Portland, ME has been named by Forbes.comas the Most Livable city in the country (Boston Globe link).
Yeah, baby. Can you feel that? Can you feel it, huh? Portland Frickin’ Maine.
Now, not for nothing, but Portland was never voted Most Liveable when I was still out in California. But I move back to Portland, let things percolate for a few years and … boo-yah! … Jack’s city, Most Liveable.
Who wants to be me? I know. You all do. I don’t blame you. I do too.
Jack, we’re in deep shit now that the secret is out. We’ll probably have to move up to Caribou or Presque Isle to avoid the throngs.
Hey, I moved here originally *from *the county. No way I’m going back.
Wow, when they said you were the life of the party, apparently they weren’t kidding.
I betting the evaluator didn’t visit in February!
[runs away]
64,000 people is a “city” now? Candlestick Park seats more.
Ah, but the metropolitan area (which includes a swath of land about 100 miles long, covering probably dozens (if not hundreds) of towns/cities from Brunswick to Sanford) rounds out at about 500,000 … which is doubly interesting in that the population of the entire state is a little over 1,000,000.
Man, I’m just getting it from all sides.
First Portland get’s slagged just on general principle. Then Fir na tine takes a swipe at the northern area of the state (where I grew up) and now **Cisco **has an unkind word for Buffalo (where I was born).
I lived in San Francisco / Oakland for about three years. Anybody want to piss on them too?
Dunno about this Forbes poll, but many/most “best city” lists actually count off for hot weather. Hey! I guess that’s why so many people are moving from Arizona to Maine!
They also give extra points for having stupid stuff like symphonies and ballet. Okay, how many times in your life have you actually spent your own money to go to one of these gigs? Not including the times you took girls you wanted to impress.
(PS – Jack, you live in a lovely city, and if I lived in Arizona I’d envy you.)
Eh, it’s all subjective, really, and probably changes all the time. When you drive into the Scottsdale city limits there are signs that say “America’s Most Livable City” and list several years, the most recent of which I’m pretty sure is 2005.
Joking aside, it’s difficult for me to see Portland as number 1 in this list, maybe because I live here and the grass really is greener. But I’m on board with the “any place where summer is measured in days and not months can’t be the most liveable” school of thinking.
And I’m also on board with the, Portland, a city? school of thought as well. As I said I lived in SF for a while, and I think there was a bigger population in my *neighborhood *than there is in all of Portland.
And I wasn’t really born in Buffalo. It was Niagara Falls. Close enough.
Also, I realize it wasn’t Fir na tine that slagged off northern Maine, it was me … but they deserve it. Northern Maine is like Siberia but with more potato fields.
*Niagara Falls! . . . *
There’s a homeless joke in there that’s in pretty poor taste. But I like San Francisco (don’t know much about Oakland) so I won’t make one.
Jack, I spent 6 weeks at Loring AFB in “the county” back in 1970. That’s the year that there was about a thousand feet of snow. Never wanted to go back again.
Went back about 4 or 5 years ago in August for a wedding. Absolutely beautiful landscape. If only the winters weren’t so long.
Basically Portland has become a “suburb” of Boston, as Boston is now the most expensive city in the USA, passing DC, San Francisco and NYC.
Most of the other places on the list rank high because they are convenient to other cities, such as Bethesda and Bridgeport (DC and NYC repectively)
I found when you’re looking for work, it’s nearly impossible to beat Chicago. The rents are cheap, you don’t need a car and you have virtually everything within the city limits. The fact Portland and most other cities lack public transportation other than working hours, make them less than desireable
When did that happen? Someone just recently suggested Boston to me as a more affordable alternative to NYC.
Ha! My home came in at #3 with none of that! I guess we are really #1, 'cause we didn’t have to ride on a hellhole’s coattails! DSM REPRESENT! 
Personally, I’m in the “any place where summer is measured in days and not months frickin’ rocks” school of thinking. If I could find a place where it was always sort of cold, occasionally really cold, and warm for a couple freak-chance days a year, I’d be loving life.
So, with that in mind, how’s Reykjavik doing in the liveability rankings?
…damn. 
I suppose I could move back to upstate New York, but the summer is still a hair too “real” to justify moving back purely for weather’s sake. Ah well, I guess I’ll stay here in Virginia, then. Funny how Roanoke never makes these lists. Maybe someone has to have heard of it first.
I don’t wish to be in your position, I essentially am… being only a mere 20min from portland, and living in maineeee…
I love Maine, it offers everything I could want… mountain and ocean. MMMM yess