I HATE suburbia!!!

[djs1977]

My landlord has a clause in his lease saying I can't move in the middle of winter (just because finding another renter is difficult to do then). So I just moved in with my buddy and his wife for a month, and they live in a newer suburban town, that's kind of a new frontier and is farther out than other suburbs.
My apartment had been in an innner part of the city, so everything was so close and walking was normal.

I HATE how you have to drive to everything in the suburbs. I recently came across a study that said surburban life breeds obesity, which doesn't floor me at all. Everything is so convienent. And everything is the same! Applebee's, McDonalds, Target, Home Depot...

[pisces2473]

Aren't you leaving the country soon?

[kimmer23]

And everything is the same! Applebee's, McDonalds, Target, Home Depot...

we have all these places in the city around here....

[djs1977]

yeah... it's just a temporary move to the suburbs, thankfully.

[djs1977]

Originally posted by kimmer23


we have all these places in the city around here....

they are everywhere, but my point was you can pick ANY suburb and they are practically the same. Cookie cutter living. Doesn't it drive people nuts?

[pisces2473]

Yeah, it does...but when it's everywhere, you can't exactly get away from it, can you?

[djs1977]

Sure you can. It's a choice to live in the suburbs.

Being somewhat of an environmentalist, urban sprawl kills me. We should just be using land better in the city.

[pisces2473]

It's not always a clear choice to live in the suburbs. Sometimes it's the only option.

[kimmer23]

well i have always lived VERY close to the city, so i feel i've always had the best of both worlds--but sometimes the crime in baltimore city aint so cool. ever watch "The Wire?"

[djs1977]

can you give me an example, pisces?

[pisces2473]

Some cities aren't safe to live in, so the only real alternative is to live in the burbs.

[djs1977]

k. I guess I'm a little spoiled living in St. Paul/Minneapolis. I don't think crime is as bad here.
But it is a choice. It's your choice to live in a crime area if you want to.

[pisces2473]

What if you can't afford to live elsewhere BUT the crime areas? That's not a choice, right?

Yeah, I think New Haven has more crime than the twin cities...

[djs1977]

I guess when I think about affordibility, I feel like there are 2 choices: far far out of the city, or inner city where there is crime.

I guess where I was going with this topic, was that if it came down to it, I would pay a little more to live in the city. When I think of suburbia, I just think of laziness and convience, and I don't like that. Again, this is just my opinion.
But moving in with my friends has certainly shown that I'm not far off.

[maxwell78]

And everything is the same! Applebee's, McDonalds, Target, Home Depot...
I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I like suburbia just for that fact. I like the convenience. I like knowing exactly what I'm getting and where to go to get it. I like the consistancy. Which is probably what makes me terribly boring and always lacking a good story to tell someone. haha.

[djs1977]

like my friends, their reasoning for moving that far out was, "well, we can get more house for the money." But they really don't NEED all of the space, They don't use a lot of it.

I don't like waste...

[kimmer23]

i think baltimore has like the 3rd highest crime rate in the country... but thankfully a lot of the city is changing. i guess it all depends on what people want. some of the higher class areas of the city have restored row homes going for $350,000. for that much money though i would assume on having a backyard and a garage and neighbors that werent so close.

[djs1977]

personal preferece of course.

I just wish we would reevaluate what we really want vs. need.

[kimmer23]

I just wish we would reevaluate what we really want vs. need.

well none of us really need that much....i guess if we really lived with only what we needed we would be living in little huts!

[megrocks]

Originally posted by djs1977
personal preferece of course.

I just wish we would reevaluate what we really want vs. need.

I agree with this. The sprawl in my area is insane. There are suburbs of suburbs now. And all the new houses being built are between 3000 & 4000 square feet. How many people actually need a house that freaking big?? All they do is just buy stuff to fill it up and get into more debt.

[pisces2473]

I agree with Meg, DJS, etc. about the want/need w/ the big houses esp. when ppl aren't having huge families. They just like the "space."

I don't know about where the rest of you live, but where I live in New England, it's cities and towns. Some are big, some are small. We don't really have "suburbs," per se, there's residential areas...but not what you guys are describing really. It's complicated to explain, lol.

[cheshrcarol]

Well, sometimes where you live (suburbs/city) is affected by where you work. I live right outside of Albany and work on the farthest edge of the city. I have the benefits of living in the suburbs (driveway/garage, yard, deck, big house) without having to drive 15 minutes to get to everything, but everything I want is within a 5 minute drive. But I do have to drive. It would take forever to walk to anywhere. But if I chose to live in downtown Albany I'd have to be more worried about crime (right now I live in the 8th safest city in the US) and it would be really hard to have a car there because of the limited parking. And getting to work would probably take hours on the bus because my office isn't on any of the main lines and it's about 25 minutes from downtown driving directly.

[tina1979]

Originally posted by old_school_soul
Crime shmime. Yes there's generally more crime in urban areas, but the chances of you being hurt are nil. You're not dealing drugs, you're not prostituting yourself, etc.
I wasn't doing either of these and I was held up at gun point on the front step of my apartment. I think it has alot to do with the city you are in. You can't really generalize a statment like that.

[Kitty]

Originally posted by djs1977
My landlord has a clause in his lease saying I can't move in the middle of winter (just because finding another renter is difficult to do then). So I just moved in with my buddy and his wife for a month, and they live in a newer suburban town, that's kind of a new frontier and is farther out than other suburbs.
My apartment had been in an innner part of the city, so everything was so close and walking was normal.

I HATE how you have to drive to everything in the suburbs. I recently came across a study that said surburban life breeds obesity, which doesn't floor me at all. Everything is so convienent. And everything is the same! Applebee's, McDonalds, Target, Home Depot...

