> Everything else that makes life interesting has to be done somewhere else.
So you've never lived in a city? All the things you have are typical suburbia pastimes. I don't see in your listing for "things that make life interesting" going to the theater, pub, hanging out with your neighborhood friends at the local restaurant 10 minutes away.
And all these things are enabled by dense housing and essentially inaccessible for suburbanites.
I have lived in cities. Going to the theater held little charm for me, although I did go when a friend of mine was acting in a community theater. I went to support him, not because the play was a draw. I never had any neighborhood friends. In most of my apartment blocks, very few people spoke to each other. I quickly found out I had nothing in common with those who did talk to me. When they went to the local restaurants, it was to talk about American sports and drink beer. I don't do American sports or drink beer.
You probably intended your comment as a gotcha on the property tax issue. Still, I only bought my house a couple of years ago, which reset the valuation of the property to a much higher level at the current tax rate. I don't use much in the way of city services (road, water), but I know the property tax I pay goes to help pay for school for other people's children, police, fire, and EMS for folks who need them. I know my income taxes contribute to many services in urban areas that I will never use. I am okay with this. I recognize that there are many cross-subsidies in our society, and unless we go completely pay-as-you-go, it'll be impossible to untangle them all.
So you've never lived in a city? All the things you have are typical suburbia pastimes. I don't see in your listing for "things that make life interesting" going to the theater, pub, hanging out with your neighborhood friends at the local restaurant 10 minutes away.
And all these things are enabled by dense housing and essentially inaccessible for suburbanites.