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This is how the suburbs die
The Week ^ | 1/21/206 | Michael Brendan Dougherty

Posted on 03/01/2016 10:15:16 AM PST by ek_hornbeck

In 1974, corporate behemoth GE moved its headquarters from Manhattan to the suburban Fairfield, Connecticut. Last week, it announced that it was leaving Fairfield for Boston's waterfront district. And as GE goes, it has people wondering whether the suburbs are going to lose their economic lifeblood.

Mad Men reminded us that mid-century advertising executives worked in the heart of Manhattan, but slowly began their retreat to the burbs as crime exploded in New York City. The corporate offices followed them and their growing families in the 1970s and 1980s.

(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: Connecticut; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: crime; demography; suburbs; surburbia; trends; zoning
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To: ek_hornbeck

Dem pols are redistributing tax dollars from suburbs to failed cities.


41 posted on 03/01/2016 11:30:58 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: ek_hornbeck

GE moved from CT to MA because of HIGH TAXES. The Dems in CT keep raising taxes and businesses keep moving out and now the state is near collapse - high taxes from libs


42 posted on 03/01/2016 11:32:14 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: ek_hornbeck

My niece lives in the Boston burbs and she says it just keeps getting more expensive.


43 posted on 03/01/2016 11:35:16 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Jim Noble

CT is as you described it adjacent to all the major highways.

There is another CT—but you would get lost finding it—it is along windy and hilly country roads.


44 posted on 03/01/2016 11:37:29 AM PST by cgbg (Epistemology is not a spectator sport.)
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To: Jim Noble

Nobody to spend locally.


45 posted on 03/01/2016 11:37:45 AM PST by Resolute Conservative
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To: Jim Noble

It reduces the tax base. Less money for welfare.


46 posted on 03/01/2016 11:38:57 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: Mears

I live in Minneapolis.
Many (not all) of the first ring suburbs are scarier than the downtown areas now. While the new developments farther out are very expensive.
It’s like a slow moving wave, with peaks and valleys regenerating from the center.
Of course there are pockets of exceptions with neighborhoods that fight to keep their homes nice, keep crime at bay, and schools focused on teaching rather than babysitting.


47 posted on 03/01/2016 11:39:08 AM PST by toast
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To: Georgia Girl 2

I have heard of exactly one affordable Boston suburb.
It’s called New Hampshire.


48 posted on 03/01/2016 11:39:20 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Ray76

“-high carbon lifestyle of the suburbs, or further subsidize the lower-carbon lifestyle of mass-transport living in big cities”

How about this load? Who rights this garbage?
FYI I lived and worked in the city up to age 29. Cities ain’t what they use to be. The triple decker I grew-up had 2 cars parked in the driveway. That same triple decker today has at least 12 cars parked out front. Low carbon lifestyle my ass.


49 posted on 03/01/2016 11:40:34 AM PST by outpostinmass2
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To: Jim Noble

Connecticut is not a ghetto

jesus


50 posted on 03/01/2016 11:43:04 AM PST by wardaddy (Ted Cruz endorser of Rubio is off my Christmas list......)
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To: ek_hornbeck

bump


51 posted on 03/01/2016 11:46:10 AM PST by Albion Wilde (Who can actually defeat the Democrats in 2016? -- the most important thing about all candidates.)
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To: Reeses

“The reason it costs thousands of dollars per month to rent a tiny apartment in a big city is because the energy consumption and pollution output to build and maintain vertical steel and concrete real estate is off the charts.”up, rents have gone down and rents have stagnated. Right

That is not correct. I have owned two apartment buildings in the city of Boston for over 20 years. Rents have gone up, rents have gone down and rents have stagnated. Now we are in an upswing. Tenants pay their own energy bills for their apartments. The consumption per square foot is the same as any dwelling with the same age furnace and appliances. My biggest costs are taxes and then maintenance followed by legal in that order. Rent is strictly supply and demand. The industry standard is 1% a month the worth of the property.


52 posted on 03/01/2016 11:55:52 AM PST by outpostinmass2
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To: Jim Noble
It used to be a beautiful, somewhat snooty liberal Republican state with a lot of nice little towns.

Only Fairfield county, upscale towns like Cheshire and parts of Litchfield were snooty. Waterbury, East Haven, Wallingford, Manchester were fine.

My CT relatives all talk about relocatingto South Carolina, except for the really old relatives that are keeping the not so old relatives there.
53 posted on 03/01/2016 11:56:23 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: ek_hornbeck
When GE announced the move to Boston, Jeff Immelt said that it wasn't about taxes and regulations as much as the "ecosystem,"

Yeah, I tried that line dumping a girl once. She didn't buy it.
54 posted on 03/01/2016 12:00:17 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: wardaddy

My family founded New Haven in 1635. I don’t even like driving through that area now.


55 posted on 03/01/2016 12:01:49 PM PST by Poser (Cogito ergo Spam - I think, therefore I ham)
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To: Travis T. OJustice

The suburbs have no charms to soothe the restless dreams of youth...


56 posted on 03/01/2016 12:06:31 PM PST by SoothingDave
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To: Zeneta
"The Grateful Dead aren't the best at what they do
they're the only ones who do what they do." -Bill Graham
Best Version of Shakedown Street



You tell me this town ain't got no heart
(Well, well, well - you can never tell)
The sunny side of the street is dark
(Well, well, well - You can never tell)
Maybe that's 'cause it's midnight
and the dark of the moon besides, or
maybe the dark is in your eyes (3x)
You know you got such dark eyes
Nothin shakin on Shakedown street
used to be the heart of town
Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart
You just gotta poke around
You say you've seen this town clear through 
(Well, well, well - you can never tell)
Nothin here that could interest you
(Well, well, well - you can never tell)
It's not because you missed out
on the thing we had to start
Maybe you had to much to fast (3x)
and just overplayed your part
Nothin shakin on Shakedown street
used to be the heart of town
Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart
You just gotta poke around
Since I'm, passing your way today
(Well, well, well - You can never tell)
I just stopped in cause I want to say
(Well, well, well - You can never tell)
I recall your darkness
when it crackled like a thundercloud
don't tell me this town ain't got no heart (3x)
when I can hear it beat out loud
Nothin shakin on Shakedown street
used to be the heart of town
Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart
You just gotta poke around

57 posted on 03/01/2016 12:07:30 PM PST by af_vet_1981 (The bus came by and I got on, That's when it all began.)
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To: Poser

I hear you. I used to live in Flint, Michigan.
Crime stats for Flint and New Haven are comparable.


58 posted on 03/01/2016 12:09:53 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Lorianne

“The suburbs will be the new ghettos.”

Wishful thinking. The affluent move back to the suburbs once they start a family. People are getting married later in life and starting families even later. The move back to the suburbs has slowed because of this trend.

Boston with all its gentrification and population increase is still closing public schools every year. Even the Catholic schools are closing up shop. San Francisco the same. You can’t have a vibrant city with no families and children. All your left with is an adult play land or tourist destination like much of Europe. Not a place to call home and raise a family.

Full disclosure I grew up in Boston.


59 posted on 03/01/2016 12:13:33 PM PST by outpostinmass2
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To: stylin19a

“This will accelerate the process.”

We’ve got another problem looming here in our nice little suburban town outside DC. The NoVa libs got their precious subway extended out to us. They seem to think that they will stay here and the DC locals will stay there. What with the push for “affordable housing” and the relatively cheaper living out here, I expect a big change within a few years. The libs will end up moving further away from the subway stations they brought in, and the rest of us will have to deal with the problems of “convenient public transportation”.


60 posted on 03/01/2016 12:15:40 PM PST by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
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