posted
KoM, I was expected to walk to school every day as a kid, but I lived in one of the smaller cities on the south border of San Francisco. I think you'd find a mixed set of expectations for school kids in different towns. Some, where it's safe to walk or bike, expect their children to do so. In others, the layout of the cities are so bad as to make this kind of commute dangerous or objectionable to parents.
It is a terrible shame that American cities have been allowed to develop as to discourage walking. Part of the reason on the west coast was the allure of a two-car lifestyle in the 50's; the idea that affluence was a material commodity that could be had by anyone. At one time, the freedom to live in a neighborhood in an individual house with a car was desirable for reasons long forgotten in modern Californian subdivisions. Today, the freedom of the lifestyle has been erased, and people are trapped in neighborhoods that have traded all the benefits of suburban life to serve the profits of developers and chain stores. The life that was once a sign of affluence is now available to all, at the cost of the lifestyle itself. The fact that people are consistently happier in either medium density urban housing, or very low density rural housing seems to be ignored. We insist on living suburban lives for no apparent good reason, while only the wealthiest people actually can afford to take advantage with large properties and homes. Meanwhile, the middle of the middle class takes on all the onerous responsibilities of home ownership, while isolating themselves from neighbors and local businesses, giving them no reasons to shop locally, and giving no reason for local businesses to exist at all.
So, I guess, at some point, we forgot what we were living for?
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by rivka: Wait a sec, Orincoro. What the heck's wrong with having a water heater?
A hundred gallon water heater that's on all the time?
Ah!
I thought you were advocating only cold showers.
quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: This doesn't actually address your point, but it reminded me of the water heaters I saw in Japan that were actually connected to the showers/baths. They were run on natural gas, and heat up just as much water as you needed to use. It seemed a lot more efficient than what we use here in the States.
I believe the equivalent exists here, and is slowly gaining popularity.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I looked into alternatives to the big tank water heater when ours failed last year but the only options were either a large on-demand heater which couldn't meet my large family's water needs in the space available, or electric heaters at each of the water outlets which would have been prohibitively expensive. Running gas lines to each of the faucets would have been even more expensive.
I don't mind paying a premium for efficiency, so I did buy the most efficient water heater I could find and then put a layer of insulation around it and its outlet pipes. I can't afford to spend 3-5 times or more though.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Meanwhile, the middle of the middle class takes on all the onerous responsibilities of home ownership, while isolating themselves from neighbors and local businesses, giving them no reasons to shop locally, and giving no reason for local businesses to exist at all.
It's my impression that this is at least partly because of weird zoning rules. If it were permitted, there might well be grocery stores opening in the suburbs, no?
As an aside, my father's mother walked to her grocery store every few days all her life, until she grew too frail, and that was pretty shortly before she died. In winter she'd use a kick-sled for the extra loading capacity. Likewise my mother's mother, and after she died my grandfather walked down to the store for his dinner and a visit to the bookie's, say two miles round trip, every day, into his nineties. (Indeed, he did this the day before he died of that stroke, and he was first missed when he didn't show up downtown; this at the age of 92. Did I mention the five flights of stairs? And damn steep they are, too - no handicap considerations when those apartments were built in the fifties.) My father walks to work, about a kilometer each way, and spends his weekends out in the forest running races. I myself am of a weak and degenerate generation; I bicycle to work.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Meanwhile, the middle of the middle class takes on all the onerous responsibilities of home ownership, while isolating themselves from neighbors and local businesses, giving them no reasons to shop locally, and giving no reason for local businesses to exist at all.
It's my impression that this is at least partly because of weird zoning rules. If it were permitted, there might well be grocery stores opening in the suburbs, no?
You have to ask, why are the areas zoned in such a way as to prevent local businesses from being built? There is an interest among various parties concerned, in the neighborhoods being built being perceived as "quiet and safe." Access to a grocery store or a main street is a dual-edged sword, because on that street there can be a seedy restaurant or a bar, or any number of businesses. What ends up happening: the businesses are relegated to commercial parks that are intentionally unaccessible by foot, where any semblance of a local business would have to compete with a national chain for prices and convenience. Now you have a "quiet and safe" neighborhood that is miserable to live in, trapping you in your car on the way to big-box stores and groceries miles away.
The whole idea that people can avoid the world around them and be secure from the intrusion of their neighbors, and still be happy and live an economically sustainable life is ludicrous. What remains illusive to me, is the moment at which the tipping point will be reached. When will Americans sit up and realize that living in crappy suburbs offers nothing to the experience of living, and takes so much from us? Because though none of the signs are glaring from day to day, for the people living that life, the decay of culture, the loss of contact with the world around us, the ability to deal personally with each other in rewarding ways, is clear to me.
I sometimes feel, when I've been in a place like this for even a few days, that I could forget everything I know about the greater world, history, art, everything- and it wouldn't matter.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:When will Americans sit up and realize that living in crappy suburbs offers nothing to the experience of living,
They won't, because suburbs don't offer "nothing." What they offer might not make up for their shortcomings. And those positive things may be available elsewhere.
But they do offer some positive things, and people who live there realize this. People advocating lifestyle changes should also realize this, or their advocacy will be for nothing.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Orincoro: What ends up happening: the businesses are relegated to commercial parks that are intentionally unaccessible by foot, where any semblance of a local business would have to compete with a national chain for prices and convenience. Now you have a "quiet and safe" neighborhood that is miserable to live in, trapping you in your car on the way to big-box stores and groceries miles away.
The whole idea that people can avoid the world around them and be secure from the intrusion of their neighbors, and still be happy and live an economically sustainable life is ludicrous... the decay of culture, the loss of contact with the world around us, the ability to deal personally with each other in rewarding ways, is clear to me.
I sometimes feel, when I've been in a place like this for even a few days, that I could forget everything I know about the greater world, history, art, everything- and it wouldn't matter.
I can be pretty woeful about the loss of community in our modern society, but I think your overstating things here by about a parsec. I live in a suburb, ride my bike 2.5 miles to work, occasionally walk the 1.5 miles to the nearest grocery store/fast food restaurants, and drive to big box stores on the weekends.
I attend concerts in the town, get into the city occasionally, visit museums, and have nice chats with my neighbors while out on walks with my children or at the playground. Having lived in the Netherlands for a time I appreciate the idea of local business in residential zones, where you can walk to the grocer's and the butcher's and what not, but what you gain in convenience you lose in efficiency (small stores are less efficient stores) and therefore price. These stores were not bastions of communality nor cultural centers; they were just businesses.
I grew up in a suburb where the nearest grocery store of significance was three miles away, and other businesses were further. I found a great sense of community and culture through the local university (appr. 5 miles), where I attended plays and concerts, as well as the local primary schools, churches, scouting, camping and more. I think blaming suburbanization for the breakdown of the social fabric (if there is such a thing) is a red herring.
Posts: 2926 | Registered: Sep 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:You have to ask, why are the areas zoned in such a way as to prevent local businesses from being built?
lack of foresight basically.
Cities who started getting into mixed-use development now actually have neighborhoods with offices and stores and paneras and coffeeshops built into them and they're doing so fantastically well around here.
Disadvantage is that there's so little of these mixed use neighborhoods available that they command a high premium and are not for the working classes.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
On the plus side, what the upper and middle classes have, the working classes eventually want, and if it's just a matter of voting, well then.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
