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Rate your city: why you love it or lump it.

post #1 of 125
7/31/09 at 10:00am
Thread Starter 
Spending the last three months on the Canadian east coast has made me reconsider how much I enjoy being a Torontonian. Compared to the big city, life on Prince Edward Island has been a virtual 180: the pacing, the sense of community, the access to nature, the free time. While not every change has been positive, I've been entertaining serious second thoughts about how many more years of my life I'd like to spend in the T.Dot. For the record, I've lived there for the last 23 years of my life.

So how do you feel about where you live? What makes you like/hate it? How would you rate life in your city/town/village/tribe?

I'll start:

Hometown: TORONTO - Overall Rating: 6

PROS: Culturally diverse, dynamic (lots of things to do), interesting ethnic communities, access to tons and tons of resources, strong artistic community, decent public transit, get to experience all four seasons, great architecture, some great food

CONS: Massively heterogenous (too many strangers, too much apathy), unforgivably unsophisticated (VERY few tasteful cafes, eateries, restaurants, etc. that are not gawdy) expensive (both real estate and commodities), lack of community feel, sprawling (everything is far), lack of nature, no access to a real beach, muggy summers, hectic pacing (miserable post-workday faces on the subway).
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post #2 of 125
7/31/09 at 10:06am
Hometown: Chicago - Overall Rating: 9

PROS: Abundant entertainment options, great public transportation (for my uses, anyway), good employment opportunities, beaches and parks, sports teams, always something going on, decent home prices.

CONS: Tourists and the suburbanites (note: I don't consider all suburbanites bad, just the clueless ones), segregated communities (north vs south), not really on the cutting edge of anything (fashion, arts, etc..), not exactly a mecca of fitness, taxes are close to (if not, the) highest in the country.

I'm sure there's more, that was just off the top of my head.
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post #3 of 125
7/31/09 at 11:18am
Ottawa, Ontario: 3 So much wrong with this place once you've seen what a REAL city is like. Pros: ... Cons: Close to Quebec, nothing to do, no downtown core, never a good temperature; either too hot or too cold, bus is expensive as hell.
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post #4 of 125
7/31/09 at 3:05pm
Hometown: Houston - Rating: 6

The good: Dirt cheap, top notch cultural activities (theater, symphony, ballet, opera, museums, sporting events, etc), very diverse, great and affordable food, better music scene than most people think, lots of parks, attractive women

The bad: Nonexistent public transit, endless urban sprawl, suffocating summer weather, terrible shopping, disgusting joke of a beach, unattractive women (in the suburbs), pretentious LA-wannabe nightlife

The ugly: Everything

I have a love/hate relationship with this place. There are so many great things about this city, but after visiting other world-class cities, the flaws (transit and sprawl) become much more evident
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post #5 of 125
7/31/09 at 3:17pm
Walnut Creek, CA - 8/9

Pros:
Bay Area location hard to beat for access to any kind of food, entertainment, activities
Beautiful weather
Surrounded by public open space, hills and trails
Hundreds of places to eat
No shortage of attractive women
Nice downtown area
Safe neighborhoods
Decent public schools
People are generally nice and respectful of each other
Easy public transportation (BART, free downtown buses) and public parking
Plenty of music and theater

Cons:
Expensive housing market (even now)
Concerns about the overall direction of CA (taxes, less services)
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post #6 of 125
7/31/09 at 3:23pm
1 is best or worst?
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post #7 of 125
7/31/09 at 3:27pm
Seattle, WA - Rating: 5 The good: fairly multi-cultural, strong local (NW) cuisine + decent ethnic cuisine, excellent seafood, abundant waterfront resulting in affordable waterfront housing, decent ski resorts within 2-hr drive, hiking/backpacking paradise, excellent hospitals, strong university (UW), dense public transit system, 2.5-hr drive to Vancouver BC. The bad: rain (lots of it), people are not very outgoing (because of the rain mostly), not much opportunity for outdoor activities except in summer (again because of the rain), sartorially dissapointing (and hopeless), too politically correct/green, bad drivers, ugly bars/clubs with even uglier crowds, small proportion of women being actually feminine. Overall: Affordable, livable but you won't be happy here unless you fit one of the several typical "NW profiles": http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/
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post #8 of 125
7/31/09 at 3:53pm
Palo Alto, CA- 8

Pros:
Beautiful neighborhoods
Close to San Jose/SF and other nice towns
So many places to eat at
Lots of diversity (in the surrounding areas)
Excellent three season weather
Nature and shit is awesome out here
You can get almost anything

