124 replies to this topic

[DiamondDave]

Living in the city would be cool, I've often wanted to have a place downtown in medium sized city, maybe have a rooftop patio. A place where I could walk to the store, or to a restaurant, where everything vital is a convenient walk. On the other hand I live on 4 acres about 4 miles north of a bustling metropolis area, the land and house are priced right and my children (one toddler and one on the way) have so much to do and a large area to do it. While I always will worry about the safety and welfare of my kids, being 400 feet off the road and somewhat secluded takes the edge off a little, I can let them play without constantly worrying about running into a busy road or being abducted by some sicko.

I take the suburbs!

[mlsimons]

To me, what I enjoy about my neighborhood...is the character! I live in the city of Norfolk, in a dense and historic neighborhood known as "Ghent", in a 4 floor tenement over 100 years old. I enjoy walking to the neighborhood drugstore, dry-cleaners, laundry mat, and my favorite place to eat, the Ten Top. The owner lives in my tenement on the third, and two of the workers live up on the forth. It's a quite but busy neighborhood with a strong historic Jewish community, and an old Greek community. Also many young people are here. All of this is vastly different from the suburban neighborhood i grew up in, I could walk to 7-11 there, that's it. Here I walk around on a Saturday and see many of the orthodox Jews walking to Temple. I run into the mailman on Colley Ave, or the crossing guard on Hampton. I see my neighbor who owns Ten Top and I ask about the special today...or I stop by my favorite coffee shop "fairgrounds" without money, because I know they can just put it on my tab. If I get 10 cups of coffee a get a free rental from the "Naro Expanded Video rental" which houses all manner of foreign or special interest films...especially documentaries MY FAVORITE!!!  If I renew my prepaid card there I receive a free ticket to the "Naro Movie theatre" which shows special interest new releases, art films, or independent productions featuring guest speakers. After all of this I can go visit the local skateshop solebrother and see what's on sale, OR I can get an authentic Greek cheeseburger by one of the family owned restaurants which have been here for years.
http://en.wikipedia..../Ghent_district
For me, I love the city!!!!!!!
I'm 23, with no kids, and I go to church several times a week. I consider myself a typical American "family-valued" young man

[RON-E]

as the trend continues, i would rather live in the city, closer to everything, and more and more is being built up in americas urban centers

[lala67]

SouthParkRocks, on Jul 17 2006, 03:23 PM, said:

I don't have kids and that has made it easy for me to decide to live in the city (street car suburb) but it seems to me that kids can thrive in urban settings, and can just as easily get into very negative behavior/situations in the suburbs. Of course most parents wish to have the yard, the safety, and the good schools; but parks, actual crime rates as opposed to perceived crime rates, and parental involvement in education and cultural opportunities can make a city a desirable place to grow up.

So parents, what are your experiences?

We moved to a downtown neighborhood about 5 yrs ago. The kids have really blossomed. Our city is fortunate in that it has lots of very nice residential neighborhoods surrounding the CBD. We're about 1 mi. from the downtown core. We have a K-8 and High School (both public) next to each other with a neighborhood park and community center situated between them. Our kids attend(ed) the high school. But even so, kids in our neighborhood can walk/bike to school their entire 13 yrs of school. The HS football team has been very successful and the whole neighborhood comes out for the games (our school district is the 11th largest in the country). There are 3500 students at the HS and little parking. While many kids drive to school b/c they come from areas outside our neighborhood, parking is expensive and it's easy to lose parking privileges.

At any rate, my kids walk and ride their bikes all over town. My youngest is 17 and still doesn't have his drivers license. We live in a very auto-oriented community but happen to live in the core in a fairly unique neighborhood. It's a bit of a secret in many ways as there are other swankier (and more expensive) neighborhoods in the city. We just had a mixed use town center build two blocks away that was a brownfield - former strip shopping center.

All in all, we kind of have a mix of both urban and suburban. Everything is pretty walkable but still a lot is auto-oriented. It took awhile to convince my husband that downtown living would be worth it. He now loves it. He's a reverse commuter and loves that there's a hardware store and radio shack within walking distance. Everything is close by even though many of his trips are done by car still. That said, we have a 2200 sf single family home. Many suburban style features - pool, yard, large lot, attached garage, but very close in. Our friends thought we were nuts b/c we could've bought a much larger home, brand new (with all the new bells and whistles), and probably cheaper or at least the same cost. But the commute would really suck.

Crime is a bit higher and we pay a lot more in taxes, but I think the benefits outweigh the negatives. We have much better police and fire rescue responses and more services we didn't have in the suburbs/unincorporated areas.

[FromCityToRural]

It's hard for me, as I've mentioned. An urban place to live appeals to me greatly, with a nice variety of things to do, places to eat, cultural opportunities, concerts, urbane and cosmopolitan people etc., as well as its liveliness. I love the look of a city, I love the complexities of it, the ins and outs of its infrastructure, its layout, its heart and soul. A liberatrian at heart, I find urban centres to be too intrusively regulated, however, as well as too heavily taxed. I am also a classic car restorer, and finding a home in an urban centre that allows me to indulge in my hobby is nigh on impossible.

Out in the country, it's more or less the opposite. I have the freedom to more or less do as I please, and the lack of services isn't so much of a bother to myself. But, it's a long drive to eke out any kind of fun things to do, like the concerts and cultural events mentioned earlier. It also makes for a long commute.

The suburbs have the best of both, in a sense, with more freedom and breathing space than urban centres, but good proximity to jobs and urban and natural recreation.