THEY'RE MOVE ON BACK...

There's a great story on that here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/16/suburb.city/index.html?iref=mpstoryview#

1. Subprime crisis transforms American suburbs to wastelands of crime, poverty
2. Survey finds 40 percent of homes in certain cities want walkable communities
3. Arthur C. Nelson projects surplus of 22 million large-lot homes by 2025
4. Experts project low-income families will be pushed out to suburban fringe

And of course, this is related:
http://toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/tt.pl/article/17846/Next_ReUrbanism_meeting_is_June_18

I think that the "suburbs" that have actual downtown areas and jobs/major employers within that suburb won't be affected as much. For example, if you work in Arrowhead, you aren't going to move into Toledo to combat gas prices...you'll stay in Maumee.

It would be nice to see Toledo get on solid footing, since Toledo's stability (or lack thereof) affects the rest of us in Lucas County.

However, I personally am not leaving Sylvania. :) I work downtown, pay city income tax, and spend money on activities in the city occasionally...that's enough for me.

I wouldn't mind seeing the "downtown" part of Sylvania grow even more too...I think that might be just as likely of a side effect. People in the 'burbs may stay more within their own community, rather than going to the city for entertainment, etc.

In order for people to move back to Toledo, the jobs have to go back to Toledo too.

Nobody (OK very few people)owns their home. People either rent property or rent money to "purchase" property for a financial institution.

The schools were designed to be shit. Ask a teacher/administrator who homeschools their kid. Read up on the history. Should be easy to come by.

There is no soft landing to this bubbly boom, you might want to mow your neighbors lawn while his house sits on the market for years:

We in the Toledo area have it pretty good. We can get anywhere in 30 minutes or less. Our short commutes tend to not diminish the quality of our lives by eroding away at the time with family and the fuel budget.

My main concern about living anywhere is having a sense of community; not a landscape decorated with rail fence row after fence row with plastic kid toys strewn about or with a profound lack of regionalism with the same trendy bar/restaurants, pet supply, home repair, bed bath and bullshit stores; and of course the obligatory Burger Row.

One way of measuring a potential address for me was imaging my children walking down the neighborhood streets, riding bikes to the library and ice cream stand, playing in the creeks, and going to “the pool”. This things can still be found in Toledo’s suburbs.

I, like mom2, live in the burbs (I grew up in Sylvania but don’t live there now) but it has its price; not only fiscally.

Everyplace has its inherent problems and my home has its. Yet, there are signs of genuine prosperity in terms of prosperity of spirit, intellectual enrichment, the arts, as well as epicurean and of course hedonism.

Also, suburban flight is not without its fiscal opportunities.

Marie, if we're going to reside in the city, then we'd better do something about all the fucking crime, right? I'd live in an even cheaper zone than South Toledo just past the Zoo, but I just can't stand the idea of having my door kicked in every third Thursday by some fuckwit who used his jobless condition as quality time to case my house to see what my schedule was like.

And, Char: Instead of blowing through all that gas, you might want to plow up your foreclosed-neighbor's lawn and plant vegetables instead.

GZ...I would have expected a rugged individualist like yourself to remember that not all lawn mowers use gas. :)

(Just purchased a reel mower myself...figured the extra exercise wouldn't hurt, plus its nice to be able to mow any time of day without having to worry about disturbing the neighbors. Also, my kids can play in the back yard while I mow, now that we don't have to worry about the trajectory of our gas mower.)

mom2, back in May, I bought the Scotts reel mower at The Andersons, and it's worked out better than I expected. It doesn't cut as high as I would like, which is why I've held off on buying a reel mower in the past. I use the reel mower at the highest setting, and that provides a three-inch cut. I wish it allowed for a four-inch cut. I bought the reel mower because the gas-powered mower was the only noise machine left that I used around the yard. But now it's only simple hand tools for me.

Besides being a lot quieter, the reel mower is so much safer than the machine. Don't have to worry about something whizzing out from under the mower. Last time I mowed the yard with the reel mower, I did so wearing my Birkenstock sandals. Quality law-mowing footwear. In the olden days when mowing, I wore a nice pair of steel-toed boots.

It does take a little longer with the reel mower. It has trouble with taller grass, so it takes a couple passes to get a complete cut. But thus far, the positives outweigh that negative. I'll need to eventually buy the hand-sharping kit for the mower. My main concern is how long the mower will last. It seems flimsy. I wish I was good at metal work because I would hack a reel mower to meet my requirements.

And of course, no chemicals on the yard. I only use Espoma products. I worked at Scotts in Marysville many years ago, and I handled some nasty stuff when I worked in their formulations lab. But I do use other Scotts products like their grass seed, their drop spreader, and now their reel mower.

Mom2, I have a reel mower, but I just don't have the lawn anymore for using it on. My landlord handles it, and of course he uses a gas-powered mower like 99% of people do.

Jr, when I got my reel mower, I found it in one of those second-hand stores that are like garage sales. It is very sturdy and probably 1970s vintage, and I can't imagine what yours looks like.

I hope that users of reel mowers take care of them. They don't accumulate grass debris like powered mowers do, but the grass remnants have to be removed EACH TIME in order to control rusting. A quick bushing should work. Follow with a oily brush for the blades.

Not in any hurry to move to the inner city:
Man shot in East Toledo
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080627/NEWS03/258240741

Man shot in central Toledo
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080627/NEWS03/676576319

NEW Thompson receives 3 life terms for North Toledo killings

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080627/NEWS02/652950415

But according to Carty's math, Perrysburg Township is more violent than Toledo.

Holy shit! I'd better start locking my house..if I could only remember where I put the key.