BIKE: interesting take on sprawl

[kristen theiler]

In addition to my lack of understanding the need for a
huge house, moving the family to the 'burbs where most
people are just like you also seems to foster
intolerance. If I ever have kids, I want them to be in
an area with a large mix of race and class. I want
them to understand that not everyone has enough money
to buy TVs for each child's room, give each of them
their own bathroom, buy lots of video games, etc.
Volunteering for those less fortunate seems to be a
novelty as parents rush their children to soccer,
tennis, dance, etc. Perhaps I'm feeling melancholy
this fine Monday morning, but I just find this all
very sad.

Kristen Theiler

--- Michael  Zakes <watcyc> wrote:

>            
>
http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?next=2&ColumnsName=fha
> 
> 
> 
>             by Froma Harrop  
>      
>         
>       All newspaper editors want to know what their
> readers like. If you would like to read this feature
> in your local newspaper, please do not hesitate to
> share your enthusiasm with your local newspaper
> editor.
> 
> 
>       RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2005, AND
> THEREAFTER 
> 
> 
> 
>       A good friend lives alone in a charming 1940s
> house. She bought the cozy home 15 years ago from a
> couple who had raised four children there. A
> real-estate agent recently told her that she would
> advertise the three-bedroom house as a "starter
> home" or "condo alternative." In other words, modern
> families of four don't want to live in the sort of
> place that families of six once happily called home.
> 
> 
>       This story pops into my brain whenever I read
> that America's spiffed-up urban neighborhoods can't
> attract families with children. The hottest cities
> -- the Portlands, Denvers and Austins -- are said to
> be becoming the most childless. 
> 
>       The main reason, we are told, is that
> middle-class families can no longer afford to live
> in these areas. They've been priced out of the
> neighborhoods now blessed with cute shops, good
> restaurants and plummeting crime rates. Only young
> professionals and older retirees can afford to live
> in them. 
> 
>       But is this true? Many of these same families
> are buying gigantic places in exurbia that cost the
> same as, if not more than, a traditional urban
> house. So price itself is not driving them out. They
> are driving themselves to bigger houses. 
> 
>       The modest older home no longer fits the
> supersized American Dream. To many, the middle-class
> standard has ballooned to five bedrooms, four
> garages and a large playroom off an enormous
> kitchen. The average house built in the 1950s was
> 1,100 square feet. By the late '90s, it had more
> than 2,000 square feet -- even as families shrank. 
> 
>       Yet the smaller houses -- whether in town or
> nearby suburbs -- were the picket-fenced paradise
> that our World War II soldiers dreamed of. They tend
> to be very well built, and their kitchens, though
> small by McMansion standards, would rival the
> cooking areas of many restaurants in Paris. 
> 
>       In the '50s, children routinely shared
> bedrooms with their siblings, even in the suburbs.
> Families of five would make do with one full bath.
> Some of the big new houses seem like condo
> buildings, with each family member having a private
> bedroom, bath, television and sometimes a little
> fridge. 
> 
>       Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center
> for Housing Studies at Harvard University, says that
> immigrant urban families continue to see the
> American Dream in smaller old houses. "Our research
> shows that new arrivals to the United States still
> have that image," Retsinas said. "And they are
> likely to find that single-family home in the
> inner-ring suburbs." 
> 
>       Of course, there are other reasons
> middle-class people leave the city once they have
> children. Schools are an issue. Here, race may play
> a part, and so does class. Black and Hispanic
> middle-class families are also moving away from the
> urban poor. 
> 
>       But many good and improving urban public
> schools still have trouble attracting middle-class
> families. And many parents who send their kids to
> private schools still feel obligated to move the
> clan far from the city. 
> 
>       You'd think the convenience factor of urban
> living would be a real magnet for harried two-income
> families. If Mom and Dad work downtown, they can get
> to their jobs in minutes. They can spend more time
> at home -- and less time chauffeuring children, who
> can walk many places. 
> 
>       You hear parents talk about the dangers of
> raising children in the city. The truth is, the most
> dangerous place for a teenager is behind the wheel
> of a car. Exurban teens drive all the time -- often
> on hazardous semi-rural roads. The big irony is that
> many of these kids drive long distances to hang out
> in the hip urban neighborhoods that their parents
> have "saved" them from. Friends who live in town say
> that their houses fill on weekends with their
> children's exurban friends, who want to be near the
> excitement. 
> 
>       Clearly, many factors go into a family's
> decision to live in one place or another. But
> middle-class parents should know that they do have
> choices, and one may be their old urban playground.
> If they can get past the idea that they must have a
> four-car garage, they may very well be able to
> afford a house in town -- where, in all probability,
> they won't need four cars, anyway. 
> 
>       To find out more about Froma Harrop, and read
> features by other Creators Syndicate writers and
> cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page
> at www.creators.com. 
> 
>       COPYRIGHT 2005 THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL CO. 
> 
>       DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC. 
>       Originally Published on Wednesday March 30,
> 2005 
> > 
> _______________________________________________
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