About population density
For the last 6 weeks I've been living with my mother in the Philly suburbs. (Taking care of her after my brother had a stroke.) I grew up here, and for the last 30 years I've been living in the suburbs of Cleveland.
On paper, very similar places: Suburbs outside an older urban center. Sure, Philly is larger, but suburbs are suburbs, right?
Not even close.
In Cleveland, as you drive on either highways or major secondary roads you can tell when you're leaving a town/suburb, and then entering the next. Here, the idea of being "between" areas is meaningless. Everything is fully developed. No space left to put anything new without tearing down something old.
In Cleveland you search for a grocery store, or a hardware store, or anything really, you've got the one closest, then within several miles another couple. Here there are several of everything within 5 miles.
In Cleveland there are morning and evening rush hours, and in between there's traffic on the highways but secondary streets are frequently pretty empty. Here, I haven't seen a time that I went even a minute without other cars passing, except down here at the end of the dead-end we live on.
Now here's the part that people from rural areas won't understand, or believe. People are more considerate here. Maybe not more "polite" when talking to them. But take driving for instance.
In my neighborhood in Cleveland you're only allowed to park on one side of the street. This leaves enough room for two narrow lanes for two-way traffic. Here, the streets are even narrower, twisting instead of straight, and you can park on both sides. If you're facing an oncoming car, whichever of you has a gap on your side pulls over and lets the other person go. People take turns. It wouldn't work if you didn't.
Sure, people still merge onto the freeway like assholes, but everyone eventually gets on. But in the places where it really matters, where you have to either share or things completely break down, people share. And the hand wave when you pass the other person who let you in is universal.
My wife has cousins from rural western Pennsylvania who came to visit us in Cleveland and hated how busy and congested everything was. If they came out to Philly they'd run screaming by the second day.
These are the people who refuse to compromise in politics. They refuse to see the value of shared resources. They refuse to help other people unless they get something out of it. We try to tell them that where we live if it's good for one of us it's good for most of us. They don't want that.
They wouldn't want to live here and don't understand why we do. They think there's something wrong with us. If we were thinking straight, we'd want to move to the country like them. So why would they ever want to listen to us?
On paper, very similar places: Suburbs outside an older urban center. Sure, Philly is larger, but suburbs are suburbs, right?
Not even close.
In Cleveland, as you drive on either highways or major secondary roads you can tell when you're leaving a town/suburb, and then entering the next. Here, the idea of being "between" areas is meaningless. Everything is fully developed. No space left to put anything new without tearing down something old.
In Cleveland you search for a grocery store, or a hardware store, or anything really, you've got the one closest, then within several miles another couple. Here there are several of everything within 5 miles.
In Cleveland there are morning and evening rush hours, and in between there's traffic on the highways but secondary streets are frequently pretty empty. Here, I haven't seen a time that I went even a minute without other cars passing, except down here at the end of the dead-end we live on.
Now here's the part that people from rural areas won't understand, or believe. People are more considerate here. Maybe not more "polite" when talking to them. But take driving for instance.
In my neighborhood in Cleveland you're only allowed to park on one side of the street. This leaves enough room for two narrow lanes for two-way traffic. Here, the streets are even narrower, twisting instead of straight, and you can park on both sides. If you're facing an oncoming car, whichever of you has a gap on your side pulls over and lets the other person go. People take turns. It wouldn't work if you didn't.
Sure, people still merge onto the freeway like assholes, but everyone eventually gets on. But in the places where it really matters, where you have to either share or things completely break down, people share. And the hand wave when you pass the other person who let you in is universal.
My wife has cousins from rural western Pennsylvania who came to visit us in Cleveland and hated how busy and congested everything was. If they came out to Philly they'd run screaming by the second day.
These are the people who refuse to compromise in politics. They refuse to see the value of shared resources. They refuse to help other people unless they get something out of it. We try to tell them that where we live if it's good for one of us it's good for most of us. They don't want that.
They wouldn't want to live here and don't understand why we do. They think there's something wrong with us. If we were thinking straight, we'd want to move to the country like them. So why would they ever want to listen to us?
