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  #61  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 6:15 PM
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So what that we are flat and there is no big body of water around. Flat means easier driving on snowy/icy roads in winter, less sprawl because of physical barriers, and who needs to be next to a river that is basically a series of sedimentation ponds created by locks and dams, or next to a lake that is basically an agricultural sewer. And what is really so bad about flat land and corn and soybean fields?
i enjoyed columbus' riverfront when i visited for a forum meet there about 10 years ago. (at least it has a waterfront!)
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  #62  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 6:16 PM
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Philadelphia
-Philly is the best damn city in the U.S.
-Gentrification is the greatest thing that has recently happened to the city. The people who fail to see this, are usually the newbies who didn't grow up in West Philly during the early 2000s when crime was still high and we were still losing population. That was my reality as a kid.
-The Philly School Distirct isn't as bad as people make it out to be.
-The "soda tax" is a good thing
-Best skylines (in order): NYC, Chicago, Philly, San Francisco, Seattle
-The Comcast Technology Center is the best-looking of the supertalls U/C outside of NYC.

New Jersey
-Camden probably has the most unrealized potential of any city in the state.
-South Jersey and Northwest Jersey are both better than North Jersey.
-The entire state feels like a huge conglomeration of suburbs split between NYC and Philly.

Boston
-As cool as a city that Boston is, it is slightly overhyped.
-The T pales in comparison to other transit systems I have used.
-Cambridge, Brookline, and other "suburbs" should probably be incorporated into the city proper.
-Downtown seemed a little underwhelming.

New York City
-Not as pedestrian-friendly as people say it is.
-SEPTA, WMATA, and the T have cleaner stations than the MTA.

Baltimore
-Outside of rowhomes, I just don't see all of the similarities to Philly that people say exist.
-There is no possible way to justify the riots of 2015. That behavior is inexcusable.
Could you elaborate on why you believe it is a superior city than the rest?
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  #63  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 6:19 PM
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- The 28th Street Stop in NYC is not needed. Like, walk five blocks uptown from 23rd or five blocks south downtown from 33/34th streets.

- Sears Tower would look a lot better silver like they had planned back in 2009.

- BIG's 2WTC is a lot more suitable for NYC than Foster's.

- London's skyline is a disaster. Lack of flow, correlation. Feels like there was no type of plan when building those skyscrapers to create a "skyline."
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  #64  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 6:32 PM
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1. kind of disagree. i guess it depends on the neighborhood. urban education is complex.
It really isn't complex. The vast majority of difference in performance of a school is basically due to selection bias - a different sort of incoming student results in a different result. Take race, economic background, and education level of the parents out of the equation, and differences between schools are pretty negligible.

Further, there's a lot of data out there now studying the life outcomes of children who just barely get into selective schools - like magnets with entrance exams - with kids of similar academic background. On the whole, no difference in adult outcomes.

Schools just don't matter that much, if at all. Getting into a good school won't make you any smarter, in exactly the same way that getting onto the basketball team in 9th grade won't make you any taller.

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4. yes. completely agree. a tree canopy might be nice in hot places but in city likes mine, it clogs drains and makes more of a mess than anything. oceans process more oxygen than trees anyway.
I was thinking more about use of street trees in zero-setback rowhouse neighborhoods with very narrow streets. Here's an example from Pittsburgh I consider "overdone." The trees block a clear view of the interesting Victorian architecture for like half of the year.

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5. you mean, we need something else to walk to besides a place to spend our money? mm, I guess I agree. but I think that's already changing anyway. retail will become 50 percent internet based and neighborhood commerce will shift to entertainment and service type businesses. or things you may immediately need, like stuff at the hardware store. boutique businesses will see a resurgence too.
I think within the next century we'll have to adjust to much of what we now think of as commerce being done by machines for little to no cost. If we want the walkable neighborhood to still have relevance - if we want something other than neighborhoods as collections of houses - we'll need to try to find some financially feasible model to have "third spaces" within neighborhoods not tied to profit-making ventures.
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  #65  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 6:38 PM
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
It really isn't complex. The vast majority of difference in performance of a school is basically due to selection bias - a different sort of incoming student results in a different result. Take race, economic background, and education level of the parents out of the equation, and differences between schools are pretty negligible.

Further, there's a lot of data out there now studying the life outcomes of children who just barely get into selective schools - like magnets with entrance exams - with kids of similar academic background. On the whole, no difference in adult outcomes.

Schools just don't matter that much, if at all. Getting into a good school won't make you any smarter, in exactly the same way that getting onto the basketball team in 9th grade won't make you any taller.



I was thinking more about use of street trees in zero-setback rowhouse neighborhoods with very narrow streets. Here's an example from Pittsburgh I consider "overdone." The trees block a clear view of the interesting Victorian architecture for like half of the year.



