# Hate where you live? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 29, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667 "2009-10-29T22:16:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HepToTheJive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7bcc69/32.png) [@HepToTheJive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HepToTheJive)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/41 "2009-11-07T22:20:23Z")
Phoenix, Arizona There’s been quite a few people who have posted towns in the southwest, and not without good reason. It’s hot, and miserable, and everyone here acts like the winter is great. “Just you wait and see, come fall it’ll be nine months of heaven on earth!” Except it’s not true. It gets too cold. 50 degrees is nothing compared to the temperatures I would deal with in the Northeast but you think it’s going to be 72. It’s all a trick. Then out of nowhere it spikes to 105. _Out of nowhere._ The worst thing about the temperature is the air conditioning. No business ever turns it off. Sure it is nice in the summer but in the winter you are freezing at the office or coffee shop (Actually even in the summer you start to freeze after 15 minutes—you have to bring a sweater with you in the summer!). There are scorpions, everywhere. Have you ever seen a scorpion move around?! Agh. I’ve had to kill four so far. It’s very unpleasant. No one actually likes being here. I haven’t met a single person who wasn’t older then 55 who said “You Know What? Shutup—I love this town.” Seriously, most people reply (in a foreboding fashion): “You’ll get used to it.” “It’s not ALL that bad.” As if though they are preparing me for a stay at The Hotel California. It seems like everyone is constantly making excuses to continue living in this city. There are cactuses, everywhere. For example next to sidewalk. Imagine walking down a sidewalk and falling on to a cactus. The public transportation is terrible and you have to drive everywhere. It takes 30 minutes to get anywhere. You going to the grocery store? 30 minutes. Bar? 30 minutes. Veterinarian? 30 minutes. Dentist? 30 minutes. Also did I mention it was the Wild West and you can pretty much walk around with a gun anywhere. I’m not interested in the constitutional aspects of gun ownership I just want to point out it makes me uncomfortable walking by somebody and they have a six-shooter at their hip and a contemptuous expression. Although in all seriousness I do imagine Tucson is worse. ---
**Author:** ![moonstarssun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@moonstarssun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonstarssun)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/42 "2009-11-07T23:45:15Z")
I like the city where we live (Madison, WI), but not our neighborhood. It’s suburban, conservative, dull. We chose a place close to our workplaces, but I wish now that we’d gone for something more suited to us and a little more of a commute–especially now that we’re both freelancing from home while we look for jobs. It sucks to live in a place where you don’t fit in. I like our neighbors, but we just don’t have anything in common with them. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/43 "2009-11-07T23:48:41Z")
I’ve never heard a good thing about Arizona. And every - EVERY - single book, fiction or non-fiction makes it sound like hell on earth. Temperature in the 100’s? Desert and cactus? How can you go running, or to the park? I don’t think humans were meant to live there, and someday when the water runs out and there’s no electricity any more to support 24/7 air conditioning, the cities will resemble ancient ruins. The only worse thing than living in Phoenix must be living in a McMansion in Phoenix. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/44 "2009-11-08T02:34:47Z")
I liked Flagstaff and Bisbee. Arizona isn’t a total waste! ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/45 "2009-11-08T03:56:36Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Mexico City. Strictly speaking, it’s a suburb, but only in the same sense that Hamtramck is a suburb of Detroit. Is there a reason you have to live in that particular area? I won’t claim to be an _expert_ on Mexico City - it’s way too enormous for that - but I have family there and every time I visit I think about how awesome it would be to live there. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/46 "2009-11-08T04:26:20Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Santa Fe, New Mexico. > > 1. Can you say sprawl, boys and girls? There’s the super-compact downtown section, which is really only a couple blocks. The rest of the town suffers from ‘ah, fuck it, make everything really far apart just because we can’. > 2. Are you under the age of 55? Do you want more to do than browse shitty art galleries and go see shitty experimental theater productions? You’ll be bored out of your skull here. > 3. Are you rich? No? You can’t afford this town. > 4. It’s _always_ sunny. A day will start sunny, cloud up, dump six inches of snow, and then the fucking sun will come back out. The weather is obscene here. > 5. This city is full of idiots