America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births • Hacker News Board

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#311

Post by jakobegger » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 9:36 AM UTC

jacobolus wrote: post #273

jakobegger wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Parents who put their kids in front of the TV are lazy. Maybe when your kid is a bit older you'll understand the appeal of turning on the TV just to have an hour to clean up, do a bit of laundry, and prepare dinner...

There is great appeal for sure, but the better long-term solution is to get the kids helping with cleanup, laundry, and dinner prep, even from an age where they can’t do anything yet. You might be surprised how interested they are in helping out.

> You might be surprised how interested they are in helping out.

Maybe there are some super-parents out there who can manage to always make that work, but in my experience trying to get my kids to help when they are hungry and tired after getting home from some activity on a hot summer day is just an exercise in frustration.

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#312

Post by metildaa » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 9:53 AM UTC

yason wrote: post #288

notzuck wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We both earn large professional salaries but decided to go to the suburbs for kids. We have 2 beaches within 20 minutes of us, we have parks, cinemas, out door water parks, outdoor pools, skate parks plus half an acre of garden and a big house where the kids can have a music room, a playroom, separate room for computer games and we get a very nice home office. I don't know why anyone would want to stay in the cramped…

We have 2 beaches within 20 minutes of us Walking or... driving?

If its walking distance, its far enough away to be beyond the reach of most casual visits.

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#313

Post by KUcxrAVrtI » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:00 AM UTC

matchbok wrote: post #216

dahfizz wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Same amount of time? I have 20 restaurants within a 30 second walk. There also is never, ever the diversity of food or entertainment. Also, many small towns have higher crime rates per capita than cities.

20 restaurants within 40 meters (120 feet for those in less civilized countries) from the ground floor of your building?

That seems like hyperbole unless you live above a shopping complex.

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#314

Post by ido » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:27 AM UTC

jonathankoren wrote: post #261

mrep wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> 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. Do you have children? I ask, because the frequency of attending these and all the other public institutions skyrockets when you have kids. Before I had kids, it had been literally decades since I stepped foot into a public library. After we had ki…

i live in berlin and visit a zoo of some kind (there are many) with my kids almost every week (some weeks multiple times).

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#315

Post by plaidfuji » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:36 AM UTC

madhadron wrote: post #14

I look at it a little differently. The urban cores in the USA are actively hostile places for anyone to be. You step outside your door...into an empty hallway of doors. You take an elevator or stairs down to a place with a few mailboxes, then step outside. Outside, you have a narrow strip of concrete, possibly with a few trees, that you are allowed to inhabit. Beyond it is as asphalt with two ton steel contraptions w…

Thom Yorke browses Hacker News? #blessed

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#316

Post by CalRobert » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:41 AM UTC

A city has 100 homes. Local homeowners vote against any new construction to preserve taxpayer-funded parking welfare (aka neighborhood character)

This means that house prices are a race to the top so to speak. You're always competing with your neighbors.

The first thing you do is have both of them work (this happened ~4 decades ago). Even if you don't want to, you have to, because your neighbors are doing it and they're your competition in the home hunt.

The second thing you do is live together with other unrelated adults to save money on rent (hey, housing is scarce for some dumb reason, after all).

The third thing you do is decide not to have kids, because after all, the 2+ bed flats are full of adult professionals sharing them. You can't possibly outbid them!

Meanwhile, the few extremely well-paid people are able to pay for the nice homes that were built before the housing cartels took over. Everyone else is screwed. They can move to the country, but jobs are scarce and crappy .

Not sure what comes after step 3. Maybe we could trying building a flat or two?

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#317

Post by CalRobert » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:46 AM UTC

dhdidhdu wrote: post #178

madhadron wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How many people feel comfortable taking children on public transportation or allowing to roam the middle of cities? Public transit? Most everyone in cities that really depend on it like NYC.

Would you let your four year old take public transit in NYC by himself? Because they do that in Japan.

The problem, of course, is that in America a driver will kill your four year old, and it will somehow be your fault for letting your kid walk to the metro station.

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#318

Post by lrem » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:47 AM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #309

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, free events for kids, concerts just for babies, parks, swimming pools, little league, soccer league, skate parks, etc… You have to have all these things, because the children in a city can't just run off on their own and have to be marshalled and entertained at every step. Living in the suburbs I used to just go out every day and play in the woods and hills with my friends and we entertain…

You seem to be describing countryside, not the sea of free standing houses and small gardens most people associate with the word "suburb".

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#319

Post by CalRobert » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:48 AM UTC

dmitrygr wrote: post #132

refurb wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solved by extremely harsh penalties including execution. Not exactly aligned with Western countries of human rights.

If you find a country with fewer needles on the streets and fewer people using drugs, we are happy to listen to their policies and how they accomplished it

By that logic we should emulate the reasons the moon has fewer people using drugs.

Re: America’s urban rebirth is missing actual births

#320

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:52 AM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #94

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…

> They must be so bored… Your preconceived notions of what suburban living is like are just as inaccurate as the perceptions of city life of the person you responded to.

Then why do people from suburbs flock to the cities for their entertainment? Or build their suburbs right on the edge of cities?

Suburbs are boring. I grew up in them and much of my family still lives in them. I understand why people live in them — cost and space for raising kids, but they are definitely boring. And most of the people I know that live in them wouldn’t disagree, it’s a necessity driven by cost.