Rate your city: why you love it or lump it. - Page 3

Correct; if you're a total pussy. All the time. Forever. Sounds like you may be... oh, just avoid Seattle.

Yeah, it was totally ridiculous on my part to think the weather should play a role in rating a city. I stand corrected.

San Diego (San Marcos, actually) - 8 Pros: 1. My house is located in a perfect location for shopping, eating, going to the beach (which I never do), etc. 2. I am about 15 minutes away from a Barneys Outlet Store. 3. The weather reports on the news don't vary much. 4. Lots of pretty people of all races. 5. People are less uptight/pretentious than those in LA Cons: 1. Many places in San Diego are usually smaller/not as good versions their LA/OC counterparts. 2. I don't actually like summer 3. There are a lot of conservative old people, but not as much as Orange County. 4. Everything comes in English and Spanish. 5. Girls here love chihuahuas. 6. Fashion doesn't really exist here. All in all, San Diego is a great city. I think it's pretty low key for its size, and the standard of living is decent. I don't see any slums or ghetto neighborhoods on a regular basis but I do see rich snobs who feel like driving in a BMW gives them privileges (although I'm sure that's not exclusive to Southern California). Living here is not like living in any other place in the nation, even LA is a bit different. Some people think we're too relaxed, some people think we're too uptight, I just like it a lot here. Although I usually do get bored sometimes, which is why I don't think it's perfect.

I pretty much agree with everything Tokyo Slim said about Seattle. I had never really appreciated until this summer. I'm spending it in Houston for an internship and by comparison, I hate Houston, lol. Seattle is a GREAT place for a college student.

Conservative old people belong in the pros list.

Funny how he dislikes conservative old people, yet is dismayed that things come in English & Spanish. WTF!? I have to read this Spanish text right by English! This is 'Merica damnit! And living in San Diego is like no place else in the world! But snobs are bad.

Absolutely true. I've lived in the NW all my life, more near the Portland area and the weather here SUCKS. Seattle in comparison is beautiful. I've seen a lot more rain, and more often, where I'm from. I've had times where there would just be constant rainstorms in any season (Spring, Fall, Summer, Winter, you got it). Seattle seems to follow a more typical seasonal pattern. I'm starting to think that the whole "rainy city" is a giant inside joke to keep people away. Plus, I prefer cloudy. All sun everyday with absolutely little weather changes gets boring after a while, having seasons is nice (according to my friends who moved from here to California).eat Portland - 7.5 Pros: -It's "neat", a city with personality -Nice to walk around, shops, restaurants, etc -Cool events and festivals every once in a while -Lot's of micro brews (not my personal experience, being under 21, but yeah...) -Weirdness "Keep Portland weird" -Coffee is good -Lot's of music goes through the area Cons: -Weirdness "Keep Portland weird" -Not very big -Not very "city" like -Weather sucks, and I'm comparing it to Seattle... -The Columbia River sucks. It's pretty nasty, and doesn't look great either. -Almost no stores. -Just feels like Seattle's younger and less attractive sister (still do-able though)

i live on long island but grew up in the boroughs and work in nyc. nyc gets a 5 for availability of shit to buy and museums and eateries but loses 5 for reasons i'd rather not get into.

Los Angeles Overall: 4 Pros: *Weather is excellent *Good stores to shop at *Lots to do, good place to have a central base for flights and weekend road trips *Good restaurants and variety of food Cons: *Public transporte is shit, have to drive everywhere *I only like LA west of the 405 freeway (beach cities), the rest is sprawling hell and not worth even going to *People, for the most part, are assholes and poseurs *most of the city is a ghetto, albeit overpriced. *I hate the LA L*kers

I'll do the nearest city to where I grew up: Windsor, Ontario

Pros:

Four seasons
Great Lakes
Low cost of real estate
A morning (or less) drive or train trip from Detroit, Toldeo, Cleveland, London, GTA
Decent pub culture
great fruit and produce from surrounding farms
great Chinese and Viet (little to no Japanese) shopping and food
Windsor Police P&D

Cons:

Exceedingly blue collar
Most good paying jobs tied to Big 3
Pollution
Weekend Americans
Canadian liquor laws re: retailing
OHIP

5/10

Hey, sorry to pry, but do you mind going even a little into why NYC loses five points in your rating? I'm going on my fifth year here, not a veteran by any means, but I can feel the city wearing me down and sometimes I think of going home. One less West Coaster - probably good news for a lot of the NY natives who hate us.

