The Triumph of Suburbia: Despite Downtown Hype, Americans Choose Sprawl (Houston: schools, subdivision)

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by capcat

This, I agree with, or at least as long as I keep seeing one person per car commuting into town, almost without exception. One or two cars out of hundreds have a passenger.

Before we build toll road$ or other major road 'improvements', we need to start with HOV lanes.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by capcat

This, I agree with, or at least as long as I keep seeing one person per car commuting into town, almost without exception. One or two cars out of hundreds have a passenger.

Yup, the numbers are depressing and opposite of where we should be going:

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Yup, the numbers are depressing and opposite of where we should be going:

There's no money to be made in carpooling....or HOV lanes....

[hillcountryheart]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

I don't judge anyone for living where they do- not at all. What I do find objectionable is when someone CHOOSES to live farther out, then demands improvement to existing highways because their commute times are so long. THAT doesn't make sense to me.

I used to agree with you. I lived in Oak Hill and worked in Oak Hill. Then my job ended there, and what I could find was in Wells Branch. Now it's "just" north Austin. People can't move as often as their job moves unless they are renters or have a lot of money.

[verybadgnome]

This is hilarious: Watch My First Place | The Real Cost of Granite online | Free | Hulu

Prospective Steiner Ranch buyers:

Husband: "How is that not a good counter?"
Wife: "Because it's not granite."

Husband: "Do you know how it would cost to change these counter tops?"
Wife: "I don't care."

[hillcountryheart]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

This is hilarious: Watch My First Place | The Real Cost of Granite online | Free | Hulu

Prospective Steiner Ranch buyers:

Husband: "How is that not a good counter?"
Wife: "Because it's not granite."

Husband: "Do you know how it would cost to change these counter tops?"
Wife: "I don't care."

I apologize for women like this.

On the other hand, men seem to marry them aplenty as long as they keep the stomach full and the other part empty.

Me? I don't care as long as I can clean the counters. I think I'll be forced to upgrade when I sell, but I am waiting to see what's in vogue at that time (I've been through the laminate-Corian-marble-granite Age and wonder what's next).

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by steve78757

True grit.

Looks like Round Rock.

[capcat]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

There's no money to be made in carpooling....or HOV lanes....

I don't understand this, though. There's money to be saved by the commuter. Why would the government (and therefore citizens) have to spend money on a special lane in order to carpool?

[mesmer]

Originally Posted by steve78757

Go take a look at the recent "Central Neighborhoods and Commute Times" thread. There's someone calling Hyde Park "gritty". How's that going to help the out of towner make an informed decision? Also, the comment you posted was someone responding to someone else calling the urban core ghetto. So no, as the evidence you provided shows, it's not one sided.

I would just like to say that I lived in one of the apartment complexes in Hyde Park awhile back, and gritty is *exactly* the word I'd would use to describe it (though not ghetto). The landlord didn't believe in giving his maintenance worker keys, so when something broke, and it often did, he would have people leave a window unlocked so the maintenance guy could climb through. The whole place was run down, cars got broken into all the time, and it did feel a lot less polished and neighborly than other places in central austin that I lived.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by JLO

If you read my earlier post, I wholeheartedly agree with the benefits and amenities in suburbia that can't be found in the central core.

But the cost I mentioned for living in suburbia is not just about giving up greenery, but the cost of commute time. As I stated earlier too, some schools in Suburbia are top notch. However, if you commute to the city, it's hard to enjoy beautiful trails and green belts at home in when you're stuck in traffic during rush hour. We did the commute several years ago when we lived in Austin. Traffic was much less intense back then. We spent more time thinking about the bike trails and the pool at home than actually enjoying them during the week. Why? Because when you live 15-20 miles outside the city, the commute is costly in time spent in traffic.

But you always have the weekends, I guess? So you have to measure the cost of aesthetic beauty vs. the cost of time spent behind a wheel. Being central is ideal for commute time. For greenery and biking trails, it is not. There's a cost to pay one way or the other.


So, living in suburbia is about COST. You trade a long commute time (assuming you commute to the city) for greenery, trails, etc. There's a COST to commuting ... and it's measured in time away from your family ... unless of course you work from home. And given Austin's traffic situation, commute time is a cost to consider.

I definitely agree. My commute is about 10 minutes door to door. Sometimes 15 minutes.