Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Scienceblogs: Happiness and Commuting

Read this, and be very glad you don't live in the suburbs.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

" A 45 minute commute is traffic hell "

HA! Try moving to the DC metro - 45 minutes from the exurbs here is a fantasy. This is why I am sticking around here until the wife plops out a few kids then it's off to traffic hell for me.

Anonymous said...

to me this article just means move to Arlington. You have the short commute without the sound track of gun shots outside.

Sunny Florida Avenue said...

And Arlington gives you the added bonus of getting to celebrate "Confederate History Month". Virginia is a bad place to live, no matter what the commute.

Anonymous said...

Sunny Florida Ave: As an African american and former resident of northern va I'd rather deal with confederate history month than constant stories about stores and people getting robbed.whether people announce how they feel (as in confederate history month) or not, blacks have to deal with covert racisim/ignorance every day (yes, even in this new (laughable) post-racial America). I'd rather feel physically safe and deal with references to the 'stars and bars' (because really - we're talking about Arlington not Mississippi or even southern va).Its better that people tell you to your face how they feel about you.

Rob said...

I don't need to read that link to know I'm glad I don't live in the suburbs.
I see anon 12:47's point about safety, but at the same time I was able to move from a tiny 1-br 1-bath condo in Court House to a big row house in Trinidad for about the same amount of money.
The other thing I'm grateful for (though none of these things existed when I moved here) are the unique restaurants and bars on H St. "SOVA and Sidamo vs. Starbucks and Cosi"...there's no contest there for me.

oboe said...

I'd rather deal with confederate history month than constant stories about stores and people getting robbed.

This is just silly. As if people weren't getting shot or robbed in the suburbs. The population densities are higher here, but the number of people I know personally who've had guns pulled on them, or been robbed is *greater* in the suburbs than in the city.

And they're certainly less healthy, less involved with their neighbors, and unhappier.

Anonymous said...

Oboe: I'm not sure what suburbs you've been in, but it aint Arlington. Arlington has like 2 murders a year. I don't know aboutfolks in the burbs being less healthy especially since most of the trash thrown in my front yard is empty soda bottles,chip bags and candy wrappers.

As for being involved with neighbors, I would argue that people in the city have to be more interactive with neighbors.you can't be everywhere at once so you depend on your neighbors to tell you if someone was hangibg out on your front porch while you were at work or if someone was shot at the corner store near you and likewise they depend on you for the same. these things don't happen as much in the burbs so there is less of a need to be up each others butts.

But whatever. As Rob indicated, its all in what you want in a living environment.

oboe said...

spotcrime.com shows two shootings in the last month in Arlington. Confirmation bias at its finest.

Adjust for socioeconomic factors and the suburbs are *absolutely* less healthy than the cities.

housha said...

I guess you all forgot about the Virginia tech murders where more than 20 innocent people were killed and also as recent as the man who killed 7 people also in VA
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/us/21virginia.html
At least in DC innocent people don't get killed by the same numbers. Yes the gangsters do kill each other but they pretty much keep it between themselves.

Anonymous said...

Ok really? Would you rather your mother walk down the street alone at night in our area or in Arlington? And bringing up the virginia tech murders and the other situation was just stupid because those individuals were unbalanced. We're dealing with heathens here, not someone who is mentally unstable and unpredictable. Those same incidents couldve happened any where. That's like saying remember that guy who killed his deaf girlfriend and her two kids in NE last year or that woman in SE who killed her two foster kids and put them in the freezer for months? Well based on that people in the city shouldn't be allowed to have kids.