Comments on: The Future of Suburbia: A Freakonomics Forum

By: LM

LM — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 01:40:37 +0000

Tom Thumbs and Sams Clubs are better in the suburbs. And there’s no IKEA in Dallas. And there’s only one Sprouts in Dallas. And the only outlet malls are way out there. And I know it’s only shallow shopping, but things cost less in the suburbs.

By: Gwyon

Gwyon — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:46:59 +0000

City vs. suburbs is a particularly silly argument for Dallas because the two are so similar.

By: skeptic

skeptic — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:17:35 +0000

I think the new grading guidelines are to prevent dropouts. isn’t that what you wanted
?

I doubt a plano person would know an ecuadoran from a brazilian. they assume everyone from south of the border is mexican. plano is the least hispanic place on the planet texas.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:21:16 +0000

Great name, Trey. Who was that guy? Gerardo? Ecuadoran, if I recall.

By: Rico Suave

Rico Suave — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:05:27 +0000

Game, set and match to Mr. Garrison.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:58:16 +0000

I’m just glad I didn’t grow up in a sterile corporate dormitory. You can do whatever you want to your child, it’s your right as an American.

By: Trey Garrison

Trey Garrison — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:47:33 +0000

The unlowered standards of DISD

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/081508dnmetdisdgrades.48e6cc22.html

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:30:06 +0000

IMHO, suburbs offer all of the drawbacks and none of the advantages. But I agree it’s a tiresome debate. I just think the school Trey’s kid goes to churns out brainless automatons who use heroin in a desperate and futile attempt to excavate a morsel of humanity from the place where their soul should be, but blind and compliant consumerism is instead. That’s all.

By: LakeWWWooder

LakeWWWooder — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:21:21 +0000

Trey my Lakewood levity ‘didn’t seem to reasonate’ with you.

I admit I lived around the corner from the well-known urban yokel, Stanley Marcus.

By: Ana Moure

Ana Moure — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:38:59 +0000

“How do kids in the suburbs socialize if they don’t have their own drivers?”

“Um, walk next door or down the street?”

It’s all about how much choice the kid would have.

Say you want to find a girl to go out with. If any girl works, you will be equally successful in a suburbian cul-de-sac or in the Uptown Dallas. But if you are picky and want to have couple hundreds of pretty young girls to choose from within 5 minutes walk from your place – I’d strongly recommend moving Uptown (or to SMU girls dorm).

Besides, it hugely depends on the size of the plot in the suburbs, – I saw some where next door neighbor wasn’t in walking distance. But say kid lives in 20-family homes cul-de-sac, and, say, each of those families has 1-2 kids. That means there are maybe 3 kids of comparable age around (when you are little, 2 years age difference is huge) – and kid without a car is doomed to spend time either alone or with those 3 kids. Meanwhile in a 150-apartments house there could be 10-20 kids to choose your best friend from – and you don’t even need to cross the street. And another bunch in a house accross. Etc.

(all of this of course would only be valid if well-to-do American families were raising their kids in the city: me, I haven’t met a single kid in my big building. So, in a current state of affairs, an American kid definitely has more social opportunities in the suburbs, you are right.)