I’m sorry, but so few of these urban environments are affordable with good schools. I lived in Philadelphia and we chose to leave when our son was young because the schools generally aren’t good (most don’t even have libraries, but this is a whole different topic), the green space barely exists and isn’t maintained, and I’d never feel safe with my kid taking the transit.
NYC and Boston seem like the only east coast options and those are very expensive. What other options are there on the East Coast?
Philadelphia is absolutely an option, but it depends on the neighborhood. Eg if you live in the penn alexander, greenfield, or meredith catchments you have a great elementary/middle school and there are lot of kids of late elementary/early middle school age moving around the city independently.
I live in west philly and it is great: the park is excellent and lots of kids safely go there by themselves, the local school is very good. Transit (specifically the trolley) is good and safe.
This is so interesting to me, I frequently experience compaction on long running features and still find Claude is better than starting with fully fresh prompts.
You’re welcome. Was a fun memory to wander into again. Makes you think what is the “Killer Shark” or “Breakout” of today, eh kids? I guess Minecraft and GTA might fill that spot, some day, in some future VR utopia ..
I’ve been following you on X since your account was randomly shown to me. Your story is really cool, but also is your product. I’m working on my own LLM context problem as a side project (in a completely different space), but this could really fill voids I’m finding when doing it myself.
I’m going to try this today. Best of luck with this!
Are you still building this yourself (and Claude)?
I actually grew up in Ohio and know the cities there well. They’re just too small and public transit leaves a lot to be desired.
To me, there’s just something different about the cities that got big before cars that the southern cities, Ohio cities, etc can’t capture. It’s hard to explain if you’re not that type of person.
I think we will consider Chicago though (if I can sell my wife on the weather)
I lived in NYC and understand what you mean. I now live in a walkable Southern city and don't own a car.
The quality and ease of life are so much better here, I wouldn't go back to NYC if you paid me $50k per year.
Ymmv of course, but I've found the "extras" of ultra-urban cities are fun when you're young and a huge source of friction when you're just trying to survive a day of work + parenting.
I lived in Raleigh and then Charlotte about a decade ago and can’t picture living in those places without a car. That said, I may be out of date on what it’s like there now.
Would you mind sharing what city you live in? If not, no worries, I understand wanting to keep anonymity.
I completely get what you’re saying about friction though. In my friend circles the only parents raising kids in cities are Philly and London, the latter of which is so big at some point you’re basically in a different town anyway.
Thanks, I appreciate your responses here. It’s been a weird realization knowing I hate where I live but not having an exact answer to where we should live that also is best for the kids.
I'll probably get doxxed by AI at some point in the future, but since you can never delete HN posts, I'd prefer to stay anonymous if I can. Send me an email at this temporary address and I'd be happy to chat: quiet.hay0076@fastmail.com
