One thing we learned from the Covid period: American workers dislike the commute. Office workers freed to work at home by the pandemic discovered how much they enjoyed the new found casualness. They also enjoyed the extra time gained by skipping that long ride into the office.

We long ago separated home and office. Now we wonder why workers, having found the possibility of working from home, don’t want to deal with lost time in commutes and other restrictions involved with their office jobs.

Maybe we should question why the long commute happened in the first place. Why did we allow this distance between work and home?

Suburbs were birthed by a rebellion against city life: everything from often less adequate schools in the city to perceived higher crime rates. Suburbs were the answer: mothers and children in a safe environment, while fathers earned the money to make possible the newer, safer life.

However, some women found the safe life also a boring life. They were safe from the supposed evils of the city but also away from its liveliness and excitement, not to mention career opportunities.

The advantages of suburbia faded as more women desired entry into the work force. The idea of dad going off to work in the distant city while mom stayed with the children also has changed with the need for two incomes for many families.

Of course, these are the fortunate families with two parents. Single parent households face the hardships of trying to raise a family on one income, including the often impossibility of affording a suburban home.

Cities, however, are more than job centers. They also are centers for creation: music and drama and often for learning found in city colleges and universities.

The abandonment of the city by many of the middle class certainly increased the problems of homelessness and drugs and mental illness for those left behind . These unfortunates need our compassion and help, but our beleaguered cities need more than that. They also need safe, affordable neighborhoods for workers as well.