4 ms·

First, understand that I am not suggesting you or others like you are wrong, if you are happy then cool. But... I simply cannot understand the desire to live i

First, understand that I am not suggesting you or others like you are wrong, if you are happy then cool. But... I simply cannot understand the desire to live in such close proximity to large numbers of other people. Never ever again will I subject myself to high density living. I live in a suburb and simply hate having to go downtown especially when there are big events going on. The bars are crowded, eating establishments are packed, noisy has hell. Won't do it, you can't make me! I like the quiet, I like being able to walk into a suburban bar and not have to shoulder my way through a crowd to try to find a seat if one is even available. It's nice to simply walk in, sit down on a bar stool and actually hear the game on the TV. I like not having the noise of a city outside my window when I sleep. The greatest freedom of all is that either of us can make the choice of what lifestyle suits us.

tdfx 15y ago
The bars are crowded, eating establishments are packed, noisy has hell. But how many of those people drove to the downtown area because there were no equivalent establishments within walking distance of their suburban homes? Not trying being a dick, of course, just pointing out the chicken and egg nature of the problem.
- nupark2 15y ago
  I think it's an accurate assessment. I live in NYC, and most neighborhood bars are not crowded and noisy as hell. However, if I go to a "destination" for out-of-towners[1], then yes: it's packed, noisy, and insufferable. Same thing with traffic -- most of the personal automobile traffic in the cities comes from commuters that don't live here. [1] I was trying really hard not to say "bridge and tunnel" ...
delackner 15y ago
As for the deep revulsion of being surrounded by tons of people, you're right, you have that right to feel that way. Personally, a crowd of 50,000 people is still easy to walk through, but even 1,000 people trying to leave a big sports event in their cars at the same time is a total nightmare taking an hour+ and during that whole time you are completely stuck in your car. I left a soccer game in Tokyo that was at a completely absolutely full stadium, and when it ended the huge mass of people slowly and orderly filed to the nearby train stations and we were on a train (packed) heading home within 20 minutes, at full speed. It would be lovely if we could choose which lifestyle suits us, but most of the cities in the US do not provide ANY option for someone who wants proper high-density, so to exercise my "freedom" to live in a pedestrian friendly high-density city involved leaving the US entirely.

tdfx 15y ago

The bars are crowded, eating establishments are packed, noisy has hell. But how many of those people drove to the downtown area because there were no equivalent establishments within walking distance of their suburban homes? Not trying being a dick, of course, just pointing out the chicken and egg nature of the problem.

nupark2 15y ago
I think it's an accurate assessment. I live in NYC, and most neighborhood bars are not crowded and noisy as hell. However, if I go to a "destination" for out-of-towners[1], then yes: it's packed, noisy, and insufferable. Same thing with traffic -- most of the personal automobile traffic in the cities comes from commuters that don't live here. [1] I was trying really hard not to say "bridge and tunnel" ...

delackner 15y ago

As for the deep revulsion of being surrounded by tons of people, you're right, you have that right to feel that way. Personally, a crowd of 50,000 people is still easy to walk through, but even 1,000 people trying to leave a big sports event in their cars at the same time is a total nightmare taking an hour+ and during that whole time you are completely stuck in your car. I left a soccer game in Tokyo that was at a completely absolutely full stadium, and when it ended the huge mass of people slowly and orderly filed to the nearby train stations and we were on a train (packed) heading home within 20 minutes, at full speed. It would be lovely if we could choose which lifestyle suits us, but most of the cities in the US do not provide ANY option for someone who wants proper high-density, so to exercise my "freedom" to live in a pedestrian friendly high-density city involved leaving the US entirely.