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Hudson 15 mins from St Paul? LOL, if you have a helicopter.
I used to take the 94 straight between the two and it took anywhere between 18 to 25 mins or so depending on traffic. Has something changed in the last 6 years I don't know about?
Coming from a small town in Missouri, I and many others already return to the Small town away from the city! Small towns offer the space tax befits that large cities do not.
Casa Grande AZ has been chosen to be host for Lucid Automotive that will hire 2K people.
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Hey I lived in Missouri or Misery for a bit as well. 😬 But Anyways I wouldn't dare call Casa Grande a small town in especially in terms of what were referring to in this thread. It's home to 51k in terms of population and is less than 45 mins from Tempe and Phoenix. And I just skimmed an article saying around 40% of Casa residents commute to Tempe, Phoenix and Tucson for work. Sounds more like an outer ring suburb to me not a small town or rural area.
Have you not read articles on recent urban development and gentrification and the insane amounts of luxury apartments that are being streamlined and stuffed down millennials throats in America's Top 25 cities. Since our last census there has been a mass exodus to places like Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Nashville for jobs. Large cities are sometimes a red states main source of income, in places like Louisiana NOLA and Baton Rouge bring in over half of the states revenue. Portland was once characterized by an abundance of affordable housing and several predominantly Latino/African-American neighborhoods, it is today one of the hottest parts of one of the hottest cities for young professionals and Portland's inner city has a higher net income than any other part of the state.
And I'll bet those Latino/African American neighborhoods have gotten a lot whiter as well.
Popular big cities are doing their gentrification thing, but many other cities have not been successful at it and if you live in any part of the city it is dangerous and quality of life is worse than most small towns or suburbs. People work in those cities and commute to suburbs and surrounding smaller towns. Some even live in the more remote poor small towns and commute two hours just to stay out of the city and because they cannot afford the suburbs. Drugs are a problem all through. It SEEMS much worse in smaller towns because it did not used to be a problem there and went from 0 to 100 when the opiate crisis and recession hit, whereas hard drugs have always been present in urban areas.
You know all of these sad, economically depressed, former mill/mining towns? There's no reason for them to exist. Once upon a time, Americans moved for economic opportunity. They didn't demand that jobs come to them. If the only reason your town existed or group was the presence of some factory or mine, then in the absence of said factory or mine, your town has no reason to exist. We have let people who feel that they are entitled to an unsustainable, small-town lifestyle dictate the political and economic fate of our nation. They'd rather gamble on someone who promises to reopen the factories then re-train or go to the major population centers where the work is.
The same can be said for ghetto youths who hang out on street corners lamenting there are no jobs.
Even going years back, factories weren't locating to the ghetto.
Blacks with ambition re-located to where the jobs were.
How many ghetto young men headed to the oil fields of North Dakota and were there to make money during the boom?
Lots of people from the depressed northen Minnesota iron range did just that.
The small town I moved to 25 years ago has grown into an urban nightmare.
I'm moving to a rural area in the next two years. Just bought the land.
It is far more sustainable and inexpensive than where I am now.
Unsustainability is a symptom of dependence upon an infrastructure, typically provided by gubmint. Libs most certainly belong in "cities". They lack the necessary survival skills to get along without aid from their big brudda.
Unsustainability is a symptom of dependence upon an infrastructure, typically provided by gubmint. Libs most certainly belong in "cities". They lack the necessary survival skills to get along without aid from their big brudda.
Sorry, I don't feel like having to shovel 2 miles of driveway to go to the grocery store and knowing how to ride a 4 wheeler is a survival skill. Nor do I believe that wanting to live in metros that have diversity, culture and genteel makes one a liberal (not that being liberal is a bad thing).
And I'll bet those Latino/African American neighborhoods have gotten a lot whiter as well.
Popular big cities are doing their gentrification thing, but many other cities have not been successful at it and if you live in any part of the city it is dangerous and quality of life is worse than most small towns or suburbs.
