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Bertie,
Where things so simple. If the extensive S.F. and row house neighbornoods in NE came with the equivalent safety and school quality of the low density, car-oriented neighborhoods you claim people overwhelmingly prefer, my guess is those "consumer choices" would differ. For a similarly priced "safe" S.F. home, most people I know have to endure 1-2 hour commutes one way. Do you really think that losing 1.5 hours a day from one's children while fuming in the fumes is something people really want?

Who dosen't want the nice single family home in Cleveland Park with safety, privacy, transit connectivity, and easy access to services? I believe the prices answer that question. The point is wasting your time in traffic vs. living it with the ones you love. Most people could give a fig about the specifics people discuss on this blog, but what everyone seems to relate to is their own quality of life, and that's what many of these specifics address on one level or another.

The politics used to be completely slanted towards suburban expansion due to a variety of reasons well catalogued on this site, but that seems to be changing. Again, I beleive you'll find a lot of data beyond this survey to back that up such as how consumer choices have affected housing prices.

by Thayer-D on Aug 19, 2011 6:22 am • link • report