I visited Taipei and I was surprised to see no free-standing single-story homes even relatively far from the city center. People lived in row-houses four or five stories tall, and the first floor of pretty much every single one of these houses was occupied by a small store or restaurant. Many streets were very narrow and mopeds were common but cars less so. It was much livelier there than in a US suburb (or even many US city centers) and I enjoyed my tourist experience. Still, I would prefer to live in a quieter, less dense American-style suburb and drive if I needed to do anything except enjoy my property, but I can see why many people would prefer the opposite. I think it might be like being an introvert or extrovert.
It is. I’m currently fighting my city about it, because our zoning is actively bankrupting the city and making it a worse place to live. It’s crazy, it feels like trying to persuade someone not to shoot themselves in the head because they think it’s just what you’re supposed to do.
Small tangent, but dude, NextDoor is a hell app. I used it for less than one day before I deleted it for being a festering cesspool of breathless Nancy Grace energy. “YOU GUYS MY RING CAMERA CAUGHT SOME TEENAGERS WALKING DOWN THE STREET AND THEY WERE LAUGHING?! WHAT WERE THEY LAUGHING ABOUT?!” Straight up, besides the caps, not exaggerating.
I was watching 1923 recently and there was a scene where one of the main characters was walking along the road and got stopped by a policeman in a car saying that vagrancy is a crime. WTF? I get it, it’s about a bygone era, but really? You couldn’t just fucking walk in the US?
A college friend of my sister and friend were walking on the sidewalk on a road like this in Buffalo NY and a cop car rammed into them paralyzing one of them from the neck down.
Jesus Christ, that’s awful. I wish that your friend will recover, though I know all too well how slim those prospects are. How many days of paid vacation did the cop get / which department did they move to?
They moved to a dept in another county :( The county (so the taxpayers) did pay the family like 1 mil but she needs a nurse pretty much permanently which costs a lot
I remember visiting family in Michigan a few years back (well, right before COVID), and someone called the cops on my cousin and I sitting on the driveway shooting the shit at 9pm in the summer, like, wtf?
I was walking on my street until some lady going 80mph almost hit me. My road elevation changes enough that at that speed you don’t see someone until its too late at that speed.
It’s not just the kids’ cell phones. It’s the 24 hour outrage and fear driven by the news and/or social media. So their parents won’t encourage them to wander off, and as others have mentioned the neighbors will call the cops on them if they do wander.
American style subdivisions are the absolute worst for kids, nothing to do at all.
Walk around the same 5 streets with 150 houses around, get kicked out of all of the common areas by Karens and HOAs.
Kids don’t go outside there either because there is not much of a point, if you’re lucky there may be a tennis court that you can hang out at.
Good luck going to see your friends from school though, even though they live in the neighborhood across the street, the street in question is a 5 lane highway with no pedestrian bridge or tunnels.
Wanna go somewhere with other kids your age, better hope you can have someone drive you.
I live in a residential neighborhood. The main demographic that can afford to move in to the suburb is people already nearing retirement with grown up kids. My kids are constantly bored out of their heads outside because there’s nothing to do, nowhere to go, and nobody to play with. We’ve hosted seven exchange students and the number one culture shock is the loss of independence that goes with moving into a car dependent suburb. Our city design, pretty much everywhere in the US, blows ass. We could be doing so many things so much better, and it would actually cost everyone, taxpayers included, less money. We are all literally paying orders of magnitude more to do the stupid shitty thing and pretending that it’s great.
Yeah, that’s ugly but it isn’t a residential neighborhood. Kids don’t go outside because cell phones exist.
To an outsider the whole zoning approach in US seems weird.
I visited Taipei and I was surprised to see no free-standing single-story homes even relatively far from the city center. People lived in row-houses four or five stories tall, and the first floor of pretty much every single one of these houses was occupied by a small store or restaurant. Many streets were very narrow and mopeds were common but cars less so. It was much livelier there than in a US suburb (or even many US city centers) and I enjoyed my tourist experience. Still, I would prefer to live in a quieter, less dense American-style suburb and drive if I needed to do anything except enjoy my property, but I can see why many people would prefer the opposite. I think it might be like being an introvert or extrovert.
Yeah, i have to live out of town and have my own space since I’m into loud out door activities and drumming… I can’t live near other people haha
It is. I’m currently fighting my city about it, because our zoning is actively bankrupting the city and making it a worse place to live. It’s crazy, it feels like trying to persuade someone not to shoot themselves in the head because they think it’s just what you’re supposed to do.
My cousin went for a walk in their aunt’s residential neighborhood, and someone called the cops on them.
Small tangent, but dude, NextDoor is a hell app. I used it for less than one day before I deleted it for being a festering cesspool of breathless Nancy Grace energy. “YOU GUYS MY RING CAMERA CAUGHT SOME TEENAGERS WALKING DOWN THE STREET AND THEY WERE LAUGHING?! WHAT WERE THEY LAUGHING ABOUT?!” Straight up, besides the caps, not exaggerating.
Obviously they were laughing about the horrible crime they had just committed! /s
I was watching 1923 recently and there was a scene where one of the main characters was walking along the road and got stopped by a policeman in a car saying that vagrancy is a crime. WTF? I get it, it’s about a bygone era, but really? You couldn’t just fucking walk in the US?
Also see: the beginning of the Rambo movie First Blood.
So you’re saying that this shit is still going on? No wonder that country voted for Trump twice…
A college friend of my sister and friend were walking on the sidewalk on a road like this in Buffalo NY and a cop car rammed into them paralyzing one of them from the neck down.
Jesus Christ, that’s awful. I wish that your friend will recover, though I know all too well how slim those prospects are. How many days of paid vacation did the cop get / which department did they move to?
They moved to a dept in another county :( The county (so the taxpayers) did pay the family like 1 mil but she needs a nurse pretty much permanently which costs a lot
Yeah, a million is chump change for a lifetime of healthcare cost.
I remember visiting family in Michigan a few years back (well, right before COVID), and someone called the cops on my cousin and I sitting on the driveway shooting the shit at 9pm in the summer, like, wtf?
The media is a fear machine.
I was walking on my street until some lady going 80mph almost hit me. My road elevation changes enough that at that speed you don’t see someone until its too late at that speed.
It’s not just the kids’ cell phones. It’s the 24 hour outrage and fear driven by the news and/or social media. So their parents won’t encourage them to wander off, and as others have mentioned the neighbors will call the cops on them if they do wander.
American style subdivisions are the absolute worst for kids, nothing to do at all.
Walk around the same 5 streets with 150 houses around, get kicked out of all of the common areas by Karens and HOAs.
Kids don’t go outside there either because there is not much of a point, if you’re lucky there may be a tennis court that you can hang out at.
Good luck going to see your friends from school though, even though they live in the neighborhood across the street, the street in question is a 5 lane highway with no pedestrian bridge or tunnels.
Wanna go somewhere with other kids your age, better hope you can have someone drive you.
I live in a residential neighborhood. The main demographic that can afford to move in to the suburb is people already nearing retirement with grown up kids. My kids are constantly bored out of their heads outside because there’s nothing to do, nowhere to go, and nobody to play with. We’ve hosted seven exchange students and the number one culture shock is the loss of independence that goes with moving into a car dependent suburb. Our city design, pretty much everywhere in the US, blows ass. We could be doing so many things so much better, and it would actually cost everyone, taxpayers included, less money. We are all literally paying orders of magnitude more to do the stupid shitty thing and pretending that it’s great.