Comment on How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 3 days agoI was always jealous of the kids that grew up in the city. They could do stuff. Where I lived, it wasn’t really safe to travel on foot because there were no sidewalks, and everything was far away. They’d tell me about how they went ice skating , or to a board game cafe, or to the beach, and I’d be like cool i was stuck inside alone. I don’t know if you can put a price tag on this exactly, but for me this would have been priceless.
One of my former coworkers was in NJ, and he spent a lot of time driving his kid places. He missed out on social +/or work events and his kid missed out on autonomy. Also doesn’t have a clear price tag, but I think it’s valuable.
It is also possible to buy a home in the city. Some people I know bought their apartment. They seemed happy with it, but we never discussed financial details.
IMALlama@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I spent 15 years living in central NJ and there really isn’t much to do there, especially during the winter when you can’t do outdoors things.
We’re currently living in SE MI and the Detroit Metro has so much more to do. Yeah, it’s not the absolute best but we have a great art museum, a zoo, tons of outdoor parks, and a number of medium sized museums. Relatively cheap land and taxes means there are plenty of commercial places to take the kids to for indoor play. Between these and the museums we keep the kids busy during the winter. Every “town” in the Metro has an annual event, so when it’s warm out theres basically one every weekend. Tons of art and music festivals, along with car shows.
NYC and Philly have nicer museums, and more cultural attractions, but I suspect they don’t have as many indoor play type things. I also have no idea about the school situation. Thankfully, our public schools are pretty good here.
I didn’t realize you could own apartments, but I guess that makes sense. I doubt it would be cheap, but it’s good to know it’s an option.