Seriously, what's wrong with living in the suburbs?? (freeway, Boston, development)

[wesside]

Before graduating from college I lived mostly in a suburban neighborhod. Upon graduating I lived in the downtown areas of Houston, Miami, and San Diego until last year. Now I live in house in a semi-urban area of SD.
From what I've seen,the problem isn't with the suburbs, its with the urbanites who love the undeserved feeling of self-importance of living in "the city" (you know what Im talking about). For them to live any other way is nuts. (Not saying that every urbanite is the same way though).
This feeling of self-importance largely comes from living in an area where everything is at their fingertips and yet people from everywhere flock to their neighborhood to do business, shop, sightsee, party, and have a meal. The urbanite knows where the best places are, since they go so often, and infact the local barrista at Starbucks even knows their name.

So when they go to visit a friend in a suburban neighborhood they go nuts about the lack of local unchained restaurants in the area, shopping, bars, and lets not forget starbucks. They can't imagine what it'd be like living so far from the local amenities. They probably even get a dose of claustrophobia since it feels like they are trapped in a small house in the middle of thousands. They assume that you spend your entire day "locked" up in your house with nothing to do, and because you dont have the world at your fingertips you are boring. They also refer to your neighborhood as "cookiecutter" and wonder how you can even navigate and differentiate your neighborhood from all the others. What they dont know however, is that after living in the same house for 5 years, you know what your house looks like and you know what your neighbors homes look like so you don't have to stumble on your neighbors' front door with the groceries and say "oh ****, wrong house." You also know the "shortcut" to get onto the blvd. from your house, which simply consists of a left turn on "Canyon View" and a right turn on "Jefferson" (difficult huh). They of course dont know this because when they mapquested your house they saw a hundred streets, with culdesacs, going every which way and got lost for an hour on the wrong side of town for turning left, instead of right, on the blvd.

To sum it up, for alot of people, living in the suburbs is the best option and wouldnt have it any other way. I dont blame them. There are a ton of things about living in the suburbs that the urbs cannot offer, and people wouldn't want. This goes vise versa. Which is why they are two completely different options.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by NowInWI

So do people in a very dense city setting always walk to the store to do all of their weekly grocery shopping?

Many people in the city have a car to get groceries, etc. I actually tried having a car here for 2 years, but it was such a pain in the butt I sold it and have just done walking/bus/train for the past 5 years. I'm SO glad I don't have a car. I rent them to go back to Iowa about 4-5 times a year, and it's always a relief when I am back in the city and can finally drop that thing back off at Enterprise. I use to absolutely love driving around when I was in high school and college, and I honestly thought I would rather die than not have a car. I really just love walking places though, being able to read books or sleep or just listen to music and close my eyes in the sunlight on the train. It's so much more of a relaxing commute. I don't have to worry about anything except walking out of the train downtown.

I just drop by the store 2-3 times a week as I walk from the station to my house and pick up supplies. Once every few months I ride along with one of my friends and stock up on stuff at Wal-Mart or Target.

Otherwise it's amazingly easy to live without a car. Much much easier than I would have though.

It just drives me nuts how spread out the suburbs are, and the lack of interaction and mingling between people. It all just seems to boring after growing up in burbs.

[Yo!]

Suburbs are the destruction of mankind. Their entire existance is based on false dreams and schemes to make money off of people. The auto industry surged with the growth of the suburbs which was part of the plan of General Motors.
The suburbs are an invention, created to make profit off of fellow man. the cookie cutter houses have no flavor, no style. Just plain ol' the same.

You have to drive everywhere which increases the need for gas and automobiles. The only places to shop are giant super markets. Its just not a good place for mankind.

[PurpleLove08]

Originally Posted by NowInWI

I live in an area that is more suburban than urban. What I don't understand, is why sooo many people vilify the suburbs. What's so terrible about having a nice big yard for the kids to play in, safe streets to walk, or neighborhood barbecues? What's so terrible about your children being able to walk to school?

Some would say, because you can't walk to the store, walk to pick up your morning coffee, etc. So do people in a very dense city setting always walk to the store to do all of their weekly grocery shopping? Must be fun to carry all those bags home. Or, like I saw earlier today, break apart the 12 pack of soda and put it into a plastic bag so you can ride home easier on your bike??

Don't get me wrong, I understand the attraction of urban living for some people. My children are grown and have moved out of the area - urban living is more attractive to me at this stage in my life, but it's not for everyone. You can always get in your car and drive to the city if you need an urban fix.

Different strokes for different folks.
I'd personally love to be able to walk most of the places I need to go or hop the train or bus.
I don't want kids so I don't need a yard for them...
I don't want to mow grass so I don't want a lawn...

