video. So, what do you think needs to be done to rehabilitate Wawa? If you were given money and control of the area, what changes would you make around the station?

[@cut_and_cover]

Good Question: 1. Build that friggin staircase. 2. Use the gaps in the development to put a convenience store. I don't care which brand, they just need to agree not to have more than 4 parking spaces. Then maybe a coffee shop/restaurant or clothing store, if that's economically feasible. 3. I would subdivide the unsold houses into apartments. They would never allow this, as Franklin Station is a package product, not to be tampered with. But if they wanted to turn it into a real town, that's what I'd tell them to do.

[@peter_smyth]

@@cut_and_cover There should be way more than four packing spaces. Three spaces for cars, and 10 for cycles.

[@GuusJanssen]

As a Dutch person, cycling infrastructure is all that matters. Most train stations over here don't have car parking anymore, none, or for just a few cars, and that is because most people go to the train station (or anywhere else) by bicycle. Bicycle parking is everywhere. In the Netherlands, cycling is the default for transportation for any trip shorter than about 5 km. And almost everyone lives within a radius of 5 km from a train station, or a bus station. So if I was in control I would make it harder to drive (less asphalt, smaller roads, more speed bumps, shops near housing), more public transport, and bike paths. Get people out of their cars, onto their bikes, and into public transport.

[@onetwothreeabc]

@@GuusJanssen What do you propose for people that can't ride a bicycle?

[@GuusJanssen]

@@onetwothreeabc I'm sorry I don't understand what you mean. How are they not able to ride a bicycle?

[@Kurgosh1]

I don't understand how anyone could live in a modern suburb and say, "Yeah, this is great. We should do more of this."

[@tachobrenner]

You can't hear your neighbors through your walls, and you can do anything you want with your house

[@cut_and_cover]

The HOA would beg to differ.

[@Levyafan]

If you grew up in a suburbia and don't know any better, you very quickly get used to the suburbanite ways, causing it to burrow its insidious tendrils into your mindset.

[@Kurgosh1]

@@cut_and_cover Even without an HoA, zoning, noise ordinances, environmental regulations, appearance ordinances all apply. (Not that all of those are bad - you probably shouldn't be allowed to open a nuclear waste dump in your back yard for example.)

[@theamazingsolt]

If people could walk there, then who would park in all those parking spots??

[@brandonbollwark5970]

They would lose so much parking revenue! 😢

[@blanco7726]

If I lived in those houses and needed to use that train regularly, I know for sure I wouldn't walk around. So I can imagine a lot of people around there wont either. In fact it would probably be cheaper and less impeding, to get together with some neighbours, pour a couple hundred into a project pot and figure out some way to blow these bushes out of the way. Build primitive stairs into the ground and you're solid. Cost you less than driving a stupid loop and paying for parking. (Which again seems preposterous I doubt anyone in this neighborhood would do so.

[@cut_and_cover]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Use flagstones to build some primitive stairs into the hillside.

[@C.Church]

Visitors from afar. Empty parking lots aren't all bad. They're prime farmers market and weekly vendors sites with booths and games... a place for teens to hang with friends, families and holiday stuff. We have a market night in my small town where roads are blocked for pedestrians, booths and free roaming. A neighboring empty lot of a long closed small mall is used for parking for the vendors and people coming from afar to spend here.

[@blanco7726]

@@asgdhgsfhrfgfd1170 especially the camera part📸 it surprises me the police is even allowed to use speed traps with your privacy laws :D

[@daveharrison84]

Make sure everyone who lives in that region knows what they could have had if nimby's didn't take it away from them.

[@simdal3088]

Interesting how private parties can have such a big influence on central planning. Understand private property is holy ground in the states but there must be some legal tools to get these things done no? This seems like anarchy to me, how do you get things done? A vision often only works when implemented in totality, can always make adjustments after.

