Americans are rethinking where they want to live • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#131

Post by ravitation » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

sanderjd wrote: post #123

ravitation wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree we don't really know, I think it is quite likely to have a negative effect. Take, for example, these comments, which are full of people who have left NYC, a place where you can function entirely without a car, and moved to places like Texas and Florida, where you, for the most part, cannot. Sure they might not be commuting anymore (which was likely by public transit anyway), but they are now driving sev…

This seems like a sample bias. Even if lots of people here who have moved used to commute by public transit, the reality is that most people commute by car. Reducing commuting is generally a very good thing.

Eliminating the commute, when it is replaced by living in a suburb with essentially no access to services without driving (especially when there was access before), can still be a net negative... That's the point of the anecdote...

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#132

Post by jayspell » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

jstepka wrote: post #17

Silicon Valley / SF have had a stranglehold on the digital economy for the last 20-30 years -- nearly anything that touches electrics or software had a "tax" where some portion of that innovation flowed back as cash. With covid / the great reset, I've seen so many leave the bay area now that they can work remote. It's occured to me that SV / SF will need to reinvent itself and be in a rough patch for a couple years.…

There is a downside to some places as well. You have people moving into areas with high paying jobs and expectations of high cost in housing. The locals who have lived there for years are priced out of their own community with the influx. This has happened around Austin TX, and from what I understand in Colorado.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#133

Post by anarchy8 » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

TurkishPoptart wrote: post #121

And part of it is what public schools are doing to our kids. My 6 year old is required to sit outdoors to eat her lunch in 40ish degree (F) weather, and is not allowed to socialized. My 5 year old has to wear a mask 7 hours a day against an illness that doesn't kill kids. I'm at my wit's end with these school administrators. Hoping to be in Wyoming in 6 months' time.

> My 5 year old has to wear a mask 7 hours a day against an illness that doesn't kill kids

This is misinformation: https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19...

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#134

Post by arrosenberg » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

unexpected wrote: post #84

jacobolus wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suburbs are very unfriendly for the elderly compared to cities. The ideal suburbanite is an upper-middle-class person in their 30s–50s in good health who really likes driving their large car and has hobbies they can do individually from inside their own home (e.g. woodworking, gardening), and doesn’t mind that life is miserable* there for their kids. Everyone else is more or less a second-class citizen. * Edit: subur…

Why do you automatically assume that kids are miserable in the suburbs? My kids rather like running around in our backyard, use our pool everyday in the summer, and having tons of friends on the block. At the same time, I can't imagine that they would enjoy living in 2 bedroom apartment, having no yard to play in, etc. This disdain for suburbs is quite tacky and out of touch. It's okay to think differently. I'm glad…

It wildly varies by suburb. The one I grew up in had few-to-no kids on the block, and even if there had been, there were only a couple of small, underwhelming parks within walking/biking distance. Comparing notes with other people, this seems like the more common experience of the suburbs.

The disdain (at least for me) comes when you do the math and realized how absurdly subsidized the suburban lifestyle is.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#135

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:27 PM UTC

numbers wrote: post #13

systemvoltage wrote: post #3

COL/SOL in California is appalling. SOL continues to degrade here to the point where certain parts of Bay Are (Oakland, Hayward) look more like Syria than first world nation. Trash is everywhere, even in nicer neighborhoods. Not a single park here in East Bay without encountering a homeless person. And, then I meet people here that continue to defend 1) Food is amazing 2) SF sucks! Oakland is the best place ever 3) W…

Yes, SOL of living has been going downhill in the Bay Area in the last 10 years. I grew up here and I can see everything just getting old and uncared for. Moving to Portland in 2022.

[deleted]

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#136

Post by Jerrrry » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:28 PM UTC

ethbr0 wrote: post #108

Jerrrry wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many like you are buying up lake-front properties in rural places. I recommend it, playing farmer-cowboy-houseboateer in Kentucky/Tennessee is a magnitude cheaper than out west, even if you fail, you are out less money than simply living elsewhere.

Just learn the accent before you move there, and don't tell your neighbors where you're from.

Locals can't afford to live anywhere near the lakes, and the distances between places relegate travelers to cars.

Your neighbors will be from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, and they won't sound any more southern than their efforts.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#137

Post by tester756 » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:28 PM UTC

ben-schaaf wrote: post #66

dublinben wrote: post #11

It bodes poorly for the environment if people are increasingly moving from denser cities to sprawling suburbs. This is in many ways a self-inflicted problem of high-cost cities, but it should be a national priority to reverse this trend.

It's always crazy to hear that suburbs are cheaper. Dense living inherently requires less infrastructure and less transportation, so it should be considerably cheaper. It's only through the subsidisation of suburbia and the low supply/high demand of high density urban areas that this is the case. Car centric suburbs aren't just terrible for the environment, terrible for safety and terrible for transportation; they're…

How about comfort of living?

Maintaining your own home ain't trivial, cheap, quick thing

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#138

Post by hunterb123 » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:29 PM UTC

bugzz wrote: post #124

foofoo4u wrote: post #91

I sure am. I live in San Jose (which resides in the Bay Area). Here’s why I am leaving. - $2,700 per month for a 500 sq/ft apartment. - Homeless people everywhere the moment I step foot out of my apartment. - Smells like urine on many sidewalks. - Literally half of the buildings are vacant or abandoned (in downtown). - Human feces on sidewalks and entrance to buildings. - Political and ideological homogeny. Keep your…

you don't have to move that far to escape all that. Plenty of areas an hour away from San Jose that are nice and a lot cheaper (still more expensive than Texas or Florida, sure).

Depending on if you need to change jobs and the family situation sometimes it's just as much effort to move states than move a few hours away.

If you have the opportunity it's good to look at the entire country, sometimes even the world (though for tech the US is by far the best option) for the best value.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#139

Post by JJMcJ » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:29 PM UTC

foofoo4u wrote: post #91

I sure am. I live in San Jose (which resides in the Bay Area). Here’s why I am leaving. - $2,700 per month for a 500 sq/ft apartment. - Homeless people everywhere the moment I step foot out of my apartment. - Smells like urine on many sidewalks. - Literally half of the buildings are vacant or abandoned (in downtown). - Human feces on sidewalks and entrance to buildings. - Political and ideological homogeny. Keep your…

If you live downtown in SJ you could move a few miles and have a much more pleasant life.

Still expensive, though.

Re: Americans are rethinking where they want to live

#140

Post by liveoneggs » Mon, Dec 13, 2021, 5:29 PM UTC

donatj wrote: post #77

I live just west of Minneapolis with my wife in a house that's been in my family for generations. I don't want to leave but the continuous stream of car jackings, home invasions, petty theft and seemingly random acts of violence have me rethinking this. Calls to defund the police sound pretty tone deaf when your elderly neighbor is assaulted in their own home and robbed.

Pay them more to keep failing to provide protection? The cops extort you (the tax payer) by playing with your safety for the sake of inflating the budget.