Cons
Expensive real eastate prices
California is in shambles economically
Nightlife is meh, everything closes somewhat early
Girls aren't really that good looking, but maybe it is because I had this crazy notion of hotness in my head
No good sandwiches
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post #9 of 125
8/1/09 at 4:32pm
San Gabriel Valley, CA 7 Pros: -Right by L.A -Blooming Asian businesses/culture -Great schools/housing -SoCal Weather Cons: -Right by L.A -Blooming Asian businesses/culture -Expensive to live in. -It's the mother fucking 'burbs, thereby boring as fuck.
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post #10 of 125
8/1/09 at 4:50pm
Current City: LA - 8

poor public transportation, bad traffic and nowhere to fucking park. Occasionally it gets too hot. Other than that, I think its a wonderful place. My favorite thing about it is the vibe... here any night of the week that I feel like doing something, whether going out to eat or going to a show or going out to a bar or club, I am assured to find someone that is up for it, regardless of if they have to work the next day or not. That didn't seem to be the case in other places I have spent time in. Plus the beach is close, mountains to go hiking in are close, you have other gorgeous cities like Santa Barbara & San Diego both within 2 hour drives. Most people have some money here and are willing to spend it. It makes for a fun lifestyle.

Hometown: Detroit Suburbs - 5

terrible economy and a general sense of gloom & doom, also no real public transportation and there aren't enough interesting & unique places for nightlife activities IMO. Good music & art scene. People are generally good & grounded; down-to-earth. The area feels very comfortable, although it needs help. Can produce some very small-minded people without much knowledge of the world outside of Michigan.
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post #11 of 125
8/1/09 at 4:54pm
West Palm Beach, FL - 3 Pros: THE WEATHER! The Beaches The Weather Cons: The people suck Overwhelmed with old people No culture No intelligence in the populus - the median IQ seems to be in the double digits The people suck Most of the food sucks Nothing much to do other than go to the mall, movies, or clubs No real public transportation = have to drive everywhere The old people are allowed to drive The people suck
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post #12 of 125
8/1/09 at 5:00pm
Hometown- Annapolis, MD Pros- Downtown nightlife is not too bad Nice weather most of the year Not far from DC Far enough away from Baltimore Still keeps a cool small-town feel Beautiful historic district Mostly nice people Cons- Winters are somewhat cold Gets crowded with tourists in the summer/on weekends Somewhat expensive
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post #13 of 125
8/1/09 at 5:15pm
Winnipeg - 2

no real explanation necessary
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post #14 of 125
8/1/09 at 5:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros View Post
The bad: rain (lots of it), people are not very outgoing (because of the rain mostly), not much opportunity for outdoor activities except in summer (again because of the rain)
It's a myth. It doesn't really rain that much here. Unless what you mean by rain is "there are clouds in the sky". Seattle gets on average 37.07 inches of rain a year, and 150 something days of "rain". Which is usually nothing more than a light misting. It's not even in the top 20 rainiest cities in the U.S. Indianapolis Baltimore Philadelphia Boston Charlotte Louisville Houston Nashville New York Atlanta Jacksonville Memphis all get quite a bit more rain than Seattle, just for reference. Seattle *IS* eternally 'partially cloudy'. But that doesn't stop anyone from doing anything outdoors.
Quote:
Overall: Affordable, livable but you won't be happy here unless you fit one of the several typical "NW profiles": http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/
I'd say that it was less affordable than you'd make it out to be, and while I'm sure we all know someone who fits into one of the stereotypes in that ad campaign (The four way stop guy is me. Sorry!) There are a lot of things to do in this city, both indoors and out, and you don't have to be a socks with birkenstocks guy to like living here.
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post #15 of 125
8/1/09 at 5:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros View Post
Seattle, WA - Rating: 5

The good: fairly multi-cultural, strong local (NW) cuisine + decent ethnic cuisine, excellent seafood, abundant waterfront resulting in affordable waterfront housing, decent ski resorts within 2-hr drive, hiking/backpacking paradise, excellent hospitals, strong university (UW), dense public transit system, 2.5-hr drive to Vancouver BC.

The bad: rain (lots of it), people are not very outgoing (because of the rain mostly), not much opportunity for outdoor activities except in summer (again because of the rain), sartorially dissapointing (and hopeless), too politically correct/green, bad drivers, ugly bars/clubs with even uglier crowds, small proportion of women being actually feminine.

Overall: Affordable, livable but you won't be happy here unless you fit one of the several typical "NW profiles":

http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/

This is mostly bullshit but if it will keep people out of Seattle then I'm all for it.
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