Comment by mrep | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mrep | Hacker News Reader

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> Museums, zoos, aquariums

I don't know about you, but those are things I'd go to at most once a year so taking the train/driving downtown for those rare events wasn't a big deal for me growing up.

> free events for kids, concerts just for babies,

more details?

> parks

My friends and I used to play basketball, american football, and ultimate frisbee all the time growing up. Now I live downtown and the parks I walk past never have enough free space to play those kind of sports. Not to mention the walking parks and playgrounds in the suburbs are usually way bigger and less crowded.

> swimming pools

Suburbs have these too and one of my friends growing up even had their own backyard pool where we would play sharks and minnows, use the pool basketball hoop to play 21, or use the diving board. Playing the former 2 are much harder in a packed city pool then a suburban pool due to crowds, let alone a private backyard one.

> little league, soccer league, skate parks,

Had all these in the suburbs when i grew up and again, those require a lot of space which is in short supply in the city so there's almost always more available options to do these in the suburbs.

> driving downtown

This is your problem. In a city you don't need to put yourself and your family in a deadly metallic stress machine to get places. And as a result you will feel happier and more connected.

Even in a city I am sometimes very shocked at what we put ourselves through to use a car. People constantly honking and flicking each other off with various insults and me on the sidewalk wishing they'd all calm down. (And when I used to drive too much, I was angry like them, and weighed substantially more.)

> deadly metallic stress machine

A packed 4-5-6 line on a sweltering summer late afternoon can be a bit of a metallic stress machine. Not deadly, at least.

I think that’s a particular New York City issue.

I think it applies well to a number of affluent urban areas in the US.

When I lived in a city I drove so little I frequently forgot where I parked my car.

You know it's okay that other people don't want the same thing as you, right?

It's difficult to go anywhere without putting yourself in a "deadly metallic stress machine", whether it be a car, plane, train, boat, etc. I suppose if you have that much fear of transportation, living somewhere with ample options within walking distance is best.

So other than call me afraid or claim I want to monopolize opinions in the universe, have you addressed the point that a good train system is much less deadly and much less stressful than single occupant vehicles?

It's always weird how people in the suburbs complain everywhere about how crappy cities are and yet if you turn around and say you like them they get all defensive...

If you want to live in the cities, it's fine. If you want to live in the suburbs, it's fine. If you want to live in the country, it's fine.

Different people have different needs, enjoy different things, and enjoy living different ways.

OK, but road fatalities per capita and per automobile are higher in the US than in Europe. As is obesity. I believe that our obsession with motor vehicles even for small tasks plays a role in this.

+1

Trains are objectively less deadly than cars. I wouldn't dispute that. However, I have zero fear of being in a car. You can reduce the risk of being in a car substantially by either driving the car, or having someone drive the car, who isn't impaired, isn't distracted, and is driving defensively.

Stressfulness is much more subjective. To me, city train systems are higher stress for me than the majority of the driving I do. Granted, I rarely drive in heavy traffic, which is more stressful. Since I don't encounter that while driving, I find subways more stressful since 1) I have to plan around their schedule 2) their schedules are always subject to delays 3) I have to be around strangers in close quarters and 4) you expose yourself to a higher risk of being victim to a crime

However, I have no problems riding the NYC Subway, Chicago's L, etc. when I visiting there.

There are also other ways to avoid miles besides living in a city. For example, I have a remote job, so I don't have a daily commute.

His comment generalizes to other forms of transit. The point isn't that he/she's driving downtown, it's that it's not convenient enough to go on a whim but that's not a problem for his/her use pattern. The fact that he/she chose to use a car is immaterial to the point being made.

I don't want to use the word virtue signaling because it's become a politically loaded term and I don't want to use it that way but your comment is just virtue signaling to the anti-car crowd.

Fine sir or madam, I don't care what you think of my virtue or lack thereof. But the health affects are real. Example: I was obese. I largely quit driving, or drastically reduced it. I am no longer obese or overweight; my BMI is 21, down from 33. If you want to live worse because you decided that is "virtue signalling", go ahead and ignore the suggestion. But the benefit will exist whether you believe in it or not.

> I don't know about you, but those are things I'd go to at most once a year so taking the train/driving downtown for those rare events wasn't a big deal for me growing up.

Do you have children? I ask, because the frequency of attending these and all the other public institutions skyrockets when you have kids.

Before I had kids, it had been literally decades since I stepped foot into a public library. After we had kids, we go all the time. Same with museums, parks, pools, everything.

i live in berlin and visit a zoo of some kind (there are many) with my kids almost every week (some weeks multiple times).

Just for the heck of it, and because I have a thing for Google Earth, I counted the number of baseball diamonds (easy to spot from the air) within the city of Boston but gave up once I got over one hundred. Not counting Fenway Park :)

https://www.statista.com/statistics/189841/number-of-ball-di...

I’d bet that most towns and suburbs with 10,000 inhabitants have 2-4 of those, or more :-)

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