[upchuck]

I lived in subdivisions with “next door neighbors” all my life.

After I sold my business and commenced to think seriously of retiring, I began to realize that living in a subdivision really sucks. Little real privacy*, peer pressure to “conform,” etc. That’s when I started searching for some land.

Today I live on 15+ acres in beautiful Aiken County, SC. Oh, I still have neighbors. The nearest one lives almost 1/4 mile away. And we socialize... when we want to.

* My definition of privacy: Would you feel comfortable going outside and walking around your house stark naked? Yes? Then you’ve got privacy!

[dalereed]

Walking is the absolute last resort for mobility!

I put my bicycle, including it’s Whizzer engine, in the trash on my 16th birthday.

[IYAS9YAS]

Walkable cities are very nice indeed, and I’ve been fortunate to live in several of them: Boston, New York, San Francisco and now my present city, Portland.

Walkable. Those cities? Walk them after dark and come back and tell me how "walkable" they are.

[Reeses]

Leftism is little more than size envy. It starts in childhood with “No fair! His cake is bigger than mine!” and matures into “No fair! His house/car/SUV/boat/TV/family/pet/cigar is bigger than mine!”

[cicero2k]

This hits near and dear. I've been a freeper for years, but traded in my reachable only by car place in CA for a very walkable Golden Colorado condo in 2008. After marrying my wife, perhaps the best move I ever made. Not just because we avoided a 30% drop in home value, but also because we wanted walking to be the dominant lifestyle activity. We walk to coffee, restaurants, museums, doctors, church, theater and even the local symphony. No crime issues other than errant skateboarders. I just turned 60 and despite a cancer scare, absolutely healthy.

I salute those who stay off the grid and those that carry. We're on the same team, but have different approaches.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

I started a home business that will some day be “sustainable,” despite the commies. I like seeing birds and trees outside my house. Imagine that.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Whoever wrote this did so from outside suburban planning experience. Major corporations adore the idea of huge planned shopping districts, easily accessible to the delivery of goods, but nowhere near housing. Which is why they need huge parking lots.

But this is not the only way to do things. A suburbs is a golden opportunity for small and single proprietor businesses to have a piece of the economic pie as well, trading inventory diversity for convenience. They locate snug against a suburban area and in some cases in an urban area, which strongly undermines the giant corporate model.

Yet this drives major corporations nuts, because despite their huge inventories, their bottom line is based on selling those common items sold by mom & pop stores. Putting the M&Ps out of business by undercutting their prices is a big part of the corporate operations.

Importantly, when some city sets up a “downtown” district to feature small, local businesses, giant corporation franchises are there in a heartbeat to take advantage of the opportunity as well. But in the process they poison it, because they strip any local color away for their mass produced products made with minimum wage workers.

They will even go to court and spend a fortune to get access to such places, which are often designed to keep such corporate franchises out. It is less that they want in, than to keep local competition out.

[wac3rd]

Stay with other unarmed Libs in cities, where low-income can sit next to Dem yuppies....it’s all good.

Now stay the F away from me, Commie Greentard.

[twistedwrench]

“California Declares War on Suburbia”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303302504577323353434618474.html