1. What's your point that diversity is a good thing or that white people should be thanked for buying cheap housing, updating it and gentrifying cities?
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Drugs are a problem all through. It SEEMS much worse in smaller towns because it did not used to be a problem there and went from 0 to 100 when the opiate crisis and recession hit, whereas hard drugs have always been present in urban areas.
2.Hard drugs have always been present in urban life? Nope not really until crack was introduced in the 1980s and that ended epidemic in the late 90s. Then you insinuate that drugs are just recently a problem in small towns....Hmmmm that sounds like a completely fabricated assumption based on your own bias- not facts. And I can tell you with hard hitting facts why it seems drugs have "ALWAYS" been a problem in urban communities.
From 1980 to 2008, the number of people incarcerated in America quadrupled-from roughly 500,000 to 2.3 million people
Inner city crime prompted by social and economic isolation
Crime/drug arrest rates: African Americans represent 15% of current drug users, but comprise 32% of persons arrested for drug possession.
African Americans serve virtually as much time in prison for a drug offense (58.7 months), as whites do for a violent offense (61.7 months). (Sentencing Project)
African Americans serve harsher sentences average first time marijuana charge for an African American is (52.5 months) and average second meth charge for whites (39.2 months).
Mandatory minimum sentencing, especially disparities in sentencing for crack rock and powder cocaine possession.
In 2004, blacks constituted more than 80% of the people sentenced under the federal cocaine laws and served substantially more time in prison for drug offenses than whites who did different drugs.
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People work in those cities and commute to suburbs and surrounding smaller towns. Some even live in the more remote poor small towns and commute two hours just to stay out of the city and because they cannot afford the suburbs.
3. But if the small towns are such a safe haven for businesses and have plenty of opportunities why would one need to drive 90 minutes to this scary urban metros to work for $14/hr?
Sorry, I don't feel like having to shovel 2 miles of driveway to go to the grocery store and knowing how to ride a 4 wheeler is a survival skill. Nor do I believe that wanting to live in metros that have diversity, culture and genteel makes one a liberal (not that being liberal is a bad thing).
Well, you could always hire a conservative to plow your two mile long driveway.
Even rural counties have snow plows (except in FL, we don't have that issue).
I've never been on a four wheeler, nor do I intend to be. A simple automobile works the same everywhere, as it does for the city slickers. It will even take you all the way to the big city, from the rural areas, for a dose of that diversity, culture and genteel you crave. I don't need that much of it, to be crowded in my everyday life, to live that close to it.
I doubt that most do. So, I'm just addressing the OP's opinion that everyone wants, or needs to live in the city, is kinda bogus.
Some cities are thriving, others are in decline. Some suburbs are thriving, others are in decline. Some small towns and rural areas are thriving, others are in decline. It is not all of one and none of the other. There is no single definition of rural living. For example, the culture of rural areas in the deep South has little in common with rural areas in New England.
Yes the jobs are in the urban/suburban areas, and for some the lifestyle is better there too. My daughter lives in the outer suburbs of a major city that is growing rapidly. She loves it. I understand the attraction for her but to me the place is culturally sterile, and the traffic is endless. My son is the opposite. He can't stand cities and is moving from the small city of 40,000 he lives in now to a house they're building in the middle of 25 wooded acres. My wife is more attuned to our daughter. I'm like our son. I like being able to take a nice walk around my own acreage and living where there is no traffic. I would add that we don't even have police. If something happens, someone from the County Sheriff's Dept will come or maybe from the State Police, whichever is closer. Nothing much ever happens though.
My town is slowly losing population, about 1% per year, due to many young people moving away to where there is more job opportunity. The schools only have half, if that, of the student enrollment they had at one time. The median age is rising. Some might say we're a dying town and perhaps we are, but our quality of life is very high and I suspect rural areas will someday see a renaissance as cities become too unlivable due to cost, crime, and corruption. Until then we'll take care of our own. We've still got 1,000 more people than we had at the time of the 1st census in 1790 and so I suspect we can keep going for quite a while longer.
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