You just got your dream job, and have to move. Realistically, you have to move to one of several small towns near your new job. They all initially seem pretty similar, and the housing market is about the same. Now, you have to look closer into the soul of the town. What’s a dealbreaker? What makes you say, “no fucking way.” It has to be something about the town, not just an altercation with any of the townspeople. What say all?
My vote: shitty libraries. I’m not having any of that, no way. Nothing says “town full of provincial dipshits” like a shitty library. :mad:
Caveat: small isn’t always shitty. A small library, if stocked with quality books, can be okay. Worn books aren’t bad, either; hey, at least that means people read them.
Minor issue (but not a dealbreaker): a large town clock that hasn’t worked in years. I say that if a village clock hasn’t moved in years, then neither has the town. This isn’t a dealbreaker because frankly it seems awful common. Still, it pisses me off. :mad:
I’m also in the same position. My new job is 67 miles away and the company is moving in 3 months so I have to travel over Hell’s half acre to research the problem. I look at the businesses in town. On the negative side: strip joints, flea markets, goodwill. on the plus side: book stores, independent grocers, hardware store. To me, a good mix of businesses represents a quality life style and reflects the community in general.
If a town has a thriving “Downtown”, it is almost always a good place. On a Friday night or Saturday afternoon, if people are out and about eating at sidewalk cafe’s, reading books, eating ice cream, etc. the town is usually a fun place. If not, it usually isn’t.
I compare Greeley, CO with Ft. Collins, CO. Similar sized college towns, 30 miles apart. Ft. Collins has a Downtown with tree lined streets, pedestrian friendly shopping areas, independant stores, lots of restaurants, etc. Greeley’s downtown has no trees, consists of a couple of blocks, few interesting shops and fewer people.
Assuming cost and commute distance are all in line, things I’d look for are:
-Crime - I don’t want to be in fear of my safety after 8pm
-Dilapadated housing projects and low-income housing - kind of goes along with the first one, but I don’t want to live a block from a scene out of New Jack City. There’s a project a block or so from where I live now that’s fine - well kept, no sketchies hanging out during the day. I think it’s for middle income or old folks or something. On the other side of town though, forget it. Any time day or night there’s always full grown dudes milling about looking aimless and shifty.
-Any “red flag” properties - nearby strip club, crack house, large industrial facility or powerplant, chemical plant, garbage dump, tire fire, etc
-Demographics - Are there other professional types or will I be the rich city slicker who has 3" bolts hurled as his Audi by the local GM factory workers every morning?
I’d go for lack of public transport, when I first moved to the town I currently live in I didn’t have my driving licence/access to a car and discovered there was little or no public transport (and still isn’t) it meant I was very restricted in where I could go… fortunately the town has shops that sell practically everything you could want to buy.
Oh and lack of amenities, there’s nothing worse than living somewhere and having no cinema, swimming pool, gym or other outlet than the pub for socialising…
I wouldn’t want to live in an area that has no broadband Internet access. If I have to settle for dialup, I’d rather have no Internet at all.
I’d look at the overall economic health of the town. If more than 25% of the storefronts are vacant and/or boarded up, I don’t want to live there. I find it quite depressing to drive through a dying town that has seen its better days.
I’d also consider which religious groups have the most influence in a community. I wouldn’t want to be amongst a majority of people whose religious beliefs clash with mine, particularly if they are the type who expect me to live by their doctrinal standards and don’t accept my differences.
I always check out their stand on Gay rights… That usually happens at the state/provincial level, but for our latest move it was at a National level… Things are just so much better for Gays and Lesbians in Canada, that we moved here from California.
We had also considered the Netherlands and the U.K., (I have a European passport), but it seemed like too much work to get us both in - and have you seen the housing prices in London?!
Once we decided on the country, we checked out what cities in Canada are the most pro-Gay… We had to choose between Vancouver and Toronto… Vancouver would have won on weather, but Toronto is just so much bigger, it has everything we would want.
(If I could speak passable French, we would have also considered Montreal, but since my French is so-so, here we are in Toronto - and other than the weather - loving it!)
Nowhere decent to eat/shop for groceries/live.
A rundown, car-based locality with no liking for culture or hanging out.
Too many peeling shacks, no pride in place or history.
Someplace stratified by class/religion/ethnicity.
Someplace education is not respected.
[ul][li]Middle of nowhere. The town has to either have decent entertainment options (movies, museums, malls) or be within a shortish (30 mins or less) drive thereof.[/li][li]Lack of diversity. I have been in all sorts of places all over my state over the last year, and the ones I liked the least were those with the overwhelming sameness. Small towns in the Florida backwoods – 98% white, 100% Christian – where everyone likes the same sort of music and goes to the same sort of restaurant and etc. I love the different perspectives that different ethnicities bring to the party, which is part of why I like where I live now so much. I need Thai restaurants and Dominican music stores and Chinese groceries. And tied to this is[/li][li]Intolerance of different viewpoints. Where I live has to have tolerance of people of other religions, other sexual preferences, other cultures.[/ul][/li]
What this means is that I’m largely limited to sub/urban areas along the coasts, but that’s okay with me.
I won’t live in a place with extra, super-restrictive anti-gay laws, or a place with no people of color. Having lived in DC, Baltimore, the Philadelphia area and Providence most of my life, I still find it creepy and unheimlich how few black people there are in the Pacific Northwest.
Plus, nowhere without at least one reasonable bookstore.
What town, 67 miles from Dayton, has all of that stuff? Because it almost seems that you’re describing some of the areas surrounding Dayton (particularly the area between Cincy and Dayton where the giant Jesus and Hustler store seek to live in perfect harmony).
Definitely agree with the libraries and checking out downtown on a Friday night. What kind of restaurants are there? Is it all O’BenniChiliTGIBees or are there interesting locally-owned restaurants?