I hate driving my car because I feel guilty about my emissions but where I live, the public transportation is crap and you NEED a car to have some kind of a social life or life at all. If I had the money, I'd buy an electric car in a heartbeat.

As for carrying things home, I wouldn't buy a lot to carry home (even though I've carried quite a few grocery bags to my car before and it wasn't that hard, depsite the distance I parked my car from the door). Plastic bags are not the end all be all, there are plenty of great canvas bags for grocery shopping and you can always buy carts that have wheels...but whatever.

Different strokes for different folks. As long as you're happy, why worry about what someone else thinks about your choices?

[PurpleLove08]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

It just drives me nuts how spread out the suburbs are, and the lack of interaction and mingling between people. It all just seems to boring after growing up in burbs.

I feel the same way...I come home, let down the garage and hardly speak to my neighbors.
Whenever I go downtown, though most people don't speak to me or anything like that, I feel more connected to people.

[Yo!]

The suburbs drain the countries resources.

[thatguy1]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Many people in the city have a car to get groceries, etc. I actually tried having a car here for 2 years, but it was such a pain in the butt I sold it and have just done walking/bus/train for the past 5 years. I'm SO glad I don't have a car. I rent them to go back to Iowa about 4-5 times a year, and it's always a relief when I am back in the city and can finally drop that thing back off at Enterprise. I use to absolutely love driving around when I was in high school and college, and I honestly thought I would rather die than not have a car. I really just love walking places though, being able to read books or sleep or just listen to music and close my eyes in the sunlight on the train. It's so much more of a relaxing commute. I don't have to worry about anything except walking out of the train downtown.

I just drop by the store 2-3 times a week as I walk from the station to my house and pick up supplies. Once every few months I ride along with one of my friends and stock up on stuff at Wal-Mart or Target.

Otherwise it's amazingly easy to live without a car. Much much easier than I would have though.

It just drives me nuts how spread out the suburbs are, and the lack of interaction and mingling between people. It all just seems to boring after growing up in burbs.

I would LOVE to be able to do that here in Omaha. I don't see that happening in the forseeable future, though.

[nephthys]

I've never lived in the suburbs and personally i'd never want to. I raised in the inner city, the "bad" part of town when I grew up in Omaha. My cousins all lived out in the nice suburbs, in a huge house, with perfectly paved streets and cul du sac's. I lived in a small house, next to wellfare mothers on a street that smelled like macaroni and cheese. They went to school where it was only cool to be a cheerleader or a football player.... I went to school where it was cool to skip school and know how to breakdance. They weren't allowed to come to my part of town... so every Thanksgiving and Christmas, it was always at their house. I would always take off... so sick of watching my cousins play piano and brag about everything and wander their neighborhood looking at every single house that looked exactly the same except for a different style of stone. No one passed me by, except people driving sports cars and suv's. There was no color, no diversity... in fact, I got made fun of by my cousins friends at her graduation party for what I was wearing... because it wasn't Abercrombie and Fitch?

So yeah, I prefer to live in the city.... maybe not downtown but atleast in a neighborhood with some culture.

[Bluesmama]

There is nothing wrong with the burbs in general. "Those people" who bash them are morons.

I hasten to add, though, that many burbs are affected by too much multi-family dwellings and row-houses. I live in one, and you wouldn't believe the amount of crowded-in areas that have no place to grow anything, or room for even a swing-set. Here, there's a lot of dependency on parks to make up for it.

[Yo!]

Originally Posted by nephthys

I've never lived in the suburbs and personally i'd never want to. I raised in the inner city, the "bad" part of town when I grew up in Omaha. My cousins all lived out in the nice suburbs, in a huge house, with perfectly paved streets and cul du sac's. I lived in a small house, next to wellfare mothers on a street that smelled like macaroni and cheese. They went to school where it was only cool to be a cheerleader or a football player.... I went to school where it was cool to skip school and know how to breakdance. They weren't allowed to come to my part of town... so every Thanksgiving and Christmas, it was always at their house. I would always take off... so sick of watching my cousins play piano and brag about everything and wander their neighborhood looking at every single house that looked exactly the same except for a different style of stone. No one passed me by, except people driving sports cars and suv's. There was no color, no diversity... in fact, I got made fun of by my cousins friends at her graduation party for what I was wearing... because it wasn't Abercrombie and Fitch?

So yeah, I prefer to live in the city.... maybe not downtown but atleast in a neighborhood with some culture.

Exactly, the suburbs aside from there ecological burden on the planet do not live in a state of reality.