[@MythicalRedFox]

"This seems like anarchy to me," Hey now don't rope anarchists into this. 😂

[@simdal3088]

@@MythicalRedFox Sorry sir, it lacks structure and consistency. That better? 😅

[@krombopulos_michael]

The thing is that this actually seriously undermines the idea of private property. If private property was fully respected, a developer could just build whatever they wanted on their own property. These laws severely restrain what you're allowed to do with your own property.

[@simdal3088]

@@krombopulos_michael Sure, i do understand zoning and building codes. Was perplexed by the homeowners preventing a sewer to prevent development in a certain spot. Seems very easy to frustrate any growth and development with that. Would explain 17 years of planning i gues.

[@AleksandarStefanovic]

USA is the country where you have FREEDOM to do anything, except when you don't have the freedom to do anything

[@spencer4732]

NIMBYs will forever make american TOD fall short of the mark unless there's some significant change that they all acknowledge... which won't happen. amazing production and looking forward to the rest of the videos

[@thomaswill37]

we could try sharing these videos with them.

[@flare2000x]

Alex I'm so happy I stumbled upon your Amtrak video earlier this year when it had double digit views, your content is getting really relevant, thought provoking, and important! Keep it up!

[@eCitaroFan]

The irony is that the so called corporate greed of developers that they accuse of equally applies to that sprawl development as much as the initial mixed use walkable town center plan that never came to be. Tho this isn't the idea reason to stop development, there just needs to be more funding for public housing that isn't out of reach for people with a median income under 40k. In Providence, our tallest high rise, an art deco building known coloqually as the the super man building has "affordable housing units" that is built for people with a median income of 40k when the city's median income is 24k.

[@rishabhanand4973]

also, the only reason mixed use walkable areas are expensive to live in is because of how low the supply is. They are much cheaper to build and maintain than sprawling suburbs, so if we just built enough to meet the demand, they would be so much cheaper. We can literally choose to have our cake and eat it too, and are choosing neither.

[@guppy719]

If you think its hard to get this kind of thing approved for nice housing. Putting in cheap housing is 100X harder

[@eCitaroFan]

@@artandarchitecture6399 Singapore and Vienna have made public housing work, it just needs to be properly funded. government services only fail if they're not properly funded

[@PeterT1981]

Very nice production value. Hugely informative. Entertaining editing. Thank you!!!

[@Adam-bh4zp]

This is such a great video. These projects are insanely complicated and it is hard to pay attention to them over the decades and decades that they take to plan and complete. Thanks for doing the work and breaking down all of the history for us viewers. One thing I'll say is that I don't think anyone "forgot" how to do anything. A lot of the NIMBYism comes from racism and classism which is the underlying reason why most of these types of developments are opposed. If we don't discuss that when talking about why these plans failed then I think we're doing ourselves a disservice.

[@guy-sl3kr]

Yeah it's a straight line from this country's history of redlining & blockbusting to where we are now. The US never desegregated, not really.

[@LexYeen]

Remember kids: any time you hear NIMBYs complain about the possibility of "transients" as a side effect of expanding public transit, that's a racist and/or classist dogwhistle.

[@codyswanson6773]

Wellp: NE Ohio born and raised here. You mentioned Crocker Park. And I went to school in Philly. Got real familiar with SEPTA. You’ve gained a new subscriber!

[@te0pol159]

This video is so well made it should belong to a multi-million subscriber channel, but no, this channel only has a few thousand subscribers. Very, very good job.

[@maarchalk2840]

The original plan could have been an amazing success story that made this kind of development available anywhere!

[@tylerd4173]

Really well researched, edited, delivered. Sad that this happened. Great video!

[@andre-cmyk]

.... lots of brazil, i feel very very flattered. latam feels like it slips thru the cracks in urbanist conversations so thank you!!!

[@jb3____]

I grew up in southern Chester County. I vaguely remember hearing about this as a kid; my parents debating the necessity despite not living in its immediate area. Now I think it's a shame that the original plan fell through. Chester County has a lot of places that could benefit from a project like this. There are even walk-able towns with existing railways that could be revitalized, like Oxford or Kennett square. So much that could happen, but never will.

