Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
FYI, believe it or not, Miami/Coral Gables/Coconut Grove used to be livable too - that changed forever sometime around 1978-1980, and I was lucky to have lived there in the good days.
I believe you. I remember when Ft. Lauderdale was a quiet town and when you drove through these places you could actually see the beaches.
I know things change. Just not always for the better.
Location: Danbury CT covering all of Fairfield County
2,636 posts, read 7,433,232 times
Reputation: 1378
I'm tired of urban sprawl. In the last 5 years, there have been about 450 new housing units (rentals, townhouses, new toll brothers on 1/8 of acres) built within a 1 mile radius of my house, all over nice wooded areas. In additon to that, they are devolping a 1200 unit 'new england style village' on a couple hundred acres on the former Union Carbide land about 3/4 of a mile from my house.
I like the neighborhood I lived in before we moved. It was a nice, sort of culdadac with 2 enterences, of about 30 1940s cape cod homes. i was able to walk to school from my backyard (ended up on school fields), and walk about 1/4 mile down to a convience store and a few restaurants. I was able to walk/bike to all of my friends houses and not get yelled at for walking through neighbors backyards to get to friends on the other side.
Now in my current neighborhood my parents moved to about 11 years ago, you have to drive everywhere. The nearest store is about 2 miles away. The new school was about 10 minutes away driving. This is a mid-60s neighborhood adptidly named 'Ridgebury Estates' (Danbury/Ridgefield border) and theres a total of 2 or 3 houses in the whole devolpment (nO hoas) that are really different from the rest and the houses have no sort of character.
The area I'm ging to buy in about 2 years while I live at home to save $ (rent averages $950 a month of 1 bed) are smaller (1000 sq feet) 1880s houses near a village center like area and about 1/4 mile from a 800 acre nature preserve so I can run directly from home in there opposed to driving 10 minutes.
"If anything, people in our area kill themselves when they realize that they invested $100,000 in a college education to earn a Master's Degree that will net them a maximum annual earnings potential of $20,000 at a local warehouse---The same salary that someone with a G.E.D would be making!"
Hey! For many of us that's getting a little too close for comfort.
I didn't mean to make it sound snobby towards people without college degrees; it's just that part of the incentive of spending tens and tens of thousands of dollars on a college degree is supposed to be a higher average starting salary when you leave school so that you can pay off that massive student loan debt and afford a comfortable life for your family. $20,000 may be fine for someone without debt, but what then is the incentive to further your education if you can only expect to earn the same salary as someone who didn't pour their life's savings into college? If that's the case, then why does anyone in our region spend so much time and money on college just to throw it all away when they enter the workforce upon graduation? It just seems a tad wasteful to me!
I didn't mean to make it sound snobby towards people without college degrees; it's just that part of the incentive of spending tens and tens of thousands of dollars on a college degree is supposed to be a higher average starting salary when you leave school so that you can pay off that massive student loan debt and afford a comfortable life for your family. $20,000 may be fine for someone without debt, but what then is the incentive to further your education if you can only expect to earn the same salary as someone who didn't pour their life's savings into college? If that's the case, then why does anyone in our region spend so much time and money on college just to throw it all away when they enter the workforce upon graduation? It just seems a tad wasteful to me!
I'm facing that problem right now- I chose a private art school over a university, and now I'm paying the price. I think part of the problem is how we're taught not to worry about the loans, to just keep taking out more money... they really push it down your throat and have created a new generation of students who are going to have lots of debt (like me) when they finish school. its not right.
"I think part of the problem is how we're taught not to worry about the loans, to just keep taking out more money... they really push it down your throat"
Yes, we live in a culture of 'buy now, pay later', but common sense and personal responsibility needs to be instilled early in life before debtor's regret and the financial road to ruin gets a foothold.
Most of us aren't politicans and lobbyists spending other people's money. We need to be honest and smart with money early on.
"I think part of the problem is how we're taught not to worry about the loans, to just keep taking out more money... they really push it down your throat"
Yes, we live in a culture of 'buy now, pay later', but common sense and personal responsibility needs to be instilled early in life before debtor's regret and the financial road to ruin gets a foothold.
Most of us aren't politicans and lobbyists spending other people's money. We need to be honest and smart with money early on.
So true. I won't be as careless about this matter with my future children as my parents were with me. I hope others in my generation will do the same.
SWB,you say that paying lots of money for your house "commands" respect, the way I was brought up respect was earned ,not bought.
BTW, how does it feel not to be a teenager anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When did I say this? Can you point it out for me? I'm just not seeing where I said a bigger house = more respect. On the contrary, I want to live in a small, Victorian fixer-upper in-town in the future as I'm tiring of sprawl and the "keeping up with the Jones's" mentality it has created in the suburban areas.
You can keep the City!........As for me; born, raised,married,
had kids,and re-invested by owning and operating a small
business in the City.... thats right....after living and breathing it
for thirty four years I saw the light back in '83 and packed it in.
we moved six miles away to a less diversified town and the only regret we have is that we should have moved fourteen years sooner. Think about it.....if crime, high auto insurance, tired/run down housing, and congestion is what your looking for, then go for it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If that's the case, then why does anyone in our region spend so much time and money on college just to throw it all away when they enter the workforce upon graduation? It just seems a tad wasteful to me! 
On the contrary, I want to live in a small, Victorian fixer-upper in-town in the future as I'm tiring of sprawl and the "keeping up with the Jones's" mentality it has created in the suburban areas.
