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Is Louisville typical for a Denver/Boulder suburb?
I'm not very familiar with the area.
There are a number of suburbs that used to be farm towns, mining towns, and the like. There are some that are similar to the generic "bedroom suburb" style as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nei
But unlike much of suburbia, the children aren't dependent on their parents to drive them, the parents don't need two cars and can survive with no cars in some places. In my experience, families usually have one car in the city, young singles none.
Well, you can't let 'em loose unsupervised, either, no matter where you live. They can't take the bus alone until they're about 10. You wouldn't let them go to a park unsupervised until about that age, either. Parenting is a lot of work, no matter where you live.
Not really; it just had a streetcar line running through it. The town was built to house workers from a nearby manufacturing plant, who walked to work. That explains its walkability; it was designed to be self-sufficient and not reliant on the city. The streetcar line came later.
In that case, the town wasn't built as a suburb at all--they walked to work within the same community! That kind of self-contained, self-sufficient community is just the sort of thing Jane Jacobs was talking about.
In my experience, families usually have one car in the city, young singles none.
Maybe it depends on the city? I can see families having fewer cars, but living without a car can be difficult in many if not most cities (NYC being an exception, but not all cities are like NYC). It's ok when you're in college, and sometimes even in your young 20s, but after that I think a lot of city dwellers end up driving at least sometimes--maybe not everywhere, but at times.
I know when I was young and single I lived in cities and drove to work, even though there was a bus stop a few blocks from my apartment. The reason? None of my jobs were in convenient places for taking a bus.
I lived in DC and LA (and for a few months in Denver for an internship). I did have one job in DC where I thought I would take the bus, but in reality I only did it for two days. Why? Because the stop was five blocks from my office in a somewhat questionable neighborhood. I was nervous enough walking there the first day, when it was still light when I got off work. The second day I had to work late and even though it was only an hour later I was uncomfortable walking to the bus stop and even more so waiting for the bus. Really uncomfortable, to the point where I decided it was worth it to drive from that point on.
The other thing is, sometimes you need a car for your job. Some jobs require you to be able to drive to meetings or see customers. Many people have busy days and can't afford to wait for a bus. Or they run errands, go to the gym, attend meetings, etc on their way home from work.
What about dating? Even during my internship in Denver, my dates picked me up in a car--and that was when I was under 20 when it might have been ok to pick up a date and then take the bus to a restaurant or a theater. After age 20? Doubtful, except maybe in NYC. In LA, if you want to date you drive a car (and in most other cities, in my opinion).
So, just a few reasons young singles have cars in a city. I'm sure there are plenty who live without one, especially in a few cities where it's wildly expensive to own a parking space. But I've noticed from reading the various city data forums that a lot of people who live in cities end up driving a car for one reason or another. Maybe they don't drive as often, but people still have occasions where they have to drive.
There are plenty of solutions for those who occasionally need a car. For the low-tech, you can call a cab: that's how folks get to meetings in a hurry or go on dates. For the occasional trip that requires a car, you can rent one--either by the day using a traditional car rental agency, or by the hour using a car-share service like Zipcar. There are plenty of things that are handy once in a while but you don't need to own all the time: a backhoe, a moving van, a steam cleaner for your carpet. The traditional answer is to rent such things as they are needed, rather than owning every possible widget you might use once in a while.
Taking a car to the gym, to pay for the right to walk on a treadmill, is possibly one of the most ridiculous ironies of modern life I can think of.
True, but in reality many city dwellers end up owning a car anyway. Take the Pittsburgh forum, for example. Pittsburgh is one of those cities where you don't need a car, and the people who live there are proud of this fact. There are some people on the Pittsburgh forum who do indeed live a car free existence. Never the less, the majority of the people who post on that forum (and who live within city limits) own cars for one reason or another, and they also post quite a bit about driving them in the city.
Exactly! Case in point - I used to live in Chicago. Although it's a big city with efficient public transportation (subway + bus), almost everyone I knew had a car. There is not ONE person besides my own family that relied on public transportation. Every family we were in contact with had a car. Why? Because you still have to purchase groceries and all kinds of things that would need the extra space that you could not carry on a bus or a train. It was straight HELL for my family because my mother had to have us (my sis and my baby brother who was in a carrier) walk blocks to get to the bus. Take the bus to the subway. Take the subway to the Walmart across town. Walk back BAGS in hand to the subway with my little brother still in his baby carrier mind you. From the subway to the bus. From the bus walking back to our apartment. People thought we were poor walking down the street. One person even put down their window and offered us money! It was the most humiliating situation in my entire life. The folk who constantly tote the amenities of the city like public transportation are freaking delusional and obviously do not have 3 or 4 kids to feed and put clothes on their backs.
No kids, yes. "Freaking delusional," no. No reason I have to be both.
Taking a car to the gym, to pay for the right to walk on a treadmill, is possibly one of the most ridiculous ironies of modern life I can think of.
LOL gotta agree with you here. That's why I walk to my gym. It's two blocks from my house. I can even walk there at 9 in the evening because my little neighborhood out in the burbs is safe to walk in after dark.
There are plenty of solutions for those who occasionally need a car. For the low-tech, you can call a cab: that's how folks get to meetings in a hurry or go on dates. For the occasional trip that requires a car, you can rent one--either by the day using a traditional car rental agency, or by the hour using a car-share service like Zipcar. There are plenty of things that are handy once in a while but you don't need to own all the time: a backhoe, a moving van, a steam cleaner for your carpet. The traditional answer is to rent such things as they are needed, rather than owning every possible widget you might use once in a while.
Taking a car to the gym, to pay for the right to walk on a treadmill, is possibly one of the most ridiculous ironies of modern life I can think of.
Your post is the most ironic thing I've ever thought of. What exactly is the differance between taking a car or cab or bus or train to the gym? You still have to get there one way or another and most people do not live close enough to walk there and definitely aren't about to walk halfway across town to do it. It doesn't matter what you do. Your still going to take an automobile to get from point A to point B.
just so you know - buses and trains are not automobiles.
just so you know, when you are using a train, bus or cab, that's not walking which is what I thought was supposed to be so great about living in a city.
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