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I am surprised to see all of the pro-suburbia comments here. I enjoyed this article and found it lines up with many of my criticisms of suburbia. The suburbs

I am surprised to see all of the pro-suburbia comments here. I enjoyed this article and found it lines up with many of my criticisms of suburbia. The suburbs to me are a soul sucking place that gives me the heebie-jeebies. With that said, my opinion reflects my experience living in Minneapolis. When I visit other cities like Seattle or San Francisco, I am turned off by the ridiculous density and the inability to go to a coffee shop and not wait in a huge line (looking mostly at SF here). As a white person who went to an inner city highschool where white people were the minority - I notice a huge difference in my world view than people who grew up in suburbs with predominantly white people. The suburbs around Minneapolis absolutely disgust me. I work in the western suburbs of Minneapolis and constantly deal with co-workers saying underhanded racist/classist comments all the time.

matwood 10y ago
I think what you are seeing is that not all suburbs are created equal. I grew up in the burbs and live in the burbs now. Nothing in the article matches up to my experience. I am also on the coast in a smaller city so it is hard to have explicit city and explicit burb.
- humbleMouse 10y ago
  That is definitely what I am saying. Minneapolis is an interesting place because rent/home prices are actually more in the suburbs than in the cool parts of the city. Furthermore, our highways are structured basically so that there are rings of highways that circle around the city. You can drive for miles on these highways and it is nothing but flat open land with cookie cutter houses and the same shops and strip malls. We do have some big lakes and I can understand why some people like living on lakefront property with boats and whatnot. However, real estate is so cheap in Minneapolis that it boggles my mind more big companies don't open up shop in the city. Hopefully this is something that will change as time goes on and more people move here.
  - phil21 10y ago
    Minneapolis also isn't what it was 20 years ago. I grew up on the Northside, and it was a pretty economically depressed area still on the decline swing of things. This included most portions of NorthEast as well. I'm glad I had the experience, but today the community is far more vibrant. I think you will see those rent/home prices invert rather rapidly as the current first time home buyer generation starts to realize Minneapolis is not the Minneapolis of their parents. I also completely agree re: the soul-soucking nature of Minneapolis suburbia though. Can't imagine a more horrid place for mental health.
  - matwood 10y ago
    I tried living inland for a few years. Denver was an awesome place, but I just missed the ocean too much. Given the general push towards the coast, I think it seems to be the trend.
Touche 10y ago
The cities in the U.S. where you can walk around are pretty much completely unaffordable to all but the extremely wealthy. My wife and I wanted to move to Boston but couldn't find a house in a decent (walking) neighborhood for under 500k. Of course this would be cheap compared to say San Francisco. Chicago might come the closest to being somewhat affordable in the walkable parts, but I haven't checked recently.
- humbleMouse 10y ago
  Come visit uptown Minneapolis some time. It is a vibrant place with thrift stores, co-ops, and delicious restaurants with fresh food and cheap happy hours. You can rent a studio/1BR for as low as $600. Houses can be had for as low as 100k. I currently rent a 1br with a huge deck and skyline view of Downtown for $900. I can walk to the co-op and coffee shops, don't need a car for anything except getting to my silly suburban programming job in the winter.
  - Touche 10y ago
    In the walkable parts of the city? I'm surprised, when I last visited Minneapolis I stayed at a 1br condo that cost (at least) 400k and was maybe 400 sqft.
    - humbleMouse 10y ago
      Yes, the walkable part. I am guessing you probably were in a condo downtown by the north loop/st. anthony main. There are some pockets where condos go for ridiculous prices, but google "The Wedge Co-op" on google maps and street view your way around the neighborhood. I literally would sell my car if I didn't have a winter commute to the suburbs.
  - maxsilver 10y ago
    > Houses can be had for as low as 100k. Can they? I'm looking at Redfin right now, and they claim the average home price in Uptown, Minneapolis, MN right now is $600k. There's a few cheap 1 bedrooms apartments, but anything else is way in the realm of "completely unaffordable to all but the extremely wealthy" I see lots of cheap housing in Minneapolis. But it's all suburban in nature. (Either actually suburban, or 'technically-inside-the-city' single-family homes that are effectively suburban.
dmoy 10y ago
I went from mpls intercity elementary to suburbia middle school, and the contrast was just staggering. My elementary was like 40%-50% black, and then the rest white or Hmong. Suburb was 95++% white. I'm white/Asian, and some of MY OWN closer friends would make weird comments like "some people in this group are less white" (implying that my brother and I hadn't yet scrubbed ourselves of our intercity accents). Not maliciously saying things like that, but just completely unaware. But then I grew up and realized that it's like this all across the country. White flight is a real thing, and it's kinda scary.
StevePerkins 10y ago
Downvote away... but everything about this thread is disappointing. There is much about U.S. zoning and housing that I believe is misguided. However, I'll say that the pro-suburbia comments in this thread are actually fairly well-written. Most of the anti-suburbia comments boil down to, "blah blah hellholes blah blah heebie-jeebies blah blah everybody's racist blah blah". That is more of a Reddit thread than the usual HN. Much of this simply sounds like: (A) single renters under 30, or (B) European immigrants, incredulous that they can't double their own take-home pay while experiencing zero broader social differences.
- humbleMouse 10y ago
  blah blah blah everyones racist is actually a true statement about the Minneapolis suburbs.
jey 10y ago
> inability to go to a coffee shop and not wait in a huge line (looking mostly at SF here) To me that sounds like an extrapolation from only observing high-traffic areas like SoMa, not the neighborhoods most people actually live.

