So many city streets are rutted, bumpy, not to mention slow to get around. The Interstate system, which promised to reduce emissions, speed up transportation, and make urban life more enjoyable, has failed to reach the intercity—they are typically routed around cities.

Nobody wants to deal with the sheer cost of relocating the masses of people, and destroying historic property to make things more accessible. So we are left with dangerous, slow outmoded roads that make city life inhabitable.

Don't Blame the Auto

Some people blame the automobile for the problem. If the car didn't exist, then the traffic problem wouldn't exist. That's about as absurd as saying if we eliminate all blacks, then the racism problem won't exist.

The fact is the automobile is an important part of American life—and that's why we have to spend so much money accommodating such mode of transportation. Although, it's not even that much money—the federal government only spends about 30 billion a year on roads (versus 400 billion on defense, and around 120 billion on farm subsidies).

Parking: Killing Downtowns

Parking is a major issue that is strangling downtown areas of the cities. It is all too expensive, too dangerous, and too risky to park in many downtown areas of cities, so people choose not to go there at all.

In many downtowns, parking is expensive. A on-street parking space will cost you as much as a $.50 to a $1 an hour, and your limited to 2 hours or so. That truely puts a damper on the demand for downtown shops.

That parking is far from safe (your just asking for fender-bender accidents, tickets and being towed). Garage parking is far more expensive—think as much as $7.50-$10 a day. Nobody wants to pay that just to go downtown.

Suburban Nation

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that many Americans prefer to the suburban-type of living. They want to have access to urban amenties, but also enjoy having a yard with grass (people have a natural need for nature), low crime rates, and of course parking. Cities can't guarantee any of these things.

It is easy to accuse suburbanites for the problems they create. They rob resources from cities, eat away at beautiful farmland and rural landscape, they waste energy by spreading out areas. But they offer such nice benifits (as stated above), that it's understandable why they are desirable things.

Turn Cities into Urban Business Centers

Cities, with significant parking, are great resources for doing business—they allow many people to get together to do business. Underground parking garages provide an excellent place for people to park, then go into high-rise, space and energy efficient offices to do business.

If downtowns were planned around this model, it would be easy to ensure plenty of high speed, safe highways to connect to these mega-business centers. Traffic patterns could be optimized to reduce stop and go—and save billions in fuel, and drastically cut down in emissions.

Include directly from these urban business centers, bus routes that shuttle directly between them and suburban park-and-ride centers (letting people save wear-and-tear on their cars, and further reduce emissions.

Extend the Suburbs Back Into the City

Property is expensive—real expensive, that is. There just is not enough land around to satisfy American's desires. Well, there is, it's just not usable or we don't want to use it. Many cities have rotting industrial areas, that are too polluted to use, especially residential use.

I say clean up the pollution. Take out the old building shells, and redesign whole areas to the suburban model. By taking out every other block, you create decent size yards for people—where they can enjoy life with trees, greenery, and off the street parking.

Give city schools the resources they need. In other words, money. Fix roads up, make them smooth and accessible. Let the sunshine in on government. Make things better.

Inexpensive, Low-Rise Housing

Cities of the 21st century need to have plenty of low-rise, low cost apartments that offer parking. Cars are the future, like it or not. Bus routes should additionally offer quick access between these apartments and the major business centers of the city.

Though policies are needed to help those who need help. People with drug addictions, mental problems, and the alike need to get immeditate state help. Drug addiction needs to be treated, through programs that ensure that people stay clean (which may include restrictions like 'clean' prisons for those who don't seem to reform right away). This means state funds needs to pay for these programs.

How To Pay For This

Taxes are the obvious answer. But we all hate to pay taxes. If we can solve these problems, they will have a net improvement on our lives, which will be of greater value then any taxes paid.

Taxes need to be fair. That's all to often not the case with today's tax structure. Too often the poor pay too much, and the rich pay too little. Especially, when it comes to business. Businesses are often under taxed, while small businesses are overtaxed and in deep regulatory crap.

That why we need a new tax system, that abolishes property taxes (which discourage property development, threaten the ability for the poor to eat in some cases, take away farm land from small farmers, etc.), increase business taxes for the largest of corporations, and make income and social security taxes more progressive.