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I'm pretty much with russotto on this one. We've seen a lot of planning schemes come and go generally ramming someones idea of perfection down everyone elses throat, stripping property rights and ignoring how real people want to live.. at least post interstate.
That being said, I would support reducing the subsidies that the automobile receives. Anyone else read "The Immortal Class" "Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power" by Travis Hugh Culley? Really interesting book in part about the urban combat that is bike messengering and about surviving on the edge of society. He gets into cycling mass demonstrations and his ideas for urban renewal. He's a bike advocate out of Chicago and worked in Philly for a while. Warchs comment about human scale not auto scale would fit his world view. His apparent weakness is that he seems to want anarchy for himself and rigid rules for the drivers he comes in contact with. Even so the writng is brilliant.
As a cyclist and one time bike shop guy I prefered the choice of riding rather than driving when I lived closer to town but I wouldn't want to see people forced out of their cars. The way to get it done would be to incorporate and buy up a bombed out neighborhood with a large group of like minded folks.... of course I live in the boondocks and drive a 4x4 so maybe I'm just talkin out my ...
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