Why do you like (or hate) where you live?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was reading the “How much should I be earning?” thread and Mr. Cynical in his reply on the thread included the comment about where he lives “Beautiful Denver, Colorado”. My first thought was, YUK!. I lived in Colorado Springs for 6 months and went to or through Denver several times and I have to tell you I hated both places. I have either lived or worked for extended periods of time in lots of places in the US and the only place I truly loved was Eugene, Oregon. But many of the places I didn’t care for or even hated, other people love.

So I am curious to hear the reasons why people love or hate where they live.

For the record, since I mentioned Colorado Springs and Denver, I will give my reasons. Colorado Springs has nothing to do socially and little outdoor activities other than Pikes Peak, (which I did spend a lot of time on). And don’t talk to me about skiing. It is 3 or 4 hours to the nearest ski resort, not especially helpful when you are bored after work. Denver unimpressed me completely and the traffic was horrendous the times I went through it.

2

I live in Burlington, Vermont. Vermont is stunningly beautiful, in almost every season. Burlington has a very liberal, progressive feel, and Church Street, a former street, now a pedestrian mall, is a fantastic place to watch people. Cost of living is lower than big cities. There are a lot of colleges in the area, so I don’t have to travel for my education. Montreal is a mere 2.5 hours away. My family is here.

The negetives: Vermont is tiny. We have just over 500,000 in the STATE. Burlington has something like 52,000 people, and it’s the biggest city in the state. There are 5 colleges in Burlington, and the rich out-of-state college students, whose parents send them here so they can ski, drive apartment costs up. While Burlington is still REALLY low compared to the rest of the country, cost-of-livingwise, the city of Burlington is something like 3 times the average cost-of-living compared the rest of the state. There is NOTHING to do here, especially if you are under 21. Movies are as expensive as Manhatten, but the screens are about half the size, with no digital sound. Vermont epitomizes every stereotype people have of New England. Ever read Shirley Jackson’s * The Lottery? * She wrote that while living in Vermont. It’s NOT a coincidence. I don’t ski, so I don’t care about that.

Basically, as soon as I am financially ready, I’m moving to New York. (um…my apologies for that rant, it was study induced, I swear!)

3

I love Pasadena because it’s full of beautiful houses that I could never afford, it has an amazing botanical garden, and the people are friendly.

I hate it because it’s BLOODY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA!!!
It’s hot, arid, smoggy (some days we can’t see the mountains just north of the city), it has no decent public transit, it’s expensive, and it’s primarily residential. We have to go to Burbank to do any decent shopping.

4

I live in North Central Kansas and I have since birth. In my opinion, this is a great place to raise children, but while it’s okay to live here, I doubt I would ever visit the area if I lived elsewhere. There is little to distinguish it, nothing cultural in the area, and the pay rates are horrid. Now that my children are raised, and I’m divorced, there is little to do and no one to do it with. I am seriously considering moving to a larger metropolitan area, but I own my own home and the town feels more like extended family (though my family doesn’t live here) than just townfolk. I have a good job and make a good living… here. I guess I need courage, or the right push to get me moving.
Everyone is looking for something different.
learae

5

I’m one of those rare people who loves their hometown, and everything since has felt like a distinct let-down.

I now live in suburban New Jersey, a short commute from NYC. Actually, a nice little town: residential, quiet, lots of old (19th-century) homes, great commuting. But I’m somewhat demoralized realizing that—being in publishing—I am forever stuck in this area, and that I’ll never make enough money to move to, say, Westchester or Connecticut. Oh, well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

6

I’m in Huntington Beach, CA. I like it here because it’s by the beach and there are a lot of hot chicks, which are pretty much my only requisites for my place of residence.

7

Although I am in a suburb (equally as fantastic) I wouldn’t trade Chicago for anywhere else.

“Reasons to love Chicago by Missy2U”

The Architecture
The Lake
Da Bears
The Museums
The Theater
The Concerts
The Bars
The Music
The Shopping
The Seasons
The Daleys
The Dead People Voting

Seriously, though, I really think it is one of the best cities in the world. It’s got everything the other really big cities have, but it isn’t too “big” (if that makes any sense).

8

I live in North Carolina. I love this state. Of course it’s the only place I’ve ever lived or probably will live since I have no desire to move.
I live 3 hours from the beach, 4 hours from the mountains. The state only has about 4 or 5 large cities to speak of. The rest is rural. If you’ve ever watched Andy Griffith, yes, there are lots and lots of small “Mayberry” type towns in the state.
We probably have the worst highways in the country. One reason is because there are so many the DOT has a hard time keeping them in good repair. The educational system is fairly good. We have several excellent colleges.
We have two reknown East Coast medical facilities.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

9

learae
Whereabouts in Kansas are you? My family comes from Humboldt and Russell. Granted they aren’t in the North Central section, but I am probably at least vaguely familiar with the area.
I live in Atlanta. I love it. Great weather, lots of people, lots of activities. The northern suburbs are chock full of things to do, without feeling like you are close to a mecca of people. It is also nice to be so close to a heavily mountained area. For those of us that like climbing really big rocks, this is a bonus. There are great grad schools around here. My wife and I are also living very close to lots of family members. Since we all get along really well, this is a good thing. When we have kids, that means easy babysitting options. We also live near my wife’s sister, and the 2 of them are best friends. I have a great job, hopefully we will soon have a great house.

