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View Poll Results: How often do you use your suburbs' offerings?
Multiple times a week 12 24.00%
About once a week 6 12.00%
Couple times a month 9 18.00%
Every couple months 15 30.00%
Twice a year, or less 8 16.00%
Voters: 50. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 08-19-2016, 07:44 AM
 
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For the sake of discussion, we will exclude the airport, if it happens to be outside of city limits.

What city, and why?
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Old 08-19-2016, 08:12 AM
 
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I leave the Chicago city limits maybe twice a year and do things in the rest of the metro. Otherwise I'm leaving the state altogether.

Not that I have anything against the metro area, but personally everything I want out of life are things in the city. The energy, the downtown, the lakefront, walkability, density. Those are things that make me feel alive.

I go to the suburbs twice a year, normally to visit a friend who lives there (so I'm really not "using" anything in the burbs) and then maybe once for something very random. When I first moved here I was going to the suburbs at least once or twice a week. We would go to the mall, chain restaurants, Ikea, just drive around. It was that transition time from living in a suburban environment in Iowa to getting used to Chicago. The suburbs were a bit of a "home" for me while I made the move.

I haven't been to Ikea in maybe 10 years now, and the last time I went to a mall in the suburbs was the first mall I'd been to in 4-5 years, and that was 2 years ago. It was actually surreal. Like an entire new universe that was just sitting out there with the mall culture.
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Old 08-19-2016, 08:42 AM
 
Location: Watching half my country turn into Gilead
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I think this discussion will come down to where exactly you're located in your metro for many, and the type of environment you're in. For smaller cities in a larger metro, the frequency will be higher for many, while those located in the primate city of a large metro will utilize surrounding suburbs and satellite cities less frequently. Obviously, this isn't a hard and fast rule and there will be tons of exceptions, but I'd say this will be the case for many. Socioeconomics will also play a factor, I presume. When I lived in NYC, I knew plenty of people who barely left their neighborhood, much less their borough or city. They simply couldn't afford it, not always in dollar terms, but in time. It was too much of a hassle to live the city and was viewed as a case of diminishing returns.

For me, I go to Philadelphia at least once a week (usually on weekends), and utilize Wilmington's satellite cities (Newark, Dover) even more frequently. Everything I need is here in the city, but a lot of interesting events are decentralized in surrounding muncipalities (West Chester, Kennet Square, Bear, Media, etc) and I have a lot of friends who live in Newark. And of course, there are the beaches in the area, which I try to go to at least two or three times during the summer.
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Old 08-19-2016, 08:58 AM
 
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I leave Pittsburgh once or twice a month, usually to go to Costco, which is roughly 800 meters outside of city limits.

When I lived in Boston, I went to Cambridge several times a week for excercise. My runs usually crossed over into Cambridge, and I played basketball at the Cambridge athletic club. Some would argue that that doesn't count as leaving Boston. Barring that, I'd say, we left the city about once a month...also for Costco.

In Chicago, I ventured into the rest of the metro, maybe 2-3 times a year. In NYC, I'd venture out into the rest of the metro once a year; an annual 4th of July event out on Long Island.
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Old 08-19-2016, 09:00 AM
 
Location: Maryland
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When I lived in Boston, I basically never went to the suburbs (except Cambridge, which I consider more an extension of the city). Same when I lived in Austin or Madison. When I lived in Chicago, I was in the suburbs every single day because I worked in Evanston. However, outside of work and the occasional trip to a big mall or the Arboretum or hiking, I spent the lion's share of my time in Chicago.

My guess is that you'll find it's a rarity for most big cities except for some suburbs that are very unique or have something to offer that the central city doesn't (aside from the obvious like lower costs, bigger housing, lower density, etc.).
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Old 08-19-2016, 09:12 AM
 
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
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I live on the near east side of Indy. I'm a 15 minute walk to Monument Circle (heart of downtown). I also work within a few blocks of my home. My wife works for Riley Hospital, which is on the west side of downtown. Additionally, our gym, and "regular" grocery store are both downtown within a mile of us. All that to say, leaving the core of the city is not typically part of our daily routine.

I leave the core a few times a week - not for a lack of amenities in it, but rather due to circumstances/obligations that require it.

My MBA program's flagship campus is about 50 miles NE of Indy, but the MBA program is mostly run out of Carmel, Fishers, and Speedway (suburbs), so I have to attend classes there 1 - 3 nights per week depending on the courses.

A band I perform with rehearses out of a studio located in Carmel. That involves me traveling there once a week. Additionally, while most of our gigs are in the city, we'll occasionally play places in the suburbs...maybe twice a month.

Costco runs. The south side costco technically falls just within the city limits, but is the suburbs for all intents and purposes (I could throw a rock from the parking lot into Greenwood). I find myself being dragged there about once a month or so.

I guess that would average out to about 3 times a week. If not for classes, it would be much less. Other than Costco, there is nothing I go to the suburbs for that isn't also available in the core - i.e. there are rehearsal spaces downtown/in Indy, there are at least four other schools running MBA programs downtown/in Indy, etc.
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Old 08-19-2016, 09:13 AM
 
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Most of my family lives in Suburban Chicago, so I leave the City pretty regularly. A lot of family in the City, so spend a lot of time in Edison Park, Jefferson Park, Bucktown, Wicker, and along the north side Lakefront. Rarely venture outside of Cook Co.
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Old 08-19-2016, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Cbus
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My neighborhood in the city of Columbus borders the suburban community of Upper Arlington, the extremely small village of Marble Cliff and the city of Grandview Heights which functions as a Columbus city neighborhood but technically is its own entity.

My gym is in Grandview Heights, my grocery store is in Upper Arlington and I have to drive through Marble Cliff to leave my house. In terms of the "True" suburbs maybe once every couple months if that.
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Old 08-19-2016, 10:47 AM
 
Location: St. Louis
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Not counting trips outside of Chicagoland, I've been outside of Chicago in the suburbs twice this year, and both trips were to Evanston. In a typical year I'd say it's at most every couple of months and at the least once or twice in the year. I used to go to Evanston more often when I lived in Rogers Park, which borders the suburb, but now I have little reason to go. My friend who lives there prefers coming into the city to hangout as well.

I don't have a car in Chicago, but even if I did I don't think I'd be leaving the city much more than I currently am. There's just not much to do in the suburbs versus the city.
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Old 08-19-2016, 11:28 AM
 
Location: Washington D.C. By way of Texas
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I don't have a car so I go out into VA and MD about a couple times per month. When I do get my car, it will likely be multiple times per month.
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