The Suburbs that bad?

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

I hear you, Ben. It is a great option.

My office is a mile away in one direction. Across the strett from my office is a local grocery/liquor/fish market with a big chain drug store next to it. There are doctor’s offices adjacent to my office and a barber shop in the same Cape Cod version of an office condo (clapboard with jogs and varying roof lines) The big grocery store is a mile away in one direction next to the highway. There are gas stations on route to both destinations. The ocean beach is two miles away. Several conservation trails are within two miles. It is not hell by any means. My neighbors are nice people. There is plenty of diversity in culture and lifestyle as well.

Would I want to live here without a car? Hell, no. But I have one, so it is no problem. I even have my own driveway to park it in as well as a garage if I chose to keep it in there. It is just another lifestyle.

I used to live in a western town of 500 people. You could walk to every place in town as the city limits held just about one square mile. However, you could not get everything in town. A lot of what you could get was much higher priced than in the bigger town 30 miles away. Big chains were very important to the people ut in the sticks because they did not get into the big towns on a regular basis other than to pick up supplies. The Costcos and Walmarts were essential both for economic reasons and logistical reasons. Some folks need to buy cheap crap because they don’t have much money. It is kind of interesting as a study because it was quite dense with compact infrastructure, but out in the middle of no where. It was no urban or suburban. It was isolated village living. Small town America. That does not work without a car either. And public transportation absolutely does not work there. At the same time, this brings people out much closer to where they are working (timber in this case). There is good reason to live there simply to be nearer to where they work. … and talk about building community. Talk about a big happy family (all gene pool jokes aside). In a way it is much like your urban living, but with a much smaller scale.

I’m sure there are plenty of other residential living styles that I have not seen, but what I do know is that most have some upside that makes people live that way.

I’m a Darwinist when it comes to these things. If it can’t sustain, it will die out. There is no reason to artificially support or kill these lifestyles. They’ll come and go based on how well they work on all facets.

Suburbia is not dead in most places because there is nothing killing it. I’ve read about some California “suburbs” that are getting killed because of rediculous commutes. But if these communities are so isolated, are they truly suburbs or are they simply isolated communites?

[Jason T. Radice]

Its the same around DC. The newer ex-urbs are now waaaaay out of town. But you can buy a good sized house, small yard, great schools, and much lower taxes than near the city. No wonder it’s so attractive. One caveat, the commute. Half hour each way on a good day, or two hours plus with traffic. Some take commuter rail, some take busses, but it is still a heck of a lot of time traveling. Are there alternatives? For middle income families? No.

DC schools are horrible or you go broke paying for private school. You can buy a nasty house in the hood for the same price as a brand new home. Don’t even mention the tax differences. You have to do whats best for your family, and near large urban areas, that is getting away from town.

Now many of these new suburbs are new-urbanist in design with sidewalks and little downtowns, with shopping centers on the fringes. Everybody touts the ‘planning succeses’ of Greenbelt, Kentlands, Columbia, and Reston around here…but they too, are suburbs. Self contained suburbs – purposely disconnected from the city.

[Andrew Garulay, RLA]

Perhaps the word “suburban” has become synonymous with “sprawl” when they are actually not synonyms.

[Jordan Lockman]

Well Said.

[Author]

Posts