Urban vs. Suburban Lifestyle

[Minneboy]

It's probably every where not just the Twin Cities. Even small towns have crime. Just magnified by larger populations.

[Viktor Vaughn]

Just magnified by larger populations.

...and sensationalist TV 'news'.

[RailBaronYarr]

Didn't want this thread to turn to crime (we've got Road AND Transit Crime threads for that ) - my apologies. This could be a repository for health-related news/data, though.

[go4guy]

I currently own a house in a first ring suburb. Love doing yardwork and upkeep stuff like that. But with that being said, my gf and I are talking very seriously about moving downtown. Would be too convenient for both of us. And I think downtown living would convince her to want to stay in the cities long term. Any increase in cost would be offset by 1 less car payment/insurance/gas and a big reduction in gas for the 1 car we would keep.

[Minneboy]

I currently own a house in a first ring suburb. Love doing yardwork and upkeep stuff like that. But with that being said, my gf and I are talking very seriously about moving downtown. Would be too convenient for both of us. And I think downtown living would convince her to want to stay in the cities long term. Any increase in cost would be offset by 1 less car payment/insurance/gas and a big reduction in gas for the 1 car we would keep.

I too am contemplating a move back to the cities. I'd like to be downtown. I can ride the LRT to work at the VA Med Ctr for free so even having a car might something I could think about getting rid of.

[Minneapolisite]

Suburban sprawl already makes very little sense, but in someplace with a real winter, who thinks it's a great idea to force everyone to drive yet: make all side streets cul-de-sacs that don't get plowed, force everyone onto one arterial road that goes down to walking speed when one crash makes the 50MPH speed limit useless, your car might stall out due to extreme cold temps, and where ubiquitous highway crashes multiply commute times. And in some car-dependent suburbs (I'm lookin' at you Roseville) they don't even plow major streets! At the same time, people choose to put themselves in that situation. To which I say, thank fuck I don't own a car.

[twincitizen]

In Twin Cities metro, more young people are moving to the urban core, while suburbs age:
http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... 34151.html

[Snelbian]

Every time a new report says cities are getting younger and "Millenials" aren't as crazy about suburbs as their parents, we're told that it'll all change when we have kids. And I keep retorting that I live in St. Paul in part FOR my kid, and that my block has more and more children every year. I'd say I hope that article gets people to stop responding with nonsense about (lackluster, failing) suburban schools drawing all of us away as soon as we "grow up", but I know it won't...

[kiliff75]

That article retty much nailed a lot of the reasons we just sold our house in Hugo (north surburb/exurb) and bought a house in South Minneapolis. We were driving everywhere we wanted to go and the only business within 1.5 miles was a garden center. Before we had to drive a mile before we got out of our development and into any commercial areas. Now we actually have a brewpub, several cafes and coffee shops, multiple grocery stores, parks, and other shops within a mile. Plus the commute is so much shorter! Big improvement!

Also, to what Minneapolisite mentioned earlier, now we don't have to dread the 2+ hour commutes each way whenever we get 4+" of snow (several times a winter) and all the freeways slow to a crawl. The new "nightmare" commute is 30-45 minutes, which sucks...but is wayyy better than before.

[RailBaronYarr]

Not sure where to put this, since it's kinda of a mixed bag of energy, comparing urban/suburban/exurban areas, etc. But.. great write-up on a new study on CO2 output by zip code on Streets.MN: https://streets.mn/2014/01/09/carbon ... -transect/

The comments section already has a brief discussion on the challenges of just saying "household" since the HH size varies by area and thus impacts consumption/transpo/etc. It is interesting, though that at a social cost of carbon of $50/mtC02, a household in Lakeville "spends" $2,350 a year on housing/transpo CO2 compared to $1,320 in a house in Kingfield (Minneapolis).

[twincitizen]

From the Kansas City Star, the divide between urban and rural: http://www.kansascity.com/news/governme ... 70904.html

I found this via the Urbanophile blog, who expanded upon the piece here: http://www.urbanophile.com/2014/12/18/t ... in-states/

[mattaudio]

From e-democracy:

Partly in light of the recent rash of media attention to shootings, crime,
mayhem and other what-not in the suburbs-yes-suburbs-believe-it-or-not (so they
don't have to focus solely on Minneapolis right now), this blurb in the Strib's
"Morning Hot Dish" struck me as something interesting to think about:

"A number of pols, including Gov. Mark Dayton, are at an opiate addiction
conference at the U. When heroin was ravaging inner cities in the 70s and
cocaine in the 80s, it was a crime problem. Now opiate addiction is a suburban
kid thing so it’s a public health problem. Interesting."

[LakeCharles]

Nothing new to most people frequenting this blog, but an interesting story nonetheless.

http://aeon.co/magazine/society/step-by ... t-to-walk/

[grant1simons2]

Tom Fisher speaks on the 21st century urban world he wants, and thinks, he'll see.

[FISHMANPET]

So this seems silly, but, uh, how do I mail a letter?

In a place where you have a mailbox you put your stuff in and flip up the flag, and you're done. At my last apartment, I'd put a letter in my box (we had no mail drop slot) with a post it note that I had a letter to be picked up, but the mail carrier ignored it (or missed it, or whatever).

Now I've got a house with a mail slot and a package to be picked up by the post office, and I have no earthly idea how to notify the mailman.

[mister.shoes]

You go to a post office or USPS approved shipping center if it doesn't fit in one of the blue boxes all over the place. You can also schedule a pickup if going somewhere isn't your thing.

[FISHMANPET]

I guess that works. Seeing as how it's a small flexible mailer I could just fit it in a mailbox if I had one.

And that still doesn't help if I want to mail a letter or something like that.

[mister.shoes]

For a letter, you just drop it in one of the thousands of blue mailboxes all over the place: https://tools.usps.com/go/POLocatorAction.action

We're in 55419, and using that tool I found 40 mailboxes within 5 miles of the center of that zip code.

[mister.shoes]

55407 has 41 within 5 miles of the center of that zip. Though oddly, there are precious few (read: next to none) near Lake/Hiawatha. No wonder.

[BoredAgain]

I guess that works. Seeing as how it's a small flexible mailer I could just fit it in a mailbox if I had one.

And that still doesn't help if I want to mail a letter or something like that.

I also live in a house with a mail slot instead of a mailbox. You can leave the letter hanging out of the mail slot and your letter carrier should take it with them when they stop by to deliver other mail.