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I was blocked and had to go incognito to see the tweet everyone was joking about and while it's wrong, there is a bigger issue of cities lacking low cost indoor recreational venues. It's hard to find places to even hold an indoor meeting let alone play music or just have space.
The idea of converting vacant office spaces to housing is far less appealing to me than nonprofits and organizations finally getting some office space that isn't booking 3 months in advance at the library.
Converting dilapidated, sitting empty theaters all over the country into concert halls and hang out spots for especially youths would be nice. Pool tables, arcades, games, speakers. This was a thing decades ago that died down amid anti-teenager loitering laws.
This is an issue in suburbs too. The youth today can't hang out anywhere but parks, parking lots or drive-around endlessly. We need more venues to chill. Tired of holding meetings in restaurants and backrooms of bars, only. Or wait 3 months for a library rec room reservation.
Cities (and suburbs, especially) today are so relaxation hostile. Everything's designed to get you to work and to school. No more malts and juke boxes at the burger joint. No more gaming cafes, bowling alleys. No more concert platforms and speakers at the park. No seats.
Just keep walking, cities say today. Dont sit down. Dont go to the bathroom. Dont come in with food. Dont leave without food. And we wonder why kids are depressed, sitting on the Internet all day never going outdoors unless forced to?
One of the reasons the Berkeley Kava bar was so popular here is there was finally a place with comfortable seating you just buy a drink and chill out. Listen to amateur bands play their music. Watch movies. Have a crib to chat with friends. It's so rare now, everything is hostile
The only places you can get anything like a recreational venue is some warehouse in some industrial slum that's earmarked for development because, ironically enough, single-family zoning means we cant put housing for population growth anywhere else.
So, to that person's credit. While their suggestion of culprit was very inaccurate, as to be expected of a thread where they're clearly just thinking outloud, the general feeling was correct. Cities, and especially suburbs, are just hostile to creativity and recreation.
Yes, and this is why Lake Merritt is my favorite neighborhood in the Bay Area. Everyones walking in circles. Places to hang and loitering is the point. https://twitter.com/gabrielmbross/status/1360101529106014217?s=20
