Open Thread

The downside of Arizona is that you are totally car-dependent. You can’t walk anywhere. My friend has 4 cars: one for each member of his family (he has two grown kids at home). I couldn’t take that.

I’d have to say that one of the best aspects of NYC is that it is pedestrian-friendly.

Also, in my friend’s neighborhood, you don’t see a soul at night. You could die in the middle of the street and no one would know till the next morning.

I guess I’m an urban New Yorker, including the right to gripe ;-).

See you next week.

This is so typical of the OT. So some people like AZ & some people like NYC. There’s no value judgment involved – it’s a matter of taste. Unlike, say, my wanting to vomit over the idea of Mother Theresa as an icon & someone else’s refudiating FDR.

In defense of the Arizona position:

One of my sisters has lived there several years and loves it for just the reasons benson stated.
Born and raised New Yorker, doesn’t miss NY one bit.

bonus: owns a nice pink-handled handgun.

re Arizona, Mrs D’s job is really stressful, unlike mine. She’s been slightly accusatorily pointing out that she has friends her age who are already retired.

We have a lot of equity in this house. We have some in our house upstate too. And as I mentioned the other day, our neighbor bought a doublewide in Florida for 30k.

If we sold our properties here after paying off loans we would have deep into six figures, not to mention regular retirement accounts. If we moved to the heart of the housing crisis, say FL, AZ, NV, etc., I’m sure we could buy a nice place for 100k.

With no debt in a low cost of living environment, how much would we need to live? Not that much. And we could always take some crappy part time jobs, she’s particularly employable.

Of course that would be the end of NYC for us. I guess I owe Mrs. D this scenario.