I took a trip to the suburbs...

[geeslaka]

I've been clubbing before. And my baseball bat didn't break until the fourth fool. That guy had a hard head.

[The Mad Monk]

Speaking as someone who's lived in the suburbs all his life I know there is a large variation in how clean sidewalk are -- but usually they are clean. It's a combination of two factors. The owners of the homes you saw are responsible for the upkeep of the sidewalk in front of their property, including repairs and snow removal; they can get fined if they don't, and their property loses value if the front looks crappy. Secondly, people who live there know this, and tend to police their own trash because of it.
People usually drive everywhere, so corner stores have been supplanted by 24 hour supermarkets -- both cheaper and more convenient.

I grew up in Glen Ridge, and it was exactly like that, except local small grocers were still in abundance. I now live in Belleville, which is next to Newark, Bloomfield, and Nutley (with Kearny and Arlington across the river), and it's more urban in both look and 'attitute' to cleanliness in some areas, and more like Glen Ridge in others.

[The Mad Monk]

Oh, and there was a point in the eighties where Bloomfield paid someone to paint all the fire hydrants to look like little people.

[geeslaka]

sounds like a practical joke intended to teach dogs to pee on people.

[Pekka]

Well little off topic, but in America, the scenery and everything can really change in matter of walking few miles, or usually, less than that. For example in NY, when I was trying to learn the subway system, it's very different everywhere. I mean first you have these nice big stations, full of cops for some reason. Then few stops further, I mean you don't have to go far, stations are messy as hell, no cops, and messy looking people. It's amazing to a guy who is not used to see how diverse things can be, in good and bad.

And only few stops further from that.. I started missing my home and mom . But it was all me, no one harrased me or anything. Though this one guy started talking to me quit loudly, and I thought I should just keep quiet and leave the first chance I get. He was interested in my bag, or at least he said so 'Yeahhhhhhhh when I say open up your bag, **** is crazy, knives and ****, when I say open up your bag'.. it was an experience for sure.. I guess he was little light on the head though.. he didn't say 'open up your bag' though.. just illustrated what would happen if he wanted to. I guess I would have given my bag and hope to come back alive .
Other than that.. it wasn't bad, but it sure was messy.. trash all over. Though I figured that it's not because people would throw more garbage on the streets, but because there maybe wasn't a good system to keep places cleaner, and not so much cleaners and .. services.

I don't know.. I don't know any facts.

Albert Speer, how's the thing with college working out?

[GePap]

Cities are what makes us civilized and urbane. if you don't like them, move to the jungles!

[Sava]

Cities are what makes us civilized and urbane. if you don't like them, move to the jungles!

same thing...

[reds4ever]

Cities are nice to live outside, you can go in at weekends to have fun, but you don't have to put up with all the other crap that goes in in them on a day to day basis.

[JohnT]

"Lower Merion on the other hand is extremely wealthy. The houses there was massive with huge lawns and backyards... for real, how does it feel to have a lawn? I mean like do kids usually play on it and do they have fights about whose lawn they'll play on? it's weird as ****... do they ever play out on the street? and aint it a ***** to have to cut that lawn all the time? here, the biggest lawns people got usually are small 5 foot by 5 foot plots. and some of the houses were wooden! "

Suburbanite here...

I wish you had a picture - ones definition of large might not be anothers.

Yes, kids play on the lawn and the determination of which kids' lawn to play on is quite simple really - which of your friends has the coolest stuff or the laxest parents?

When I was 11+, my yard had a treehouse appx. 25 feet in the air, a rope swing that reached all the way to the treehouse, and a trampoline about... 50(?) feet away from the treehouse. Did I mention that we had a "launching pad" from the treehouse that you could swing from?

The purpose, of course, was to jump onto the swing from the launching pad, wait until you hit your peak of the ark on the upswing, and then launch yourself to the trampoline. We would move the damned thing, trying to see who could launch themselves the furthest and still land on the trampoline.

The largest yard I've had was about 1.5 acres, and we weren't rich by any stretch of the imagination.

We also cut the yard, at least until our kids are old enough to do it for us. We're already training Sophie how to walk the dogs, grass cutting isn't too far away.

Most of your really big lawns (multiple acres) are usually cut by lawncare guys, who have big riding/standing lawnmowers. Since my yard is no larger than 1/2 acre, I just have an El-Cheapo™ lawnmower from Wal Mart.

"As I expected, I didn't see a single ethnic minority..."

