In many cities, officials recognize that it's better to stop a problem from occurring than try to control it after the fact. When faced with a recurring problem (like riotous parties), they pass ordinances that target its root causes. Why not do the same with street safety?
Is this not common sense? We’ve been doing this for ages around here.
Yep.
Cities build traffic-calming infrastructure, make streets non-contiguous to dis-incentivize thru-traffic,etc.
The strong towns effort has the same blinders as many other “well intentioned” groups - they see the world as intentionally designed rather than it’s organic reality.
Towns and cities change more like organic systems - an issue arises and today’s council/politicians/businesses/civil groups address it according to their goals and pressures.
Trying to plan beyond that assumes knowledge of tomorrow, which is naive at best, and flat-out hubris at the worst.
What is “here”? Because the majority of North America pretty much still believes that more policing == more safety.