Tired of Urban Living??????????

[kcdcchef]

that posting was a joke, right Paintfumes?

all of his posts are.

[Highlander]

i think you almost have to on some occasions, based on sheer exhaustion ( career related ) or just your mood. when i lived in kc, and since in washington, and new york, my mind set was i am going to live in the city, support the city, and live the city life. and i did. shopping at various places on the east and west sides, and in the river market. and you are able to be self sufficient doing that, without ever using your car.

once in a while, it gets to the point that you just want to, not often though. for me, during christmas season, working 70-90 hours, i would not change my shopping habits, however, i would find myself driving to get this and that at the river market a little more, or driving to californias to get my fruit juices, or to the eastern market to get tea, however, it was again, just because i had been working 3 trillion hours, during the busiest time as a chef, and did not want to wait those 10 minutes for a bus and lug this and that.

i think the ocassional use of your car, even though you are trying to be the urban cowboy and all, just is what it is. and it is why you have a car, to say, yeah, 29 out of 30 days i take the bus, and 80 out of 84 times i walk / bus it to go shopping, but those ocassional trips, you just feel different.

That is true enough for 20 - to - 30 year old singles or no children couples which is pretty much the majority of this board (but not the general population).  Add children and age and crap weather, and a car, while still not always a necessity, certainly starts to look like a godsend.  I'm in my 40's and walk to work everyday in a very wet cold environment, and I have to say, there are times when I just absolutely hate it (lack of available parking keeps me out of my car though).  My wife tries to bus wherever possible (parking again is a problem) but it takes much longer with increased exposure to the elements and its tough to get the kids to where they need to be with the bus alone.  Even here in Europe, the car beckons.  For less physically fit and older folks, it is the preferable option here even with the high cost of fuel (vehicles themselves are not cheap either). 

[Paintfumes]

all of his posts are.

  I would complain but it doesnt' do any good in here. All the moderators are against me for
speaking my mind and they don't like what I have to say.
Life is no fair in here. What do you expect from twenty somethings ?

[schugg]

You are mean.

you are stupid.

[kcdcchef]

you are stupid.

i second this. anyone else agree?

[kcdcchef]

That is true enough for 20 - to - 30 year old singles or no children couples which is pretty much the majority of this board (but not the general population).  Add children and age and crap weather, and a car, while still not always a necessity, certainly starts to look like a godsend.  I'm in my 40's and walk to work everyday in a very wet cold environment, and I have to say, there are times when I just absolutely hate it (lack of available parking keeps me out of my car though).  My wife tries to bus wherever possible (parking again is a problem) but it takes much longer with increased exposure to the elements and its tough to get the kids to where they need to be with the bus alone.  Even here in Europe, the car beckons.  For less physically fit and older folks, it is the preferable option here even with the high cost of fuel (vehicles themselves are not cheap either). 

what i noticed from my 910 penn days, and more particularly from my central park west days, people as they move past 50 and either still live in the urban enviroment, or come back to the urban enviroment, prefer to work without a car, instead taking little trips all of the time to get this or that, and then having acquaintances chauffer them here and there, to get this and that.

[schugg]

Most people live here but travel outside the urban area. It's more exciting living here than the suburbs.

a few of us on here know that moron! I also don't really understand your post, chemical dependency is a bad thing.

[schugg]

look who's muted now,  sucka!

[kcdcchef]

Who ?   LOL

you are muted.

[kard]

This is interesting.  I love the last quote.


Graduates Prefer Cities for Jobs, Culture

Monday April 10, 2006 9:16 PM

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - College graduates are flocking to America's big cities, chasing jobs and culture and driving up home prices.

Though many of the largest cities have lost population in the past three decades, nearly all have added college graduates, an analysis by The Associated Press found.

The findings offer hope for urban areas, many of which have spent decades struggling with financial problems, job losses and high poverty rates.

But they also spell trouble for some cities, especially those in the Northeast and Midwest, that have fallen behind the South and West in attracting highly educated workers.

``The largest predictor of economic well-being in cities is the percent of college graduates,'' said Ned Hill, professor of economic development at Cleveland State University. To do well, he said, cities must be attractive to educated people.

Nationally, a little more than one-fourth of people 25 and older had at least bachelor's degrees in 2004. Some 84 percent had high school diplomas or the equivalent.

By comparison, in 1970 only a bit more than one in 10 adults had bachelor's degrees and about half had high school diplomas.

Seattle was the best-educated city in 2004 with just over half the adults having bachelor's degrees. Following closely were San Francisco; Raleigh, N.C.; Washington and Austin, Texas.

Molly Wankel, who has a doctorate in educational administration, said she moved to the Washington area for a job, and the culture of the city pulled her from the suburbs. Wankel, 51, grew up in eastern Tennessee and works at a company that develops software and training materials. She recently bought a home in the city.

