Granny OTM, I mean, here's a view of my neighborhood in the suburbs.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:00 (thirteen years ago) link
i mean, one radical solution i'd propose is erasing all urban-suburban legal boundaries and have each metro area as one constituency under one administration. bingo, problem solved.
― goole, Wednesday, June 9, 2010 12:59 PM (1 minute ago)
i am for this, also abolish states thx
― harbl, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:01 (thirteen years ago) link
I mean, by implication, if it's below freezing for half the year, that still makes bike lanes and sidewalks usable for the other half of the year. And even then, they're still useful for walking to bus routes, etc. Plus, I saw plenty of hardcore cyclists biking to work all winter long in Cleveland. I haven't worked up to that, but I hope to.
― I guess for copraphiles this is gonna be awesome (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Many American cities are single-family dwelling sprawls. I've lived in lots of 'suburbs' but ones like Mill Valley or Sausalito are distinctly different from even the western part of the city of San Francisco.
― If the US had a dictator we'd call him coach (Michael White), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:03 (thirteen years ago) link
erasing all urban-suburban legal boundaries and have each metro area as one constituency under one administration.
Megalopolis, here we come!
they seem to be way more engaged in their neighborhood than we are...it's just very safe and everyone has elementary aged kids and everyone's kids hangs out at everyone else's house and they have little pool gatherings in the summertime....
Do you think it would be accurate to say that some of the ease of their suburban community comes from the fact that many/most of the residents are very similar to the others with their priorities and where they are in life? This strikes me as the comforts of similarity, that we feel better w people most like us. It might make it easier to know and/or feel good about knowing your neighbors, but it's not a very...robust community.
― the soul of the avocado escapes as soon as you open it (Laurel), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:04 (thirteen years ago) link
It's like a mono-culture.
― the soul of the avocado escapes as soon as you open it (Laurel), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:05 (thirteen years ago) link
uh oh
― harbl, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:05 (thirteen years ago) link
All the "best" suburbs of Chicago owe their existence to being on train lines. Most of the worst owe it to being near interstate exits. That being said, an attitude of "cars are evil and so are car owners" is so reductive and unproductive I don't even know where to start.
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link
jesus
― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link
Having been born in the San Fernando Valley and having had grandparents and then my mom live in Sacto, I can tell you that, for me, suburbia is hell.
― If the US had a dictator we'd call him coach (Michael White), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link
I see what you are getting at Laurel, but some of these communities can be surprisingly diverse! I mean, our block alone is home to two gay couples and a really wide range of backgrounds. But, also, a notably liberal and lolcollege town.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link
That being said, an attitude of "cars are evil and so are car owners" is so reductive and unproductive I don't even know where to start.
find somewhere to start!
― iatee, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link
eh that "community involvement" thing is just about having kids in school imo
― goole, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:07 (thirteen years ago) link
I'm just saying, suburbs can be diverse and don't always have to be 100% white, middle-class.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:07 (thirteen years ago) link
is this a thread about the new Arcade Fire record?
― ksh, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:07 (thirteen years ago) link
a new idea for this thread
― harbl, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:07 (thirteen years ago) link
xpost
Some of those people at the pool gatherings also attend meetings with their local commissioner every other Tuesday. I know this from my parents' experience. That's the only kind of "robust" community that makes sense.
― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:08 (thirteen years ago) link
― goole, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 09:59 (6 minutes ago)
Is this a bad idea? If a city and its suburbs are related
― cherry blossom, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:09 (thirteen years ago) link
no i think it would be great, it would be like finland
― harbl, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:10 (thirteen years ago) link
To continue making this personal, to one side of us is a working class African-American family and on the other is a young family from Iran. Across the street is a really charming gay couple in their 50s. Next door to them is a Japanese-American family. Then another gay couple in their 30s. Just sayin', I don't really feel like I live in the boring, vanilla suburbs a lot of people in this thread seem to assume.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:10 (thirteen years ago) link
In a lot of places, you can't even get adjacent, closely-related suburbs to share emergency services like police, fire and 911 dispatch to save money. Good luck with the "erasing political boundaries plan."
― I guess for copraphiles this is gonna be awesome (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:11 (thirteen years ago) link
― the soul of the avocado escapes as soon as you open it (Laurel), Wedne
I think this is something that was much more true in the past but has become much less the case over time
― cherry blossom, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:11 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't think anyone seriously thinks that could happen in the u.s. xpost
― harbl, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link
That's kind of silly and would lead to a lot of governmental neglect. I mean even as it is, East Portland gets something like 2% of Portland's tax dollars even though it contains about 20% of the residents. What's smarter is having a metropolitan government in addition to having more localized governments, which is the case here.
― fuck being hard, suburbs are complicated (The Reverend), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link
in the example i cited, yes laurel is right, the neighborhood is almost exclusively white, middle to upper middle class
but either way i can't really be snooty when i guess for whatever reasons i didn't take the time to really engage w/my neighbors
(though a lot of it i think was because our house faced out on a busy street in the middle of the block and all the other houses faced away towards the side streets so we never really "ran into" ppl leaving the house and whatnot
― the dj screwtape letters (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
jon, jaymc and i grew up 25 miles out of the city and even back then (15-20 yrs ago) there's was a large percentage of non-Caucasians. it just depends on what suburb, just as it depends on what part of the city.
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:13 (thirteen years ago) link
it might solve the problem 'what's a suburb? what's not?" - and there can be some advantages when it comes to infrastructure and taxes - but on the other hand, many of the sprawliest cities in america are places that have done this and it doesn't appear to have done them much good.
