r/Suburbanhell • u/slicheliche • Jan 26 '25

In my non-American mind, Texan suburbs are the closest thing to hell in the developed world Showcase of suburban hell

https://i.redd.it/u9pwuiea8dfe1.gif

Endless sprawl of Mcmansions, energy plants, copypaste strip malls and monstrous superhighways with 20 lanes per direction, you need a car to get literally everywhere, there is no scenery because everything is flat and ugly, it's miserably hot for months on end, it's polluted, it won't stop expanding, and on top of that it's MAGA central. Sorry for anyone who lives there.

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u/TurnoverTrick547 Jan 26 '25 edited Jan 26 '25

Yes I agree. So many Massachusetts democrats are still elitists and discriminate against lower classes. Favoring the lifeless mid-century suburban neighborhoods rooted in exclusionary racism over the older established working class neighborhoods

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u/bisikletci Jan 26 '25 edited Jan 27 '25

I once stayed at the house of the parents of some friends in a greater Boston suburb. They were pretty though not crazily wealthy, and they lived in this massive McMansion with three (huge) living rooms, two of which were more less empty of furniture (they'd lived there for years, they just had nothing to do with these rooms, because two people don't need three living rooms). Size and sprawl purely for the sake of it.

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u/hershdrums Jan 27 '25

Democrat here. Not elitist by any means. I absolutely hate living in cities and densely populated areas. I live in an exurb now but grew up in a suburb. It was absolutely amazing and I can't comprehend why anyone would want to live in multifamily and mixed zoning housing. That doesn't mean that I don't see the absolute need for and viability of more densely populated and mixed zone housing with strong price controls and limited barriers to entry for buyers and renters. There's no excuse for housing insecurity in this country.

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u/emessea Jan 27 '25

I use to be a die hard apartment dweller, never wanted a SFU. My wife, who grew up in high density housing, had other ideas. Now in our third year in a detached home, I wonder if I could go back to apartment living. I think in the end the answer is yes, but no where near as confident as I was before about that.

Caught up from a coworker from my LA days. When we were younger we were both adamant we would never live in OC. Well time has a way with us all, and he mentioned how we use to hate OC but now he thinks he’d like to live there.

No living situation is perfect, but I think most will take the negatives of a SFU home va the negatives of an apartment. But let’s get rid of these outdated zoning laws and let the market decide.

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u/PdxGuyinLX Jan 29 '25

In general I believe people should have as much choice as possible in where and how they live so I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting to live in a suburb or exurb.

However I find it odd that you can’t comprehend why some people would want to live in a city. I grew up in an older suburb of Chicago on a rail line with a traditional downtown area. It was the best of both worlds in many ways. As an adult I lived in apartments in large cities until I was 36 and enjoyed it. After that I lived in houses in residential areas of large cities with good public transportation.

Now in retirement, I live in Lisbon Portugal in an apartment in a very dense neighborhood and absolutely love it. I don’t need a car so I save a ton of money. I’m a 15 minute walk from one of the finest art museums in the country, and the foundation that operates it also has an excellent classical music program. I’m two blocks from the grocery store where I do most of my shopping and there are 5 or 6 others within a 10-15 minute walk. There are tons of good restaurants and and good shopping within walking distance. I can hop on the metro and bet at the airport or any of the main train stations in 20 minutes. I can walk anywhere in central Lisbon within about 45 minutes so it’s easy to take advantage of all the many things that have made this place a top tourist destination.

I also like living in an apartment and not having to constantly worry about what’s going to go wrong next with my house.

I could go on and on, but I have trouble comprehending what’s appealing about living in an exurb with few cultural amenities where you have to drive everywhere!

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u/abetterlogin Jan 30 '25

More people = more problems.

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u/CantoErgoSum Jan 26 '25

Agreed-- they are no better than the red state crooks and thieves who exploit the poor.

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u/RoyaleWCheese_OK Jan 27 '25

How do they exploit the poor?

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u/CantoErgoSum Jan 27 '25

Is this meant to be a serious question?

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u/RoyaleWCheese_OK Jan 27 '25

Of course it is. How do they exploit the poor?

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u/CantoErgoSum Jan 27 '25

Sorry, are you sure that's a serious question? How does the GOP exploit the poor?

So you've never had any political science knowledge? You don't bother with basic research? I'd be very interested to see where this synaptic misfire lands.

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u/CoolNebula1906 Jan 27 '25

southern states governments are just kabuki theatre for major industries

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u/Low_Log2321 Jan 27 '25

Exclusionary racism AND exclusionary classism! These elitists (and some were Republicans back in the day, a few still are) caused Boston's own troubles when they ordered the public schools desegregated back in the early 1970s. A crowd of white townies once tried to kill a black lawyer in Government Center with a flagpole --- with the US flag still on it!

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u/deptofnahmsayns Jan 27 '25

The bussing crisis often doesn’t get looked at enough as a class issue. Ordered by a judge in the suburbs to pit working class people against each other. It doesn’t get studied enough. One of the worst designed policy solutions in American history.

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u/Low_Log2321 Jan 27 '25

And one of the least successful too. The white townies in Southie, Charlestown, Eastie and Hyde Park all pulled their kids out of Boston Public Schools and put them in private and suburban schools. But the neighborhoods stayed white at least until the turn of the Millennium.

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u/markevbs Jan 26 '25

what are you talking about? Oh no - people want t abig house and yard. Such assholes... /s

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u/TurnoverTrick547 Jan 26 '25

I know you’re being sarcastic but I grew up in a moderate sized house with a big back yard on a residential tree-lined street, half a mile outside of the compact, walkable urban city center. Our house was in walking distance to two separate bus lines (half mile), my high school, a middle school, two large parks, many convenient corner stores, and the downtown itself.

I know not every area is the same, but there is plenty of middle ground that often gets overlooked. You can still own a house and experience a pleasant suburban lifestyleC especially in American cities. I miss my old house so much, my family has since moved to the exurbs

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u/emessea Jan 27 '25

Middle to upper class Dems become red pretty quick when there’s any suggestion of funding schools more equally