Cities/Suburbs battle royale: THE POLL!

[UdoKier]

Poll question: Cities/Suburbs battle royale: THE POLL!

Okay, it's not all that - just gauging how folks feel about it.


This is strictly your feelings about the suburban sprawl, big-box environment itself, NOT the people who live there.

[imenja]

1. the distinction between suburb and city isn't always clear . . .

in the West Palm Beach area of South Florida, for example. We have a lot of separate municipalities surrounding the city proper, and those to the south are at least if not more mixed racially than the city itself. It would certainly be considered suburban sprawl, but it wasn't my idea of what constituted a suburb when I lived in a larger, more defined urban area.
I imagine other areas of the country with a good deal of recent growth may be similar in this regard.

[UdoKier]

2. I don't really consider ethnicity or even distance from a city ...

... in my definition. It's kind of the old "I know one when I see one"

But generally, it's any area where most or all most all of the open space is filled with housing, but housing that uses the space inefficiently, with lots of cul-de-sacs and it's almost impossible to walk anywhere. There are very bucolic upscale suburbs about with 1 acre lots and horses, etc - they sort of straddle the suburb/rural line, but I kind of see those as transitory areas - as cities grow and prices rise, there is a lot of pressure to subdivide those lots and do new development on them, so they're perhaps less of a problem than the typical cookie-cutter development, which is much more likely to be around, decaying and becoming more blighted, for decades to come.

[Ravenseye]

4. Or as things change

I look at the first picture there and it looks to me like a part of the Phoenix area. I don't recall the name, but I recognize it from flying into and out of Phoenix. It's very distnictive.

Where are the stores in that picture? it's just boring. house house house house house house house house road house house hosue house house house.

What will these neighborhoods be like in 50 years. I agree with you entirely about hte decay and blight coming.

[imenja]

18. not a definition that encompasses much of the country

and certainly not cities where much of their growth is new. Have you been to South Florida? If so, how would you describe it? Is West Palm a suburb, Fort Lauderdale, or Miami? Or are the municipalities that begin immediately at the borders of those cities suddenly cities, even though they may be identical in appearance and composition?

Your definition applies best to suburban areas that surround older, established cities. Even then, older housing in some cities is leveled and replaced with housing developments that would fit your idea of a suburb. Yet they reside entirely within the city limits of places like Chicago or Miami. My point is that the nature of population growth and development in the warmer areas of the United States, and quite likely other areas as well, has eroded clear distinctions between city and suburb.

[Ravenseye]

3. It's a Mixed Bag

On the one hand, I love living in the city. I love being able to walk a couple of blocks to go to the movies, or a coffee shop, or etc etc. I love the old buildings, the big trees etc.

On the other hand the schools in the suburbs are far superior to the city schools. The crime is lower, and the houses have more property and are less expensive and larger.

If I could afford to buy a nice 4-5 bedroom house and send my kids to a decent private school I would. As it is though I'm going to have to buy a house in the suburbs cause it'll cost me half as much and the schools will be 10 times better.

It's sort of unfair and I really don't want to move to the burbs, but i dont' have much choice.

[UdoKier]

8. That's not always the case. Many public schools in SF are EXCELLENT.

And many of the 'burbs have awful schools - some of them are good, but by no means all...

[Warpy]

5. Lots of suburbs are getting strip malled into urban centers

and lots of them are featuring huge increases in crime and poverty.

I live in what was a far flung postwar suburb in 1952 but is now considered almost downtown. It's got single family housing combined with urban convenience.

The new burbs here are pretty depressing. They're big heaps of masonry on tiny lots with nothing facing the street but a moonscape of double garage doors. I can't imagine any plan being more hostile to the development of community.

Let's face it, apartment dwelling is stressful unless you're wealthy enough to afford a place that was built with good soundproofing, something neglected in all of the places I've ever lived in. Single family houses are great, but they generally come with too much land and the experience can be isolating for many people.

There's got to be a better way.

[UdoKier]

7. Those mega apartment complexes are stressful.

Little apartment houses are not so bad. Here in SF, there are a lot of 3 story row houses with the basement converted to an apartment. We live in one, and it is quieter than ANY house or apartment we've ever lived in. Wonderful neighborhood.

THe noisiest places I've lived have been apartment complexes in the 'burbs. Boom cars coming in and out of the parking lot at all hours, boom stereos playing at wild parties - HATE IT!

But I've seen the same thing in single-family home neighborhoods, too.

[Walt Starr]

6. None of the above

All choices were worded with a slant that would make vote.com jealous.

[UdoKier]

9. I put the last choice in your honor.

It is what you said, isn't it?

[Walt Starr]

10. No, it's not what I said. Again, you've worded this in such a way

the folks at vote.com are probably taking notes.

:eyes:

[UdoKier]

12. ...and I quote:

"The market disagrees with you

and housing development is market driven.

sorry if you don't like capitalism, but that's how things work in the United States."


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3169866#3171239

[Walt Starr]

13. And that is not the wording of your final choice

ergo, you have proven me correct and you wrong.

[UdoKier]

14. It is exactly the essence of what you said.

You ought to own up to what you said.

My paraphrase and your actual quote say the same thing, no matter how you gloss it over.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[UdoKier]

16. So wait, I hate capitalism AND I'm a Faux kool-aid drinker?

Which is it?

[Walt Starr]

17. There you go again

:eyes:

[MsTryska]

11. i can't answer this question....

on paper i live in a suburb, but in truth, i live right on the border of the city itself with far more suburbia (which we like to call Bloomin' Onion Acres)further past me.


i live in the borderlands and get the best of both worlds.

[GumboYaYa]

19. Wow, for all the whining around here the past few days, it

appears that we simply have a small but loud and vocal group of pro-suburbia folks on here. As a whole, DUers seem to be in favor of more reasonable growth and anti-sprawl. That's refreshing.

[Walt Starr]

20. So an intenet poll tells you that?

People who support the suburbs cannot vote in this poll because of how it was worded.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Walt Starr]

22. GCY /nt

[UdoKier]

23. What does that even mean - "Support the suburbs"?

Anyone who thinks the suburbs are perfect exactly as they are is INSANE.

There needs to be changes in the way. Dialogue like this is a way to find consensus on just what changes should be made and to what degree and at what pace.

Your position, that there simply is no problem and never will be, is really around the bend.