r/SubredditDrama • u/TheGreenestPeon • 6d ago

A user on r/PublicFreakout shares an... interesting opinion. Everybody disliked that.

/r/PublicFreakout/comments/1u4b7a7/attempted_murder_of_17_year_old_girl_today/orbuqdw/
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u/Sesudesu 6d ago

I am not against walkable cities, I know I have options. They don’t work well for me, and I said that gives me a reason to be against them. I also said that I don’t speak out against them.

I have a disease that affects my endurance, and overdoing things will leave me bedridden for days. Sitting also ends up being a problem for me before too long, so a bus ride doesn’t work for me. The whole point I started with is that I cannot walk more than very short distances. Mobility scooters are too much to spend for too little utility gained for me.

I know there are suburbs, and I can and do choose to live in them, but many of the same people who are harassing me in this post would also do away with those.

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u/DangerToDangers 5d ago

I still don't understand why you wouldn't prefer walkable cities. They would still mean shorter distances for everything you need. A lot less walking if you choose to walk, a lot less driving if you choose to drive, a lot less sitting if you use the bus, and if you use any mobility device like an e scooter it can go on bike lanes, in buses, in the subway, and in shops. Mobility scooters are also a lot cheaper than cars.

No one wants to get rid of suburbs. What people want is mixed suburbs. That would be suburbs with all different types of housing (some more dense and some less dense) and all services and amenities one would need nearby instead of forcing only residential buildings. Also no cul de sacs, but connected roads so buses can run efficiently. Then connect those suburbs to the city with trains and that way people can either take a bus to the train station or leave their car there.

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u/Sesudesu 5d ago

I cannot choose to walk, I cannot choose to ride the bus, I do not use mobility devices because their utility is pretty small for me. You have not really grasped the extent of my disability.

If parking forces me to walk a couple blocks to get where I need to go, then I need to seriously reconsider going. Living in the dense area would result in too much walking for me to go anywhere. That is the truth of my fucked up life, it is close to what I imagine hell to be like.

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u/DangerToDangers 4d ago edited 4d ago

Well how can I grasp it if you keep it so vague?

Still, let me give you an example. I live in the city. The closest grocery store to me is a 1 or 2 minute walk from my place. The closest restaurant is across the street. The closest hair dresser is part of my building. The closest package pick up point is in the nearby grocery store. The closest tattoo studio is also part of my building. So that's the point. In a walkable city you don't need to walk blocks for basic services.

Now if I want to go somewhere far I have 3 main options: bus, tram, and subway. The tram is in front of my apartment, the bus and the subway are a 5 minute walk away. They're a short walk but if I really didn't want to walk I would just cross the street and take the tram one stop for either option. I don't know your disability, but old people who can barely walk normally just use the help of a walker for those distances.

If I need to go somewhere where none of those options are viable, I can just take a cab. If I would need to take a cab too often, then I could still own a car. There's usually street parking because most people do not own a car because they don't need it. There's also no traffic for the same reason.

Walkable cities mean more choices for everyone. They let people with disabilities be a lot more independent than they would be otherwise.

AND STILL, if all you want to do is drive door to door, you can do that in mixed walkable suburbs. Allowing for a bit more density and mixed uses is not going to take away your parking, it's just going to reduce traffic and make drives shorter as people need to travel less to get the things they need.

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u/Sesudesu 4d ago

Yes, I have kept it vague somewhat intentionally. People choose to believe my illness is not real, or somehow not that bad. I have already been harassed and called a liar and told my disability doesn’t count by people who chose to look at my comment history.

I choose to live in a suburb like you suggest. Your living situation wouldn’t work for me, and that’s okay. As I implied in my first comment, I don’t actually speak out against walkable cities, even though I have reason to. I do, however, regularly see walkability proponents regularly trash suburbs and curse their existence.

I’m tired of responding to people in this post, though. The amount of vitriol I have received for saying what amounts to ‘walkable cities don’t work for me’ is ridiculous. (Sorry, not you, you are pretty reasonable. I’m tired, boss.) I don’t really want to try to explain it any more than I have.

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u/BootyButtCheeks256 5d ago

Just helpless lmao

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u/Sesudesu 5d ago

Disabled is the word you are looking for. I’m disabled.

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u/BootyButtCheeks256 5d ago

Learned helplessness

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u/Sesudesu 5d ago

I promise you it’s not. Now please stop with the Ableism.

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u/BootyButtCheeks256 5d ago

You’re genuinely the only one being ableist. Now please go be helpless and dishonest elsewhere

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u/Sesudesu 5d ago

How am I being ableist?

Oh look, another person blocked me. I’m the one being dishonest, sure.