matwood 10y ago

I think what you are seeing is that not all suburbs are created equal. I grew up in the burbs and live in the burbs now. Nothing in the article matches up to my experience. I am also on the coast in a smaller city so it is hard to have explicit city and explicit burb.

humbleMouse 10y ago
That is definitely what I am saying. Minneapolis is an interesting place because rent/home prices are actually more in the suburbs than in the cool parts of the city. Furthermore, our highways are structured basically so that there are rings of highways that circle around the city. You can drive for miles on these highways and it is nothing but flat open land with cookie cutter houses and the same shops and strip malls. We do have some big lakes and I can understand why some people like living on lakefront property with boats and whatnot. However, real estate is so cheap in Minneapolis that it boggles my mind more big companies don't open up shop in the city. Hopefully this is something that will change as time goes on and more people move here.
- phil21 10y ago
  Minneapolis also isn't what it was 20 years ago. I grew up on the Northside, and it was a pretty economically depressed area still on the decline swing of things. This included most portions of NorthEast as well. I'm glad I had the experience, but today the community is far more vibrant. I think you will see those rent/home prices invert rather rapidly as the current first time home buyer generation starts to realize Minneapolis is not the Minneapolis of their parents. I also completely agree re: the soul-soucking nature of Minneapolis suburbia though. Can't imagine a more horrid place for mental health.
- matwood 10y ago
  I tried living inland for a few years. Denver was an awesome place, but I just missed the ocean too much. Given the general push towards the coast, I think it seems to be the trend.

Touche 10y ago

The cities in the U.S. where you can walk around are pretty much completely unaffordable to all but the extremely wealthy. My wife and I wanted to move to Boston but couldn't find a house in a decent (walking) neighborhood for under 500k. Of course this would be cheap compared to say San Francisco. Chicago might come the closest to being somewhat affordable in the walkable parts, but I haven't checked recently.

humbleMouse 10y ago
Come visit uptown Minneapolis some time. It is a vibrant place with thrift stores, co-ops, and delicious restaurants with fresh food and cheap happy hours. You can rent a studio/1BR for as low as $600. Houses can be had for as low as 100k. I currently rent a 1br with a huge deck and skyline view of Downtown for $900. I can walk to the co-op and coffee shops, don't need a car for anything except getting to my silly suburban programming job in the winter.
- Touche 10y ago
  In the walkable parts of the city? I'm surprised, when I last visited Minneapolis I stayed at a 1br condo that cost (at least) 400k and was maybe 400 sqft.
  - humbleMouse 10y ago
    Yes, the walkable part. I am guessing you probably were in a condo downtown by the north loop/st. anthony main. There are some pockets where condos go for ridiculous prices, but google "The Wedge Co-op" on google maps and street view your way around the neighborhood. I literally would sell my car if I didn't have a winter commute to the suburbs.
- maxsilver 10y ago
  > Houses can be had for as low as 100k. Can they? I'm looking at Redfin right now, and they claim the average home price in Uptown, Minneapolis, MN right now is $600k. There's a few cheap 1 bedrooms apartments, but anything else is way in the realm of "completely unaffordable to all but the extremely wealthy" I see lots of cheap housing in Minneapolis. But it's all suburban in nature. (Either actually suburban, or 'technically-inside-the-city' single-family homes that are effectively suburban.

dmoy 10y ago

I went from mpls intercity elementary to suburbia middle school, and the contrast was just staggering. My elementary was like 40%-50% black, and then the rest white or Hmong. Suburb was 95++% white. I'm white/Asian, and some of MY OWN closer friends would make weird comments like "some people in this group are less white" (implying that my brother and I hadn't yet scrubbed ourselves of our intercity accents). Not maliciously saying things like that, but just completely unaware. But then I grew up and realized that it's like this all across the country. White flight is a real thing, and it's kinda scary.

StevePerkins 10y ago

Downvote away... but everything about this thread is disappointing. There is much about U.S. zoning and housing that I believe is misguided. However, I'll say that the pro-suburbia comments in this thread are actually fairly well-written. Most of the anti-suburbia comments boil down to, "blah blah hellholes blah blah heebie-jeebies blah blah everybody's racist blah blah". That is more of a Reddit thread than the usual HN. Much of this simply sounds like: (A) single renters under 30, or (B) European immigrants, incredulous that they can't double their own take-home pay while experiencing zero broader social differences.

humbleMouse 10y ago
blah blah blah everyones racist is actually a true statement about the Minneapolis suburbs.

jey 10y ago

> inability to go to a coffee shop and not wait in a huge line (looking mostly at SF here) To me that sounds like an extrapolation from only observing high-traffic areas like SoMa, not the neighborhoods most people actually live.