Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Suburbs Will Die: One Man's Fight to Fix the American Dream

time.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 195 posts

Re: The Suburbs Will Die: One Man's Fight to Fix the American Dream

#61

Post by Apofis »

pnathan wrote: post #24

I don't like suburbs. Why? - I don't like the constant driving to get anywhere. - I don't like the malls, the big box stores, the "clone" button that seems applied across the landscape. - I don't like the giant roads carving their way around, splitting communities. - I don't like the squandering of resources on lawns! individual houses! low-density housing! I can say, with confidence, I'd like to live in a place wher…

I live in NYC, and recently I spent two weeks in Simi Valley, a city north of Los Angeles, and was shocked that it's basically impossible to get around without a car. Even in LA, it seems as if the public transport system is nearly non-existent.

Re: The Suburbs Will Die: One Man's Fight to Fix the American Dream

#64

Post by aaron-lebo »

pnathan wrote: post #24

I don't like suburbs. Why? - I don't like the constant driving to get anywhere. - I don't like the malls, the big box stores, the "clone" button that seems applied across the landscape. - I don't like the giant roads carving their way around, splitting communities. - I don't like the squandering of resources on lawns! individual houses! low-density housing! I can say, with confidence, I'd like to live in a place wher…

I'm a child of the suburbs and have since moved to the city so take this with a grain of salt.

I enjoy the malls, the big box stores, and the clones. Why? I know that pretty much anywhere I go I can get a consistent experience. I can go the local mall and almost anything I can want or imagine is available, which at some level is fascinating. What's more, as cliche as all these places ares, there is a bit of a shared experience for almost everyone.

I enjoy driving on the giant roads, or strolling through the quiet suburbs with headphones on without fear of some incident. I like not hearing people and cars all the time.

I like the city for other reasons; I enjoy the history, the character, the feeling of life, but the suburbs have their place, there is a reason they exist. They aren't perfect and they are the harbingers of some negative social trends, but they aren't as horrible as HN likes to act.

Re: The Suburbs Will Die: One Man's Fight to Fix the American Dream

#65

Post by [deleted] »

binarymax wrote: post #55
pnathan wrote: post #24

I don't like suburbs. Why? - I don't like the constant driving to get anywhere. - I don't like the malls, the big box stores, the "clone" button that seems applied across the landscape. - I don't like the giant roads carving their way around, splitting communities. - I don't like the squandering of resources on lawns! individual houses! low-density housing! I can say, with confidence, I'd like to live in a place wher…

The way I differentiate in my brain, because I'm an 80's kid: I do like "Ferris Beuler's Day Off" style suburbs. I do not like "Edward Scissorhands" style suburbs. I grew up in the former, and given the opportunity, I'd like my future kids to do the same.

[deleted]

Re: The Suburbs Will Die: One Man's Fight to Fix the American Dream

#66

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe »

binarymax wrote: post #55
pnathan wrote: post #24

I don't like suburbs. Why? - I don't like the constant driving to get anywhere. - I don't like the malls, the big box stores, the "clone" button that seems applied across the landscape. - I don't like the giant roads carving their way around, splitting communities. - I don't like the squandering of resources on lawns! individual houses! low-density housing! I can say, with confidence, I'd like to live in a place wher…

The way I differentiate in my brain, because I'm an 80's kid: I do like "Ferris Beuler's Day Off" style suburbs. I do not like "Edward Scissorhands" style suburbs. I grew up in the former, and given the opportunity, I'd like my future kids to do the same.

I'd like my children to grow up in the "The Burbs" style suburbs.

Re: The Suburbs Will Die: One Man's Fight to Fix the American Dream

#67

Post by modoc »

pessimizer wrote: post #32
modoc wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your vision of a suburb has very little to do with the reality of my suburban existence. It's like someone from the country talking about the horribly dangerous ugly city with its filthy air, roving gangs shooting strangers, and huge rats running in the streets. I'm not saying suburbs are perfect, but you've basically thrown up a stack of strawmen here.

Could you be specific? You're being more specific about pointing out exaggerations in your simile than about your subject.

Sure.

Yes, I need a car. I love cars/motorcycles. I love driving. I always owned at least one vehicle even when I lived in the city and didn't have to. So this isn't a bad thing for me at all. Having a garage to safely park and work on my vehicles is a huge bonus.

I am far less isolated from my neighbors and community than I was when I lived in the city. Living in apartments I had essentially zero contact/communication with my neighbors other than uncomfortable elevator rides. Living in the suburbs I know all my neighbors well. We help each other clear driveways after a big snow. We BBQ together. We watch each others houses when we travel. We talk.

I love having a huge lawn. It's not a burden, it's wonderful. I love having a nice hammock, green grass to lay in, a big space for my dog to run around in, a place to put the raised garden beds I built for my wife, etc...

I enjoy not having ugly/loud/smelly commercial buildings hemming me in.

We have good pedestrian infrastructure. Wide sidewalks that let me run, walk the dog, walk into the town forrest for a hike, or stroll into town for lunch or to grab ice cream with my wife on a hot summers day. There's no high speed traffic, and no irrational fears about kids getting kidnapped.

When I have a party, everyone can easily park in my driveway if they also live outside easy public transportation. I can play music and have 20 people over for a bonfire without bothering my neighbors.

There's a lot of things I miss about living in the city, likewise there's a lot of things I miss about living in the country. But honestly, right now, my current neighborhood and home are a great spot for me.

Re: The Suburbs Will Die: One Man's Fight to Fix the American Dream

#68

Post by 9999 »

pmorici wrote: post #49

When I think of the suburbs I think of each house having it's own well and septic system. Gas, electric, and phone are the only provided utilities and they come from private companies not a local government. This article seems to be talking about something different more like a low density city with city provided sewer and water.

I'm not sure why you were downvoted, some suburbs are exactly as you describe. Perhaps the vast majority are not like that in the US?

Re: The Suburbs Will Die: One Man's Fight to Fix the American Dream

#69

Post by brixon »

pmorici wrote: post #49

When I think of the suburbs I think of each house having it's own well and septic system. Gas, electric, and phone are the only provided utilities and they come from private companies not a local government. This article seems to be talking about something different more like a low density city with city provided sewer and water.

What you call suburbs others would call the country.

But it can be varying degrees. I live in a gated neighborhood in a private planned subdivision with city water, city sewer, natural gas, cable, electric, and phone. Less than a mile from my house is city planned subdivision (blocks) with well water, septic systems, cable, electric, phone and partially paved streets.

Re: The Suburbs Will Die: One Man's Fight to Fix the American Dream

#70

Post by SilasX »

ObviousScience wrote: post #36
SilasX wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I'm on board with the suburb criticism, I'm not sure that "per capita" is the relevant metric here. I'm concerned with the number of crime incidents per unit area , over the areas where I will most be. Is there a reason I should prefer one metric over another?

Because if you're in the area that a crime is going to occur, but it's only going to happen to k of n people in the area (with k usually equal to 1), you have a lower than certain chance of being involved? For an example, if you're on a block there's 100% going to be a robbery in the next 5 minutes, if there are also 200 other people on that block, then you still only have a 0.5% chance of being robbed. Essentially,…

>Because if you're in the area that a crime is going to occur, but it's only going to happen to k of n people in the area ...

>...Your measure of "per unit area" doesn't account for the fact most people aren't going to be involved with the crime (eg, robbed), but will all be in the same impacted area.

I think those assumptions are where I disagree. a) I care about (not) being near crime, and b) crime doesn't randomly sample across the set of all people, but makes me have to avoid certain times, places, and activities.

Post reply on HN