I wouldn’t say it’s for the sake of owning a house. The point of my post is it’s pragmatic if you’re planning on staying for at least 5 years. You’re essentially locking in your living costs for the next 30 years, which eat up a good chunk of anyone’s budget. Rent in urban centers always goes up over time. If you make really good money and it’s irrelevant to you how much you pay for shelter, then whatever. But I don’t know a lot of people who are in this position and wouldn’t love to inflation proof their living costs
Housing, public spaces, and transit - the three things the sub hates.
Urban hell is a stretch. Yeah, they removed the greenery but for trams? I'm celebrating this. And it's so clean, too. if this was anywhere in the US, I would be impressed.
I'm less concerned with people denying the holocaust. I'm personally frightened by the ones celebrating it and calling for the extermination of the Jewish state (which is literally what "from the river to the sea" means). This is among the progressive crowd, too
I'd say it's gotten way worse in Texas. My spouse is a teacher and there was a time when he could buy a home on a teacher's salary. That's not the case anymore. We sold our home in the Dallas area in 2018 for $270k and it's valued at almost $400k now. This was a 1200 sq ft 1950 home. I love the house and we put a lot of work and love into it, but $400k is insane.
Left DFW 6 years ago and never looked back. We lived in Richardson (which I still love and always run/bike my old stomping grounds) but the rest of the area/state is awful. We visit family quite often in Wylie and I still can't believe how oppressively hot and humid it is. Dallas/Collin counties have become much more sprawling and the traffic is horrific. We settled in Denver. I always say our standard of living decreased in Denver but our quality of life has greatly improved. It's currently 53 degrees outside (on a July morning) and I have all the windows wide open.
I'm with you but my pragmatic side takes over. Our mortgage on our 800 sq foot house in the Denver area is $1,250 and another $300 or so for insurance and property taxes. For reference, we paid $2k/month on a slightly larger rental house about 5 miles away - in 2019. Can't imagine what it is now. I do miss the rental house and the freedom we had, but one day, I know we'll make this place our own and I'll fall in love with this house (the area not so much, but I'm 15 minutes from the foothills, which is the whole reason we moved here).
To be honest, I don’t necessarily trust my fellow Englehoodlums to not elect some nutjob, so I’m all for maintaining the status quo. We’re a small city with big needs. I want to focus on parks and the litter all over the city and our schools, not some ideological fight. Leave that to Washington.
Left 6 years ago for a multitude of reasons, but extreme weather being at the top. While we weren’t subject to rolling blackouts (we were on the same grid as a police station), many of our family members were. I had noticed a decrease in severe storms but an increase in their severity and duration. One spring day, we had so much rain that week that our backyard started to flood. We weren’t anywhere near a flood plain so there was no reason for that to happen and this is the first time we’d seen that happen after almost a decade in the house. The summer after we left, our town had flooded in the lowest points. We still go back and visit, having just returned from a 2 week trip. The heat and humidity are unbearably oppressive.
I was looking for this comment. I’m with you - I don’t see a pathway to this, from a legal/constitutional perspective. Our checks and balances have held up so far, eight years after the start of the Trump experiment. Federal judges appointed by Trump aren’t necessarily voting in ways that are favorable to the GOP.
I would argue that in most American cities, transit is a joke. RTD here in Denver, fairly dense and walkable compared to other US cities of its size, has eliminated service since the pandemic and now we learned that there are glaring problems with the light rail infrastructure. Couple that with drug use on the trains and busses, needless to say ridership continues to trend downward post pandemic
Maybe not evident in the photos, but they actually used to be very pedestrian friendly (not sure if that’s still the case; I left the USSR in 1991). We had friends who lived in the newly built ones in the 80s and while they seemed sprawling, you could easily get around on foot. They were often connected by underpasses through intersections that would take you into the courtyard of a “complex” that had benches and playgrounds and babushkas staring out the windows (Soviet CCTV, if you will). The grocery stores and farmers markets were usually easily accessible by foot and there was often a bus/tram stop that would take you into the city. I miss my old life there
These used to be nice buildings in the 90s before the fall of communism. I left the USSR in 1991 and still have nostalgia for this world. The old commie cities don’t look like this anymore, especially the residential areas. They’re in a dire state of disrepair.
Northern Minnesota, maybe Duluth? I know it’s affordable compared to where I live (Denver) but I don’t know how affordable
It’s not a cure, but it definitely helps, in addition to eating a healthy diet, getting adequate, quality sleep, and maintaining routines. I notice my mental health declines when I don’t spend enough time outdoors moving my body. I couldn’t do all these things without my meds, but meds alone aren’t enough
Agreed. We definitely don’t pay enough in property taxes for the services that the city needs
They’re in Lakewood. Check out their Instagram @orrs.tradingpost
Right, this is the thing that trips me out. I grew up in a working class immigrant family and things like this were not in the budget. My parents made just enough to afford the basics…all food was prepared at home, cars were affordable with nothing automatic, clothes from garage sales, etc. We didn’t draw attention to ourselves in the neighborhood and certainly didn’t want the cops called on us (we came here legally but any brush with the criminal justice system meant $$ out the door). When I look around me, the neighbors firing off fireworks look like they’re in worse financial shape. Makes no sense…and then they wonder why they can’t make ends meet
We eat out about once a week. We’re usually $700-$800 for two
Englewood Schools has been doing it for a while. What a great program
That woman…I wish she would just realize she’s unfit for the job.
Ranked Choice Voting & pending citizen initiative to elect a Mayor
englewoodco