what type of city, and or development do you live in?

[AnnieW625]

The bike post got me thinking about this as I am no huge hurry to have DD1 riding a bike, while it might be nice I am not pushing it because we don't have really great long non busy stretches where she'll be able to ride. There are some narrow pathes in our local park so that will be nice to help her learn how to ride, but I have never had the urge to have her full on riding a bike before the age of 5/1/2 or 6.

I live in 1950s built suburbia (this is a photo of my general area when it was being built, all straight streets, all of the lots are the same size) (http://www.colapublib.org/history/gifs/lakewood/thumbs/2.gif) outside of Los Angeles. About 85% or maybe 90% of the houses are all on 5,600 sq. ft. lots. and most of the houses were originally built with between 900 and 1200 sq. ft., and either 2beds., 2 bath or 1 bath or 3 bed., 1 bath.

[wellyes]

When I moved here I thought it was great that this is a suburb with tree-lined sidewalks, and it is, but in terms of bike riding: heck no for my 3 year old. It's all about access to large-ish parks where cars aren't allowed.

[DietCokeLover]

I voted one stoplight town, but this is kind of false. We have NO stoplights at all.

[hellokitty]

Hmm, well I voted small suburb, but really it's a small hick city, b/c it's too far to be any big city's suburb, but the population fits is just under 50,000.

[BabyMine]

We live right on the city limits but in an urban area. Our homes were built in 2000 and range from 1500 - over 7000 sq ft. Almost all the homes around this area are HOAs. I love it becasue it has tons to offer families and everything is close. The prices range from (now) 140,000 - over 2 mil.

From Wikipedia



As of the census (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/Census)[1] (http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/#cite_note-GR2-0) of 2000, there are 22,466 residing in the district. 14,891 families, and 15,447 households. The population density (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/Population_density) is 936/mi². There are 11,143 housing units at an average density of 464.3/mi². The racial makeup of the district is 80.77% White (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/White_(U.S._Census)), 6.13% Black (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/Black_(U.S._Census)), 0.51% Native American (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/Native_American_(U.S._Census)), 7.46% Asian (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/Asian_(U.S._Census)), less than 0.01% Pacific Islander (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/Pacific_Islander_(U.S._Census)), 2.98% from some other race (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/Race_(U.S._Census)). 8.82% of the population are Hispanic (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/Hispanic_(U.S._Census)) or Latino (http://www.windsorpeak.com/wiki/Latino_(U.S._Census)) of any race.


I know the census has changed since 2000 but it's an idea.

[crl]

Well, by your numbers San Francisco is a small urban city at just over 800,000. But it is also the 13th most populous city in the US and it feels like a big city to me?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco

Catherine

ETA. Most of the city would be tough for a kid learning to ride a bike. We happen to live in a unique part of the city and have lots of safe places for kids to ride nearby, including right out my front door. Everything in our niche is rental because it is federally owned and our neighborhood is all four-plexes with 4 bedrooms and two baths.

[cono0507]

Town of about 30,000 on the fringe of suburbia with fabulous bike/trail system - we can ride out bikes into town/restaurants/library/gym without crossing any big streets. There is a bike system that we could ride all the way into the major city near us though we haven't done that yet. We ride to restaurants/library/farmers market/etc very often though in our town.

[YouAreTheFocus]

Hmm, I wasn't sure how to vote. I live in a city of just under 400,000, but no way it is a large suburb..selected small urban city even tho the range doesn't match...

We aren't at bike riding age yet, but we can walk to a lake that has a 5k path around it...no intersections/breaks, just a continuous loop.

[lhafer]

Not sure how to vote. We live in a suburb of Houston. Houston has 4+ million people. The suburb I live in (about 40 minutes outside of Houston proper) has about 15,000 people in it.

My neighborhood is a master planned community. Sidewalks galore, walking paths, each small neighborhood (within the MP community) each has a small park. We moved here specifically because there are sidewalks, and it's extremely family friendly. Every.single.time I drive through then neighborhood I see people jogging, strolling their kids, bike riding, walking their dogs, etc. Love it!