``I just enjoy walking around looking at the architecture and the way people have renovated these 100-year-old homes,'' Wankel said. ``I love the landscaping and the lovely mix of many races, straight people, gays, singles, older people, younger people.''

The AP analyzed census data from 21 of the largest cities from 1970 to 2004. The AP used every-10-year census data from 1970 to 2000, and the Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2004.

The 21 cities were chosen because of their size and location to provide regional balance. The analysis was expanded for 2004, the latest year for data, to include all 70 cities with populations of 250,000 or more.

While most states in the Northeast have high percentages of college graduates, their big cities do not.

Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey were among the top five states in the percentage of adults with college degrees in 2004. But the Northeast placed no city among the top five, and only one from the region - Boston - was in the top 20.

Cities with few college graduates have a hard time generating good-paying jobs. That, in turn, makes it hard to attract more college graduates, said Richard Vedder, an economics professor at Ohio University.

Cities such as Newark, N.J.; Detroit and Cleveland have relatively few college graduates, which helps explain why they are struggling to recover from the decline of U.S. manufacturing, Vedder said.

Among the three, Cleveland had the largest share of college graduates in 2004, 14 percent of those 25 and older.

``Society is paying people more for their brains than for their brawn,'' Vedder said. ``The nerds and the wimps and the geeks are ruling the world.''

College graduates made about two-thirds more money than high school graduates in 2004, according to the Census Bureau. The median income - the point at which half make more and half make less - for adults with bachelor's degrees was $42,404. It was $25,360 for high school graduates.

Adults who did not graduate high school had a median income of $18,144.

Many cities with a lot of college graduates also have expensive homes, even with the softening real estate market.

San Francisco was the costliest in 2004, with a median home value of $662,000, according to census data. That was more than four times the national median of $151,000.

Cities that want to increase their pool of skilled labor need to foster an environment that welcomes outsiders, including immigrants and people from elsewhere in the U.S., said Richard Florida, professor of public policy at George Mason University.

``You know what they say, they say we want our kssed cities. ``What they don't say is that they want other people's kids to move there.''

Most big cities are strapped with struggling public schools and need to attract outsiders to improve education levels among adults. It's possible, in part because unmarried college graduates are the most mobile demographic group, according to census data.

``Cities have realized that they can attract educated people and they don't need good schools to do it,'' said Florida, who wrote the book, ``The Rise of the Creative Class.''

But cities need good schools to keep people from fleeing to the suburbs once they become parents, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Frey pointed to Washington, a city with lagging public schools but impressive education levels among adults.

``D.C. is like a revolving door,'' Frey said. ``These young people move in and then they move out when they want to have kids.''

But Wankel, the Tennessee native, said she has no plans to leave Washington. She said she would miss the restaurants, museums and convenient public transportation, what she calls ``civilization.''

``I had always been a small town girl, and I didn't know if I could adjust to living in a big city,'' Wankel said. ``Now, I don't want to go back to the suburbs.''

[warwickland]

you're muted kard! 

j/k, great article.

[kard]

Oh.  Crap crap crap.  I've resurrected a demon!  Sowwy...

[aknowledgeableperson]

Don't be sorry.  Good find.  However, one item to be concerned about is the paragraph, third form the end, about the revolving door.  Hopefully the KCMOSD can get it act together or good private schools come into play.

Caution:  It says they are moving to the big cities, doesn't say to their downtown areas.  In KC that could mean the Waldo area.

[kard]

Don't be sorry.  Good find.  However, one item to be concerned about is the paragraph, third form the end, about the revolving door.  Hopefully the KCMOSD can get it act together or good private schools come into play.

Caution:  It says they are moving to the big cities, doesn't say to their downtown areas.  In KC that could mean the Waldo area.

Well true, but I took that as "urban areas", meaning Plaza-type densities on up.  I don't "think" they're talking about Waldo-like places (as much as I love living in Waldo).

Besides, "urban areas" probably doesn't mean Kansas City at all.

You're right about the revolving-door situation.  That's been going on for some time.  I'm hoping, personally, that after some time goes by and there are more young, professional folks living in urban areas that they will stay, good schools or not.  I realizes that's a huge decision and one that I would choose to put my kids before any urban renewal goals I have, but hopefully people will stay.

[staubio]

Keep in mind that the revolving door only impacts those with children or that will have children.  That isn't everyone.  You'd be surprised how few households actually have children in the metro.

[warwickland]

what is it, like 25 percent? i can't remember.

[lock+load]

Keep in mind that the revolving door only impacts those with children or that will have children.  That isn't everyone.  You'd be surprised how few households actually have children in the metro.

How many go through life and never have children?  I'd guess it is a small number.  How many households have children at any given time is a misleading statistic.

[LenexatoKCMO]

what is it, like 25 percent? i can't remember.

25 and shrinking fast