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The distance increases every day that I observe the way most major cities are run.
I feel the same way about keeping my distance from remote areas with self described "crazy a** cowboys" bragging about their pistols and their knives...
I feel the same way about keeping my distance from remote areas with self described "crazy a** cowboys" bragging about their pistols and their knives...
I rest easy here, knowing that all the **** I step in comes from cows.
About 90 minutes is the sweet spot. Less than an hour, and you will be going there all the time for specialized needs. You city will not have shopping and services. Your city will support them.
I lived ten years, 60k city, 100 miles from each of two major cities, and honestly did not go even once, except to the airport and two sports events. For sports, I'd drive 250-500 niles almost every year, distance is not a factor there.
Off hours, I can be at Dim Sun lunch in Chinatown in an hour or at the airport or symphony hall in 70 minutes. I have commuter rail as an option. Between fall and spring, we have/had four symphony events, Nutcracker at the ballet, Cirque du Soleil, two flights to Europe, and a couple of domestic flights. We’re on the coast so we generally don’t bother with the city from May to October when we’re in “summer mode”. We’re a few miles from a city of 100,000 and 30 minutes from a city of 200,000 with a regional airport and an Apple Store so we don’t have to use the major city for most things. Locally, it’s not congested. The worst I see is an occasional extra stoplight cycle. The interstate highway is 10 minutes minutes and doesn’t have traffic jams unless there is an accident. I have to drive 25 minutes before I hit traffic.
For a major city, such as the big 3, Seattle, Twin Cities, etc I prefer to be in a walkable, transit friendly, affluent/low crime area. I hate the suburbs unless it has ALL of those 3 characteristics which are few and far between.
If you're not a major city with a half-decent job market, and if I can't afford those 3 characteristics, I prefer to go as far away from you as possible. Society has gotten worse in the cities anyway. Would rather move to a D-1 college town or a small metro/micropolitan area with industry/amenities.
It depends on the metro and how much crime is in the metro if its Detroit or Chicago for example I want to live an at least hour outside the metro area of it for space and safety. If its LA its even longer than an hour because it's so sprawled out (not for safety but for space) but at the same time with traffic its takes forever to get anywhere so you have to factor that in.. It depends on a lot factors.
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