What is this "better life" in the suburbs? (neighborhoods, schools)

[Katiana]

While I agree with most of the city people about the pro/con list, I will say that city parks are not really "nature". They are planted, groomed, etc. If you want nature, you really have to go outside the city. Someone on the Denver forum has a couple of 3 year olds, and he said he doesn't think his kids have ever seen a cow. I find that shocking. We have cattle grazing within a few miles of our house. Now a cow isn't really "nature", but it's "rural".

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by DC's Finest

Most suburbs lack many big city ammenities and venues. What's exciting about Walmart and having to drive everywhere? Applebee's and Olive Garden are not fine dining. LOL

What's exciting about any store and driving to me represents freedom. I'll give you my car keys when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dude

Schools where my daughter can go to, where the student body is not made up of future parolees .

Low crime.

Neighbors that are not transient and no renters

Hmmm, I can easily afford a house but choose to rent in an apartment complex in a town with a population under 30,000 because I don't want to deal with maintenance and repairs. People rent in the burbs and sometimes the rent is more than your mortgage payment.

[JR_C]

Originally Posted by LauraC

What's exciting about any store and driving to me represents freedom. I'll give you my car keys when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.

I know what you mean. But out of context, this is a really bizarre statement. Why would someone who doesn't want to drive, want your car keys?

But seriously, this is the root of why this urban/suburban argument often gets so heated. Urbanites have been preached to, for the last 60 years, that cities are bad, and you must move to the suburbs to have the American dream. Now that urbanites are "fighting back" and dispelling the myths and extolling the virtues of urban living, suburbanites feel as though they are being preached to, and are supposed to give up their cars and move into some huge, cramped, housing complex in the city.

[bentstrider]

Originally Posted by JR_C

I know what you mean. But out of context, this is a really bizarre statement. Why would someone who doesn't want to drive, want your car keys?

But seriously, this is the root of why this urban/suburban argument often gets so heated. Urbanites have been preached to, for the last 60 years, that cities are bad, and you must move to the suburbs to have the American dream. Now that urbanites are "fighting back" and dispelling the myths and extolling the virtues of urban living, suburbanites feel as though they are being preached to, and are supposed to give up their cars and move into some huge, cramped, housing complex in the city.

Cars are the new guns!!!

No, the poster is probably thinking more along the terms of DMV-implemented smog and licensing regulations that favor the "uber-urban-greenie".

I lived in a cookie-cutter neighborhood just fine and riding a bicycle to and from it for 10 years of my life.
Aside from the chest-beaters that wanted to start drama, I got along just fine.
However, a suburb would actually be more desirable to me if the posted noise-ordinances were actually enforced.
Too many kids with too many loud toys, whether it's a souped-up rice-burner with a fart-cannon exhaust, or the pretty boy with the lifted, Flow-master equipped 4x4 that never sees mud.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by JR_C

I know what you mean. But out of context, this is a really bizarre statement. Why would someone who doesn't want to drive, want your car keys?

But seriously, this is the root of why this urban/suburban argument often gets so heated. Urbanites have been preached to, for the last 60 years, that cities are bad, and you must move to the suburbs to have the American dream. Now that urbanites are "fighting back" and dispelling the myths and extolling the virtues of urban living, suburbanites feel as though they are being preached to, and are supposed to give up their cars and move into some huge, cramped, housing complex in the city.

You are showing your youth. This "back to the city" movement has been going on in some fashion since the 50s, with the "beatniks".

[JR_C]

Originally Posted by Katiana

You are showing your youth. This "back to the city" movement has been going on in some fashion since the 50s, with the "beatniks".

Sure, people have been "moving back" to cities since suburbs started to really become popular in the 50's. And maybe it depends on the region you live in. But the idea of living in the city has only been gaining mainstream acceptability over the last 15-20 years. Before that, as you point out, it was mostly those weird beatniks and hippies moving back to the cities. But, I'm not so sure you could say that it's only those "weird hipsters" that are moving back to cities today.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by JR_C

Sure, people have been "moving back" to cities since suburbs started to really become popular in the 50's. And maybe it depends on the region you live in. But the idea of living in the city has only been gaining mainstream acceptability over the last 15-20 years. Before that, as you point out, it was mostly those weird beatniks and hippies moving back to the cities. But, I'm not so sure you could say that it's only those "weird hipsters" that are moving back to cities today.

Nice way to twist my post.

I was a very young adult in the early 70s; it was considered quite "hip" to live in the city for my friends and I, who are very mainstream. Ditto when I got married and moved to Denver in 1980. There were lots of young adults living in the city. In addition, all cities that I am familiar with have always had areas that were considered "accetable" by the middle to affluent class. This has been going on way more than 15-20 years.

My YA kids and their friends live all over; in the city and burbs.

[JR_C]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Nice way to twist my post.

I was a very young adult in the early 70s; it was considered quite "hip" to live in the city for my friends and I, who are very mainstream. Ditto when I got married and moved to Denver in 1980. There were lots of young adults living in the city. In addition, all cities that I am familiar with have always had areas that were considered "accetable" by the middle to affluent class. This has been going on way more than 15-20 years.

My YA kids and their friends live all over; in the city and burbs.

What were the thriving urban communities in the cities you lived in, prior to moving to Denver? It seems to me that the movement of people back to the cities really started gaining momentum in the 90's. But maybe it's because that is when it started happening in the cities I was familiar with. For example, the population of downtown Cleveland in 1980--or even 1990--was probably less than 1000. But, as of the 2010 census, the population was about 12,000.

My original point is that, with the internet, and websites like this, the pro-urban voice is getting even louder, and is starting to compete with the pro-suburban voice that we've all been subjected to for the last 60 years. But, some suburbanites seem to be misinterpreting that pro-urban voice as preaching, and think that they are being told they must sell their cars and move into some huge, cramped, housing complex in the city.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by DC's Finest

Most suburbs lack many big city ammenities and venues. What's exciting about Walmart and having to drive everywhere? Applebee's and Olive Garden are not fine dining. LOL

You probably don't have kids.