Which of these US cities has the best suburbs?

[VansTripp]

Originally Posted by NovaWolverine

LA, DC, NYC, Chi, SF.

Even though suburbs are evil, DC is pretty much all good except for a couple isolated areas in PG county. IMO, Great Falls, Alexandria, Arlington, McLean, Fairfax Station, Bethesda, Silver Spring are some of the nicest around.

Detroit is good enough to be mentioned, but I don't think it's in the top 3. It's got the Grosse Pointes, Oakland County, and Detroit's border cities. It's very good though, as you can expect having a high metro pop. compared to it's city size.

What's wrong with Prince George's County? Is it's bad area?

[ROCguy]

PG county is kind of Red Neck isn't it?

[NovaWolverine]

PG for the most part is the avg. part of DCs suburbs. It has some nice parts, and is oozing with potential, but it also borders the bad part of SE DC. This has had a very very negative impact on the county. A lot of the lower income people are being pushed out of DC b/c of the housing prices and many are going to PG county, b/c it's the cheapest part of the metro. The schools aren't as good as the rest of the area, and the crime isn't good either. But like I said, it has the proximity and some nice developments, good light rail, lots of potential, but if it wasn't there than another place would be serving the same purpose.

I guess it has some redneck parts closer to charles, anne arundel and st. marys counties, but it's not enough to call redneck in general, and just as much as the whole area. Lower income areas almost always have less educated and "dignified", not trying to sound elitist. Even in west chester or nassau and suffolk county you get your fair share of more hick like ppl.

[VansTripp]

Originally Posted by NovaWolverine

PG for the most part is the avg. part of DCs suburbs. It has some nice parts, and is oozing with potential, but it also borders the bad part of SE DC. This has had a very very negative impact on the county. A lot of the lower income people are being pushed out of DC b/c of the housing prices and many are going to PG county, b/c it's the cheapest part of the metro. The schools aren't as good as the rest of the area, and the crime isn't good either. But like I said, it has the proximity and some nice developments, good light rail, lots of potential, but if it wasn't there than another place would be serving the same purpose.

I guess it has some redneck parts closer to charles, anne arundel and st. marys counties, but it's not enough to call redneck in general, and just as much as the whole area. Lower income areas almost always have less educated and "dignified", not trying to sound elitist. Even in west chester or nassau and suffolk county you get your fair share of more hick like ppl.

I see, How about Charles County? I thought it was great and Good Charlotte bands were formed in Waldorf, MD.

[PotatoGuy]

Originally Posted by ROCguy

You know, I actually debated putting LA on there at all. It is ALL suburbs. It's strange to me that as of right now, it's in the lead.

LA is NOT all suburbs, the suburbs for me are mainly in S. orange county, inland empire and the sf valley, but most of the basin is like one big city, not really suburbs, it'd hard to explain, it's unique

[NovaWolverine]

they are suburbs but they resemble LA proper a lot, it's like a continuation in a lot of parts, that from what i've seen at least.

anyway, charles is alright, a lot of pg people are going out there because they don't like pg as much, but it's kinda nice, very avg. Waldorf just next to the pg line. Out PG and Charles is very similar they're avg. It's just the inner parts of pg. And Charles goes west so you get a different feel out that way. Pg is a pretty good size county compared to others in the area.

[VansTripp]

Originally Posted by NovaWolverine

they are suburbs but they resemble LA proper a lot, it's like a continuation in a lot of parts, that from what i've seen at least.

anyway, charles is alright, a lot of pg people are going out there because they don't like pg as much, but it's kinda nice, very avg. Waldorf just next to the pg line. Out PG and Charles is very similar they're avg. It's just the inner parts of pg. And Charles goes west so you get a different feel out that way. Pg is a pretty good size county compared to others in the area.

That remainds me about alot of white families from PG are moving out to Charles County for some reason. How about demographic change in Charles County?

[hudkina]

Detroit's got a good variety of suburbs. You have the Grosse Pointes, urban streetcar suburbs developed in the 1920's and 30's for Detroit's wealthiest citizens. Then you have Bloomfield Hills, with its large collection of country estates and fine institutions (Cranbrook, etc.). Then there's Hamtramck where 54% of the citizens speak a different language. Next up is Dearborn with the largest concentration of Arabs outside of the Middle East. Ferndale, home to Detroit's gay community. Royal Oak, Detroit's artsy community. Birmingham, Detroit's urban chic suburb.