I think within the next century we'll have to adjust to much of what we now think of as commerce being done by machines for little to no cost. If we want the walkable neighborhood to still have relevance - if we want something other than neighborhoods as collections of houses - we'll need to try to find some financially feasible model to have "third spaces" within neighborhoods not tied to profit-making ventures.
well we could start by coming out of our collective, introvert hobbit holes and actually meeting, and gasp, socializing with the neighbors. do a property search of Midwest homes built between 1940 and 1970 and marvel at how many have full, swinging basement bars! its kind of awesome. i think downsizing, automation and the sharing economy will actually benefit our social skills. it will be a golden age of block parties and bbq's. just no jello salad plz.
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  #66  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 6:59 PM
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and their mass robbery issues too!
As an admirer of the urban decay aesthetic in 70's films I'm pro mass robbery and gang control of public infrastructure though!
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  #67  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 7:10 PM
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As an admirer of the urban decay aesthetic in 70's films I'm pro mass robbery and gang control of public infrastructure though!
lets get down to it boppers..........you must be from coney island....a bart train really was held up bandit style last weekend too, did you read about it? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b0288f5dc7c012

apocalyptic movie trivia time. when john carpenter was scoping film locations for escape from new york, he used then present day downtown east saint louis for many of the opening sequences....save us snake!
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  #68  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 7:24 PM
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1. There is absolutely nothing wrong with urban public schools in the U.S. in general. If the youngish parents who move to the suburbs "for the schools" just enrolled their kids in the city school in their neighborhood, the kids would have functionally identical life outcomes. Our entire system of valuing neighborhoods based upon school districts is a sham.
You can see this in the Minneapolis public schools. Southwest High School, which draws primarily from the richest parts of the city, is one of the best public schools in the state. The other high schools in Minneapolis are among the worst in terms of test scores. Do the people who run Southwest know something that nobody else in the city public school system knows, or do they just have better students?
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  #69  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 7:42 PM
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^^^im not really a well versed in modern, urban school issues but aren't many districts funded through property taxes? and if a district had a lot of tax liability or delinquencies, that seems like it would directly affect the quality of education given. im not saying the qualifications of the teachers is lowered, or even the academic potential of the student is, buuuut, their resources are possibly diminished in poor neighborhoods. does city government pick up the slack then? id probably agree with his original claim that most schools are in good shape, but most American don't live in poverty either. the national poverty rate is what, 14%? . if a school district had 60 percent of their household in poverty, id bargain that school is probably not cranking out the valedictorians. context totally matters in this case.
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Last edited by pdxtex; May 1, 2017 at 8:00 PM.
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  #70  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 7:52 PM
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Originally Posted by eschaton View Post
It really isn't complex. The vast majority of difference in performance of a school is basically due to selection bias - a different sort of incoming student results in a different result. Take race, economic background, and education level of the parents out of the equation, and differences between schools are pretty negligible.

Further, there's a lot of data out there now studying the life outcomes of children who just barely get into selective schools - like magnets with entrance exams - with kids of similar academic background. On the whole, no difference in adult outcomes.

Schools just don't matter that much, if at all. Getting into a good school won't make you any smarter, in exactly the same way that getting onto the basketball team in 9th grade won't make you any taller.
.
This is all true.

The main benefit of keeping your kid out of inner city public schools is protecting them from violence.
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  #71  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 8:32 PM
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Originally Posted by pdxtex View Post
well we could start by coming out of our collective, introvert hobbit holes and actually meeting, and gasp, socializing with the neighbors. do a property search of Midwest homes built between 1940 and 1970 and marvel at how many have full, swinging basement bars! its kind of awesome. i think downsizing, automation and the sharing economy will actually benefit our social skills. it will be a golden age of block parties and bbq's. just no jello salad plz.
good stuff here



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Originally Posted by ChargerCarl View Post
As an admirer of the urban decay aesthetic in 70's films I'm pro mass robbery and gang control of public infrastructure though!
My favorite genre of film. Mid-70s to early 80s urban settings. Most everyone fighting with bats, and switchblades if it's real serious... and the real bad dude has the pistol.

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Originally Posted by Chef View Post
You can see this in the Minneapolis public schools. Southwest High School, which draws primarily from the richest parts of the city, is one of the best public schools in the state. The other high schools in Minneapolis are among the worst in terms of test scores. Do the people who run Southwest know something that nobody else in the city public school system knows, or do they just have better students?
Better parents and better students.
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  #72  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 8:35 PM
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My favorite genre of film. Mid-70s to early 80s urban settings. Most everyone fighting with bats, and switchblades if it's real serious... and the real bad dude has the pistol.
From an aesthetic standpoint America peaked in the 70's.
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  #73  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 8:51 PM
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lets get down to it boppers..........you must be from coney island....a bart train really was held up bandit style last weekend too, did you read about it? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b0288f5dc7c012
That's not really "held up bandit style" though. A mob of teenagers swarmed a train, and strong-armed a few people during the chaos. It was over in seconds.

