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Comment by winter_blue | Hacker News Reader

> but nobody is ready to leave their hip, startup lofts for the drudgery of a Westchester office complex (let alone endure an hour commute into the city every day)

I live in New York City, and I can certainly empathize with the no one wanting to do endure a long daily commute in a crowed, cramped, subway full of people where you likely might not get a seat. (LIRR/MNR/NJT are great in comparison (but terrible in frequency).)

But I dissent on your comment on living and working in Westchester (or really any suburbia in general). I understand people think the city is hip and all, but I really like greenery, nature, having a lot of space, being able to get to places in the comfort of your car, reasonable/low cost to own a home, generally low cost of living, the lack of noise, clean air, etc, etc. What's so dull about it?

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Getting to use a car quickly becomes having to use a car in much of the U.S.

There is a lot of middle room between suburbia and NYC for build environments.

I'm not familiar with Westchester specifically but, to me, suburbia isn't good for any of those things you mentioned. To me suburbia feels like a giant mass produced parking lot and is an incredibly depressing display of concrete! Nature is nowhere to be found in the suburbs. The real estate is very expensive in desirable suburbs and traffic is still bad in the suburbs, just bad in a different way than in a bigger city.

Right now I live in what I guess would be described as a town. Its ~100 miles from any major urban area and it's much more effective at providing the majority of the things you mentioned plus amazingly short commute times! It also has some sorts of benefits you would associate with the city as well - for example, I can walk to at least 10 establishments as well as 2 parks whereas when I lived in a suburb the street I lived off of was 4 lanes 45 MPH and didn't even have a sidewalk. Even if it did have a sidewalk the noise of a mass of neverending SUVs buzzing past is unpleasant.

You would also have no problem driving almost everywhere in a smaller city.

I think you're describing the difference between a suburban town vs. a suburban bedroom community. The latter usually lacks services and amenities [1] or a real sense of community, so on the weekends you're forced to commute just to get a good meal.

Luckily both exist -- often times the sweet spot is to live near downtown + transit of a smaller town. Then you get a faster commute, some walkability, and the option to do things in town as well.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commuter_town

IDK, I would not, personally, consider my town in any way suburban. It's European "founding" predates the American revolution and the vast majority of the construction in the town center is pre war and it's nowhere near any major or even minor urban area.

My opinion on suburbia that I stated was based on what would be "suburban town" moreso than a "suburban bedroom community." I've never lived in the latter.

I know it's just my opinion though, I know some people like suburbia but smallish towns like mine are better at providing greenery, nature, and a low cost of living plus a pleasant environment. To me suburbs are the opposite of that. (Getting to the airport is a giant pain in the ass though...)

Pretty much the first thing I did when I moved here was take a walk!

That is not how Westchester is. I would love to live in Westchester or Hudson Valley towns. The problem is due to shitty trains, the commutes are far too long.

Look at a town like Beacon NY. Beautiful place with ridiculously cheap real estate.

If we had high speed trains we could link these cities to NYC for daily commuting and it would pay for itself with increased property values.

There's so much value being lost and inconvenience beared by us because of shitty government.

High speed trains only reach high speeds because they don't stop. They're not high acceleration and deceleration trains. MNR has too many stops (and curves, but setting that aside) for high speed to matter.

Of course, you can run them express, but then they probably wouldn't stop in small towns like Beacon or Cold Spring. Amtrak is basically this on the New Haven line, how many people actually take it to commute?

Wow!! Screw trains, as a Hudson Valley native, Hudson valley is not Westchester.

I hope the trains pass you by. We don't want you.

Yep, classic Hudson Valley asshole right here!

Go drive South a couple thousand miles if you want to be an insular hillbilly.

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