Poll What Size of Community Do You Live In?

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What size of community do you live in?

  • Rural pop. 1-1,000

    Votes: 13 6.8%
  • Small Town pop. 1,001-10,000

    Votes: 34 17.7%
  • Town pop. 10,001-25,000

    Votes: 15 7.8%
  • Small City pop. 25,001-150,000

    Votes: 47 24.5%
  • City pop. 150,001-500,000

    Votes: 29 15.1%
  • Large City pop 500,001-1,000,000

    Votes: 19 9.9%
  • Urban Metropolitan Hellscape 1,000,001+

    Votes: 35 18.2%

  • Total voters
    192

lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
39,938
166,793
If you're close enough for a daily commute to the city, you're a Citiot.

I live 10 minutes from a city area of around 250K. I'm an hour an a half from Chicago. However, I have 40 acres and no visible neighbours. I farm some of the land and have livestock. Next year I'll have a four acre pond.

Am I a Citiot?
 
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Bandwagon

Kolohe
<Silver Donator>
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I live 10 minutes from a city area of around 250K. I'm an hour an a half from Chicago. However, I have 40 acres and no visible neighbours. I farm some of the land and have livestock. Next year I'll have a four acre pond.

Am I a Citiot?
You're close enough to be influenced by Citiots, at least. There's a sphere of social and economic influence they control beyond their municipal boundaries. The immediate surroundings/neighbors and home itself is a big factor for me, but the general life philosophy of "leave me the fuck alone" is a big part of it too. The closer you get to large metro areas, the more controlling the governance is, and the more accepting of it the residents are as well. I hate that shit and I'm especially annoyed by it lately because of shit like my friend advocating for children to be raised by the government.

Get me as far away from that shit as possible.
 

BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
<Silver Donator>
14,364
2,139
Rural, I can fuck farm animals and nobody will know.

If only they were more attractive.

I grew up in the country, spent 13 years living in the suburbs of Phoenix and the Bay Area, and then 11 years ago moved back to the country. It's 50 miles one way to a town of 9000 and 45 miles the other way to a town of 4000. When I had to return a TV to Best Buy last summer they wanted me to take it to a store. I told the guy that the nearest Best Buy was 200 miles away and he sounded like he didn't believe me. I gave him my address and he was like "Wow, not only is the closest one 200 miles, but the second closest one is 300 miles!". Yup.

I was never a city person though. Don't like bars, never participated in any music "scene" in any way even though I like music. The thing I like about the country is having an actual community. I lived in the same apartment in California for 10 years and probably had 15 next door neighbors in that time. I couldn't tell you any of their names. Here everyone I see not only do I know them, but i know their parents and grandparents and they know mine. People here actually care about you and I feel like I get a lot more meaningful human interaction here than I ever got in the city. The only time of year that I ever see a car that I don't know is hunting season. I really can't remember a time ever when something was stolen or vandalized around here, despite the fact that there is hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stuff that's not locked up, vehicles sitting around with the keys in the ignition, etc. I don't think I appreciated that as a kid, but I do now after spending some time in the city. I also like being able to experience real dark and real quiet and go wander around naked in the backyard if I feel like it and not worry about who's looking. You can get to "nature" in California, but you are never alone. It does cross my mind that if I were to have a heart attack or something, my chances of survival would be considerably worse than if I was in a city, but I think it's probably more than balanced out by the fact that I don't have to drive in traffic daily.

The only thing I miss from city life is going to different kinds of restaurants, having a chance that my favorite band might do a concert near me, and having real broadband internet. The other thing would have been the availability of variety when it comes to shopping but Amazon has taken care of that in a huge way. Maybe Elon Musk will solve the internet problem.
 
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Tim

Molten Core Raider
442
1,935
Currently living in a town of 500. 15 minute drive from the nearest "city" of 30,000. This is a little too small town livin for me. I think the perfect place for me is a city of 75-100k that's at least an hour or two away from the nearest large city.
 
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AngryGerbil

Poet Warrior
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17,781
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I sort of agree with Vanessa I think. Suburban is best.... I think.

To be fair, I've always lived in St. Louis County Suburbia. I was raised in the Western half of the County which was surrounded by trees and fields but was still only a 30 minute drive from the Stadium and the Arch. I was given free reign to run and play in these fields and woods as a kid and I value that very much. But at the same time we also had neighbors who we would have parties with (or at least my parents would) and which provided a solid pool of friends for myself as a child. Having close neighbors can be a benefit in some sense. We would shovel each others driveways and rake each others lawns and the various kids would play together all day in the nearby fields and woods.

