Insurance rates skyrocketing in California

[Brainonska511]

Your idea of having everyone shoved in a metro city is not the dreamscape you think it is. I would much rather have the freedom to go anywhere I want, when I want. Ex: out of town, go camping, go to do a Home Depot trip to get lumber for a project, or go do a dump run, visit friends or family that are far from where I live etc.

You completely misunderstand my position. I don't want everyone shoved in. I want people to have the freedom to choose the lifestyle they want, and I want people to have the freedom to do more with their property.

I currently have the freedom to run out of town, go to a hardware store, go camping, bike or walk to a nearby restaurant, or take a subway in to see concerts or visit friends.

Big cities actually make owning a car very difficult, and then make it difficult to leave your area too. You're kind of trapped there. Public transit only goes so far. That said, when visiting a big city like Toronto area I do prefer to leave my car at home and plan things around using transit entirely but I wouldn't want to live that way. I can only handle a few days of the big city then can't wait to go back home.

I'm sure all the people in the suburbs love sitting in traffic caused by all the cars people have to drive to get anywhere.

And of course bringing your personal automobile into a city will be difficult. You might have to pay for parking in a garage, or share the road with bikes, buses, and pedestrians. The horror!

 

[manly]

LOL at the numskull saying big cities trap their residents from leaving.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You completely misunderstand my position. I don't want everyone shoved in. I want people to have the freedom to choose the lifestyle they want, and I want people to have the freedom to do more with their property.

I currently have the freedom to run out of town, go to a hardware store, go camping, bike or walk to a nearby restaurant, or take a subway in to see concerts or visit friends.

People already have that freedom though. Big cities already have good transit and tend to be designed to be walkable. People who want to sacrifice owning a car or house can already do so and move there while rest of us can continue to own a car and easily be able to access vast amounts of land and forest, and land ownership as well.

 

[Brainonska511]

People already have that freedom though. Big cities already have good transit and tend to be designed to be walkable. People who want to sacrifice owning a car or house can already do so and move there while rest of us can continue to own a car and easily be able to access vast amounts of land and forest, and land ownership as well.

North American cities and immediate suburbs are not as "free" as you think. Land use restrictions are quite stringent and often limit building more of the density people want. And because so many people want that kind of living, prices have shot up. So let's give people the opportunity to have more of what they want by loosening those land-use rules. Plus, there are happy mediums between rural sprawl and ultra high density downtowns. It's not binary.

As the freedom-loving person you claim to be, you should support people being able to convert their single-family sprawl home into a duplex or a triplex, and recognize that if people really don't want that stuff, then we shouldn't need laws to ban something people dont' want anyway.

 

[Red Squirrel]

North American cities and immediate suburbs are not as "free" as you think. Land use restrictions are quite stringent and often limit building more of the density people want. And because so many people want that kind of living, prices have shot up. So let's give people the opportunity to have more of what they want by loosening those land-use rules. Plus, there are happy mediums between rural sprawl and ultra high density downtowns. It's not binary.

As the freedom-loving person you claim to be, you should support people being able to convert their single-family sprawl home into a duplex or a triplex, and recognize that if people really don't want that stuff, then we shouldn't need laws to ban something people dont' want anyway.

I have nothing against that, if people want to convert their homes into apartments then why not. I do find cities have ridiculous restrictions about what you can do with your own land and loosening those restrictions would go a long way to fix the housing crisis. Like if I want to convert my garage into an apartment, I should be allowed to. That has nothing to do with owning/not owning a car though.

 

[Brainonska511]

I have nothing against that, if people want to convert their homes into apartments then why not. I do find cities have ridiculous restrictions about what you can do with your own land and loosening those restrictions would go a long way to fix the housing crisis. Like if I want to convert my garage into an apartment, I should be allowed to. That has nothing to do with owning/not owning a car though.

Land use and car ownership wants/needs are intricately connected. If you restrict what can be built and force people to live far from shops/work/etc, they are effectively forced to own a car or more. More integrated neighborhoods allow people to *choose* to own fewer cars because they can get to their daily needs through other means, and if they want to shell out the expense for a car, they can still *choose* to do that.

 

[IronWing]

North American cities and immediate suburbs are not as "free" as you think. Land use restrictions are quite stringent and often limit building more of the density people want. And because so many people want that kind of living, prices have shot up. So let's give people the opportunity to have more of what they want by loosening those land-use rules. Plus, there are happy mediums between rural sprawl and ultra high density downtowns. It's not binary.

As the freedom-loving person you claim to be, you should support people being able to convert their single-family sprawl home into a duplex or a triplex, and recognize that if people really don't want that stuff, then we shouldn't need laws to ban something people dont' want anyway.

Yet people vote to keep the restrictions in place because, contrary to your assertion, the restrictions are wildly popular.

 

[Brainonska511]

Yet people vote to keep the restrictions in place because, contrary to your assertion, the restrictions are wildly popular.

Yes. People that own property love to tell their neighbors what they can and can't do with their property because they're busy bodies. If even modest density is unpopular, it shouldn't need arbitrary laws to protect the sprawl.

 

[IronWing]

Yes. People that own property love to tell their neighbors what they can and can't do with their property because they're busy bodies. If even modest density is unpopular, it shouldn't need arbitrary laws to protect the sprawl.

Look at you, accusing others of being busybodies as you try to dictate laws for other communities.

 

[Brainonska511]

Look at you, accusing others of being busybodies as you try to dictate laws for other communities.

I just want people to be able to afford to live in the communities where they grew up, have connections, and work, instead of forcing people to move away as communities that have arbitrarily encased themselves in amber become more and more expensive. I want people to have the freedom to split their property to house a relative or a non-relative.

Have fun with the sprawl and the associated costs that come with that, including higher costs of government services per capita, higher insurance costs as people are forced to move into environmentally dubious areas (flood and fire zones) and those costs being spread into the insurance pool, and the costs associated with needing to be multicar households.

 

[manly]

Guess I got lucky this time.

Mercury Insurance has been pumping up the premiums for my mom's old car for years, but this time the renewal is unchanged from 6 months ago.
Progressive Insurance has been reasonable for my car, also no change in this renewal (it is up 15% YoY, but fairly stable since Covid-19).