who believe that their herbs and teas and yoga and meditation and “energy work” will keep them healthy. My housemate gets pissed off and lectures me every time I microwave something in a plastic container because it’s “bad for me”. If you don’t believe that meditation will cure your cold, or that suggest to someone that since they’ve been having this problem for a year maybe they should go to a _doctor_ and not a chiropractor, you’re derided as a closed-minded judgmental jerk. > 6. I have never seen a greater combination of hypocrites who drive every-fucking-where in their big-ass SUVs and pickups…which are decorated with “Save the planet” type bumperstickers. > 7. Want to go see a normal concert or play or see any non-high school sporting event? Enjoy your hour-long drive to Albuquerque. Want to go to a city of any considerable size, or see a major-league sporting event? Enjoy your _five hour_ drive up to Denver. > 7a. People here think Albuquerque is a big city. > 8. A town of about 60,000 people is the third-largest art market in the nation. I’ve heard, though I don’t know if it’s true, that there are more art galleries per capita than anywhere else in the world here. 99% of the work in them are more or less the same: uninspired and poorly-executed desert landscapes, almost certainly with Indians, horses, sunsets, or some combination of the above. We have an entire street that’s pretty much nothing but art gallery after art gallery. It’s not just the pointless amount of crappy art, it’s that it’s the same damn crappy art over and over again. LOL spot…fucking…on. Everything cool in New Mexico is pretty much in the extreme rural parts of it. And well, if you hate hippies, you’re kind of fucked. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/47 "2009-11-08T05:11:25Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Is there a reason you have to live in that particular area? I won’t claim to be an _expert_ on Mexico City - it’s way too enormous for that - but I have family there and every time I visit I think about how awesome it would be to live there. Work says I have to live there, since they pay the bills. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/48 "2009-11-08T05:56:11Z")
> [@HepToTheJive](#): > > Although in all seriousness I do imagine Tucson is worse. Ah, see, I think I’d hate Phoenix even more than Tucson - take the heat, the scorpions and the snowbirds, and add the sprawl I hated when I lived in Atlanta. Phoenix to me seems to have no personality - Tucson at least seems to have that, sort of . I know people who love Tucson. I don’t understand them. (seriously, I had a series of excellent phone interviews with a place this week in a town that would be great for me, in a job that I am perfect for. I currently have hope. We’ll see if those get crushed this coming week). ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/49 "2009-11-08T18:52:42Z")
Still going strong. To add to the Austin dislike … A couple of nights ago, I went to watch the bats emerge from underneath the Congress Street Bridge at sundown. It’s a spectacular sight; the Congress Street Bridge houses the largest urban bat colony in the world. I drove to the area a couple of hours earlier, walked around for a bit, and grabbed something to eat. The South Congress area (SoCo) was packed with hipsters, the majority with a good portion of their bodies covered in ink. The crushed rock trail along the Colorado river was also packed, with runners that had bodies approaching zero body fat. Many weren’t just jogging, but running. They were competing with serious Lance Armstrong wannabees, decked out in the gear of whatever racing team they were on. It was a beautiful night, clear skies, about a million bats flying overhead, and people are sprinting and racing by without even slowing down to take in this wonderful spectacle of nature. It was then that I put my finger on the major reason I find Austin to be a city that is often so grating. **Austinites are too hardcore.** The hipsters aren’t just sad emo kids or even Williamsburg-ish; they’re full-on ironic rockabilly types. (I think this accounts for the obscene number of mid-century vintage stores in town, and businesses with 1950s retro signage and design themes.) When people get tattoos, it’s not going to be a star or Chinese symbol on the ankle, but rather they get full sleeves, chest pieces, neck tats, and other highly visible displays. People that are fitness-oriented don’t just have gym memberships, but also run and/or bike all the time, slap 26.2 stickers on their cars to brag about their marathoning prowess, and collect expensive sneakers and bikes. (Austin has an unreal number of high-end bicycle and runner’s supply stores.) Those into the live music scene live, breathe, eat, sleep and drink music, even if they don’t play it; they’re scenesters of the extreme kind. Austin is a politically liberal city, and those who are left of center are frequently Kool-Aid drinking ideologues; cars covered in bumper stickers promoting left-leaning causes and political candidates are so common as to not be a worthy of pointing out as a living stereotype. (Disclaimer: