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Find a new city

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Re: Find a new city

#131

Post by refurb »

forgotuser wrote: post #79
bufordsharkley wrote: post #48

This idea that cities reach a point of maximum growth, become unaffordable, and should be abandoned by potential newcomers: this is currently true, but it's a broken system, and it's time we look at ways we can improve it. When a city becomes unaffordable, when rents skyrocket-- those expenses are someone else's windfalls. When people expect the value of real estate to rise and rise indefinitely-- those windfalls are…

I think Community Land Trusts are a great example of the sort of thing people should be looking into as an alternative to the current model. Don't see people talking about them much. The basic idea is that a nonprofit purchases the land in a community and holds it in perpetuity. It rents the land long-term to residents (and for the most part, they're required to be residents), instead of selling it. It's still possib…

How does that control the cost of housing?

I'm assuming that one would go to a land trust, sign a contract to rent a lot for $X/month for 99 years (or something similar).

Then you would build a house, probably get a construction mortgage to afford it. Then your monthly payments would be mortgage + $X.

Area becomes wildly attractive and people move in. Suddenly people are offering mortgage * 200% for your house, knowing they'll add $X to their money payment.

Housing still gets expensive. What am I missing?

Re: Find a new city

#132

Post by merpnderp »

honkhonkpants wrote: post #83
merpnderp wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oklahoma City has a very prominently placed trans officer. And hate crimes are harshly punished at the federal level. If it is dangerous for trans people outside of dark blue cities, the statistics aren't capturing it.

They're not going to murder you, but in Oklahoma City a gay or trans person will be constantly told how people are going to pray for them. It's obnoxious.

That sounds really oppressive. Perhaps instead of moving, just tell people no thanks, f off, or mind your own business.

And who are these people constantly saying they'll pray for them? A trans person walks into a store and people just start annoying them?

Re: Find a new city

#133

Post by madgar »

Avshalom wrote: post #101
nostromo wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you actually spent time in Raleigh or Atlanta? The idea that trans people are getting murdered in the street is just not correct. I'm gay and I've spent a lot of fun nights in Boise, Idaho because a gay friend of mine lives there with her wife. We always have a blast. She has a great career in Boise and I don't think she's experienced more homophobia there than when she lived in New York City. (I know she had at…

I believe you'll find that north carolina is on the coast.

I believe you'll find that north carolina isn't considered "elite" by anyone but alabamians

Re: Find a new city

#134

Post by shas3 »

Apocryphon wrote: post #23
mkolodny wrote: post #17

I love the sentiment. Silicon Valley and NYC became what they are because of people hacking on things in garages / shitty apartments. Now those shitty apartments cost $2,000/month. The equivalent of those places, where things like Apple started, isn't Silicon Valley and NYC. It's places like Detroit. Or wherever people doing cool things decide to move and congregate. Then again, it is still possible to live cheaply i…

Detroit is an actual city with deep history. It may be in decline, but it still seems like to have more going on, or at least the potential to have more going on, than small towns. There's likely a lot of other second- or even third-tier cities that are overlooked, but are still more interesting to live in than a town in "Northeast Ohio." Austin, Portland, Boulder are becoming the new NY/SF because of the process of…

Two of those are not like the other. Frankly, Portland has a pretty anemic economy and the colleges here are mediocre too. Boulder is a little better. Can't say Northeast Ohio is that bad, Cleveland is on par with Boulder and Portland.

Austin, OTOH has one of the best universities in the world and a host of large and important tech and software companies.

Re: Find a new city

#135

Post by madgar »

logfromblammo wrote: post #126
refurb wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I've lived where people had different values than me and it just gets exhausting. Really? I thought diversity was a good thing? I know I wouldn't want to live somewhere where everyone thought the same thing I did. Sounds boring.

Diversity is a good thing. It's what keeps one opinion from forming a supermajority and subsequently browbeating all non-aligned opinions into lonely silence. For instance, a lot of people around here enjoy football--so many, in fact, that it leads people to assume that everybody likes it. I don't. I think it's a fundamentally flawed sport, and not particularly interesting to watch. But since it's so popular, it's al…

What does any of all that have to do with values?