Determinate upon the suburb you went to. Plenty of minorities in suburbs here in the south. Of course, you can't really make the above claim because, as you note:

"but I barely even saw people period."

"I'm used to seeing a dozen people hanging around on every corner but people up in the suburbs must be spending all their time indoors or something, right?"

More than likely (if you went in the middle of the day), they are out at parks, malls, their friends' houses, or anywhere other than home. Given that the suburbs are a creature of the automobile, it is not surprising that all the people were out - and "going out" in the American suburbs means taking your car.

You can't leave home without it.

[JohnT]

"When I hit their main street with some stores on them, i was surprised by the lack of a corner food store... i was kind of wondering what it'd be like not being run by Indians, Asians, or puerto ricans, but there was none! how do you people buy your food?! it must be miles to the nearest supermarket! also of note was some store called the "Jewish Holiday Store"... hmm..."

Yeah, the supermarkets are miles away, but no further than 5 or so. Once again, the suburbs are built around the existence of the automobile, so a five minute walk to the store is now a five minute drive.

"but yeah so i visited the suburbs... only makes me hate it more. and what was with all the jewish things? i always thought there was more jewish people in the cities than outside of them"

Yeah, well, we hate you too. Go back where you belong.

[SlowwHand]

rockin' the suburbs

let me tell y'all what it's like
being male, middle class and white
it's a b1tch, if you don't believe
listen up to my new cd
sham on

i got sh1t running through my brain
so intense that i can't explain
all alone in my white boy pain
shake your booty while the band complains

i'm rocking the suburbs
just like michael jackson did
i'm rocking the suburbs
except that he was talented
i'm rocking the suburbs
i take the checks and face the facts
that some producer with computers
fixes all my sh1tty tracks

i'm pissed off but i'm too polite
when people break in the mcdonalds line
mom and dad you made me so uptight
i'm gonna cuss on the mic tonight
i don't know how much i can take
girl give me something i can break

i'm rocking the suburbs
just like quiet riot did
i'm rocking the suburbs
except that they were talented
i'm rocking the suburbs
i take the checks and face the facts
that some producer with computers
fixes all my sh1tty tracks

in a haze these days
i pull up to the stoplight
i can feel that something's not right
i can feel that someone's blasting me
with hate and bass
sending dirty vibes my way
cause my great great great great grandad
made someone's great great great great grandaddy slaves
it wasn't my idea
it wasn't my idea
it never was my idea
i just drove to the store
for some preparation h

ya'll don't know what it's like
being male, middle class and white
it gets me real pissed off and it makes me wanna say
fluck

just like jon bon jovi did
i'm rocking the suburbs
except that he was talented
i'm rocking the suburbs
i take the checks and face the facts
that some producer with computers
fixes all my sh1tty tracks these days
i'm rocking the suburbs
you'd better look out because i'm gonna say fluck

[Jac de Molay]

Re: I took a trip to the suburbs...

Originally posted by Albert Speer
As I expected, I didn't see a single ethnic minority... but I barely even saw people period. There was two people walking their dogs and no one else really. I'm used to seeing a dozen people hanging around on every corner but people up in the suburbs must be spending all their time indoors or something, right?

I see a lot of this in the soul-sucking sprawl outside of Detroit. I think the yuppies watch too much cable news and think their kids are going to be abducted at any opportune moment. So, they either herd them into activities which account for their every waking moment like soccer, or plunk them down in front of computers.

I can drive around sprawl-burbs for miles, and not see kids playing outside.

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
rockin' the suburbs

This one is better

Subdivisions

Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order, an insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown.

Growing up it all seems so one sided
Opinions all provided, the future pre decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone.

Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone.

Subdivisions
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out.

Subdivisions
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out.

Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth.

Drawn like moths we drift into the city
A timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night.

Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rat's, get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight.

Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights.

Subdivisions
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out.

Subdivisions
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out.

Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth.

[Dinner]

Speer: Now you know why we all say you live in the ghetto. Look how we've been living.

Also most of the people in the 'burbs are nominally Christian (not Jews though there are some of those too) but we've mostly become non-practicing and instead just go through the motions during major holidays (like Xmas).

[Provost Harrison]

Suburbs are where the middle aged with a bit of money live...but don't expect soul AS...they can often be clean and sterile but they have advantages in that they are safer...well, that is probably it actually...evidently you are a city dweller, in hives of humanity with people around you...it probably seems very lonely.

And there are few shops...people drive everywhere to do their shopping, even considerable distances...