I’m politically left-leaning, but sometimes I feel I’m just to the right of Glen Beck compared to the drivers of some of the Priuses and Scion XBs I’ve seen. Hipsters LOVE their Scion XBs, I’ve discovered.) I won’t mention UT and Texas A&M fans whose identities are their alma maters, who cannot have a conversation without mentioning their schools. Especially Aggies. Yeah, I see your ring; you don’t have to drop a Texas A&M reference every three minutes. Worse than Buffalonians. I get it. STFU. (Okay, so I mentioned it.) No, I’m not saying everybody in Austin and the surrounding suburbs are like this. However, the proportion of those who are is much higher than in any other metropolitan area of comparable size. I shrugged at the uber-outdoorsy types in Denver whose goal in life is to bag every fourteener in the state and acheive a pulse under 50 BPM when biking over Independence Pass, and the uber-mommies in Cleveland whose topics of conversation are limited to parenting and school districts. In Austin, though, it seems like so many more people are uber-_something_. I find Austinites just aren’t as well-rounded as one might expect in a city with a reputedly well-educated and informed population. I have a “Keep Austin Weird” sticker on my car. I like weird. Thing is, I don’t let weirdness dominate my life; it’s just something I appreciate in the urban environment that provides some color and makes me smile. When you let one narrow interest define you as a person, what kind of life is that? It’s a life of black and white, with little or no color. Bike, bike, bike, bike, bike. Run, run, run, run, run. Listen to Explosions in the Sky, listen to Venison Whirled, listen to Public Offenders, listen to Scorpion Child, listen to The Lovely Sparrows, but don’t listen to Okkervil River because I heard them on KGSR so they must have sold out, man! Get a tramp stamp, get ironic old school ink, get a chest piece, get a sleeve, get your favorite poem in a spiral around one of your legs. You get the idea. Other cities have their subcultures, too, just like Austin. However, it seems like there’s overlap to varying degrees among those different subcultures. In Austin, there’s almost no overlap; I think it’s because people are so entrenched into the subcultures they identify with. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/50 "2009-11-08T19:20:26Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’ve never heard a good thing about Arizona. And every - EVERY - single book, fiction or non-fiction makes it sound like hell on earth. Temperature in the 100’s? Desert and cactus? How can you go running, or to the park? I don’t think humans were meant to live there, and someday when the water runs out and there’s no electricity any more to support 24/7 air conditioning, the cities will resemble ancient ruins. The only worse thing than living in Phoenix must be living in a McMansion in Phoenix. I hike often in 100 degree or higher weather. I don’t live in a McMansion, though. I live barely outside my 7th st to 7th ave comfort zone on 12th street. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/51 "2009-11-08T22:16:22Z")
I live in Chillicothe, a town of 21,000 in southern Ohio. Where do I even begin. It’s poor. Really poor. It’s mostly trailer parks except for a few neighborhoods that are nice. Why are they nice? Because they’re upwind of the huge paper plant here. The poor areas are downwind of it. Having said that, here “nice” is a relative term. There are trailer parks everywhere. There are many good poor people, people who work hard and dream of a nice life, while enjoying simple pleasures like seeing their kid smile. However, none of those people live in Chillicothe. Every stereotype of poor white trash is represented here. It’s also religious. Okay, not normally a problem. I may be an atheist, but I have no problem with people believing in God. But there’s believing in God and then there’s Chillicothe. This town takes Christianity to an unbelievable extreme. I’m willing to bet that a full four-fifths of this town believes the Earth is 6,000 years old. I’ll bet that if Fred Phelps ever moved to Chillicothe, he’d be considered strange because he is too soft on gays. I’ll bet that if a clinic that provides abortions was ever opened here and made itself known, not 24 hours would go by before someone firebombed it. Anyone who says that only the South is engulfed by fundamentalism is only kidding themselves. I’ve lived in North Carolina before as well, and they are far, far more kind and tolerant than Chillicothe. The thing is, the religious zealotry isn’t just among the elderly like so many people think. People say that young people are far more tolerant of gays and other minorities than old people. In Chillicothe, the young are just as racist and homophobic as the old. I caught hell at the school I went to because it came out that I actually _gasp_ wasn’t a virgin. I got told “YER GOIN’ TO HELL” constantly. The teenagers, in normal areas the most tolerant of people, hate gays, blacks, etc, just as much as everyone else. I don’t know if most of the USA is like this, but if it is, it really does not bode