We were far enough away from the City so as not to become degenerate swamp-communists or be corrupted by gangs, but we were close enough to it to still be able to only have to drive 5 minutes to get to a grocery store and only 30 minutes to be able to go to the Cardinals game or the Zoo. Granted, we couldn't go outside and shoot guns because of too many houses around us and in my teens fireworks became prohibited. Plus, I had no experience of farm life or raising crops or animals (other than a cat) so I feel like that was a bit of a blank spot. It was easier for me to appreciate the plight of the urban man than that of the rural man in my youth. It wasn't until later that I began to take the opposite view of life.

Now I live with my wife on a postage stamp on the more Eastern side of the County (nearer to the City). It's an old and small property but it is a very heavily landscaped and well thought-out property. The house is great and the neighborhood is great. I live in almost the dead geographic and population center of the St. Louis Region (The Arch is actually on the EXTREME east edge of St. Louis overlooking the river, the 'center of it all' is actually much further inland to the West where I live, in Brentwood.)

I can walk to a Walgreens and a Starbucks and a Dry Cleaner and a Bank and an Urgent Care and a Grocery Store all within the span of 5-8 minutes. No car needed. I am a 2 minute drive from the central Interstate Hub (64 and 170) of about 4 million people which means I can be anywhere of relevance in about 15-20 minutes max. I also live in the commercial center of all of St. Louis. Every single major store you can think of is about 5 minutes from me.

The down side is traffic. The downside is noise. The downside is light pollution (you will never see a star from my backyard). The downside is heroin junkies hanging out by my local gas station begging for change as you exit the store. The downside is not black people per-se, as we have many respectable ones, but it is the 'black culture' bullshit. The downside is seeing highschool kids by the dozens (white and black) walking around with their pants sagging just above their knees and jaywalking in the middle of the street at a casual stroll in the middle of rush hour. The downside is having a lot of SJW neighbors. The downside is that we have Communist flags flying here and there and plastered on various bumper stickers.

The upside is that I can go to the grocery store with my earbuds in and an audio book playing and nobody knows me. Nobody knows that I made a mistake that one time. Nobody knows my history or seems poised to judge me for it.

To answer Quaid's original question: If I had my way, I would be living like Bandwagon Bandwagon . But if my wife had her way, we would be living in a 30th story tiny loft directly overlooking the Arch. Where we live now is a compromise. I suspect for the remainder of our lives I will be pulling her out further from the city and she will be pulling me in closer to it and we will have to find some happy medium. Probably suburbia.
 
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Bandwagon

Kolohe
<Silver Donator>
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I sort of agree with Vanessa I think. Suburban is best.... I think.

To be fair, I've always lived in St. Louis County Suburbia. I was raised in the Western half of the County which was surrounded by trees and fields but was still only a 30 minute drive from the Stadium and the Arch. I was given free reign to run and play in these fields and woods as a kid and I value that very much. But at the same time we also had neighbors who we would have parties with (or at least my parents would) and which provided a solid pool of friends for myself as a child. Having close neighbors can be a benefit in some sense. We would shovel each others driveways and rake each others lawns and the various kids would play together all day in the nearby fields and woods.

We were far enough away from the City so as not to become degenerate swamp-communists or be corrupted by gangs, but we were close enough to it to still be able to only have to drive 5 minutes to get to a grocery store and only 30 minutes to be able to go to the Cardinals game or the Zoo. Granted, we couldn't go outside and shoot guns because of too many houses around us and in my teens fireworks became prohibited. Plus, I had no experience of farm life or raising crops or animals (other than a cat) so I feel like that was a bit of a blank spot. It was easier for me to appreciate the plight of the urban man than that of the rural man in my youth. It wasn't until later that I began to take the opposite view of life.

Now I live with my wife on a postage stamp on the more Eastern side of the County (nearer to the City). It's an old and small property but it is a very heavily landscaped and well thought-out property. The house is great and the neighborhood is great. I live in almost the dead geographic and population center of the St. Louis Region (The Arch is actually on the EXTREME east edge of St. Louis overlooking the river, the 'center of it all' is actually much further inland to the West where I live, in Brentwood.)

