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America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

theatlantic.com

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Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#201

Post by fountainofage »

dahfizz wrote: post #149
1stcity3rdcoast wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For you, perhaps. But for me and my family, raising children in the densest urban core is a highly enjoyable experience. Imagine never being in traffic again. Having your choice of activities, parkland, and restaurants. Hundreds of friends within a single square mile. That’s what draws many of us to the city over the suburb. But to each their own.

I think it's highly dependent on your area. In my smaller town I never have traffic. I have plenty of restaurants and activities and more "parkland" and nature than a city dweller could dream. City dwellers seem to think of smaller towns as some sort of dessert wasteland, but I can get to anything a city dweller can in the same amount of time. There's just as much stuff out here, we just also have enough room to live…

Well, are you in support of a suburb or a small town? A suburb is wildly distinct from a small town. Most would agree that a suburb solely exists to house people that work in a nearby city, whereas a small town is self-sufficient (in the sense any area can be "self-sufficient").

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#202

Post by dunnevens »

dhdidhdu wrote: post #180
gwm83 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Singapore is tiny, not much more than a city-state. Rates of drug use is also a matter of honest reporting. And wow are you really advocating execution of people with addiction and mental health issues that use drugs?

Japan is not tiny, and has a fraction of our drug use. They’re also brutal with drug crime. I wouldn’t execute drug addicts. But their pushers? Line-em right up!

Just curious: would you advocate lining up liquor store owners? Bartenders?

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#203

Post by asveikau »

mrep wrote: post #116
jinushaun wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m raising a child in NYC right now. What is this dystopia you are describing? It’s the opposite of my personal experience. NYC is such a kid friendly place to raise kids: Museums, zoos, aquariums, free events for kids, concerts just for babies, parks, swimming pools, little league, soccer league, skate parks, etc… we have it all. I can’t fathom how people raise kids in the suburbs. They must be so bored… You have a…

> Museums, zoos, aquariums I don't know about you, but those are things I'd go to at most once a year so taking the train/driving downtown for those rare events wasn't a big deal for me growing up. > free events for kids, concerts just for babies, more details? > parks My friends and I used to play basketball, american football, and ultimate frisbee all the time growing up. Now I live downtown and the parks I walk pa…

> driving downtown

This is your problem. In a city you don't need to put yourself and your family in a deadly metallic stress machine to get places. And as a result you will feel happier and more connected.

Even in a city I am sometimes very shocked at what we put ourselves through to use a car. People constantly honking and flicking each other off with various insults and me on the sidewalk wishing they'd all calm down. (And when I used to drive too much, I was angry like them, and weighed substantially more.)

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#204

Post by fountainofage »

ocschwar wrote: post #100

A major problem in American cities is what's called "contraception zoning." It's a de facto and sometimes de jure ban on large (as in 4 or more bedroom) apartments.

Could you expand on this? I've never met a couple that could afford a 4 bedroom apartment on their own, so I'm not sure how allowing even larger apartments solves anything?

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#205

Post by quickthrower2 »

raducu wrote: post #16

Unpopular opinion I've held since before I became a parent: childless people should pay more taxes.

Can you expand on that? Because it comes off as "since I have become a parent I want other people to pay more taxes so I can pay less", because y'know more money for me is good.

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#206

Post by downrightmike »

war1025 wrote: post #176
jonknee wrote: post #119

Birthrates are also declining outside of cities at similar rates [1]. It may be a little more apparent in expensive cities because childless people tend to not like suburbs and choose density if they can afford it, but I don't think cities are the root cause. [1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2018/10/19/us-fertilit...

I've got my money on the "We spend twenty years telling adolescents that children are terrible and having them will ruin their life, so when the time comes they have to climb over a mountain of conditioning to even consider the idea" space.

No, people just grow up and see that people are assholes, progeny double so.

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#207

Post by quickthrower2 »

snickerbockers wrote: post #156
raducu wrote: post #16

Unpopular opinion I've held since before I became a parent: childless people should pay more taxes.

That's a regressive tax that punishes people who are unable to have children due to health problems, sexual identity, living conditions, or even failure to get laid. People who do have children should be taxed more instead because they're more successful, and they're the ones who benefit from higher taxes anyways due to publicly-funded education and social programs.

Virgins would be exempt of course.

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#208

Post by elliekelly »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #196
toasterlovin wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s perverse that in our (supposedly) liberated world the standard that women are held to is men.

Isn't that what equality was supposed to be? EDIT: Anecdotally, it seems that equality was strived for and it's not turning out as great as a lot of folks hoped for. Educated women don't date down like men did/do which makes finding a partner in itself much more difficult [1], women want the same career opportunities as men while also taking leave that puts them at a disadvantage, which is unavoidable; you will be at…

In the context of race would you measure equality against the standard of “white?”

I should hope not. For the same reason measuring women against the standard of “men” isn’t equality.

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#209

Post by toomuchtodo »

elliekelly wrote: post #208
toomuchtodo wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that what equality was supposed to be? EDIT: Anecdotally, it seems that equality was strived for and it's not turning out as great as a lot of folks hoped for. Educated women don't date down like men did/do which makes finding a partner in itself much more difficult [1], women want the same career opportunities as men while also taking leave that puts them at a disadvantage, which is unavoidable; you will be at…

In the context of race would you measure equality against the standard of “white?” I should hope not. For the same reason measuring women against the standard of “men” isn’t equality.

What are the standards?

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#210

Post by xyzzyz »

rayiner wrote: post #155
velp wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So did Portugal [0], except they didn't resort to draconian rule-of-law policies and instead took a more compassionate approach. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/05/portugals-radic...

Portugal didn’t solve the drug problem. Portugal has stratospherically high rates of drug use before it’s change in policy. At one point fully 1% of the population was addicted to heroin. That has come down, but drug use rates are still much higher than in China, Japan, and Singapore.

In fact, heroin use was the only drug the use of which went down in Portugal after the decriminalization. Use of other drugs went up, especially MDMA. At the same time, heroin use also went down in other European countries in which no decriminalization happened. It blows my mind that some people believe that change in Portugal’s policies was some kind of a huge success.
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