But if you're looking for a safe suburban community complete with mega shopping centers and cul-de-sacs you have Troy, Sterling Heights, Livonia, and Farmington Hills, four of the 25 Safest Cities in the country.

[hudkina]

BTW, I just wanted to point out that Detroit is the only MSA in the country that has four cities in the top twenty-five safest cities according to Morgan Quitno. The New York and Los Angeles MSAs only have three each.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by ROCguy

You know, I actually debated putting LA on there at all. It is ALL suburbs. It's strange to me that as of right now, it's in the lead.

i cant believe you even typed that. have you ever been here before??

[the pope]

just my two cents, but having living in arlington, VA: the arlington co. suburbs are quite possibly the "sterile-ist" suburbs in the nation.....

just a thought

[NovaWolverine]

It's not my preference but a lot of people like sterile when it comes to suburbs. And with it's proximity to DC and access to light rail, I don't even think it's an issue with many there.

[NovaWolverine]

But your point is take, I can understand that view. Crystal City is very sterile, but it's gonna get better, they're putting more street level development, and with the BRAC decisions there will be less of a military, bureaucratic presence. Rosslyn is right across from G'town, and Ballston is a nice community. I think convenience and recreation is a big plus despite the lack of street level life.

[ChrisLA]

Originally Posted by CarsonCaliBrotha

LA isn't all suburbs. If you mean LA County, in some ways, yes. but there's so many big cities in LA county it's hard to tell nowadays, especially with so many people coming in. You could say Compton is a suburb of LA, or a suburb of Long Beach, or a suburb of Torrance.


But if you think suburbs are middle class houses on a never ending pattern where very few people walk, most of LA, especially the Southern parts, would definitely go against the definition of "suburb".

Oh don't pay attention to him, he's well aware that the city isn't all single family homes and suburban. He and a couple other forumers does this (insults) often whether its appropriate or not.

Anyway I say LA overall has the best and most interesting suburbs. In many ways quite different in development from what I've seen of many other american cities burbs. NY metro comes in at 2nd. Chicago northshore is very nice, but as others said many of the other burbs are just plan boring and bland.

[samsonyuen]

LA. Opulent, beautiful, great weather, lots of diversity in terms of suburb types too.

[mad_nick]

NY's suburbs have superior rail service compared to the others, so I voted for NY.
Though it also depends on how you define suburb, would Jersey City be considered a suburb for instance? Yonkers? Paterson? Some suburbs are relatively nice, but many, especially the outer suburbs, suck.

BTW, what makes so many people vote for Chicago's suburbs? I've never been there, but my (perhaps uneducated) perception of Chicago's suburbs is that it essentially consists of the type of endless sprawl you find in most US cities.

[Azn_chi_boi]

Originally Posted by mad_nick

BTW, what makes so many people vote for Chicago's suburbs? I've never been there, but my (perhaps uneducated) perception of Chicago's suburbs is that it essentially consists of the type of endless sprawl you find in most US cities.

The Suburbs around Lake Michigan in 3 states, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, probably Michigan too in the future.

The suburbs around fox lake, in the North-central part of the region.

Also Oak Park. And the big suburbs, such as Aurora, Naperville, Joliet, Elgin, Kenosha, WI and Gary, IN.

Probably also, about what I said about Milwaukee being a Chicago's suburb too, it was a sarcastic remark.

[*Sweetkisses*]

Philly has interesting suburbs. Valley forge, mainline, reading...

[ROCguy]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

i cant believe you even typed that. have you ever been here before??

You have asked me that before, I have answered you before too. YES. I have. You can't tell the diffrence between much of the City Of Los Angeles, and many of it's suburbs. A lot of its suburbs are actually completely surrounded by the city limits. Who does that? I think Dallas has Park Cities, and that is about the only other example I can think of. Who was it that said "Los Angeles, 19 suburbs in search of a city"?

[ROCguy]

Originally Posted by *Sweetkisses*

Philly has interesting suburbs. Valley forge, mainline, reading...

Philly would have been my second choice. Philly is probably the only city listed here where pretty much all of the suburbs actually fit the real criterea for a "suburb"; Lower density, much lower crime, inhabited by people originally from (or who descended from) the city. Chicago has really nice suburbs, and is what considered the essential "suburbia" but many of it's suburbs are really poor inner-cityish. Maywood comes to mind.