I can walk to a Walgreens and a Starbucks and a Dry Cleaner and a Bank and an Urgent Care and a Grocery Store all within the span of 5-8 minutes. No car needed. I am a 2 minute drive from the central Interstate Hub (64 and 170) of about 4 million people which means I can be anywhere of relevance in about 15-20 minutes max. I also live in the commercial center of all of St. Louis. Every single major store you can think of is about 5 minutes from me.

The down side is traffic. The downside is noise. The downside is light pollution (you will never see a star from my backyard). The downside is heroin junkies hanging out by my local gas station begging for change as you exit the store. The downside is not black people per-se, as we have many respectable ones, but it is the 'black culture' bullshit. The downside is seeing highschool kids by the dozens (white and black) walking around with their pants sagging just above their knees and jaywalking in the middle of the street at a casual stroll in the middle of rush hour. The downside is having a lot of SJW neighbors. The downside is that we have Communist flags flying here and there and plastered on various bumper stickers.

The upside is that I can go to the grocery store with my earbuds in and an audio book playing and nobody knows me. Nobody knows that I made a mistake that one time. Nobody knows my history or seems poised to judge me for it.

To answer Quaid's original question: If I had my way, I would be living like Bandwagon Bandwagon . But if my wife had her way, we would be living in a 30th story tiny loft directly overlooking the Arch. Where we live now is a compromise. I suspect for the remainder of our lives I will be pulling her out further from the city and she will be pulling me in closer to it and we will have to find some happy medium. Probably suburbia.
I guess one thing that I left out in all my anti-city bitching is that this has gotten worse as I've gotten older, but it has definitely always been there. I was out of the house the day after I turned 18 and out of the country less than a year after I left the military. Up until I landed where I am now, I was making massive moves every ~year and looking for a place to live that felt "frontier-like". If anyone has ever read A Good Keen Man, that entire story has been my type of fantasy since I was a kid. I literally have a tattoo on my leg that I got 15 years ago that is someone running off a cliff to get away from the city.

They're just the epitome of misery to me.

Screenshot_20191203-174554_Gallery.jpg


Screenshot_20191203-174606_Gallery.jpg
 
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AngryGerbil

Poet Warrior
<Donor>
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I guess one thing that I left out in all my anti-city bitching is that this has gotten worse as I've gotten older, but it has definitely always been there. I was out of the house the day after I turned 18 and out of the country less than a year after I left the military. Up until I landed where I am now, I was making massive moves every ~year and looking for a place to live that felt "frontier-like". If anyone has ever read A Good Keen Man, that entire story has been my type of fantasy since I was a kid. I literally have a tattoo on my leg that I got 15 years ago that is someone running off a cliff to get away from the city.

They're just the epitome of misery to me.

St. Louis County isn't all that bad most things considered, but St. Louis City is a fucking shithole and I thank Almighty God for every day that my job doesn't force me to go into it. I literally hate St. Louis City. It has almost no redeeming qualities to speak of (maybe the Zoo or the Brewery) and is, thus, a Socialist paradise.

I think I just hate all Cities period. I can handle Rural or Suburban, but I will never appreciate the Urban.
 
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AngryGerbil

Poet Warrior
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This topic interests me greatly for some reason.

BrutulTM BrutulTM hit the two main good things about Urban:

Internet and Food.

It's true. I have access to competing companies that can't wait to service my area with high speed internet. And I have ready access to literally any type of food known to man, even of varying qualities. I can have cheap Mexican food if I want it, or medium quality Mexican food, but I can also have fine Mexican food. Italian restaurants exist out the ass. Greekis all over the place. Sushi? I'm surrounded by it. In fact if I drive 15 minutes to the Grand Strip I can have Ethiopian and Vietnamese and Thai and Mongolian and French. Each place is mostly staffed by actual Ethiopian or Vietnamese or Thai or French people.

But that's the meme isn't it? Good food is supposed to make up for all the negatives of multiculturalism. I dunno. I like the food (I'm even a bit of a food snob), but every time I see a hammer and sickle flag or a woman in a burka I want to barf all the good food I ate straight up. Not sure it's worth it.
 
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lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
39,938
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I guess one thing that I left out in all my anti-city bitching is that this has gotten worse as I've gotten older, but it has definitely always been there. I was out of the house the day after I turned 18 and out of the country less than a year after I left the military. Up until I landed where I am now, I was making massive moves every ~year and looking for a place to live that felt "frontier-like". If anyone has ever read A Good Keen Man, that entire story has been my type of fantasy since I was a kid. I literally have a tattoo on my leg that I got 15 years ago that is someone running off a cliff to get away from the city.