[@cut_and_cover]

Chesco Planning Commission has some backward leadership, but that doesn't mean municipalities have to listen. In a small town, a small vocal group can achieve almost any political change. Just look at Save Middletown.

[@mjseltzer22]

Kennett Collaborative recently had Chuck Mahron from Strong Towns out to speak. Some folks out here are trying to make sure these communities are developed sustainably.

[@cut_and_cover]

@@mjseltzer22 Glad to see they're in good hands.

[@lioshin]

@@mjseltzer22 i live in Kennett square. it's a great thing that people are starting to realize towns here are attractive and popular mostly for the reason that they are walkable.

[@allen7585]

👋 Hello from Philly! Just look at the uproar from the proposed new Sixers stadium in center city. Everyone having a heart attack about “how am I suppose to drive to the game!?” Septa, people. It’s literally ontop of a major Septa station. You literally can get on a train in a suburb and get off right at the stadium. No driving. It’s not hard. I promise.

[@Ferrichrome]

I live 3 miles from Middletown! Nice to hear urbanists talking about PA! Edit: now that I’ve seen the whole video, wow, fantastic job. This shines a light on why we never seem to make any progress in the US. My only hope is that the new generation, lead by people like us, can make a difference in our communities.

[@jh8320]

Run for your town zoning board. It will make the biggest impact.

[@tsnovak20]

This is not the only case, the developers don’t really walk, and don’t have the word sidewalk in their dictionary so it is very difficult for them to include that in their planning. When you approach them and ask them about the sidewalk, they will freeze and then start violently rotating until they explode!

[@andrefu4166]

i'm from very far away from wawa & i've never even been to delaware but this was an incredible incredible, amazing well-made video. you should be extremely proud of your skills, the video and i am so happy that people passionate about transit like this are involved in the next generation of transit-orientated development

[@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7]

Rural areas prefer green land

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7 Middletown is not rural.

[@thomaswill37]

@@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7 if we build with higher density, there will be more space left for ACTUAL green space instead of a half acre of poorly maintained lawn. whether that is wilderness or agriculture...

[@letitiajeavons6333]

Middletown is in Delaware County Pennsylvania. Still on the Delaware River and between Philadelphia and Wilmington, DE, but in Pennsylvania.

[@VivianStreet]

What a frustrating story! I didn't follow the Wawa station news closely, so thank you for covering it in detail.

[@scottengel9965]

Your videos are really great. The quality of production plus content is one of the best on KZbin.

[@athowar]

holy crap. i finished the video and went to leave a like, and then i saw that you only have 9k subs. I dont think its going to stay that way for long, thank you for the well made content.

[@Nicksonian]

Local governments routinely fail on so many issues, but the worst, with the longest-lasting consequences, are zoning issues. Usually, local politicians are in bed with developers. When developers actually come up with innovative plans, the only residents who become involved are those totally lacking in imagination or common sense who throw up roadblocks to anything but boring, bleak, hideous, car-based suburbia. America is so far beyond being fixable it’s scary.

[@ThePixel1983]

Woah, you were born a year before I finished school, and here you are (hopefully) changing urban development! I wish I had had that much initiative at your age, great work! Greetings from Paris!

[@lasfloresdicen]

3:55 "I don't have my degree yet, but I think those are kinda important for a town to have" 😅😅

[@AlvaSudden]

I love this, everything about it. The history, the personalities behind the opposition to the station, and ESPECIALLY--using the Hallelujiah Chorus in your soundtrack. 100% informative, complete, with just the right light touch of sarcasm.

[@parsahasselhoff7986]

Top notch. I'm amazed at how quickly the quality of your work is improving (To be clear it was good to begin with.)

