Suburbs: The Next Slum?

[Captain Worley]

Pretty much every area goes though ups and downs. In Columbia, some street car suburbs became slums (North Main, Eau Claire), some became slums and had a rebirth (Elmwood Park), and some stayed affluent (Shandon). Once land gets cheap enough, they get revitalized. I predict that that'll happen to all suburbs.

I think Corgi is somewhat right about Columbia being at the limit of sprawl, but I think it is because the rural residents are pushing back against the developers. This wil change after the land prices get higher and the residents get older.

[GvilleSC]

The main thing about South Carolina's cities (metros) is that it would seem they've sprawled as far outward as they are likely to sprawl, given the cost of driving a long way to work, since most of the jobs are closer in.

[Spartan]

I really doubt that people moving into a downtown area are ever expecting the same size unit as what they may have or once had in the outer areas. It's a part of the lifestyle that you are chosing to embrace by even looking into an urban housing market...

[GvilleSC]

They will definitely build on the rail line. But thats the point. It will likely be some sort of transit oriented development which should reduce the number of car trips. The idea is not to stop development or force people out of their cars. The idea is to encourage good development practices that don't force people INTO their cards. You shouldn't have to live in the city if you don't want to, but you should be able to walk to a corner store or to some commercial retail area that has a few restaurants, shops, and a grocery store. Its entirely possible to do this in the suburbs if the development standards are changed for require connectivity between and mixture of land uses. This, in turn, helps to support transit which further reduced the number of needed car trips.

[Galley]

A dose of reality may be needed...

I live about 10 miles from Greenville and commute to downtown every day. According to this site...

http://www.commuterpage.com/Userweb/CostCo...stCommuting.htm

...to purchase a comparable house in a downtown market versus the suburbs where I live, gas would need to be in the realm of $20/gallon. And that's if I don't trade in my relatively inefficient vehicle for something better.

While development patterns are changing, the expectation that you need to "get out while you still can" is not realistic... at least not in much of the South. The impacts would be much more drastic in larger cities, but then again, the cost of residential real estate is most urban settings is much higher than it is in Greenville.

[monsoon]

I've said this before on this forum but I will express it again here. People don't choose where they live based on gasoline prices. However if the cost of gasoline is something that is putting a hardship on their life, they are not going to move to an unreasonably expensive condo in what we now call cities in the South.

As far as slums are concerned, those occur when the attitudes change about a neighborhood and home owners are replaced by renters and vacant houses. This can be caused by a number of reasons and it has occurred in all classes of homes and neighborhoods. 50 years ago the street car neighborhoods of the early 1900s were abandoned for strip housing further out and these places turned into slums. Now these places are being re-developed into expensive places. It wasn't that long ago when they couldn't give away the million dollar+ housing on the Charleston peninsula because it was so run down. My uncle, who lived all of this life in Charleston, said they used to use these houses as stakes in poker games because they were worth so little.

The point that I am attempting to make is that it is tempting to generalize what might create a slum based on attitudes of today, but it is not unreasonable to think that a generation from now, it could be quite different that it is today. I can think of a dozen things that could happen that could turn any high priced area, including those in the center cities, back into slum areas again. It happened once, it can happen again.

I do agree that lately there has been a tendency to build neighborhoods very cheaply and then encourage people to buy these places that really don't have to the money to do it.

[krazeeboi]

I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect that just because gas prices are on the rise, everyone is going to be flocking to live in or near downtown. Sure, there's a general upward trend of new downtown and in-town residents across the nation, but I expect the bigger side effect will be making the suburbs more sustainable (better construction, more connectivity, etc.). As it was stated earlier, all the jobs aren't downtown.

[CorgiMatt]

But most of them are close in, as I stated earlier; i.e. on the Columbia side of Chapin as opposed to the Newberry side of Chapin, since metros in general are what we are talking about.

[btoy]

I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect that just because gas prices are on the rise, everyone is going to be flocking to live in or near downtown. Sure, there's a general upward trend of new downtown and in-town residents across the nation, but I expect the bigger side effect will be making the suburbs more sustainable (better construction, more connectivity, etc.). As it was stated earlier, all the jobs aren't downtown.

[Spartan]

I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect that just because gas prices are on the rise, everyone is going to be flocking to live in or near downtown. Sure, there's a general upward trend of new downtown and in-town residents across the nation, but I expect the bigger side effect will be making the suburbs more sustainable (better construction, more connectivity, etc.). As it was stated earlier, all the jobs aren't downtown.

[Captain Worley]

I really like having about 30 minutes between work and my home. That seems to be a common feeling amongst people I work with and have worked with. It gives some physical and emotinal separation between work and home.

[krazeeboi]

Now that I only live 2 miles from my job, I am truly spoiled. I don't want to live right next door to my job, but I do have the ability to run errands and such without having to pass my workplace all the time. The savings on gas is well worth it.

[Spartan]

I just like being able to walk or bike to work. It still takes me about 15-20 minutes to get to work, but I get exercise and I don't have to buy gas very often.

[teshadoh]

I think 30 minutes is the typical optimal commute time for most people - in most metro areas. That actually is my commute - though I'm definitely not the norm by those standards, I would prefer the commute to be under 15 minutes. The best commute I had was last year before we moved, under 5 minute bike ride.

[Spartan]

I've heard that there is a statistic of some sort out there that says most people want a 20 minute commute. Even back before cars people would walk 20 minutes to work. Its a comfortable distance from home.

[BrasilnSC]

I'm 1.5 miles from work and couldn't be happier. It took me 20 minutes to walk to work until I got a bike and now it's less than 10 minutes. The stress that comes with commuting....traffic, bad drivers, gas prices, road rage, etc....is completely gone.

[breed]

One year ago, I bought a brand new 3BR, 2BA 1500 sq. ft. home 1 mile from downtown Greenville for less than $100K. Affordable housing near downtown is available.

[Spartan]

Very suburban mindset. I think that any housing option is available if you're willing to search for it.