Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This thread is essentially for folks who have left cities in favor of the suburbs as well as those who have always lived in the suburbs and would be open to the idea of giving urban living a try. What would it take for you to move back into your host city? In this thread, please provide your suburb, host city, and your reasoning.
I'll start with my own format, but you should feel free to reply in any way you wish.
Host City: Scranton, PA (pop. 70,000)
Suburb: Pittston, PA---8 Miles South
What It Would Take To Get Me Into The City: I've lived the first 21.5 years of my life here in the dull suburbs, and I'm actually excited about being able to move into an upcoming downtown loft once my financial situation permits me to do so. I crave being able to walk to a movie theater, shopping mall, galleries, churches, restaurants, a library, etc., whereas where I currently live in the boom 'burbs there aren't even any shoulders, let alone sidewalks. One MAJOR black eye factoring into my decision though is the fact that Scranton has a 3.4% city wage tax, amongst the highest in the nation, while my own suburb doesn't even levy a residential property tax (hence why the city continues to decline while the suburbs swell). If I'm earning $50,000 per year, do I really want $1,700 of that to go to the city's coffers in addition to property taxes?
Well, my reason has always been price, it seems they want a lot of money for what you get. If you go to cheap then you end up in the ghetto.
Plus I do not like how everything in the city is sectionalized, I can drive from block to black and go from middle class to ghetto and back.
I prefer to live in the city as I did in Europe but can not afford a decent place there, when I get quotes of "$800 is great deal" for rent prices when I am paying $550 a month to live a 20 minute drive away, sort of turns me off from even bothering.
Also it seems with the years of flight to suburbia, it has left many cities looking like an old run down area that was filled with the criminal element.
Well I currently live in Houston near downtown because it has access to everything but I am originally from Rochester NY. I personally would live in the city of Rochester but my parents say that crime in some areas is the main reason that they prefer the suburbs. They moved out to Spencerport (suburb there) right before I was born and said that the inner city schools as well as increased violence in the city were the reasons. At this point there is nothing that would get them to move to the inner city, but I would say shootings in some areas would be my biggest concern.
Well, my reason has always been price, it seems they want a lot of money for what you get. If you go to cheap then you end up in the ghetto.
Plus I do not like how everything in the city is sectionalized, I can drive from block to black and go from middle class to ghetto and back.
I prefer to live in the city as I did in Europe but can not afford a decent place there, when I get quotes of "$800 is great deal" for rent prices when I am paying $550 a month to live a 20 minute drive away, sort of turns me off from even bothering.
Also it seems with the years of flight to suburbia, it has left many cities looking like an old run down area that was filled with the criminal element.
Alas being "priced out" of the city is very true. I actually have a theory that as gas prices continue to rise you'll see homes in the outer suburbs starting to depreciate, as it will become less and less attractive to live in the outer suburbs/exurbs and drive so far for city amenities like malls, concerts, sporting events, etc. On the flip side properties in the inner suburbs and city propers may start to appreciate steadily as more and more people, especially the middle-class, start to feel the financial squeeze of living way out and paying to fill the SUV and decide that it makes just as much sense to eschew the car and pay a slight premium on housing to live with a shorter commute.
There are some "suburbs" here in America that I absolutely adore---Arlington, VA, Alexandria, VA, Cambridge, MA, Hoboken, NJ, etc.---but these are all anomalies in that they are healthy, vibrant, walkable inner suburbs whereas in many other cities a lot of inner suburbs have seen decay as inner cities are gentrified while outer suburbs continue to erode the tax bases of the declining inner suburbs. Other suburbs do nothing but leech off of their host cities, draining their tax bases as residents continue to head into the city daily to utilize city services without paying for them, placing larger annual burdens on those who still own property in the city (as we've seen here in Scranton for example).
Well I currently live in Houston near downtown because it has access to everything but I am originally from Rochester NY. I personally would live in the city of Rochester but my parents say that crime in some areas is the main reason that they prefer the suburbs. They moved out to Spencerport (suburb there) right before I was born and said that the inner city schools as well as increased violence in the city were the reasons. At this point there is nothing that would get them to move to the inner city, but I would say shootings in some areas would be my biggest concern.
From what I hear from folks who still haunt the Upstate NY boards Rochester proper is starting to make a promising comeback while the inner suburbs remain "sketchy" (namely Irondequoit---spelling?) Rochester is actually a city that I've always wanted to visit. I've been to Binghamton, Ithaca, Geneva, Elmira, Syracuse, Batavia, and Buffalo, but somehow I've managed to miss Rochester. LOL!
Violent crime remains an issue in some cities (from what I gather on this forum Detroit, Baltimore, and St. Louis are probably some of the worst for this), but there are plenty of other cities, including my own, that are on the decline while having negligible violent crime due primarily to taxation reasons.
I'm guessing you won't be devouring Des Moines anytime soon---I don't think metro223 would let y'all get away with that!
Nope, we've just boxed them in
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
LOL! 
LOL!