[@FlyingOverTr0ut]

Fantastic video. You deserve lots of support. After losing two cars to hit and runs I've come to realize how great transit and dense, human oriented neighborhoods can be, even here in LA (Koreatown/ Hollywood specifically). Subscribed.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

It's funny how they think transit development will cause more traffic, as if SEPTA trains are the ones that run on highways. MAYBE if they don't want traffic in their community they should, oh I don't know...NOT have so much car-oriented infrastructure? If they took a moment to put their thinking caps on instead of yelling to a wall that if there were more people that ride trains, it would lead to LESS cars sitting in traffic (and housing near stations will allow people to walk). A developed country is where the rich use public transportation, as Gustavo Petro once said, and this has been the case in New York City and in Jersey City where people take the subway, and NJ Transit and PATH respectively to get to work (I used to live in Jersey City and my mom doesn't drive nor owns a car which wasn't a problem with Jersey City's convenient transit options). People have to stop exclaiming that transit is for the poor when in reality, it's meant to be for EVERYONE. Hence, PUBLIC! They're just mad that they're losing their privilege, glued to their cars to make them feel good.

[@alexanderkruszewski7306]

I love this channel so much. Thank you for doing this great journalistic work! Investigative Developmental journalism is sorely needed here in Philly and the surrounding counties.

[@ppleater]

God damn dude, im so hyped for you because with the quality you keep putting out, you're gonna keep growing your channel so much.

[@ianmcclellan7695]

Alex, I’m going to post this on my Twitter feed because what you’ve said and how you’ve said it is absolutely brilliant. 👍

[@cyrusmarikitph]

We have a municipality that would soon be a city, Capas, Tarlac Province. There will be a train station on that place once the municipality will be much urbanised. Also, that will be one of the two options of the northernmost stations of still-under construction elevated North-South Commuter Railway of the Philippine National Railways.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

They have to plan more. It still has to solve the last mile problem, i.e. how to get around the city to and from the station.

[@TheRandCrews]

Man I wish when I get back to Philippines they rebuild or reinstate the Bicol Express. It’s tough driving or taking a bus with luggage taking like 10-12 hours while the plane can barely take any luggage. Train travel is coming back agaun

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@TheRandCrews it's being negotiated now with China. The blueprints are ready, as well as the additional right of way (since the PNR already owns at least half). All it needs is the funding and contractors, and the project can start.

[@BRYCONIC]

Wow, just WOW. Thanks for such an insightful video.

[@IAmSneak]

amazing video as always!

[@CTGReviews]

I was sure this channel had like 400k subs, but you only have 14k. This channel is underrated for now, you’ll be big someday.

[@daveassanowicz186]

Wow! I'm from Lower Bucks County Pennsylvania, lived there 40+ years. Corwells Heights Station along the R7 line used to be a smaller station with apartments across the street and the bones of main street in a neighborhood called Andalusia wasn'ttoo far. A decade + ago they turned it into a MASSIVE Park and Ride. Just walking from the entrance where the old station was to all the way to where the new one is, is brutal.

[@cut_and_cover]

Thank you for sharing. I didn't realize it had been moved. A similar thing happened in Hammonton, NJ. They moved the station out of the downtown to fit more parking.

[@livablecity]

Great video! So well made. Loved the editing and the inevitable conclusion.

[@DonQuiKong]

Do you have someone advising you whos working in film making or in journalism? These are way to good for you only being in the YT game for less than a year! Extremely impressive script, the pacing is pretty much perfect. Also, have you considered making a patreon? i would definitely support you.

[@cut_and_cover]

I'm in two journalism classes now. I'm trying to get a journalism minor, but they say they don't offer it.

[@sclamen]

Excellent work! Make your professors watch it!

[@thomaswill37]

I love the theme song. The middle of the video, though, ahhhhh!!! Equal parts sad and upset. We were soooo close! Anyway, great video, 10/10 going to share it with my friends & family. I really need to find a way to get my city council to watch your channel, Not Just Bikes, City Beautiful, CityNerd, and Alan Fisher. Oh, and Climate Town lol.

[@jarjarbinks6018]

Lynwood city council recently allowed high and mid rise mixed use development around their Lynwood city center link light rail station in the Seattle area (opens 2025) I hope that this leads to a nice station area. We will have to see what becomes of it

[@cut_and_cover]

Hey, that's good!

