Alex, I like the way you think.

A couple additional issues need to be addressed for 15 min. cities to increase. Three months of the year a 15-minute walk will leave you drenched with sweat. I don't mind sweating, but I would need to shower and change clothes to be presentable at work or even to sit in a chair at the library. This will only get worse with climate change.

High density housing has a cost uncertainty that is unacceptable for people on a fixed income. Rents and condo fees continue to rise with no controls. Condo fees can be almost as much as a house payment. If you buy a single-family house your costs are mostly fixed with the only the maintenance, insurance and taxes subject to price rise.

I live in a 15-minute neighborhood of mostly single-family houses with two car garages. Library, hospital, doctor's office, pool hall, gym, multiple pharmacies, mini-Walmart, dollar stores, restaurants, hair salons, Harbor Freight, all sorts of fast food, Hobby Lobby, you name it, it is all less than a 15-minute walk. Of course, that means a lot of jobs are also less than a 15-minute walk. This also includes many playgrounds, some section 8 housing and some apartments. It is walkable but few people walk, they will take their cars. We all have cars, cars are not a huge expense, free parking, cheap gas, keep the car 10 years and it is not that much per year, especially if you drive it much. I could have a second car to fill my two-car garage and if I bought it used at a good price, over its lifetime might not cost me much at all.

Like I said, I like the way you think, I would like to see things go the way you suggest but if it was so obviously better it would already have happened.

TEK