If you want to live in a mansion and can afford it I say "All the power to you!" But all the rest of us will be happy to live in an affordable place where we can get a slice of pizza and a cold beer without driving 20 minutes. Also, I know I want to see that homeless person begging for food living in an affordable community that has plenty of extra economic power to provide all the Panda Express he can eat!

You are not a bad person for wanting to live in a mansion or even just a bungalow far away from the city center. That's honestly pretty great! In fact, it's my hope that building walkable, affordable communities will make it even easier for you to afford and live in such a place.

eating out at panda express or other fast food restaurants is quite the luxury and not achievable every day for most of society. I'm always perplexed that a poorer person would ask for something so costly. At costco I can get whole wheat for about 70c per pound. Which means I can make an entire days worth of bread for just 80c. Beans, 2$/day, greens are mostly free if you know what to look for and where, or grow it. These are all about x10 to x20 cheaper than panda express or other fast food.

I may have not been clear that someone begged me inside the Panda Express. Likewise, someone recently begged me inside a favorite cafe. These were both first-time incidents.

I assume--no, hope--people misread me, and thought I meant 'on the way to/back'. If not, I'm horrified: it is not normal, and should not be normalized.

What is your reasoning here? Cities are 'bad' from something as minor as that? We all deal with things we dislike, such as stoplights, rain, or bad news on TV. Let's not even start on traffic! Where will you find this idyllic place to call home?

FWIW, it might be alien at first but there's nothing to be afraid of from people who want some food, any more than from anyone else. That is based on long experience with zero problems in many places. Those are the vulnerable people; it's the powerful ones you need to watch out for.

> Cue a bunch of online warriors on their high horses

You violated HN guidelines before anyone even replied!

> there's nothing to be afraid of from people who want some food

not OP but FWIW my roommate was followed into an ATM vestibule while depositing his (5 figure) casino winnings, begged at aggressively, and then the destitute person kicked his suitcase, I'd say that's definitely something to be afraid of. now I don't use ATMs with people sleeping in the vestibule.

> now I don't use ATMs with people sleeping in the vestibule.

Yeah, I don't do that either. It's possible I don't have problems because I don't do stupid sh-t, but that goes for most things in life. When I cross the street, I watch the cars to see if they're stopping and don't just assume they will obey the lights (and that I read the lights correctly). When Covid struck, I kept my distance from people whether or not someone required me to.

I don't know what happened with your roommmate - that would be pretty alarming. There's no way someone is following me into an isolated ATM vestibule; I just keep walking if there's a question. And I'm not pulling out that kind of money anywhere but a bank teller window.