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interesting responces! Love the pics of Scranton!!
question to everyone: Do you need the suburbs when you have a child?
What is the draw of the "driveable suburbanism" over "walkable urbanism" once a child is in the mix?
Suburban schools are generally better, but it is somehow ingrained into our communal psyche that city school districts are bad. Do your homework, and chances are better than not that you can find a good, urban school.
A house on a quiet street has some debatable advantages for young children, but remember that they are yours for 18 years. By the time they are 15 and relegated to drinking out of bordem..well..some social stimulation and geographical independence would generally be good. Teenagers need more than a movie theater and a McDonald's.
I thought about putting a rural choice, but decided to concentrate on areas that are largely employment centers. I would love to live on a lake/river next to a mountain in Montana, but probably couldnt find work (but I'll be there in retirement!)! But I could live in Chicago, or Miami, or any other major/secondary city and resonably find work and have these lifestyle choices.
basically, what I am wondering also, is do people live in non walkable suburbia because they want to, or is it because they are forced to due to the lack of walkable product to buy (ie metro Atlanta, where I live, is vastly dominated by non walkable suburbia, so there could be a discrepency of where people live-non walkable suburbia- and where they would like to live-walkable urban/suburban-)
keep in mind walkable urban doesnt necessarly mean downtown New York or Chicago...it could be Oak Park Il outside Chicago, or Birmingham Michigan outside Detroit, or Wallingford outside Seattle...
Gotta love the city environment. Always something to do. I lived in a urban area all my life and I don't regret it. IMO I'll take a condo in a high rise building with a view over a McMansion in a cookie cutter walmart suburb.
Yes, it is 17 miles to the grocery store so I have to learn how to plan meals and think ahead.
Much better option than any of those given.
20yrsinBranson
I don't know if I'd call that better. Since I can't drive due to a visual impairment, it would take me about 7-8 hours to walk to the grocery store. I don't think I'd want to do that very often, so I'd have to buy a lot of stuff to last awhile. And then, I don't know how I could get that heavy load home. (and it would take another 7-8 hours) Because it's so far out, I must assume there's no mass-transit/bus service, right? I wonder how long it would take to get to work?
Quote:
Originally Posted by meadgrad
basically, what I am wondering also, is do people live in non walkable suburbia because they want to, or is it because they are forced to due to the lack of walkable product to buy
That's an interesting question. Here in the midwest, there is plenty of "walkable product" available in the cities, but people stay away for other reasons. (i.e. bad schools and crime in city neighborhoods--whether these are real problems or not, people think they are) But, would they stay away from walkable suburbs, if they were available? I wish I had an answer for you.
I chose the middle. I like the idea of having my own home where I can utilize my imagination and do anything with. Im also totally for the idea of having a backyard with a swimming pool that I can invite friends and family for bbq's and parties (and don't give me this crap about being able to do this on a rooftop). I don't need 3 different pizza shops and 5 bars within walking distance.
Though at my age right now, and being single, I live in a walkable urban area, but its still a home with a small backyard. Parking sucks sometimes though and I'd rather do without all the people constantly around, and the noise.
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