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If I had to pick the best suburbs in the country (and leaving out things like weather) I would have to say BOSTON. Good commuter rail, good schools, access to beaches. Many of the towns in Eastern Massachusetts maintain strong zoning to keep that the classic New England look. And because of that, people are more aware and stand up against overdevelopment.
Not saying its perfect, as it leads to the Boston metro area covering a much larger area considering its population. But its nice from a suburban point of view.
Other nice suburban areas I have seen or heard about it include NYC, Philadelphia, Wash-Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago, North Carolina, Miami (especially Broward and Palm Beach) and Los Angeles. Heard about parts of the Minneapolis, Tampa, Rochester, Cleveland, Buffalo, Hartford, Pittsburgh, Detroit areas.
NYC has "Boston" type suburbs in parts of Westchester, Fairfield, the LI North Shore and parts of New Jersey but we also have typical suburban sprawl like Frodo mentioned. But even that typical suburban sprawl still has good access to one of the world's greatest cities.
Los Angeles gets a bad rap for suburban sprawl but just as I seen my own area get attacked unfairly, I suspect it is the exact same case for this dense suburban area. Surrounded by mountains, near the ocean and with a diverse population, the LA area certainly looks like of the most unique and interesting metro areas in the country.
Yeah I would say about the 1/3rd of the Island (not talking about Brooklyn and Queens) looks like typical suburbia. Although probably alot more dense, especially in Nassau, which is next to New York City.
Although when you think about it there are some things that stand out about the Island. How many suburban areas boast the nation's #1 commuter railroad? Dozens of state parks, towns dating from the 1600s, ocean beaches, farms, wineries, village downtowns, and over 100 golf courses in just a 2 county area?
My county, Suffolk, has over 100 beaches, almost 20 lighthouses, and a growing 46,000 acres of COUNTY parkland alone (larger than some state park systems). I do not think there are many other suburban counties with a million+ people that are suburban, have major tourist areas, are historical, maritime and still agricultural ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
I am not saying its the best suburb by far. Parts of Long Island have become far too crowded, the traffic can be really bad, the taxes are way too high, and it is kind of isolated (except to NYC and ferries to New England).
But to say there is nothing special about the Island as a whole is maybe stretching it a bit!
And those 4 states (the whole 4 states) could fit inside of Texas like twice, also the NYC Metro doesn't even include the entire 4 states:
14 Counties in New Jersey
13 Counties in New York (including NYC's 5 Counties)
3 Counties in Connecticut
1 County in Pennsylvania
And this is still far far smaller than Texas.
Long Island isn't an average suburb IMO, its "Sicker Than Your Average" suburb. Long Island has far too much to be "average".
Look at the size of Texas though, it could probably fit like 5 New Yorks in it.
But even if you were to divide texas into just the Texas Urban triangle, it would still have a population of 17million people, and the TX urban triangle is only the size of Georgia.
I agree, but nothing special about texas either if you use that logic, we are comparing entire state vs. metros anyways, why not compare the largest metro in texas then, also more people doesn't mean anything statewide especially in both texas and new york , the former where they are more spread out, and the latter if you compare upstate ny which has declined in population.
I wasn't talking about the population when I said nothing special. I was talking about the Long Island video. I said it looked like an average place.
Yeah I would say about the 1/3rd of the Island (not talking about Brooklyn and Queens) looks like typical suburbia. Although probably alot more dense, especially in Nassau, which is next to New York City.
Although when you think about it there are some things that stand out about the Island. How many suburban areas boast the nation's #1 commuter railroad? Dozens of state parks, towns dating from the 1600s, ocean beaches, farms, wineries, village downtowns, and over 100 golf courses in just a 2 county area?
My county, Suffolk, has over 100 beaches, almost 20 lighthouses, and a growing 46,000 acres of COUNTY parkland alone (larger than some state park systems). I do not think there are many other suburban counties with a million+ people that are suburban, have major tourist areas, are historical, maritime and still agricultural ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
I am not saying its the best suburb by far. Parts of Long Island have become far too crowded, the traffic can be really bad, the taxes are way too high, and it is kind of isolated (except to NYC and ferries to New England).
But to say there is nothing special about the Island as a whole is maybe stretching it a bit!
I was talking about the video. The video was boring. I don't know anything about Long Island. I've never been there. Nycripapi loves to down TX and talk up NYC all the time. He does this on every thread he sees me on. He thinks this is real funny. I was just taking a shot at him.
But even if you were to divide texas into just the Texas Urban triangle, it would still have a population of 17million people, and the TX urban triangle is only the size of Georgia.
This is true. Everybody talks about how big Texas is but most of it doesn't have many people. I-35 east to Louisiana is the part of the state that everybody lives in. The western 2/3 of the state doesn't have much. Once you cut out the western 2/3 of the state now it's a much smaller state. Most people don't seem to realize this. It's the same thing with California. California has a lot of people but they all live within one hour of the Pacific. The eastern 80% of CA is boon docks. If you strip CA down to the populated part of the state it's a much smaller state.
There are actually three lines in Cleveland's metro, both light and heavy rail. Many suburbs (such as Shaker Heights) are actively connected to the city. Metro is great...but it doesn't go EVERYWHERE...
Cleveland's:
But again, I'm not seeing the point in comparisons to DC's Metro system. There are no comparisons between Cleveland's mass transit and DC's. Metro is far more extensive, runs more frequently, and goes to far more places throughout the area. Being near a Metro station is a tremendous advantage in DC, particularly considering how bad the traffic is. I'm sure being near a rail line in Cleveland is a marketable aspect, but it's an apples-to-oranges comparison.
You say it doesn't and then it does and accuse me of doing the same, I don't get it.
What?
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