[@scrappydoo5336]

VERY WELL DONE. I love videos like this but cant ever sit through one in its entirety because they lose me but this one i was able to watch all the way through.

[@southjerseyone9447]

This is the first of your videos that I have seen. Thumbs up on the production values. I found this video more insightful regarding the local situation than the Philadelphia area videos created by Reece Martin. Pennsylvania officials can't understand why the Commonwealth has problems attracting creative-class individuals: outcomes like this (and the processes that lead to them) are a significant reason. Not claiming that New Jersey is problem-free (see the glacial progress of the Glassboro-Camden Line), but there are enough state level incentives / support to make Transit Oriented Development occur in an attractive fashion. If Doug Mastriano wins the PA Gubernatorial election, this is likely the last transit project of this kind that will happen for a very long time.

[@letitiajeavons6333]

The good news is Mastriano lost. I still think Shapiro could be better on public transportation.

[@madeline569]

Ridiculously high quality interesting and informative video. Excellent work

[@metrazol]

Finally, a fresh episode of 'Franklin'. Wait...

[@MrMinermation]

What a fantastic video. Genuinely incredibly quality, I hope you go far.

[@jh8320]

The best thing you can do to fight NIMBYs is run for local zoning board. It’s so important to a community and so overlooked. In PA municipalities are so small the elections are super easy. They need good people!

[@tka4nik]

Amazing video, instantly subscribed! 1 Point tho, when you were talking about examples of walkable cities and show Moscow, I had a quick laugh. Yes, the public transit in Moscow is honestly amazing and its among the best in the world according to a recent study. But the city is suffering heavily from car infection, and its still building new stroads and "diameters" throughout the city, making it one of the more car conjested cities on the list according to the same study :D

[@C.Church]

My conclusion: They should have hired mediators from Europe to settle the dispute. I forgot which city, in Holland or Denmark, the most bike friendly city has the fastest car commute times because people in the town are mostly biking or walking. Even in snow. It's so brilliantly done, yes even biking in the winter. I think I saw it on Not Just Bikes. And I've said it before and I'll say it again, cul de sacs are evil. I drive Uber sometimes and more than once I've been caught in a sil de sac maze trying to leave. New developments aren't on maps. When I'm escaping a huge cul de sac development I can't help being disgusted. "At least put in a centrally located mini mart so kids and people can walk or bike here. They wouldn't need all these Ubers just to get milk or beer. And it would he inside the development so the crime will be minimal. No huge lights needed and signs. Can be quaint." My dad was in the Air Force. We lived in housing on the far north side of a base in Japan. In our housing area we had a little mart with vending machines to save us the stress of being far away from milk... or gum. But no.

[@makelgrax]

So what you're saying is that the military was more humane than USA suburbs? Love it!

[@johnclement5903]

Ironically, there is a chain of mini-marts in PA and NJ called, wait for it, WAWA!

[@C.Church]

@@makelgrax lol yeah I guess. 😂 But the Air Force is notoriously VERY family friendly. The least is the Marines. Abysmally least, not even close to AF.

[@C.Church]

Update: It is Netherlands. I rewatched the Not Just Bikes video "The Best Country in the World for Drivers". It's because they get pedestrians right.

[@C.Church]

ps. I also recommend "Why Canadians Can't Bike in the Winter (but Finnish people can)" at that channel if you're not familiar with it. Even other countries struggle with poorly implemented infrastructure. It isn't an American thing (ala "Let's hate Americans! Yeah! Addicted to cars! Rabble rabble rabble!")

[@nicoletbn]

Holy shit, you’re incredible. This video is absolutely phenomenal and so, so sad.

[@michaelstratton5223]

There's no sidewalks or paths leading into the airport in Grand Rapids Michigan. And the bus that goes there doesn't run on saturdays. So I literally trudged through the unkept no-man's land along the runway fencing because I don't feel I should be forced to pay an extravagant cab/Lyft fare just because the people who designed the airport were idiots. I'm sure security and the control tower people were watching me like bloodthirsty ravens the whole time but it was pretty satisfying to exercise my perfectly legal freedom....literally "exercising" it.

