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>The part GP highlighted wasn't the museum, or restaurants, or the lake. It was the short commute to work. The GGP highlighted both the commute and the city am
by jasode 11y ago
>The part GP highlighted wasn't the museum, or restaurants, or the lake. It was the short commute to work.
The GGP highlighted both the commute and the city amenities. He specifically contrasted the house with "big backyards" vs apartment access to "Central/Riverside parks, etc"
I was countering the notion that those city amenities are so wonderful that supposedly clueless suburbanites "don't know what they're missing out on". Well, we do know what those city benefits are. We enjoyed them at one phase in our lives. We just don't prioritize them.
As for the longer commute time of suburbia... to me, it was already an underlying premise. In any case, there are also several factors affecting it. In two-income families, if one spouse works in the city, it's common for the other spouse to work outside of it. So, depending on the type of jobs the husband & wife have, they really don't reduce total commute time for the entire family unit by choosing to live in downtown. Another interesting data point is that many wealthy earners (e.g. hedge fund mgrs, etc) in NYC deliberately purchase their family homes out in the suburbs instead of a high rise apartment next to Central Park. They have the high income to live anywhere and yet they also made the "irrational" decision to commute 2 hours every day to live away from downtown.
>Is a house worth that much time? Well, it probably depends on the people.
Exactly. People prioritize different things.
I had a balcony with my nice Chicago apartment but I never used it. My ears didn't like the constant noise of traffic. On the other hand, my house has a covered outdoor area with a grill that I use all the time. It seems like people spend their "commute" time as a calculated tradeoff to enjoy a certain lifestyle away from the office.
- harrumph 11y agoWait, you lived in downtown Chicago -- not a community by any stretch, but instead a commercial and tourism district that rolls up its sidewalks by 7PM -- and you call that "living in the city" and imagine that area descriptive of "city benefits"? Hey, you prefer the suburbs and long commutes. Great. But neighborhoods do actually exist in a city of 3 million+. Commutes are minimal, with few taxis and sirens to rattle one prone to rattling. Let's not for a second indulge the idea that you made a fair comparison.
- carlmcqueen 11y agoWow, I'm not exactly sure where this intense hate of Chicago came from. I grew up in Chicago and lived there as an adult as well for a stretch before moving where I live now and I still have a lot of friends who live there. Chicago is large enough there are a lot of communities [1] not a central one. Depending on what you're interested there are different neighborhoods for whatever kind of lifestyle you're wanting to find yourself in and always new developing ones if you want to make your own. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_areas_in_Chicago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_areas_in_Chicago
- harrumph 11y agoIf I had to guess, what we're seeing in the post above is almost certainly someone who grew up in wealthier suburban enclaves and whose comfort level is forever pegged to those enclaves. How else might one mistake downtown Chicago for a community representative of city living? No friends in neighborhoods, no familiarity with neighborhoods.
- zaccus 11y agoI live in a "legit" Chicago neighborhood. There are plenty of taxis and sirens around. OP's comparison isn't that far off. Definitely looking forward to living in suburban house someday. IMO apartments suck and city living is overrated. I do like not having a car though.
- harrumph 11y ago>OP's comparison isn't that far off. No, it's actually ridiculous. Again: you like suburbs and necessarily the long commutes that go with them.
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y agoLet's not for a second indulge the idea that you made a fair comparison Fine. Then I'll try to make one. I used to live in a beautiful part of Minneapolis. A tree-lined, peaceful street near the edge of town that was so bucolic I had a friend who came to my house for over a year before she realized that I lived within the city limits, not an inner-ring suburb. I knew my neighbors, could walk to the grocery store, restaurants, movie theater and the big museums, theaters, etc were a 10 minute drive away in downtown. We went to art galleries and performances fairly regularly. Now I live on a small farm about 40 miles outside the city. The two closest non-agricultural businesses to my home are a bar and a McDonald's. Yet I will never move back to the city; I simply prefer it here. The problem with so many of these articles, and the resulting comments, is that everyone comes out of the woodwork claiming that their way is best and anyone who disagrees doesn't know what the other side looks like. Not so: as the GP stated, we know the pros and cons of either choice. We also know better than you what we prefer!