They're just the epitome of misery to me.

View attachment 236034

View attachment 236035

I entirely hear and understand what you're saying. For me there are a couple things to consider:

1. I can't do the things I do to make money and run the career I have if I were 6 hours away from a major metropolis. I wish that wasn't the case, but the music industry is brutal, and if you're not in or near one of the ten cities in the country producing shit, you can't be relevant. So I'm close-ish to a few of those cities. It's a necessity.
2. I work as a conductor. I need cities in order to have ensembles to work with.

I'd love to not have these constraints on my freedom, but it's reality for me. I do the best to be rural with the situation I'm given.
 
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Sanrith Descartes

Veteran of a thousand threadban wars
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41,351
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I live in a small village of about 25k. In the county with the highest median household income in the US. On a clear day, I can see the skyline of Manhattan (mainly because it is so fucking tall. I am about 20 miles east).

Its quite odd. Our "downtown" is about 3 blocks north and south of the train station (Long Island Railroad). Yet we have every convenience one can want (fiber to the home, 5g cell signals everywhere, a beach auditorium 5 minutes away (Jones Beach) that has national acts playing 6 months of the year, a couple of pro sports teams a few minutes away and I'm about 40 minutes by train/car from the center of the known universe. My village is small, but far from rural.
 

Tarrant

<Prior Amod>
15,516
8,969
From a town of 3500 (19 years) , lived in Twin Cities which is 3.28 million (18 years) and now live in a city of 15,000 (2 years this may).
I'm not sure what I would be classified as.
 

Aldarion

Egg Nazi
8,812
24,053
After all the city loving in this thread the only things that I miss even a little are the restaurants and having a diversity of high speed internet options. I don't have to drive more than 20-30 minutes to get to the full range of normal stores, which is a shorter drive than in most cities I've lived in (timewise, not distance wise)

Live music? Fuck, maybe when I was like 20. Standing in tight quarters and high volume with a bunch of drunk idiots? At some point even music festivals lost their appeal, and live music crammed into in some little hole in the wall bar always sucked.

Most of all, though, I cant begin to imagine raising kids in a city. Its about as incomprehensible as trying to keep a horse while living in an apartment.
 
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Mandriana

Avatar of War Slayer
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Live in a small city (66000) that has a municipal border (5 minute drive to cross between city divisions) to a large city (930K city, 1.3 million metro area). I generally prefer medium cities (250k to 500K) compared with either of the cities previously mentioned. It's been rather nice though, as my city has slowly over time added stores and restaurants that provide less reason to venture to the larger city, I just wish work was closer to home, during rush hour it's a 35 to 60 minutes drive one way to work, which is super ass-balls.
 

pharmakos

soʞɐɯɹɐɥd
<Bronze Donator>
16,306
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My town has 3,000 people, but it's the county seat and is the largest town in our "tricounty" area, so I checked the 1-1,000 option as it's probably a more accurate representation.
 

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
14,465
7,381
I live in what many of you probably consider the communist capital of America but I've never seen a communist flag. Ever. People here generally think communism is dumb. Maybe because rich liberals live here and not poor ones.
 
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AngryGerbil

Poet Warrior
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I live in what many of you probably consider the communist capital of America but I've never seen a communist flag. Ever. People here generally think communism is dumb. Maybe because rich liberals live here and not poor ones.

I've seen 3 in St. Louis.

There was an Impeach Trump rally in Kirkwood 2 years ago and there were two or three Hammer and Sickle flags in the small crowd of about 50 people.

A gay bar in the mega-hipster part of the city flies two of them above their front door. They started this about 3-4 months ago I believe.

And just last week a Hyundai sedan in front of me had a hammer and sickle bumper sticker and another one with a photo of Marx that said "Friends don't let friends Capitalism"
 

Borzak

Bronze Baron of the Realm
24,420
31,634
I had never looked before. Now living in a suburb out on the lake in Austin. 650,000 pop of Austin itself.
 

Bandwagon

Kolohe
<Silver Donator>
22,495
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This is where I'm working all day today. 15 miles from home, 30ish miles from the office. Haven't seen a single human after getting on site this morning. Love it. Even brought a couple rifles out for some lunchtime plinking.

20191213_114633.jpg


I can see my neighborhood through the scope.

20191213_115025.jpg
 
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