[@cut_and_cover]

Sounds like something I would do. Good on you.

[@micklenier6152]

"No-man's land" accurate!

[@asmodon]

Just found this channel. It’s an instant subscribe with bells and everything. The „running everybody’s license plates in a non creepy kind of way“ made me spit my coffee.

[@AlexanderCarranzaYo]

Literally cried at the end. I just wanna walk down my block to enjoy my city, take transit to go to another part of the city, and take high speed rail to visit other cities, rinse and repeat is that too much to ask for 😭

[@brucenadeau2172]

the thing is to have public transportation system that is as effective as private cars need several hundred buses diesel is worse then a gas car for smog and smell

[@Morii44]

Amazing video! Loved the theme song too, nice touch :)

[@fallenshallrise]

It's so crazy that this is how city planning works. Someone gets established in an area which was opened up to them by the government building a town or because they inherited the property - or they are old enough that they got in early. Then they gatekeep that area as hard as they possibly can to not only limit the amount of new families that can receive the same opportunity but also control whether they can have kids, or how much savings they have to spend on a home. There's no democracy, no vote for the people who live in the surrounding area and no consideration for new people who might want to live in the area because they have family there or for whatever reason. The majority have no say.

[@billpickard7848]

Very good long form journalism Alex

[@moromoro2163]

“The Geography of Nowhere” by Kunstler should be required reading. Understanding how we got here will help show the way out.

[@Bamaji2]

What an awesome video! Keep it up man!

[@user-lz3ut8qp5j]

How can we get Americans to welcome new people to their neighborhood?

[@microproductions6]

Great question. One of the things that Strong Towns talks about is how North American neighborhoods are built to a finished state, and I think that is partially to blame for people's reaction to new development or adversity to more people moving to their town. It's funny how there can be so little sense of community or character in American places and at the same time residents think that new people would negatively impact their sense of community or character. People are just too resistant to change even when it would benefit them.

[@RatPfink66]

Paint 'em white! /s

[@starventure]

Allow them to sell at a fair price and let them build a new suburb away from the newer arrivals with restrictions to stop them from moving there.

[@LexYeen]

That's the thing, you can't. Americans are, broadly speaking, xenophobic. (Source: am american)

[@BillLaBrie]

Eliminate poverty and homelessness. Reduce world population by 50-75%. Chip the survivors and put them under total surveillance.

[@spencerh2129]

absolutely infuriated. great vid

[@RishayanPorMexico]

The world would probably be a better place if they let young intelligent people, like the producers of this video, do the planning, inside of petty rich clueless doctors and their rich ( middle class) cohorts. Even though I despise developers ( in most cases), in THIS case at Wawa, I would actually side with the developers in their ORIGINAL plan, and certainly NOT with the clueless overpaid, petty rich local residents.

[@BrianOfGa]

Hey man, just came across your channel and this video, and I love it! I’m a big fan of urban planning and infrastructure in general. This was a fantastic video. Very well produced. Keep up the good work!

[@humorinpolitics56]

My uncle was a part of making sure the original plan didn't come to fruition. He works for a company that lobbies on behalf of North America vehicle manufacturers. They can't have projects that prove that personal vehicles aren't needed if we redesign towns and mass transportation.

[@alexk1888]

this video is criminally good

[@EmperorNefarious1]

They just need to bring the line all the way to West Chester again, no need for TOD their, it's already rather dense near the old station, though they could extend it a bit further as the town gets denser a few blocks up.

[@bradleyharrisYT]

This is hands down one of the best KZbin videos I have watched in weeks. Extremely well put together, great music and very interesting. Subscribed! Thank you!