well for gay marriage’s chances here. Aside from the extreme fundamentalism, Chillicothe is also just plain boring. There’s more churches than bars here. Most towns are probably like that, except in Chillicothe the ratio is 50:1 or so. There’s only a few places to go out here. The downtown is mostly dead. There’s simply nothing whatsoever to do here. The nearest city is Columbus, a good hour or so away. In short, everything about Chillicothe sucks. The people are terrible, the night life is nonexistent, the economy is atrocious, the politics are bordering on insane, and the air smells like burned cabbage. There are no words to emphasize how much I hate living here. I would make a list of my favorite things to do in Chillicothe, except #1 would be “Leave”. This town is, quite simply, the deepest pit in Hell. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/52 "2009-11-08T23:00:49Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Santa Fe, New Mexico. I read through your entire post with [this on my mind](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/34450) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/53 "2009-11-08T23:19:15Z")
> [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](#): > > In short, everything about Chillicothe sucks. The people are terrible, the night life is nonexistent, the economy is atrocious, the politics are bordering on insane, and the air smells like burned cabbage. There are no words to emphasize how much I hate living here. I would make a list of my favorite things to do in Chillicothe, except #1 would be “Leave”. This town is, quite simply, the deepest pit in Hell. Just a tip. Golden guns don’t work as well as you might hope (although they are expensive). The metal is too soft for that purpose. Get yourself a decent 9mm, make a giant geographic map of the town with little pins indicating every place you hate and fire away. Don’t hurt any real people, cats, or dogs though. That is just plain rude. It will make you feel a little better after 50 rounds or so. ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/54 "2009-11-10T17:14:21Z")
Cons–Temperatures still in the 90s this week, no long sleeves or even long pants wearable. Almost everyone around here is morbidly obese. I can’t find clothing in the stores in sizes smaller than a 14. Rude Winter Texans and Mexican nationals. Drug-related kidnappings and home invasions daily–just hope you aren’t mistakenly targeted. Shootings and grenade attacks from an international organization named for a nearby body of water. Nearly daily hit and run accidents, often resulting in death (drivers without insurance or documentation–so they just leave the victims to die on the road). The “McAllen Problem” (medical professionals making many times the national average due to Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement rates). Pros–“The McAllen Problem”😉 ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/55 "2009-11-30T17:21:32Z")
> [@Locrian](#): > > Southern California. DON’T COME! You can’t park, you can’t get anywhere. > > Sure, the weather’s fantastic. Sure we got great beaches. > > If you need to see the dentist on a workday, you will need the entire day off. You could take a sick day, but I usually don’t in case I really AM sick soon. > > I’m still unemployed, but I’ve been doing freelance work around West Hollywood. On Tuesday, I went to an office that is 7.2 miles away from my home. That took 1 hour 39 minutes. No construction, accidents or quakes. > > For lunch, I decided on fast food at Wendy’s after I stop at the bank. Wendy’s line was not long, but was 16 minutes to place an order. Total errand run time = 1 hour, 49 minutes. The bank and Wendy’s was less than two miles from the office I was freelancing at. > > When I first moved here, I thought that showers in office restrooms were a luxury until I noticed them in the majority of offices I’ve worked in. Why? You get off a plane at LAX, or busses after lines of great length, you don’t have time to stop at home, you shower at work. > > Every person I’ve ever met here is absolutely full of shit. They exaggerate their work, position, salary, everything. What you drive means who you are. Where you hang means who you are. Where you live means who you are. What you think, feel and believe in is just fluff to these gimmie gimmie gimmie people. > > I can not even begin to guess the amount of times I go to a bar for a sports game, someone sits next to me and tells me their life story, their troubles, their woes, their salary, their divorces, their view on everything. Hours go by sitting there while I’m staring at the game I’m watching while this person keeps hitting my arm to get me to look at them and join their conversation. I could be wearing a full Philadelphia Eagles uniform, staring at the game and the person next to me has NO CLUE that I’d rather watch the game I came to see than hear their bullshit. > > I own my own place, but I will wait a few years to move ANYWHERE else. > > If I get a job offer here that is great salary and in my field, but I also get an offer to work in a General Store in a town miles outside of, I don’t know, Spokane, Washington, for $6 an hour, I will opt for the latter. > > Shit, for what I paid for this condo, I can buy a farm in Idaho. Why stay? Hmmm…I can see my dentist on pretty much any workday. Then again, he’s only a mile away and I live in a suburb of L.A. I haven’t met any of these full-of-crap people either. But that’s probably related to the suburban life as well. That said, it is horribly sprawled out–I agree. The public transportation is skimpy. The weather is mostly warm and dry. It’s crowded and congested. But the fam is here, and most of the friends, and my jobs (yes, I have some). So I guess I don’t hate it, even though I fantasize about going someplace with more rain someday. