[mrsmel]

Not to ignore the forest for the trees, but...there are no more "liberals" in American politics. They are all leftists. It is a distinction with a major difference.

[stephenjohnbanker]

My home town, Newton Mass, is 90+% left wing liberal. Average sale price is 919,000. Case closed.

[GraceG]

Your Money or Your Life

Your Money will be taken if you live in San Fran Sicko
Your life willbe taken if you live in Detroitistan

Both places are Libs strongholds...

[Steve_Seattle]

Seattle is a classic example of this trend in operation. We have:

1. Geographical constraints: Puget Sound, Lake Washington.

2. Liberal political establishment.

3. Severe limits on building in undeveloped areas.

Hence: High housing prices and increased construction of multi-family housing in already-developed areas to protect "our" (elitist) quality of life. Many older single-family neighborhoods are gradually (and not so gradually) morphing into multi-family and mixed apartment/retail areas. Thus traffic congestion has gone from bad to worse.

Yogi Berra might put it this way: "Nobody drives their car in Seattle any more, there's too much traffic."

[hawkeye101]

In the midst of the Rust Belt, you have several cities that are booming with large state universities and/or large clinical hospitals: Iowa City, Ann Arbor, Madison, and Bloomington.

All three cities are overwhelmingly liberal, and are always ranked high on best places to live. But they receive BILLIONS more in state taxpayer money every year compared to other cities that are rotting former industrial giants (Fort Wayne, Flint, Racine, Waterloo).

Turn off the money flow to these liberal bastions, and they will rot faster than a dead carp in July.

[Albion Wilde]

Remembering our conversation about microapartment developments in Seattle back in September; this article at the link goes deeper into how residential per-foot prices vary all over the nation; and how local political pressures affect housing costs. Interesting.

[ScottinVA]

I refuse to live in cities, regardless of where my commute is. The hive lifestyle engenders a hive mentality. No thanks.