[TwinFoxes]

I honestly don't know how to vote. My county (I don't live in a city) is over one million. but it's not an urban city by any stretch. (horse farms, and I think real farms exist here). We are considered a DC suburb. So, I dunno!

[daisymommy]

Mid to large suburban area, where homes are 30 years old. Lots of tree lined streets and sidewalks.

[fivi2]

Not sure how to vote. I guess small urban city, but I am not sure we have 500K. But I'm not in the burbs...

[JoyNChrist]

I voted the boonies. The town we technically live in has a population of under 10,000, but we live outside of town. We have five acres, but our nearest neighbor is a couple miles away because there are pastures between us. I wouldn't really want my kids to ride bikes here because there are no sidewalks. But we have a pretty good park with bike trails not too far away.

[wencit]

Hmm, well I voted small suburb, but really it's a small hick city, b/c it's too far to be any big city's suburb, but the population fits is just under 50,000.:yeahthat: except the population here is about 20,000. I've heard this town referred to as "sub-rural," and DH likes to joke that it's "a suburb of the suburbs of Boston."

[o_mom]

We live in a medium suburb (by your list). We actually live in a subdivision that is about 20 years old with sidewalks and low-traffic streets. We are less than a mile from a major bike path/trail and the larger roads have sidepaths (wide paved paths instead of sidewalks) so we can ride there from our house without riding in the street and only crossing one major-ish interesction. We can easily/safely ride with the kids to the trail and from there, pretty much unlimited distance, but most commonly, we do the approx 6 mi roundtrip to the Farmer's Market. We also have rural areas quite close by that often have organized rides of 10-20 mi which we do 1-2 times per summer and hope to do more as the kids grow.

[mommylamb]

I voted large suburb, though to be honest, I have no idea how many people are in it. But, it's Fairfax County just outside of DC, so pretty big.

[megs4413]

Not sure how to vote. St. Louis is somewhat unusual....I'm minutes outside of the "city" in an urban suburb. LOL most St. Louisans live in St. Louis county, not St. Louis city.

[mom2binsd]

We live in a city of about 160,000 so I didn't vote as we aren't a suburb of any other city...about 2 hours from Chicago, 2 1/2 from St. Louis.

[HIU8]

I'm with you on this. We have urban and suburban and rural in our county and of course, it's also a DC suburb. I didn't vote b/c I feel like I needed to check off more than one.

[TwinFoxes]

I voted large suburb, though to be honest, I have no idea how many people are in it. But, it's Fairfax County just outside of DC, so pretty big.

Over a million, according to US Census Bureau. :) Extra large.

[WolfpackMom]

We are somewhere between small suburb and farm city. We have a population of about 11-12k but the side of town that is right next to Raleigh is much more suburban while the other side of town is all farm and fields and older housing (no sidewalks, gravel drives etc.) We live on the more rural side of town but right near the highway and 5 minutes from suburb land and 12 minutes from downtown of the state capital. NC is silly that way...

[carolinamama]

Technically we fit in the large suburb category since we have about 130,000 residents (I just had to look it up since I wasn't sure!) but it feels more like a medium suburb. It is quite perfect for bike riding especially since we've always lived in very family friendly residential neighborhoods.

[dcmom2b3]

I voted small urban city since DC's population is just over 600,000. But the entire metro area is pretty big, in terms of both population and geographic area.

ETA: We ride bikes on the sidewalk -- thankfully our neighborhood is pretty peaceful, but a couple of major commuter routes get busy during rush hour. DD is very conscientious about stopping at every alley, driveway, and corner and waiting for my "all clear" before she crosses. We could ride in the park, but digging holes and looking for worms usually wins out over the bike.

[vludmilla]

I'm in a close-in NYC suburb. It is a small town as most are in this area. The area was developed over time and there are some houses that predate the 1900's buit most are from the 1930's. Lots of beautiful old Tudors and gorgeous colonials. My neighborhood is particularly beautiful from an architectural perspective; most of the houses are unique and lovely. Sadly, my house is one of the ugliest in the neighborhood. We have a 1970's CH colonial and the 70's were full of bad taste in houses, it seems. As for bike riding, my block is especially quiet. Kids regularly play in the street because hours go by with no one driving down the street. The neighbood totally makes up the house.