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/56 "2009-11-30T17:23:27Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’ve never heard a good thing about Arizona. And every - EVERY - single book, fiction or non-fiction makes it sound like hell on earth. Temperature in the 100’s? Desert and cactus? How can you go running, or to the park? I don’t think humans were meant to live there, and someday when the water runs out and there’s no electricity any more to support 24/7 air conditioning, the cities will resemble ancient ruins. The only worse thing than living in Phoenix must be living in a McMansion in Phoenix. The only good thing said in a fictional book about Arizona was uttered by the stupid vampire’s stupid ho in **Twilight** ; she yearned for the blazing heat because she didn’t like the wet, overcast place in WA she moved to–until she met the vampire and werewolf. Um, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/57 "2009-11-30T17:35:28Z")
Just outside Houston but close enough going downtown is not a big deal. I hate that there is not a decent mass transit system for me to get to Houston and that I have to deal with driving, parking and other such headaches. I live in a nice, quiet neighborhood but there is not a decent place to go on a long bicycle ride. I have to once again load up the car and go somewhere to ride safely and comfortably. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Truculent\_Gentleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@The\_Truculent\_Gentleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Truculent_Gentleman)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/58 "2009-11-30T17:43:48Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > I live in Manhattan. It’s actually awesome here, but the cost of living at this moment is overriding every other concern I have. I’m tired of it being so fucking expensive. I have to agree. Living in Manhattan is a fantastic experience, and I would raise my children here if I could. However, the cost of living has the potential to push me to the suburbs, where I think I will be miserable (see Toronto description, above). ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/59 "2009-11-30T17:44:59Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > Just outside Houston but close enough going downtown is not a big deal. > > I hate that there is not a decent mass transit system for me to get to Houston and that I have to deal with driving, parking and other such headaches. I live in a nice, quiet neighborhood but there is not a decent place to go on a long bicycle ride. I have to once again load up the car and go somewhere to ride safely and comfortably. I live just north of Downtown Houston. And commute via Metro–bus & train. My neighborhood is quite safe for walking & biking. It’s always a good idea for people moving to Houston to check out the various parts of our vast metropolitan area before committing to one… ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667/60 "2009-11-30T20:10:56Z")
I just recently moved to Montana, but I spent 50 years living in the SF Bay Area… most of that time around San Jose. What a pit. The only good thing about living there is that you’re only 30 minutes away from the Pacific Ocean. It’s expensive to live there and it’s the epitome of urban sprawl. The Santa Clara Valley used to be the fruit basket to the rest of the country… but not anymore. Back in 1954 my parents moved from San Francisco to San Jose because it was a rural area with a population of 40,000 people. There were orchards all around my house and the downtown area was quaint and safe. Now, everything has been paved over, the traffic is horrible, there are 1 million people living in the San Jose area alone. The occasional earthquakes never bothered me, but the bad drivers and traffic jams really used to get me down. Commuting could easily take 2 or 3 hours out of your day. The weather is nice, but smog is now a year round problem. They now have ‘spare the air’ days during the winter months. I hated living there… but at least I could get a good high tech job in the 80’s and 90’s and I could afford to buy a house. That would be almost impossible now… I was there last week to visit my family. As soon as I landed my blood pressure started to go up. I can’t believe I lived there for so long, but the changes happened gradually… really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-where-you-live/515667.md?page=4)