The 1950s plan for a Washington Square Highway (2014) | Hacker News Reader

The 1950s plan for a Washington Square Highway (2014)

ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com

19 pointssamclemens18 comments

If you watched Mrs. Maisel, you might remember the scene with Jane Jacobs.

It is a bypass. You've got to build bypasses.

A bypass provides a route around a population center to offload traffic - this would have done the opposite, reducing quality of life for thousands of nearby residents, workers, and others using the neighborhood.

For comparison, the more recent approach of increased pedestrianisation and traffic calming has been a significant improvement to life in the New York areas where it's been applied.

You didn't get the reference. It is a very famous line from the opening scene of a very famous work.

Perhaps HN isn't the place for a one sentence comment that only has context if one has consumed a particular piece of media. At least enlighten us as to the origin of your quote after pointing out how they who replied to you did not catch the reference.

This isn't some obscure quotation from a non-cannon trek novella. It is quoted everywhere, from Doctor Who to Men in Black. Preview text from first google result:

"It is a bypass! You've got to build bypasses! ARTHUR DENT: Didn't anyone consider the alternatives? MISTER PROSSER: There aren't any alternatives! But you"

I don't get why people choose to speak in riddles then are surprised when it turns out it doesn't help them communicate.

I understood as a joking reference to the hitchhiker's guide.

I got it because I'm probably ancient compared to many readers here. But if you're going to do quotes stick them in quotation marks, that's the normal thing to do, and it serves as a hint to the less well read (apropos Adams) to perhaps google if they don't get it.

Yes but that doesn't mean anything to someone who's never listened to it - as you can see by the confusion in the comments.

Only the lazy people. Normal people will see something they do not understand, take that failing as a learning moment, and do some basic research. Any googling would find this instantly. I hazard it would take less time to cut-and-paste the line into google than it would to type out any multi-word comment on HN. Not a day goes by that I do not see some term on HN that I don't understand. What better way to learn?

Why would I search a comment's text?

Re-reading that comment gives me zero indication that it is referencing a piece of media. This isn't a 'failing' on my part, but a failing on conveying that it is either:

1) a joke

2) a reference

If you look at the comments you can see people think they did understand and replied in good faith.

Quoting like this is unkind - it’s only done to set a trap so people can roll their eyes and say ‘oh didn’t you get it?’

I read all the Hitchhiker books, it made me a hoopy frood and I don’t go around without a towel[1], but I thought the bypass reference was the Simpsons for some reason.

I’m not sure the sentence, as terse as it was, was completely unparsable.

[1] all Hitchhiker references

Not really, especially in NYC.

We need to leave behind the idea that vehicles should be first class citizens in cities, especially in crowded areas like around Washington Square Park.

There's a pretty wide gulf of sane urban planning between the stupid extremes of making vehicles first class citizens (example: LA) and opposing needed infrastructure developments for ideological brownie points (example: Boston).

Must be Thursday. Never could get the hang of Thursdays.

The one other scifi nerd who gets the reference to the first scene of the most influential radio play in history.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com