Do the Urban Cores have a Convenience Problem

[Anonymous]

I feel like these days it's too hard to live in the cities. The cost of living is just way too high for what you get. Then everywhere you go there are these lines of people. Then the food it's all like MREs, no fresh food. Like most families have left these areas.

I mean wouldn't be easier to pick strawberries than to live in the city.

[Anonymous]

I see what you mean. The prices are literally insane and the number of people at anything worth attending is very off putting. You have to buy tickets or reservations so far in advance that it takes the joy out of many weekends. You are right about the lines but that’s everywhere these days.

I think this is the hidden cost of having 8.2 billion humans on the planet. I was amazed to learn that there were less than 1 million people on planet earth when the USA was founded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see what you mean. The prices are literally insane and the number of people at anything worth attending is very off putting. You have to buy tickets or reservations so far in advance that it takes the joy out of many weekends. You are right about the lines but that’s everywhere these days.

I think this is the hidden cost of having 8.2 billion humans on the planet. I was amazed to learn that there were less than 1 million people on planet earth when the USA was founded.

What? The world population was around 800 million in the late 1700s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like these days it's too hard to live in the cities. The cost of living is just way too high for what you get. Then everywhere you go there are these lines of people. Then the food it's all like MREs, no fresh food. Like most families have left these areas.

I mean wouldn't be easier to pick strawberries than to live in the city.

Have you sat in suburban traffic trying to get to the supermarket recently? I prefer urban areas. And we have plenty of markets with fresh food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like these days it's too hard to live in the cities. The cost of living is just way too high for what you get. Then everywhere you go there are these lines of people. Then the food it's all like MREs, no fresh food. Like most families have left these areas.

I mean wouldn't be easier to pick strawberries than to live in the city.

Have you sat in suburban traffic trying to get to the supermarket recently? I prefer urban areas. And we have plenty of markets with fresh food.

No but I've stood in line at many rural farmers markets. You don't know what fresh is. The DC area is known to have the least quality food, mostly canned food from overseas. Foreigners that come to this are look down on us because they think American food are frozen food microwave franchises like McDonalds and Starbucks.

They don't even wash dishes in DC, must be too hard. You have to eat out off of paper and drink out of plastic bottles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see what you mean. The prices are literally insane and the number of people at anything worth attending is very off putting. You have to buy tickets or reservations so far in advance that it takes the joy out of many weekends. You are right about the lines but that’s everywhere these days.

I think this is the hidden cost of having 8.2 billion humans on the planet. I was amazed to learn that there were less than 1 million people on planet earth when the USA was founded.

Please think about what you wrote. How is that remotely possible. Maybe if you were only counting white people as humans. The more than millions of Native people to the Americas were well over a million people alone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like these days it's too hard to live in the cities. The cost of living is just way too high for what you get. Then everywhere you go there are these lines of people. Then the food it's all like MREs, no fresh food. Like most families have left these areas.

I mean wouldn't be easier to pick strawberries than to live in the city.

Have you sat in suburban traffic trying to get to the supermarket recently? I prefer urban areas. And we have plenty of markets with fresh food.

No but I've stood in line at many rural farmers markets. You don't know what fresh is. The DC area is known to have the least quality food, mostly canned food from overseas. Foreigners that come to this are look down on us because they think American food are frozen food microwave franchises like McDonalds and Starbucks.

They don't even wash dishes in DC, must be too hard. You have to eat out off of paper and drink out of plastic bottles.

Well they could always go back to where they came from and look down on us from way over there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see what you mean. The prices are literally insane and the number of people at anything worth attending is very off putting. You have to buy tickets or reservations so far in advance that it takes the joy out of many weekends. You are right about the lines but that’s everywhere these days.

I think this is the hidden cost of having 8.2 billion humans on the planet. I was amazed to learn that there were less than 1 million people on planet earth when the USA was founded.

For all the people who keep yelling about declining birth rates, I'm perfectly fine with declining birth rates. We could stand lower population-driven pressures.

We have housing shortages, demand-driven inflation, saturated job markets and everything else. Let it taper off a little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like these days it's too hard to live in the cities. The cost of living is just way too high for what you get. Then everywhere you go there are these lines of people. Then the food it's all like MREs, no fresh food. Like most families have left these areas.

I mean wouldn't be easier to pick strawberries than to live in the city.

Have you sat in suburban traffic trying to get to the supermarket recently? I prefer urban areas. And we have plenty of markets with fresh food.

No but I've stood in line at many rural farmers markets. You don't know what fresh is. The DC area is known to have the least quality food, mostly canned food from overseas. Foreigners that come to this are look down on us because they think American food are frozen food microwave franchises like McDonalds and Starbucks.

They don't even wash dishes in DC, must be too hard. You have to eat out off of paper and drink out of plastic bottles.

Sometimes I wonder if I live in an alternate reality when I read DCUM. It’s news to me that my kitchen is piled with cans and paper plates.

Years ago we got a delivery to our DC address, and the guy said couldn’t wait to get back to his home in the country where there are squirrels. I guess he missed seeing all the squirrels running around our yard leaving piles of nut shells on the walkway he passed right by going to our front door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like these days it's too hard to live in the cities. The cost of living is just way too high for what you get. Then everywhere you go there are these lines of people. Then the food it's all like MREs, no fresh food. Like most families have left these areas.