I dislike Atlanta for one reason. Traffic. It sucks. Hang out during rush hour and feel my pain. Otherwise all of the other negatives are pretty piddly. I am irritated/greatly amused at this town when the threat of snow is in the air. The entire city freaks out, and I think back to growing up in Denver and going to school in 2 feet of snow and power outage problems.

I would be fine living in this city forever, but I also want to live in DC, Charlotte, and a couple other areas.

Apparently this message has been brought to you by the Atlanta Tourism Commission.

10

I live in Toronto. It’s big, dirty, crowded, and expensive, but I love it anyway.

There’s no place like home.

11

We live in Heidelberg, Germany and love it. Heidelberg itself is simply gorgeous, and there is always something fun or cultural to do. I especially like all of the walking paths and public parks. The people here are very friendly and since it’s a tourist town, I get to meet people from all over the world whenever I downtown. Plus, the beer is great and we live minutes away from farms where the best white aspargus is grown.

The only thing I don’t like is that we have to live on-post. It’s not so bad, I’ve made a lot of friends, but sometimes it gets to be like living in a very small town. Everybody knows your business!

Here is a picture of our castle:

http://www.germanworld.com/heidel.htm

If you have a chance, I definately recommend you visit!

12

There are so many reasons I chose Denver as the place to be. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t lived anywhere else, and have no basis for comparison.

But, in spite of the many redeeming qualities I’ve found (I’m not even going to begin typing them all out), Denver does have it’s off-points.

The Traffic.
The traffic is horiffic. Ten years ago, when I first came here, it wasn’t so bad. As of the last few years, however, it has been awful. I guess the roads weren’t ready for the influx of Californians.

The Brown Cloud.
On work days, there’s frequently a borwn cloud of smog that surrounds Downtown. It is ugly.

The Women.
I never once met a girl in Colorado who was even remotely interested in me, even as a friend. I had to look in other states for the woman foolish enough to become Mrs. Cynical.

Hail.
We get pretty ugly hail out here for a city that’s not quite in the plains. Every time the sky turns dark, and the clouds get that odd green tint, I start to wonder where the nearest covered parking is.

Growth Rate=Cost Of Living Increase.
This lil’ cow-town is boomin, ladies and gents. I read recently that the average home in Denver is now selling for $238,000. Mine, in fact, appreciated almost 30% in one year. You gotta move out a bit east, or way south to get anything even remotely affordable.

Lack Of Air.
There’s 13% less oxygen here than at sea level, IIRC. Not only is it taxing when climbing a long flight of stairs, but I could swear that my truck isn’t as powerful here as when I’ve had it in other places.

High E.R.A.
Last night, the Rockies belted 10 home runs. The baseballs just don’t move around as much around the plate here. They do, however, move away from the plate with alarming regularity.

That’s pretty much everything I can think of about Denver that I don’t like. Any other reason to be here seems to be a plus, in my mind at least.

:slight_smile:

13

I love my hometown because it’s mid-sized – not too big to feel like a real community but big enough that not everybody knows your business. There’s great recreation within an hour’s drive (lakes, ski areas, hiking trails); jaw-droppingly awesome scenery within a day’s drive (at Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks); it’s a good mix of country people and town people; we have excellent quality of life and a colorful history.

The negatives are that there is little or no diversity – a few Native Americans and a total of two African-Americans that I know of, a handful of Jewish people and that’s it. We’re 600 miles away from a the nearest “Big City” (Seattle). And we’re overrun by tourists in the summer, some of whom are lovely people, but many of whom are stone idiots. And the sidewalks roll up at ten. And there aren’t many young single people, or much of a social scene at all. But now that I may be leaving, I’m realizing how much I love it here, anyway.

14

I live on the coast of South Carolina and I really don’t have a lot of positive things to say about it. It is nice to not have to shovel snow and I like living just a few minutes from the beach. I also sort of like getting off work for hurricanes.
Negatives: zero cultural activities, mostly horrible restaurants, almost no sense of community (because most people who live here are transient and because we have so many tourists), nearest good shopping is about 2 hours away, local government infested by the good ol’ boy network, normal cost of living but extremely low wages, very few job opportunities outside of the service industry, and a lot of people with racist and/or overzealous Christian (to the point of hating people of other religions) attitudes. This last is certainly not a characteristic of the majority (there are tons of genuinely nice & good people here), but it’s the few bad apples.

“Why don’t you move?” you ask? We are. My husband got transferred here, so we’re sticking it out for a couple years and then getting the hell out of Dodge. It is a nice place to visit, though, but don’t move here if you can help it.