[WatchingThemGrow]

My little town has about 53,000 people, and everything's old and run down. There are a few pockets of new stuff on the outskirts with rectangular lots, sidewalks, and fewer trees, but most of the town consists of windy roads with weird old ugly houses from the 60's and 70's, but with tons of trees and no sidewalks. My little house is going on 60 years old (built in the 50's) and we actually live on a big circle that's PERFECT for riding bikes around. Little traffic other than residents, and lots of neighbors walk to the bus stop for work/school. It's flat and the streets are wide, shaded by trees. We have a bike trail right across from our driveway, but I don't go on it b/c it feels isolated and I had a bad experience once. We do go on the trails as a family in the daylight, though. My 3 and 4 yo DCs hope to spend the summer riding to the pool and to the school playground.

I long to have sidewalks and a new home, but it isn't going to happen because of cash and wanting to be close to DH's work and his parents, who live in the next city over.

[niccig]

We in suburb outside LA. Lots are around 8-10,000 I believe. It's a hidden pocket with only one road in/out and many people don't know it's here. Our house is 1940's.

Annie, you have the great bike path along the beach near you. We drove down, parked near the marina by the restaurant that has a lighthouse (looks out onto the real lighthouse). We rode along the bikepath for a bit, then rode back to the car and went and ate at a restaurant right there. It's all by the aquarium.

We also go to other bike paths in Santa Monica, Malibu. We're not too far from Lacey park in San Marino - I know you're familiar with is area. It's a huge park with great big loop - about 3/4 of mile I think. We've ridden along the LA river too, but some parts of it are right beside the freeway, so very noisy.

DS has been riding without training wheels since before he was 4. So we load our bikes on the bike rack, DS's bike in the back, and go off riding for a few hours. We occasionally ride in our neighbourhood, but it's only a block to the park. We could ride further, but it's all downhill, which doesn't seem like much of an incline, until you have to ride back up. DS learned to ride the balance bike at the park and would ride it there and back on the sidewalk. Once he got good at the 12" pedal bike, we started looking for bike paths. It does get busy along the beach bikepath, but we first went to quieter sections, and now at 6 yo DS is very good at staying on his side, passing people etc. But he's had 2 years practice with steering his bike. Just need him to not stop on a dime, so I don't run into him from behind!

[maestramommy]

I live in a very small suburb (20k people) that used to be a farm town. No sidewalks except as you get close to the high school. My development was built in the early 70s.

Our kids ride their bikes in our driveway. The kids across the street did the same until they were confident on their two wheelers. Now they ride on the edge of the street, but stick to the area between 3 houses, because beyond that on both sides is a steep hill.

[eh613c]

I, too, live in a 1950s suburbia and we're actually the 2nd owners of our house. There's only 2 families that live on our street that are still the original owners. Every Memorial Day we have a block party, where the local firemen come and show the kids the trucks and gadgets. And for 3 weeks during the winter holidays the neighborhood puts on Christmas decorations and the amount of foot traffic we get is crazy.

[Smillow]

I voted Farm City, although I have no idea what the definition of that is! Population under 24,000, established in the 1740's in the middle of Virginia's second largest county (all municipalities in the Virginia that are incorporated as cities are legally and politically independent of counties). We are not a suburb of anything.

[MontrealMum]

We live in a bourough within a large urban city, which is the 2nd largest in Canada. Our village was founded in the late 17th century and it represents about 66,000 of the 3mil. plus of Montreal proper's population. Although our village dates back to the founding of Canada, most of the construction was part of two waves: post WWI, and post-WWII. So there are lots of gorgeous old homes with "charm"...interpret that last word as you will :)

We are so happy we moved out of the actual city to a place that is very family oriented and slower paced. Although Montreal is known for its bike paths, they are very busy and dangerous at times, and some are much too close to traffic for a child on a bike, or even riding with an adult (in a trailer or a seat). Montreal drivers are horrific.

Luckily, we now live on the TransCanada trail and the Route Verte which makes for great biking - and strolling - with a little one. DS is still only on a trike but posts here have me wondering if I should get him a 2-wheeler this summer or not. We also have a great provincial parks system in our province which allows for wonderful XC skiing in the winter, and cycling in the summer. We're bursting at the seams in our small home, yet we're not ready to give up all the pluses of our location.