I mean wouldn't be easier to pick strawberries than to live in the city.

I live in DC, I go to the grocery store once a week, I buy fresh items there, and cook. Usually cooking ahead and some meal prep on the weekend and a few additional meals prepared throughout the week.

Unless you don't have a kitchen, don't have a grocery store nearby, don't have a car, don't have a metro line or bus line nearby then it's a lifestyle problem and a you problem.

But that said yes, it's still high cost of living and it would be cheaper to live in a small town or more rural area, but if your situation is that you are so broke that you don't have a kitchen or a car or ability to get to a store by train or bus then you probably can't afford to move either and are somewhat trapped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see what you mean. The prices are literally insane and the number of people at anything worth attending is very off putting. You have to buy tickets or reservations so far in advance that it takes the joy out of many weekends. You are right about the lines but that’s everywhere these days.

I think this is the hidden cost of having 8.2 billion humans on the planet. I was amazed to learn that there were less than 1 million people on planet earth when the USA was founded.

I think it's more prevalent downtown. I mean with all of those people shouldn't there be more services or is it just too hard to do anything there. Maybe if they had more illegal immigrants, it would be better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like these days it's too hard to live in the cities. The cost of living is just way too high for what you get. Then everywhere you go there are these lines of people. Then the food it's all like MREs, no fresh food. Like most families have left these areas.

I mean wouldn't be easier to pick strawberries than to live in the city.

Have you sat in suburban traffic trying to get to the supermarket recently? I prefer urban areas. And we have plenty of markets with fresh food.

This.

I have no idea what the OP is talking about. We can walk to almost daily farmers markets in any direction over the course of a week, don't have to pay for car insurance or maintenance except when we actually need a car, can walk to work, walk to restaurants, museums, concerts etc.

when I go out to the suburbs (not the older ones like Chevy Chase but the newer ones like Reston or Quince Orchard, all I see is autocentric gfenerica wasteland that is the same in every exurban region with the same strip mall restaurants etc. It is totally soulless.

[Anonymous]

One complaint is that not all urban dwellers have easy access to supermarkets and instead have to rely on nearby convenients.

That's where I'm annoyed and frustrated. Japan for example has amazing convenience stores like Lawson or their 7-11s which offer a whole range of pre-made food items that are good, cheap, and fresh-made for convenience.

Why can't we manage to do that here in the US? That's where I'd agree with the OP. A lot of American food is mass-produced, mass-market slop with low-quality ingredients, packed full of preservatives and made to ship across the country and sit on shelves for far too long, as if we're still living in the 1940s with ration cards.

I would absolutely love it for Japanese 7-11 to take over American convenience stores and put their model in place here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like these days it's too hard to live in the cities. The cost of living is just way too high for what you get. Then everywhere you go there are these lines of people. Then the food it's all like MREs, no fresh food. Like most families have left these areas.

I mean wouldn't be easier to pick strawberries than to live in the city.

Have you sat in suburban traffic trying to get to the supermarket recently? I prefer urban areas. And we have plenty of markets with fresh food.

This.

I have no idea what the OP is talking about. We can walk to almost daily farmers markets in any direction over the course of a week, don't have to pay for car insurance or maintenance except when we actually need a car, can walk to work, walk to restaurants, museums, concerts etc.

when I go out to the suburbs (not the older ones like Chevy Chase but the newer ones like Reston or Quince Orchard, all I see is autocentric gfenerica wasteland that is the same in every exurban region with the same strip mall restaurants etc. It is totally soulless.

Word on the street is you can't even afford strawberries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One complaint is that not all urban dwellers have easy access to supermarkets and instead have to rely on nearby convenients.

That's where I'm annoyed and frustrated. Japan for example has amazing convenience stores like Lawson or their 7-11s which offer a whole range of pre-made food items that are good, cheap, and fresh-made for convenience.

Why can't we manage to do that here in the US? That's where I'd agree with the OP. A lot of American food is mass-produced, mass-market slop with low-quality ingredients, packed full of preservatives and made to ship across the country and sit on shelves for far too long, as if we're still living in the 1940s with ration cards.

I would absolutely love it for Japanese 7-11 to take over American convenience stores and put their model in place here.

I'll tell you why we can't. Good, cheap and fresh-made as a combination really doesn't sell.

Typical Americans are all talk and no hat.

There was a restaurant in Florida called Sweet Tomatoes. It was basically an endless salad bar with soup and a flat fee. It went out of business in a few years. Same with other similar places.

Bolthouse Farms had a juice that was mostly vegetables, kale, celery, cucumber, etc. It's gone. It didn't sell. It's on their website, but you can't find it anywhere.

Americans talk about "healthy eating", but very few are committed long-term and don't want to pay the price long term. You may think they don't like mass-market slop, but they'll go back to it after a few weeks. They want greasy, savory and sweet.

You may want a Lawsons or FreshMart and others would too, but can you see Americans stuffing their face with Onigiri and Green Tea long term? I'm just not seeing it. It's would be a fad based on guilt, here.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.