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America, Stop Moving West

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Re: America, Stop Moving West

#41

Post by khuey »

ChainOfFools wrote: post #7
jcims wrote: post #2

You can move west without moving to a desert. I’m in San Diego for a bit. It’s been in the low 70’s and climate control consists of opening or closing the windows. Meanwhile back home in the midwest I’m trying to coordinate someone to be at my house while the HVAC folks replace the compressor in my heat pump. I was going to wait until we got back but the temps are getting so high we’re concerned our fish are going to…

san diego long time resident here. the city has the climate you describe only by virtue of it being centered almost entirely within a coastal scrub biome about 20-30 miles wide. it's a sweet spot both created by and geographically impacted within the enclosure of a low coastal range immediately east, beyond which things get very hot and barren almost immediately. this strip exists in some form for most of the so cal…

> It cannot absorb a mass westward migration. this is evident in the property values where settlement has already been long established.

Sure it can, if it were built at any remotely reasonable density. But there are plenty of people deeply invested in that not happening who already live there.

Re: America, Stop Moving West

#42

Post by burlesona »

egypturnash wrote: post #27

Americans Have Options. So Why Do They Go West and South? I spent about seventeen years in the north. I came pretty close to offing myself due to seasonal depression. There's a not-insignificant chance that New Orleans will end up drowning before the end of my expected GenX lifetime but I'm still gonna enjoy the rest of life several orders of magnitude than if I'd stayed in Boston or Seattle. Even if it ends in that…

I will say, New Orleans is really underrated. I understand the flood risk and it would make me nervous too, but what a great city. Perhaps there’s a way to keep the core city above water long-term?

Re: America, Stop Moving West

#43

Post by judge2020 »

mempko wrote: post #36
hamburgerwah wrote: post #32

This has to be one of the sillier things I've ever seen. Highlighted in the article is Phoenix arizona in Maricopa County which is one of the most responsibly managed metropolitan areas in the country if not the world. More than 50% of the power derived from nuclear at Palos Verdes just 45 miles from the city which evaporates wastewater to drive turbines and provide cooling. Another 14% from solar. Plumbed grey water…

Highest eviction rates in the country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0qf0dv6jjE

Are there any statistics on homelessness per city? There seems to be a rise in homelessness in Atlanta as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was a country-wide thing for big cities.

Re: America, Stop Moving West

#45

Post by JKCalhoun »

adamvalve wrote: post #39
hamburgerwah wrote: post #32

This has to be one of the sillier things I've ever seen. Highlighted in the article is Phoenix arizona in Maricopa County which is one of the most responsibly managed metropolitan areas in the country if not the world. More than 50% of the power derived from nuclear at Palos Verdes just 45 miles from the city which evaporates wastewater to drive turbines and provide cooling. Another 14% from solar. Plumbed grey water…

If you move to Phoenix now and plan to live in your house for 30 years, then you are going to have a bad time because Phoenix will be unlivable if there aren’t drastic measures put in place. 118 is the ceiling now. Not the ceiling forever.

I think many of the people moving there (retirees) actually don't plan to even be alive in 30 years. :-/

Re: America, Stop Moving West

#46

Post by void_mint »

Tiktaalik wrote: post #35

> Though real estate investment groups are often blamed for the lack of affordable housing, the real problem is restrictive building laws — especially in desirable, liberal, and highly regulated cities. > The above-listed places are cheap because they have lots of land and few regulations... Being clear here there's a difference between what "building more housing" means in SF, Seattle etc, that is, densifying existi…

"Building more housing" in SF, Seattle, etc means building apartment complexes whose cost is restrictive enough such that only those that aren't experiencing a housing crisis can afford them.

Re: America, Stop Moving West

#47

Post by jcims »

ChainOfFools wrote: post #7
jcims wrote: post #2

You can move west without moving to a desert. I’m in San Diego for a bit. It’s been in the low 70’s and climate control consists of opening or closing the windows. Meanwhile back home in the midwest I’m trying to coordinate someone to be at my house while the HVAC folks replace the compressor in my heat pump. I was going to wait until we got back but the temps are getting so high we’re concerned our fish are going to…

san diego long time resident here. the city has the climate you describe only by virtue of it being centered almost entirely within a coastal scrub biome about 20-30 miles wide. it's a sweet spot both created by and geographically impacted within the enclosure of a low coastal range immediately east, beyond which things get very hot and barren almost immediately. this strip exists in some form for most of the so cal…

Understood, i spent the weekend roaming around Borrego Springs.

My broader point is that there is a lot of land in ’the west’ that doesn’t meet the criteria that the author is talking about. Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado all have attractive destinations that aren’t (literally or practically) the desert.

Also, anecdotally it seems many of the folks migrating to Austin are actually moving east.

The point the author is making is legit, I’m just engaging in the time honored tradition of roasting bad titles.

Re: America, Stop Moving West

#48

Post by ajcp »

hamburgerwah wrote: post #32

This has to be one of the sillier things I've ever seen. Highlighted in the article is Phoenix arizona in Maricopa County which is one of the most responsibly managed metropolitan areas in the country if not the world. More than 50% of the power derived from nuclear at Palos Verdes just 45 miles from the city which evaporates wastewater to drive turbines and provide cooling. Another 14% from solar. Plumbed grey water…

Couldn't agree more.

On a more socio-economic note: I moved from DC to PHX 5 years ago thinking I'd gtfo after 3 months, because, you know, it's PHX.

Despite my best efforts I really love it; you find so much more value in places you believe to have none.

Great cost of living, a HUGE variety human experiences, and a massive airport where you can catch a cheap flight out! I live in downtown PHX (I can see the basketball arena as I type this) and it's wonderful. I truly believe that PHX is seeing a boom akin to Detroit's in the mid-20th century. Hopefully we don't get that bust.

Re: America, Stop Moving West

#49

Post by megaman821 »

The author talks about climate change, but it seems he doesn't know that cold-weather cities use more energy in heating than hot-weather cities use in cooling. Also the energy sources used in heating (oil, propane and natural gas) contribute more to global warming than the electricity energy mix used for cooling.

The north-east is going to have an expensive reckoning as they build billions of dollars of off-shore windfarms to start catching up to the renewable energy production that is already in the Southern US, and also the tens of millions of households that will need to replace their furnaces and boilers with heat pumps to stop burning fossil fuels to heat their homes.

Re: America, Stop Moving West

#50

Post by addison-lee »

I love how this “article” completely glosses over the fact that the northeast/Midwest gets devastating snowstorms that cripple entire states for days at a time. These “polar vortexes” are clearly becoming more severe and more common as the earth’s weather continues to spiral out of control.

So the options are move somewhere where it’s hell on earth for a portion of the year, move somewhere where it’s a frozen wasteland for a portion of the year, or move somewhere temperate along the coast which is also going to be impacted by climate change.

Author should get off their high horse.

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