I lived in San Francisco for awhile and let me tell you that I MUCH prefer the suburbs. Walking everywhere in the City when it is like 30 degrees outside and WINDY and you have to walk up steep hills and its raining..is not fun. I bet you that you'll wish you had a car really fast. Everything is expensive in the City, harder to get to, and takes more effort to accomplish. I'm kind of lucky and I work in the City and commute from a suburb. So, I get the benefit of being in the CIty all day but not having to deal with high rent, parking nightmares, and cab money. It's great.

[cheshrcarol]

Good point Tina. You can also tell that to the women in Albany who's apartments were broken into and were raped, the innocent kid walking around downtown at 9pm who was caught in a police shooting, and all the people whose cars are stolen or vandalized.

[djs1977]

Originally posted by Kitty


I lived in San Francisco for awhile and let me tell you that I MUCH prefer the suburbs. Walking everywhere in the City when it is like 30 degrees outside and WINDY and you have to walk up steep hills and its raining..is not fun. I bet you that you'll wish you had a car really fast. Everything is expensive in the City, harder to get to, and takes more effort to accomplish. I'm kind of lucky and I work in the City and commute from a suburb. So, I get the benefit of being in the CIty all day but not having to deal with high rent, parking nightmares, and cab money. It's great.

So take public transportation.

[tina1979]

Originally posted by djs1977


So take public transportation.
thats pretty much askin' for it out here.

[kimmer23]

UGH, dont even start me on the MTA! you take your life in your hands when you take the bus around here. even the school buses seem to get in a lot of accidents!

[djs1977]

Originally posted by lily
I don't like the suburbs for just the same reasons, djs.

Why don't you just admit that you love me? It's SO obvious. :D

[Kitty]

Originally posted by djs1977


So take public transportation.

sometimes you're going somewhere where buses or the subways don't go. It's not like you walk out your door and there is a bus stop.

[pisces2473]

Yeah really...some cities don't have public transportation...

[Kitty]

Originally posted by pisces2473
Yeah really...some cities don't have public transportation...

San Francisco has some pretty bad public transportation. At my old apartment I would have to walk for about 25-30 minutes before I got to the subway. This was up and down insanely steep hills.

They do have buses but they are so complicated and take FOREVER to get anywhere. You usually have to transfer about a billion times.

[shimmer728]

Columbus, Ohio had bad public trans, too--I relied heavily on the city buses for the first three years of college because I didn't bring my car to school. People who rode the buses who weren't OSU students were just scary!

I grew up in a boring-ass suburb of Pittsburgh (a dirty city if there ever was one) and lived in the uber-snotty, college-sports-crazed city of Columbus. Now I live in the country. And after more than two years here, I know what I prefer. :cool:

[pisces2473]

Originally posted by shimmer728
People who road the buses who weren't OSU students were just scary!
ROAD? The lady is a journalist, folks.

[Winter Storm]

I'm kind of in suburbia. I'm in Baltimore county, only a hop, skip and a jump from the city and I like having nearby shops but not too close. I don't want everything in my neighborhood, otherwise I'd never leave the neighborhood.

I know people who live downtown and it' s noisier, you have to deal with the extra traffic noise, weekend drunks, constant construction and development. Its like I like going out, but I don't want where I hang out to be where I live. I actually like driving away from home, ya know.

They just built these townhouses in Columbia Mall and literally when those people step off their front porch, they're in the mall parking lot. They love it, I say that's insane!

Can you imagine Xmas traffic and a steady stream of pedestrains right outside your living room!

[shimmer728]

Originally posted by pisces2473

ROAD? The lady is a journalist, folks.

Aghhh! OMG! I'm brain-dead as hell today, as you can tell. I'm fixing it right now. :redface:

[pisces2473]

Hehehehe...

[joneshen]

I strongly dislike the suburbs too. Right now I live out in the DC 'burbs, and I'm giving serious consideration to moving into DC proper once my lease is up (if I remain in the area).

Some people are suburban folks, but I am a city girl for life. :)

[Irish79]

I actually prefer the country or suburbs to the city. I feel safer most of the time, and less stressed. For me it's a combination of where I grew up and my personality - I prefer wide open spaces and quiet - there's nothing more relaxing than sitting outside listening to the birds sing without the sounds of your neighbors, traffic, sirens, etc.

[bostongirl]

I'm personally all for the city... obviously it depends on the city though... I live in Back Bay in Boston and it is great... I can walk or take the T pretty much everywhere I want to go (I do own a car, which is a royal pain here, but to leave the city you really need one.... I drive it about once a week..)... and I love having all the shops right outside my door... for me I get energy from all the things that are going on outside. I'm also all about not involving cars when I go out... if I'm out drinking, I don't want my car around! And living where I do, it is only about a $5 cab ride home when the clubs close...
I love being able to get up in the AM and go grab a cup of coffee, or if I need something have it be a 5 minute walk away... almost everything I need (doctor, dentist, haistylist, nail salon, CVS, Shaws, great restaurants and clothes shops are all within a 5 minute walk... and the T is about 50 yards from my door!)... my 20 minute walk each way to school every day means I don't need to go to the gym... (and if its gross out I can just as easily take the T) Granted Boston is much different from most American cities in that this is possible, but given a choice, I'd pick this lifestyle any day over a house in the 'burbs... I'd hate the feeling of isolation that a house would give me (not to mention having to deal with stuff like the lawn and then shoveling snow in the winter :( )
I'm Due to an internship that I couldn't refuse I'm going to have to live in CT (Greenwich or Stamford) from Jan-Jun and I am terrified... granted it is nice area, but it is the 'burbs... full of settled married people with kids... (no problems with that, just not my style). For me, life in the city is just much more vibrant and spirited... I'm much less likely to sit at home and watch TV if interesting things are right outside my door!