Getting held up bandit style sounds more like every passenger getting robbed at gunpoint. Like these incidents on Muni:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/1...us-3159310.php
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/M...on-3117677.php

I haven't heard of entire bus/train loads of passengers getting robbed recently though, just a couple at a time:

http://kron4.com/2017/04/27/two-peop...isco-muni-bus/
http://sfist.com/2010/02/18/woman_ro...on_undergr.php

Sometimes the victim just gets dragged off the bus:

http://hoodline.com/2017/04/woman-dr...illmore-street
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/201...m-at-gunpoint/

the most fun is when someone hijacks and shoots at the bus:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/attempted-...fety-protocol/
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  #74  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 9:05 PM
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Mountains are a very overrated aspect in the cities that have them. Unless you've got a setup like Rio going on, nobody really cares that much. Denver is basically a flat plain city.
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  #75  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 9:30 PM
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That's not really "held up bandit style" though. A mob of teenagers swarmed a train, and strong-armed a few people during the chaos. It was over in seconds.

Getting held up bandit style sounds more like every passenger getting robbed at gunpoint. Like these incidents on Muni:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/1...us-3159310.php
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/M...on-3117677.php

I haven't heard of entire bus/train loads of passengers getting robbed recently though, just a couple at a time:

http://kron4.com/2017/04/27/two-peop...isco-muni-bus/
http://sfist.com/2010/02/18/woman_ro...on_undergr.php

Sometimes the victim just gets dragged off the bus:

http://hoodline.com/2017/04/woman-dr...illmore-street
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/201...m-at-gunpoint/

the most fun is when someone hijacks and shoots at the bus:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/attempted-...fety-protocol/
wow, that's a bunch of wild west horsesh!t. no wonder so many of you bay area f#$$ers are moving to oregon. i would too! our criminals are not that brazen or ambitious. they are just psycho and will set you on fire at dennys....http://www.oregonlive.com/happy-vall...parent_ra.html
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  #76  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 9:33 PM
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Originally Posted by The North One View Post
Mountains are a very overrated aspect in the cities that have them.
Interesting opinion.

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Unless you've got a setup like Rio going on, nobody really cares that much. Denver is basically a flat plain city.
Oh, so you're not complaining about cities with mountains, you're complaining about cities without them. Such as Denver. Though to be fair, there are some big mountains next to Denver (i assume people in that kind of situation, who say "X city is mountainous!", when the mountains are actually next door, is what's made you bitter about mountains to begin with lol).

Maybe next you can tell us how overrated coastal settings are, using the example of Houston.
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  #77  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 9:47 PM
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wow, that's a bunch of wild west horsesh!t. no wonder so many of you bay area f#$$ers are moving to oregon. i would too! our criminals are not that brazen or ambitious.
Yeah, it sucks (those "entire bus" robberies i linked were from 1995 through), and crime is definitely worse than Portland...But I'm pretty sure most people leave the Bay Area because of the cost of housing, not because they're scared of crime (unless they live in a rough area).
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  #78  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 9:50 PM
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Mountains are a very overrated aspect in the cities that have them. Unless you've got a setup like Rio going on, nobody really cares that much. Denver is basically a flat plain city.
it depends on what side of them you are on and whether or not you get the s.a.d. denver itself is pretty flat but its also in a gigantic rain shadow. all of the precipitation falls on the west side of the mountains and bypasses denver for the most part. tah dah, 300 sunny/partly cloudy days. if you live in the PNW, sequim, wa is your promise land. it sits in the rain shadow of the Olympic range. when all those geeks in seattle are slitting their wrists and listen to morrisey records in January, people in sequim are only get 18 inches of rain a year! that's great! they probably work at safeway though. not great.
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  #79  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 9:53 PM
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Interesting opinion.



Oh, so you're not complaining about cities with mountains, you're complaining about cities without them. Such as Denver. Though to be fair, there are some big mountains next to Denver (i assume people in that kind of situation, who say "X city is mountainous!", when the mountains are actually next door, is what's made you bitter about mountains to begin with lol).

Maybe next you can tell us how overrated coastal settings are, using the example of Houston.
Bitter? Just sharing an unpopular opinion, as the thread asks. You seem triggered. If you wanna get technical Denver doesn't have mountains since they're not in the city itself and don't really offer any views for neighborhoods but people will always gush about the mountains when speaking of the city and they'll say they moved there because of the mountains when they're actually out of the way and don't make a difference in daily life. The PNW is similar, in this aspect but at least Portland and Seattle have hills in their actual neighborhoods, but the fact that they're near mountains is still an overrated aspect that people will credit as some sort of a huge advantage. LA is also a similar example to Denver, most LA neighborhoods are on flat land that look no different than a Chicago suburb, yet there's this elitist attitude when people talk about Chicago being flat.
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  #80  
Old Posted May 1, 2017, 10:17 PM
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^^^if you want out your door, alpine pursuits, you'll have to go to a proper ski town, or maybe boulder. l.a. is very hilly all over the place too. portland is pretty and hilly but only on the west side of town. the rest of the city is flat as a pancake. seattle is very hilly though. all over the place. its like rome and its seven hills. plus its got ocean views, forest view and mountain views so I say it wins for big city west coast beauty. unless your Vancouver. that's the champ. my unpopular opinion is midwesterners are topographically conscious. I was too and I moved. but in hindsight, lakes and trees are just as pretty as anything else. you couldn't pay me to live in north dakota though.
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