High Cost of being poor.

[Maniac]

Perhaps Mr. Hopenchange should start some No Nike Left Behind program to make the US more bike-friendly, and solve all poverty problems.

[Arrian]

Being unfamiliar with the US I cannot say if this is true or you're just making excuses. Regardless, my comment stands in the case of DarkCloud. He could cut his travel time down from 30 to 5 minutes.

Does that mean by the way that in a big city like New York for instance there isn't a single supermarket in a five kilometer radius of wherever you live??

Growing up, the closest grocery store was ~10 miles away. With big hills inbetween, and the roads were not very bike-friendly. Now, the closest grocery store is 6 miles away, though I don't shop there. The ones I go to are ~10 miles away. Obviously, I didn't grow up in a city, nor do I live in one now.

When I lived in Middletown, I was 1 mile from the nearest Stop & Shop. We walked it once, but only once (both b/c I'm lazy and b/c the route took us through a pretty sketchy area). I never tried biking it (our bikes are in disrepair and my wife can't really bike on anything but flat ground so I've never bothered to get them fixed), but there's no way I could've fit our weekly groceries on a bike anyway.

-Arrian

[DaShi]

When I was a kid, we didn't even have grocery stores. When you wanted food, you had to travel to the nearest farm to get it. And all the farms were on top of mountains which were on top of higher mountains.

Geez, this and all the "Let them eat cake" responses here.

[DaShi]

Perhaps Mr. Hopenchange should start some No Nike Left Behind program to make the US more bike-friendly, and solve all poverty problems.

Well, he did solve the gas crisis with a tire air pressure gauge.

[Maniac]

Crap I just noticed Nike should be Bike.

In many parts of the country, it is pretty dangerous to ride a bicycle on the roads.

That I think might just require an attitude change by car drivers (and perhaps some traffic rules), not new infrastructure or anything. There aren't any err.. fietspaden (bike paths?) in Gent's city center either.

In short, become more like Belgium.

[Patroklos]

Geez, this and all the "Let them eat cake" responses here.

I am not sure how you missed it, but the point was for them NOT to eat cake.

[onodera]

Why aren't there any bus routes from the cities that go to those huge supermarkets with low food prices? They can't be THAT from from the cities, can they?

[DanS]

That I think might just require an attitude change by car drivers (and perhaps some traffic rules), not new infrastructure or anything. There aren't any err.. fietspaden (bike paths?) in Gent's city center either.

Ghent offers no relevant lessons to the US, as best I can tell. In order to get to a supermarket, many people would have to drive on a road with traffic routinely passing them at 65 miles per hour.

[DarkCloud]

There is, sadly, one problem with expecting poor people to cook. Cooking materials- the pots and the pans are an investment. If they move a lot and lack a car, then they can probably not afford the investment since they will have to desert the cooking pots, pans, and utensils when they next move... But if they stay in one place at least for 2 years at a time, the investment is certainly worthwhile in money saved.

I'd like to introduce an ancient powerful invention to you:

http://jeroen.murre.googlepages.com/fiets.jpg

I mean seriously, what's up with the bicycle hatred in the US?

Maniac. I like bicycles; and I probably should buy a new one. There is a problem though- bikes in the US are not cheap or convenient to purchase because they are all "specialty bikes" that are 10 speed; 15 speed or are dirt bikes and racing bikes. (Of course, I realize that I can probably still find a good simple one speed old-style bike If I try.)

Sadly I destroyed my bike about 2 years ago in an accident and I have no idea how to fix it. (although I do have the manual, my mechanical skills are a null set). I seem to have very bad luck with bike maintenance. In China, I owned 2 bikes in the space of a year, both of which had problems. Once a wheel rolled off while I was biking across a street, another time I lost my right pedal, and with the last one my left handle cracked off, and then the right one broke- so I needed to break with my feet.

(as for another small anecdote; I rented a bike to go across part of the southern tip of the gobi desert and biked out around 25 km into the middle of nowhere... then my gears fell off and a pin fell out when I was 20km away from any city. Traffic was minimal. I walked the bike a few km in the heat, then a nice fellow on a motorcycle jumped off and helped me put the gears back on with a jury-rigged rock structure. This held for another km. Then I walked for 2 km and found a farmer selling watermelons. Then I asked him for help and found the number for a taxi company and thankfully managed to make it back to civilization. The watermelons were delicious.)

Also, in this city, bikes are stolen quite regularly even if "booted and locked"

Still, I understand these are excuses. If the time comes when I need a bike, I will certainly buy one. As it is, I will live with the minimal inconvenience of walking to the store.

[rah]

When we were kids, we only had one car the my father used to commute to work, so 90% of our grocery shopping was done by bicycle. My mother used to make mutiple trips. Sometimes we helped her out.

[DarkCloud]

Why aren't there any bus routes from the cities that go to those huge supermarkets with low food prices? They can't be THAT from from the cities, can they?

In my city there is no direct bus route to the grocery store. It is quicker for me to walk.

American cities are extremely spread out, and the grocery stores are NOT located in the city centers.

[DarkCloud]

RAH-

When we were kids, we only had one car the my father used to commute to work, so 90% of our grocery shopping was done by bicycle. My mother used to make mutiple trips. Sometimes we helped her out.

Oi. That's tough.

[Patroklos]

There is, sadly, one problem with expecting poor people to cook. Cooking materials- the pots and the pans are an investment. If they move a lot and lack a car, then they can probably not afford the investment since they will have to desert the cooking pots, pans, and utensils when they next move... But if they stay in one place at least for 2 years at a time, the investment is certainly worthwhile in money saved.

I can go to any thrift store this second and fully outfit a kitchen for close to free. And the idea that poor people can't move their cookware around is patently ridiculous. Are they abandoning their clothing too? Their children?

[DarkCloud]

Cookware is heavy and awkward to move- especially if one lacks a car and one is already moving a television.

And I'm fairly certain the cheapest one can outfit a kitchen with the right tools that are not rusted is 60-120 dollars. (including dish soap, towels, etc.)

[DanS]

American cities are extremely spread out, and the grocery stores are NOT located in the city centers.

Put more succinctly, there are few real city centers nowadays.