[@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7]

I think rural areas prefer green spaces

[@FGH9G]

This is infuriating, but honestly, it is simultaneously not surprising at all. As a former Southeastern PA resident, Greater Philadelphia Area NIMBYs imo are some of the most aggressive, obnoxious, and unfortunately successful kinds of NIMBYs on par with NIMBYs in San Francisco. It's almost comical how anti-transit, anti-mixed use, and anti-pretty much anything NOT car related so many Greater Philly townships are and how they pound their chests and scream at the top of their lungs taking pride in that fact. These Middletown Township NIMBYs also REALLLYYY amped up the myth of the *BIG BAD EVIL DEVELOPER* that is so pervasive in many anti new urbanist echo chambers. Additionally, the amount of places in Philly exemplifying anti-transit oriented development, something I like to call Transit Disoriented Development is just mind numbing. See pretty much every SEPTA Regional Rail station and even many areas in the city that have SEPTA Subway stations.

[@cut_and_cover]

We gotta start taking notes from these nimbys.

[@LexYeen]

"on par with NIMBYs in San Francisco" Marin County NIMBYs blocked BART from covering the north bay. As a local, I'd say they're scarier than the San Francisco NIMBYs.

[@FGH9G]

@@cut_and_cover Military Generals and Field Marshals could learn a thing or two about deception from them too haha.

[@FGH9G]

@@LexYeen Bay Area NIMBYs are a special kind of relentless!

[@ianhomerpura8937]

​@@LexYeen and now NIMBYs in Berkeley, Palo Alto, Cupertino, and San Jose are doing the same, but with new midrise housing developments.

[@parker6227]

This is shocking how good you made this video, wow

[@HowtoBuildtheWorld]

i have similar master planned development in the my city, but for some reason they are still debating whether to add those bike lanes or not :/ also, it more parking than anything else :0

[@cut_and_cover]

Oh good, really future-proofing the design.

[@richdobbs6595]

I'm now living about 5 miles away from the closest grocery store, yet its actually an improvement since it gets me out of an every-day long commute to kid's high school. I'm in a high density apartment complex, surrounded by miles of low density single family homes. You have to go miles to get to the town center or the nearest highway strip develop with a handful of restaurants, a liquor store, a couple of gas station/convience stores and a multitude of dentists( for some reason!). We are building this green field dytopia in 2023 because we can't get out of the interaction of zoning laws, nimby motivations, and developer dynamics.

[@cut_and_cover]

"Green Field Dystopia" is a great descriptor of a country where first generation development is heavily subsidized and second, third or fourth generation development is made illegal by the people living in the first generation development.

[@robtyman4281]

If you can't walk to the station easily.......then the station is in the wrong place. From a Brit.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Still amazed how some of the great suburbs were built around the stations of the Northern Line, and that was back in the 1930s.

[@travelsofmunch1476]

This is a stunning video that deserves 100k views, It's a perfect study of why American urban design is so bleak

[@alexwright4930]

Wait, so would even a small corner shop be banned in one of these vast American residential only zones?

[@darthmaul216]

Unfortunately yes

[@ianhomerpura8937]

There is always the weird reasoning that "corner stores bring criminals to the neighborhood" and other kinds of bs.

[@davidn2612]

This channel is so BASED, easy sub

[@denali637]

"2002 - I'm born" F***ing wunderkind

[@vincentmorano9400]

What a well put together video, great job man. Another sad story and missed opportunity thanks for NIMBY's.

[@alphonsobutlakiv789]

Why didn't the developer just make the plot a new town with its own town government so they wouldn't need to talk with the other government?

[@ianhomerpura8937]

True. In the Asia-Pacific they do this ALL the time, especially China, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia with their giant transit oriented developments, all built around suburban railway stations.

[@cut_and_cover]

🧠🧠🧠

[@HamguyBacon]

It was big enough to do it they should have.

[@andrewd3899]

Brilliant brilliant excellent video. Thanks for making this, please don't stop. Looking forward to seeing where you go from here!

[@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7]

I think rural areas prefer green space

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@abimaellopezmaylord27lopez7 Middletown is not rural though