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Comment by andrewmcwatters | Hacker News Reader

I'll take that as a "yes." No, I own a home in a major metro. Believe it or not, I can bike to get groceries, but that's uncommon. Most people generally choose not to. They still have a choice here.

In a 10-minute walk you have 3 grocery stores. In a 10-minute drive, I have 30 to choose from with specialty stores I haven't even gotten around to exploring yet. There's no comparison whatsoever.

You generally don't own a home in a "car-free" city.

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A 10 minute drive is not comparable to a 10 minute walk in any way.

Not sure where you are getting at with the specialty store thing - the nicest stores are always in cities, either a walk/bus/metro ride away. People in cities do more than ... walk to places. :)

What it really comes down to is this: a preference to live/work/etc in and around big-box parking lots and highways (where 70% of the land is parking), or to do the same in walkable neighborhoods with minimal parking (space replaced with more cool stuff).

Why do you think "car-free" cities are homeless? My neighborhood has apartment buildings obviously, but it also has some single family homes and condos which can be bought and owned. Obviously a single family home there is more expensive than one a 40 minute drive out but it's actually still less expensive than a suburb of Toronto or Vancouver.

Car-free doesn't just mean just skyscrapers. It just means not-shit design centered around metal boxes instead of people.

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