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Well, it could be considered "missing" in that little of it has been built in the last 50 years thanks to the solidification of uniform zoning.
And the website inferred that--densities being too low because construction would be uniformly large-lot SFHing--as the issue in how it talked about getting above a threshold density that makes many city functions viable. See below:
But is it really missing - missing more than high-density residential development more generally?
AFAIK, the only portions of the country which have relatively strong residential high rise development over the last 50 years are NYC, Miami, Chicago, and small bit of San Francisco. If you add to this the 3-8 story apartment buildings with giant footprints, you can argue that quite a great deal more infill has been happening in the last twenty years. But is it really more, in terms of units, than the number of townhouses constructed in most metros? I'd like to see the statistics on this.
In San Diego, during the 1920s through the 40s, our Missing Middle was supplied by beautiful bungalow courts and some fourplex and courtyard apartments. All of them are highly sought after even though they didn't come with enough parking.
After that (1955-1985), Missing Middle housing was built in the form of the Huffman Six-pack, the most odious, neighborhood destroying building type ever conceived by the mind of man. By turning the entire front of the building into a concrete parking lot, they combined all of the drawbacks of density with the unwalkability of a suburban mall parking lot. It destroyed the reputation of middle density housing, and the name Huffman has followed in the footsteps of Lynch and Boycott, and become more epithet than name (and deservedly so).
Nowadays, significant amounts of high rise housing are being built in downtown San Diego, and slowly, but surely the City is trying to repair the reputation of middle density housing. It is promoting row house zoning and developing small lot /small house zoning. However, the construction industry hasn't yet figured out how to build it with quality and style.
I don't think Los Angeles is really missing middle density, almost the entire city is made up of this sort of development. What LA needs more of is middle-priced housing, it's either cheap and in a bad neighborhood or extremely expensive and in a decent or good neighborhood.
Maybe you Californians live differently than us Coloradans. Actually, I don't think so. My daughter's friends with kids live pretty much like we did when we had little ones. Going out to eat is a big adventure. It's not something you do every other night, like some childless people. Truth be told, it's often a pain in the rear to take small kids out. When they get into school, there's the homework issue during the week; there's generally no time to take 1 1/2 hours or so to go out to dinner in the evening.
Maybe. I see parents with "stroller age kids" out and about with their kids at the beer garden, farmers market etc on the weekends during the day. My colleagues with "tween" kids go out to eat 1-2x a week. The ones with more money or family nearby are really good about scheduling date night weekly. Growing up, we went out to eat probably every other week. Sometimes the weekend or other times during the week. My sister and I loved it. And still manged to get homework done.
I don't think Los Angeles is really missing middle density, almost the entire city is made up of this sort of development. What LA needs more of is middle-priced housing, it's either cheap and in a bad neighborhood or extremely expensive and in a decent or good neighborhood.
This is about the same in the greater Bay Area as well. Well paid professionals can't afford family housing close to work without making sacrifices. I have no idea what true middle income people are supposed to do.
Maybe. I see parents with "stroller age kids" out and about with their kids at the beer garden, farmers market etc on the weekends during the day. My colleagues with "tween" kids go out to eat 1-2x a week. The ones with more money or family nearby are really good about scheduling date night weekly. Growing up, we went out to eat probably every other week. Sometimes the weekend or other times during the week. My sister and I loved it. And still manged to get homework done.
Well, times have changed. When I was a kid, we went out to eat about twice a year.
With my own kids, oldest 31 now, we rarely went out to eat on a school night. Too busy!
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Well, times have changed. When I was a kid, we went out to eat about twice a year.
With my own kids, oldest 31 now, we rarely went out to eat on a school night. Too busy!
I guess we were ahead of the trend! I am older than your eldest! The family going out to eat was a little harder in high school for me as we all had conflicting schedules. So it decreased to once or so a month. I think we did eat out often, but we also had family meals at home too. I always thought it was "normal."
Well, times have changed. When I was a kid, we went out to eat about twice a year.
Same here. Going out to dinner was a HUGE treat. And if we were lucky, we also got takeout from McDonald's once a month.
And my younger friends who have kids really are no different. Their kids are too busy with homework, sports, activities, volunteer projects, Scouts, etc. to make time to go out to eat.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jade408
Maybe. I see parents with "stroller age kids" out and about with their kids at the beer garden, farmers market etc on the weekends during the day. My colleagues with "tween" kids go out to eat 1-2x a week. The ones with more money or family nearby are really good about scheduling date night weekly. Growing up, we went out to eat probably every other week. Sometimes the weekend or other times during the week. My sister and I loved it. And still manged to get homework done.
This. The strollers at farmers markets, outdoor beer gardens, etc are everywhere.
It's good for urban areas to have people going out to see bands, eat, drink, date, etc. It gives the area life.
Well, times have changed. When I was a kid, we went out to eat about twice a year.
With my own kids, oldest 31 now, we rarely went out to eat on a school night. Too busy!
I do all the cooking in my family - my wife is so bad at it that unless she's following a recipe, she could ruin a microwave meal.
While we're often too busy to eat out frequently, it's also a strain to try to cook something during the week. I usually resort to pasta, stir-fries, or things baked on trays in the oven for around twenty minutes. I'd love to have the time to do something like roasted potatoes with dinner, but when you consider both prep and over time, you're looking at something close to an hour before they'd hit the plate. We can't start eating at 7PM and expect the kids to be in bed by eight.
I guess what I'm saying is if both parents are working full time, I think it's unrealistic to expect that virtually all meals will be cooked at home these days. I know I need a break anyway. The largest limitation on our eating out is more lack of supply of kid-friendly places to eat than anything.
We didn't go out to eat much when I was a kid back in the 1980s though. My mother didn't cook much, but her parents lived with us, and my grandmother acted as the unofficial SAHM and cooked all the meals (which was unfortunate, because besides pasta, her cooking was terrible). Once I got to be a tween I cooked for myself, and then when I was in high school we started going out to eat more frequently. Honestly though I grew up in a family where we didn't eat at the dinner table anyway - we all just grabbed our food and ran to the nearest TV to be by ourselves. It was a hard transition when I married my wife learning to learn to stop from getting up from the table and wandering off as soon as I was done eating.
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