15

I live in Southborough, MA. Close enough to Boston to get some culture if I want, far enough away that a trip to the middle of nowhere isn’t hard to accomplish. This town is OK but not great. If I had to state my biggest complaint it would have to do with our apartment (our landlady is nuts). I would move out of the town without any problem, but I would never want to live anywhere but New England.

16

I live in Toronto.

Things to hate :

The mayor is a buffoon and/or megalomaniac. This is the man who called in the army to dig us out of a snowstorm last year. :rolleyes:

People tend to overreact when it snows here. 2 cm (whatever the hell that is in inches!) is enough to freak them out. I mean come on folks, this is Canada after all. Snow is not exactly unheard of around here.

The premier is an illiterate asshole.

Renting here is expensive, unless you want to live in a crack-infested neighbourhood.

Traffic is horrible, but that’s not my problem, I’m a pedestrian. :stuck_out_tongue:

It gets hot and humid here in the summer. Air conditioning is a must.
Things to like :

It’s a relatively safe city for its size. I can walk around late at night without feeling paranoid (not in all neighbourhoods, though).

Toronto Islands. Hop on the ferry and you’re there! There’s even a nudist beach.

The Beaches (even if Lake Ontario is off limits).

It gets hot and humid here in the summer. Air conditioning is a must.

I live a mere 20-minute walk from work. I love that!

Plenty of things to do. Hey, you’ll even get to see moose this summer! :rolleyes: Movies, theaters, pubs, restaurants, art gallery, museums, etc. You name it, we have it. I hope I get paid for this. :wink:

17

I live in Los Ang-HELL-es. I hate it here.

  1. Too much sun. How about a little variety?
  2. Too hot. I like it cold.
  3. Too much traffic.
  4. Too crowded. Vermont has only 500,000 people? There are ten million (here, let me put that in numbers: 10,000,000)in L.A. County!
  5. There’s concrete everywhere I look.
  6. Too much light pollution.
  7. Too much air pollution.
  8. Too many people are superficial, materialistic bastards.

Why I’d rather live in Seattle:

  1. There are more sunny days there than we have rainy days here; therefore, there is more variety.
  2. The weather is usually cold and wet, just the way I like it.
  3. It’s green everywhere you look.
  4. It rains there.
  5. All of my friends live there (Seattle, Bellingham & Hoquiam).
  6. It rains there.
  7. It’s close to Canada, which is a very beautiful country (and Vancouver rocks!).
  8. They have rain.
  9. I like the ferries. (No, not “fairies”, smart asses!)
  10. Well, y’see… there’s this girl…
  11. I like rain.
18

I work in Boise, but live in a small town. It tickles me that it considers itself a city, especially as most of the people there have a very narrow, provincial attitude, particularly the local business owners. They act as if they’re the only game in town, have overpriced, average products, and run their businesses to suit the owners rather than the customers.

On the upside, I like our property and immediate neighborhood.

Eventually we want to move back to Indiana, and find about ten acres south of Indianapolis, down in the hill country.

Also, there is a 3 acre piece of property in England I’d like to purchase, and, being a British subject, I can! :slight_smile:

19

Things I love about Atlanta:

Friendly folks. There are still enough natives around to give you a good taste of southern hospitality. Strangers are apt to smile and engage you in small talk while standing in line at a sales counter, e.g.

Great night life. I live intown, within walking distance of a slew of great bars, restaurants, etc. Plenty of good shops nearby as well. A nice mix of young people from all over seem to have congregated here, as Atlanta’s economy has boomed.

Beautiful weather. We’re far enough north to have four seasons, and the occasional snowfall, and far enough south that, even in the dead of winter, there’s a good chance of having a day that is sunny and warm. It does get Godawful hot in the summer, though.

Trees. We still have lots of them. Atlanta has been called “the city in a forest,” and if you look down at it from one of the office towers or from the top of Stone Mountain, you can see why. We have to keep an eye on developers, though, because they are lopping down those precious trees at an alarming rate (in the suburbs, at least).

Things I hate about Atlanta:

Traffic. (See Mullinator’s post, above.) Suburban sprawl, which is getting seriously out of hand. Seems like everybody wants to have their own acre of land, the cumulative effect of which is suburbs as far as the eye can see.

Smog. I have lived here now for 13 years. The smog gets worse every year. From May until late October, there is an ugly brown/yellow cloud over the city. Soot from car exhausts accumulates on my porch. It is nasty.

Graffitti. Never used to be a problem, but in recent years, it has gotten way out of hand. Tags on every traffic sign in the city limits it seems.

Lousy government. Our mayor (Bill Campbell) is a pathetic political worm. When a problem arises, instead of fixing the problem, he seems preoccupied with fixing blame (which usually means some variation of “It’s not my fault. It was that way before I got here.”) Thus, problems with the city’s crumbling infrastructure don’t get solved. They fester.

Lousy mass transit. Sure, we have MARTA (our train system), but the trains are few and far between, they don’t go to all the places they should (no stop at Turner Field; no stop anywhere near Emory, etc.). Plus, at 1.50 (soon to be 1.75) per ride, it’s usually cheaper and easier to drive.

20

I like living in central NJ because I am so darn close to lswote.