New Urbanism For the Ultra Rich

Went to Squaw Valley on Sunday, out for a drive with my Dad in his new sports car. Pleasant weather, high thin clouds. Squaw Valley was the site of the winter Olympics in 1960. I have skied there once 25 years ago. It is a challenging place, with steep slopes. Since I was last there, they built a bunch of 4 story buildings in a close cluster, probably with heating coils under the fake cobblestone walkway. It is gorgeous, and very expensive.

There are shops on the bottom level, and luxury hotel rooms above. There are probably 1000 rooms in this complex. Imagine the sort of income that generates in a luxury area. These are +$20M minimum people staying there. Very rich people. This is the true meaning of New Urbanism. It is ONLY for the rich. You let any poor people in, you get instant crime. Rich people won't put up with that. This is why Balboa Island is the way it is. No poor people allowed. Rich only. This means no crime, and total safety. And you do it by making it so expensive poor people find going there punitive. 

New Urbanism is anti-poor. New Urbanism is about exclusion. 

It is properly put together, exquisitely clean and maintained and everything you could want in a resort. The trouble with idealism is that it only works with other people's money. Idealism is poison. Idealism is ambition, and ambition is always defeated by reality. People who are sane understand how far they can push and don't go mad when they hit the limits. 

The below image shows the ski slopes. There's a parking lot and a big golf course behind me.

The mountain on the right has a big gondola. People take mountain bikes up there and lunch and ride around on the peaks. I saw what looked like an elk to the left, way up high. The clouds were moving along on the jet stream, around 200 mph. Watching them move was hypnotic.