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Comment by thieving_magpie | Hacker News Reader

>US really underutilizes public spaces and many things become a financial transaction

I cannot understand the underutilization of public spaces. That's very far from my experiences but it may just be regional.

I have no idea what you mean about "many things become a financial transaction".

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A huge amount of things in the US seem to be go somewhere and pay money to use the space. Whether its taking a class somewhere, a gym, going to a mall/store. Even then outside a few major cities, most places you need to drive to public places.

I feel like part of this is the ability to exclude others; ironically exclusion (or exclusivity) seems to be an important part of the American identity. I had hosted a birthday party at a public park at one point, and one of the parents had asked me if I was worried about other people being there.

In the US, we have a problem of "drained pool" politics[1], where white people will vote to take away public amenities (like the eponymous public swimming pools) from themselves, because they can no longer exclude Black people from them.

[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/16/opinion/ezra-klein-podcas...

I mean, some of the US is like that. Other parts of the US, like where I live, have some pretty good public spaces available. I've got a park down the street with soccer fields, baseball and softball fields, a half court basketball setup, a fishing pond, picnic tables at the edge of some woods with grills, multiple playgrounds focusing on different kids ages/sizes/abilities. I can hop on a bus near my home and go to the larger sports complex with fancier fields and more organized teams, or the recreation centers with gymnasiums, board games to check out, tennis courts, waterparks, hobby meetings, etc. I see people using these facilities a good bit, there's usually people walking the trails around the parks, children playing on the playgrounds, people hanging out around the picnic tables, the pool and waterpark facilities get crowded at times. And then I can hop on the train and take it downtown to all the parks and other resources available there. And I live in a suburb!

Lots of people in the US who feel there are no public city services often just don't realize the services their city already provides or are unaware of how to use them. Even in my city which has absolutely wonderful city services, I often find friends and neighbors completely unaware of the things which exist. We have busses running all over my town but I imagine if you asked any random person if they knew any local bus route they would have no idea where to even begin.

Well you cant rely on public space being available unless you permit it which is a hassle. So not a great option for a regular thing. These dancing grannies can only do it bc they bully people into leaving.

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