― iatee, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:14 (thirteen years ago) link
What's smarter is having a metropolitan government in addition to having more localized governments, which is the case here.
yes, def - but a metropolitan government w/ actual power
― iatee, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:16 (thirteen years ago) link
"one administration" doesn't mean one executive, btw. i'm not proposing more centralization, just less artificial legal division, so enough with the north korea joeks already. the suburbs ARE the city -- same economy, same population, so the political decisions about resolving issues regarding the whole ought to go through the same avenue.
xp to Rev well that sounds like a problem of the residents of east portland being really poor, is that it? that's not a problem that form of gov't will address.
xp2 but on the other hand, many of the sprawliest cities in america are places that have done this and it doesn't appear to have done them much good.
really, which cities?
― goole, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:16 (thirteen years ago) link
doesn't minneapolis area have the met council?
― the dj screwtape letters (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:18 (thirteen years ago) link
I was (possibly mistakenly!) under impression that certain cities in the south did this (Charlotte? but then thats pretty sprawly?) - need to know more about this
...I think European cities work more this way - was wondering if people thought it was a good or bad idea, and why (or why not?)
― cherry blossom, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:18 (thirteen years ago) link
― the dj screwtape letters (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, June 9, 2010 12:18 PM (21 seconds ago) Bookmark
i always kind of figured the met council was BS but with all the crazy lawsuits over the new train, no, it isn't.
but i haven't a clue how it works or what its power is tbh
― goole, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:19 (thirteen years ago) link
I know that Raleigh and Durham contain many of their own suburbs...and they are still sprawl monsters. But I think it does help with schools and property taxes and such.
― contraceptive lipstick (askance johnson), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:20 (thirteen years ago) link
I believe houston, jaxonville are usually the examples?
― iatee, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link
xpost to goole: minnesota public radio can tell me how my ass taste wrt light rail, fuckaz
― the dj screwtape letters (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link
columbus, ohio has annexed many suburbs and it's very sprawly but the sprawl was not caused by the annexation since it already existed
― harbl, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:21 (thirteen years ago) link
on the other hand, NYC = a very, very successful example of this
― iatee, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:22 (thirteen years ago) link
iatee: Metro in Portland has quite a bit of power and they do a damned good job of managing regional planning.
Sure it can. Commisioner districts would help for one. My hometown of Everett has a big problem that 4 of the 5 councilmembers are from the old part of town, north of 41st Street, which contains about a fifth of the residents. Not coincidentally, North Everett gets all the revitalization efforts, and South Everett, where most people live, doesn't get shit. Not that anyone will ever succeed in getting them to create council districts, as it would likely mean 3 of them losing their jobs.
― fuck being hard, suburbs are complicated (The Reverend), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:23 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh yeah, totally understand this. Didn't mean to imply that I lived in some magical place and time or anything, I was just trying to throw my personal experience into the thread. It seemed a decent way of challenging the notion of what "suburbs" are, basically they can be tightly-packed, walkable areas that aren't dominated by sprawling lawns and twisty drives.
― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:24 (thirteen years ago) link
Pancakes, don't you live in clevo hts.? There are more sidewalks there than fish in the sea.
― Brice Pilaf (brownie), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:25 (thirteen years ago) link
― the dj screwtape letters (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, June 9, 2010 12:21 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark
ha, or the U. ohh our poor sensitive instruments of science!! build us a $200m TUBE STOP!! the whole story is fuckin hilarious imo
― goole, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:25 (thirteen years ago) link
I know! portland is fantastic when it comes to this stuff.
― iatee, Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Metro: also responsible for the much-beloved MAX
― fuck being hard, suburbs are complicated (The Reverend), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Alright, I gotcha.
East Portland is kind cool, btw, and my friend who lives there and works on the West side of town, rides her bike most of the time.
― If the US had a dictator we'd call him coach (Michael White), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:29 (thirteen years ago) link
― Brice Pilaf (brownie), Wednesday, June 9, 2010 1:25 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark
Yep, but re: sidewalks I meant between here and downtown. And def. the southern 'burbs could use more. Bike lanes, well, there's Euclid Ave. and, uh . . .
― I guess for copraphiles this is gonna be awesome (Pancakes Hackman), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:29 (thirteen years ago) link
― If the US had a dictator we'd call him coach (Michael White), Wednesday, June 9, 2010 Suggest Ban Permalink10:29 AM Bookmark
That depends on your definition of "East". I live on the Eastside, as do the majority of Portlanders, but usually when people here say "East Portland", they mean east of the 205, which is not very nice at all.
― fuck being hard, suburbs are complicated (The Reverend), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:34 (thirteen years ago) link
And kind of out of biking range of downtown, unless you are like hardcore bicycle dude.
― fuck being hard, suburbs are complicated (The Reverend), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 17:35 (thirteen years ago) link
Relevant to this conversation: Cities Without Suburbs.
I haven't read it in quite a while, but did so when there was a local attempt to create a county-wide tax and administration structure that failed. I think the gist of the argument, that metro areas need some sort of metro-wide (or county-wide if the metro is confined) structure is key to gluing things together. This has become less of an issue lately due to urban revitalization, but really for decades the pattern was that people would work in the city where much of the major property is business-owned and given tax breaks, but would live in the suburbs where all their tax money goes to schools and suburban development. So you get in a loop where property values decline in the city proper, the city has less tax revenue to work on roads and public parks, and eventually the suburbs get enough of a tax revenue surplus that they're able to give large incentives to corporations to build suburban corporate campuses.
To put a face on the entire "live in city, commute to suburbs" thing that's getting discussed (although my home is probably "suburban" by these standards), here's a rough map of my route to work. I live a little ways too far to comfortably bike in the AM, and it definitely wouldn't be practical in the winter. So, feel free to criticize my lifestyle if you like!
― postmodern infidel(ity) (mh), Wednesday, 9 June 2010 18:53 (thirteen years ago) link