Re: Find a new city

#136

Post by madgar »

merpnderp wrote: post #132
honkhonkpants wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not going to murder you, but in Oklahoma City a gay or trans person will be constantly told how people are going to pray for them. It's obnoxious.

That sounds really oppressive. Perhaps instead of moving, just tell people no thanks, f off, or mind your own business. And who are these people constantly saying they'll pray for them? A trans person walks into a store and people just start annoying them?

> A trans person walks into a store and people just start annoying them?

You have to pay for what you want at the store. That involves a person. That person then tells that they're praying for you to be someone you aren't and never will be.

Do you somehow not encounter people in your everyday life?

Re: Find a new city

#137

Post by justinlardinois »

nostromo wrote: post #60
rpazyaquian wrote: post #34

This jumped out at me: > “I’m trans, so I need to live somewhere progressive so I feel safe day-to-day and don’t feel like I’m going to get beat up for using the wrong restroom.” This is a pretty damn good reason to live somewhere like Seattle or Boston, and a pretty damn good reason not to live somewhere like (edit:) North Carolina or Tennessee or Georgia. The reality is that many of us are limited by not wanting to…

Have you actually spent time in Raleigh or Atlanta? The idea that trans people are getting murdered in the street is just not correct. I'm gay and I've spent a lot of fun nights in Boise, Idaho because a gay friend of mine lives there with her wife. We always have a blast. She has a great career in Boise and I don't think she's experienced more homophobia there than when she lived in New York City. (I know she had at…

> I think a lot of coastal elites have no idea what they're talking about when they speak about the extreme danger of being different in middle-America.

Pretty much everyone in this thread takes issue with that statement, but I've got a question that hasn't been raised yet: what exactly does "elites" mean in this context?

Re: Find a new city

#138

Post by justinlardinois »

logfromblammo wrote: post #117
initram wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's not only about being safe. I don't have to worry too much about that sort of thing because I blend in most places in my country. But I've lived where people had different values than me and it just gets exhausting. Constantly being bombarded with messages you fundamentally disagree with 24/7. Billboards; local TV; newpapers/web sites; overhearing conversations of the people around you; having odd things s…

It's bad enough when people say "buggy" instead of "cart" or "coke" or "soda" instead of "pop". I can only imagine how much faster my social stamina would be depleted if everyone around me were constantly arguing about whether it would be better if I didn't exist at all, or if I just went far away, never to return.

I was with you until you said that "pop" was your preferred terminology.

Re: Find a new city

#139

Post by justinlardinois »

merpnderp wrote: post #132
honkhonkpants wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not going to murder you, but in Oklahoma City a gay or trans person will be constantly told how people are going to pray for them. It's obnoxious.

That sounds really oppressive. Perhaps instead of moving, just tell people no thanks, f off, or mind your own business. And who are these people constantly saying they'll pray for them? A trans person walks into a store and people just start annoying them?

> just tell people no thanks, f off, or mind your own business.

Sounds like a good way to escalate an already uncomfortable situation. It's damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Re: Find a new city

#140

Post by czinck »

mkolodny wrote: post #17

I love the sentiment. Silicon Valley and NYC became what they are because of people hacking on things in garages / shitty apartments. Now those shitty apartments cost $2,000/month. The equivalent of those places, where things like Apple started, isn't Silicon Valley and NYC. It's places like Detroit. Or wherever people doing cool things decide to move and congregate. Then again, it is still possible to live cheaply i…

How did your friend find an apartment in Bed Stuy for only $450? Rent controlled? Splitting a bedroom with someone else? A quick search on streeteasy gives literally no apartments in Bed Stuy for less than $1k currently available, the cheapest being $1350 for a very small studio apartment. Craigslist has individual rooms for as little as $700, but that's still way more than what your friend is paying.
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