[ilfaith]

[QUOTE=crl;3116679]Well, by your numbers San Francisco is a small urban city at just over 800,000. But it is also the 13th most populous city in the US and it feels like a big city to me?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco

Jacksonville, FL has a similar sized population. But it is so sprawling it has a very different feel from a smaller city like San Francisco or the even smaller Boston. Even though we live in Jacksonville city limits, we live in a gated golf community and there are many other similar subdivisions. Aside from the downtown area, Jacksonville feels more like the New Jersey suburbs where I grew up (aside from the palm trees) than a "real" city.

In fact only two US cities have populations over 3,000,000 (NYC and LA). Mid-size Chicago and Houston miss the mark, and cities like Boston, Miami, DC, and Atlanta don't even come close (they would be categorized as small cities). I think a lot of smaller cities have more of an urban feel to them than many of cities with larger land area and populations.

[crl]

[

Jacksonville, FL has a similar sized population. But it is so sprawling it has a very different feel from a smaller city like San Francisco or the even smaller Boston. Even though we live in Jacksonville city limits, we live in a gated golf community and there are many other similar subdivisions. Aside from the downtown area, Jacksonville feels more like the New Jersey suburbs where I grew up (aside from the palm trees) than a "real" city.

In fact only two US cities have populations over 3,000,000 (NYC and LA). Mid-size Chicago and Houston miss the mark, and cities like Boston, Miami, DC, and Atlanta don't even come close (they would be categorized as small cities). I think a lot of smaller cities have more of an urban feel to them than many of cities with larger land area and populations.

Exactly. I think density is the difference. San Francisco is quite dense. And I used to live in Arlington VA, which is a suburb of DC. But Arlington is actually denser than the district so it also felt somewhat urban to me.

Catherine

[MoJo]

I voted one stoplight town, but this is kind of false. We have NO stoplights at all.

Me too!

[swissair81]

I live in a 1960's suburb of almost 80,000 people.
However, I live about 5 seconds from a city with about 700,000 people
Also, our metro area is about 4 million people. I can be in (or at least drive through) much of the area in a single day, so I'm claiming it as my own.

[Indianamom2]

Well, I wasn't exactly sure of how to answer. I selected med. suburb. The city I live right outside of has just over 100,000 people. I live about 5 miles away from the downtown, but technically barely within the city limits and my little zipcode has a population of about 27,000 people.

I live in a small subdivision (built in the early 90's) in a fairly rural area. Lots of farm land and wildlife around (it's not at all uncommon to see deer in the road or wild turkeys roaming the fields....actually, I saw a wild turkey roaming a busy intersection the other day....).

I am not a city girl at all...I prefer the wildlife and space and trees and grass.

[lizzywednesday]

I currently live in a medium-ish suburb in a development that has sidewalks.

I grew up in a small-ish suburb with no sidewalks, traffic lights or even streetlights. I LOVE my hometown and would move back there if I could. (DH, on the other hand, grew up in a medium-to-large-ish suburb in a development with sidewalks and the town has a bunch of traffic lights, streetlights and lots of "light pollution." Neighbors are right on top of each other and the area is very densely populated. It makes me crazy thinking about living in a place like that.)

I still learned to ride a bike even though there are no bike paths in my town. It gave me an early education in the rules of the road and safety measures.

Bike helmet laws were not the norm until I was in high school, but I pushed my mom to get all 4 of us bike helmets after reading an article about them when I was 10. I researched the kinds of helmets and how to get a good fit when they're worn properly. (I find that a lot of little kids are not wearing their helmets properly, so their helmets won't actually be protecting their heads in a crash because they're not positioned correctly on the kids' foreheads, but I digress...)

Anyway, if we are still in our current house/development when DD is of bike-riding age, she'll learn to ride, use a helmet and learn the rules of the road. If she cannot do all of the above, she will not be permitted to continue to ride.

[rachelh]

I voted large urban city. Threads like this make me want to move out of this soot to a place with trees and grass...and bike paths...and flowers...and lakes...and...

A girl can dream, right? :wink2: