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After 1,000 comments, most of them critical, the Times shuts off the comments. Turns out - people do like suburbs (which does not automatically mean they hate cities, surprise). https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/opinion/coronavirus-cities-suburbs.html
Suburbs are not stuck in the 50s - despite what the critics say. In many respects, they are as ethnically diverse as cities claim they are.
The town I grew up in - I could walk to a pizza place, a bank, a drug store, the library, my school. And this was one of the more ordinary towns, not high end.
In terms of food - suburbs have plenty of option besides the chains. And this is important - parking.
For those city boosters who say that suburbs are dependent on cars - how do you think the stuff you order online to have delivered gets to you?
I like cities. Before the pandemic, I tried to spend as much in diff't city neighborhoods as I could. If you offer me a weekend in the country versus the city, I'll take the city option 9 times out of 10. But let's not pretend there aren't serious problems.
And, unlike ethnocentrists, I do not believe greater diversity is the key challenge. Instead, cities decided to make themselves investment destinations, instead of places to raise a family.
When finance and real estate speculators dangle big money in front of city politicians for luxury high-rises or corporate HQs, guess who gets ignored? The immigrant who cannot afford to live there, but has to work there and send his kid to an over-stretched school.
