Do you think this country would be better off without suburbs?

[opebo]

They're horrible places, true, BRTD, and they would never have existed without massive government subsidy.

[opebo]

It would be much better without densely packed cities.  Decentralize the civilization, place them in small towns with sidewalks and parks and cozy little homes and get them out of all the pollution, corruption, and crime. 

Rural America is rife with crime, MODU.  It is poor and hopeless, therefore it has crime.  Of course the deluded police blame it on the meth.

[opebo]

No subrubs are great and more people will agree with me on this.

I agree with you.

I've lived in suburbs all my life and there's nothing wrong with them.

Rin-chan

Except that they're government subsidized housing for upper-middle-class people.

[opebo]

The country would be better of without suburbs and more importantly the big cities that create them.

So where exactly would you suggest that people live? I don't think there's not enough room for us all to live on farms.

Hawkeye is Pol Pot returned to us, Dibble!

[opebo]

The country would be better of without suburbs and more importantly the big cities that create them.

So where exactly would you suggest that people live? I don't think there's not enough room for us all to live on farms.

Hawkeye is Pol Pot returned to us, Dibble!

No, Hawkeye is a ridiculous joke poster.

OH! And I really thought he was Pol Pot.  Thank you John Dibble, for clearing that up.  How do you type that eye-rolling thing?

Besides, I find him very amusing.

[opebo]

I have an economic rather than cultural objection to suburbs. It seems to me that the wealthy have formed exclusive enclaves for themselves for the purpose of avoiding paying their fair share of local taxes. If everybody in your town is wealthy, tax rates can be extremely low without services suffering. This, in turn, makes more people with the means leave the central city, which is forced to either raise taxes or cut back on services, which causes even more people to leave. This pattern has occurred in nearly every major city in the country, with the result that many urban areas are desolate and scary. This cycle is vicious, parasitic, and wasteful.

Yes memphis!  And massively subsidized by federal and state highway construction and other infrastructure.  Hughly wasteful, regressive, and, of course, brutalizing to the poor left out.  Sounds like America to me!

[opebo]

Those houses in those photos look suburban to me.  Single family houses?  Don't you people know what a city is?

[opebo]

Alcon, BRTD, there is no such thing as a 'red light district' in an American city.  Such things do not exist, due to the illegality of prostitution and the vehement enforcement of these laws.

[opebo]

Alcon, BRTD, there is no such thing as a 'red light district' in an American city.  Such things do not exist, due to the illegality of prostitution and the vehement enforcement of these laws.

Well the Minneapolis one is full of strip clubs and sex businesses. There are also "massage parlors" and a few alleys that are places where hookers like to hang out which are largely ignored, the police are more concerned with only the drug dealers and gangs.

Wow.  In St. Louis the police have almost entirely eliminated street prostitution, and 'sex businesses' are a great rarity in all of Missouri.  They are constantly harrassed by the prudes in state government.  When I'm home I have to drive 40-60 minutes to rent pornos.

But about those Minneapolis hookers.. what do they look like?

[opebo]

But about those Minneapolis hookers.. what do they look like?

Pretty stereotypically whorish. None of them have ever been my thing. I've also been to some strip clubs that have reputations of being fronts for prostitution and I have to say the strippers there are far far less better looking than the ones at "legitimate" clubs.

But of course!  In the US the police state makes sex so hard to get that a woman may make a handsome living merely teasing the male, without ever actually giving him anything for his money, if she is sufficiently good looking.  And by the same method, women who are quite unattractive may sell their bodies, even though they would not be worth much of anything in a 'free market'. 

Still better to be satisfied by a pig than ripped off by a great beauty, wouldn't you say?

[opebo]

If I say the place leans young, you'll complain there are yuppies; if it leans old, you will complain that it is not youthful enough.

Not neccesarily. Not all young people are yuppies. I just don't like young AFFLUENT areas. My city and Minneapolis are fine.

Why not?

Alcon, such people are obnoxious and unpleasant.   Hubris and unwarranted self-congratulation always is.

[opebo]

Looked in a mirror recently?

Yes, and I am the most humble of men.  I attribute my every advantage to my birth rather than my own efforts, Al.

[opebo]

Exactly how much time have you spent in such a place?  I lived for four months in Redmond, Washington, in which the median income is around $66,000/year, and I never once encountered a person who was loaded with "hubris and unwarranted self-congratulation".

Oh please, such people usually think they are 'deserving' of their rewards because of some special personal qualities or value.