Tokyo 8.5 Pros: Everything and anything you would want to buy, experience, eat or drink is available in Tokyo. The entire range, from the cheapest, to the most expensive. There are things there that most people have never even thought of. Assuming you can find it. Fantastic public transit. I don't honestly believe anywhere else in the world can really compare to the sheer efficiency and convenience that the combination of trains, buses, taxis and etc. that Tokyo has. On the cutting edge of fashion, technology, architecture, and cuisine - BUT also in touch with it's history and traditional culture. Probably the least "boring" city on earth. There are always about 30,000 things you could be doing or seeing on any given day. Concerts, fashion shows, design expo, art gallery openings, museums, clubs, sporting events, athletics, festivals, people watching, etc. You will pretty much never encounter someone who will be rude to your face. I have been asked to donate change by more monks (1) than homeless people (0) even though the homeless people outnumber the monks by a factor of 100 -1. Japanese people have always been very polite and friendly, especially considering that I baaaarely speak any Japanese. Tokyo is comparatively extremely safe. The occasional nutjob goes off, cracked under the social pressure or whatever and stabs some people... but it really doesn't happen very often, considering the sheer number of people in Tokyo on any given day. Guns, drugs, and public crime in general are pretty rare. Generally speaking, you can walk around in a park at night with 10,000 yen bills taped to your face and not worry about getting robbed. It is a comparatively clean city. You won't find many trash or recycling bins in public areas, but strangely it doesn't seem to be nearly as dirty as most other large cities, ESPECIALLY in Asia. Cons: Finding your way around is an art. Even cab drivers don't know where most shit is, since there is not really a system of addresses that is conducive to finding a specific building. Cost. Yes, if you insist on living like a westerner in Japan, you will be paying a premium. And a premium in Tokyo = a boatload of money. It is possible to live for less, because guess what, most Japanese people do it. Watch them to figure out how. Learning to live in a smaller space is the first step. ^ approximately 210 square foot apartment. (about $738 a month) Crowded. Very crowded. If you are one of those people who freaks out when your personal space is invaded, you don't want to go to Tokyo. If you get claustrophobic - also probably not a good idea. The weather is very distinctly seasonal. Spring and fall are the best. Absolutely perfect. The summertime is like the damp suburb of Hades though. I don't like hot, muggy weather. Winter is cold and windy in the city,, but generally doable. Not California weather or anything for sure. Kind of like NYC weather I guess. But with Typhoons. City wildlife. There are more cats and crows than most Western cities have people. They are everywhere. Above ground power lines and an abundance of "ugly" architecture in the older, poorer areas of town. The expansionist building boom in Tokyo, coupled with the general impermanence of traditional architecture, coupled with Asian city planning (no discernible plan at all?) combine to make 100 power lines criss-crossing over your head in certain areas, in between crappy looking concrete and brick facade buildings built in the 70's and 80's. Like this: It's far away. 12 hour plane ride from Seattle. Not fun.

Canberra - 7 (has everything i want and is missing allot of things others seem to need)
pros

-flat, bikes were made for canberra, the best, can ride to 2/3 of the city in 30mins.
-surrounds, 2 lakes, plenty of mountains, lots of bushland within the city, great for walking/mountain biking.
-traffic, not allot, though i dont drive the one thing i hear from out of towners is that our traffic is awesome.
-small, to me canberra seems tiny, i can get to anywhere i need to go within the city in 30minutes on a bike.
-school system, the schools i went to are outstanding(imo, not private schools or anything) and we have the best university in the country, would be happy to raise kids here.
-weather, personally i like canberra's weather though it is the best and worst of both worlds.
-location, 2hours to the snow, 1.5 to the coast, amazing.
-crime, not allot of murdering etc

cons
-nightlife, i dont particularly enjoy the main nightlife hub, tons of douchebags and tarts(see below)
-fashion, abiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssmaaaaalllllllllllll
-lack of major attractions, there is stuff to see here but its all day trip stuff, don't meet many out of town/country people
-generic, most buildings are 10-20 years old at the max.
-history, what history?
-most of the places to go in your spare time(malls,cinemas,parks,clubs,bars) are in 2-3 shopping centre's. Annoyingly there is some great clubs/shops by their lonesome in other parts of town.
-negativity, allot of my generation seem to dislike canberra. They have clearly never lived in bigger cities.
-housing cost, though i live at home afaik canberra has the highest rent of all australian capitals, same for house prices, could be bad when im older.
-lack of big events, rarely do good gigs happen here, lack of a decent film festival, art exhibitions arent my thing but we don't get many that i hear about. We occasionally get the national *insert sport* team playing here, normally it will be missing star players and playing a fairly insignificant advercary.


either ways:
-weather
-transport, its hit and miss, the busses aren't bad
-the people, some are the msot amazing i've met, some are the biggest f*cktards.
-culture, probably the most important thing, canberra is a rather multicutural city, obviously this has its positives and negatives, the food is good but there are certain parts of town stereotyped negatively. Overall i'd say canberra has a healthy culture but doesn't compare to somewhere like melbourne for its multiculturism/nightlife and is missing the "big cbd important people" feel of sydney.

Hey atleast its not Hobart.

Sacramento, 6

PROS
-close to San Francisco
-despite popular belief, it's not ENTIRELY bereft of culture; we don't have the best of anything, but what we do have is generally passable
-racially diverse with mostly harmonious race relations
-housing is cheaper compared to other major metropolitan areas in CA
-people are not as vapid/ self-centeredly obnoxious (southern CA) nor as politically correct/ sanctimoniously obnoxious (Bay Area)
-nice amount of rain and fog in the winter (a plus in my book)
-driving is much easier and generally less aggravating than in other parts of CA

CONS
-the heat; it starts warming up in early April and doesn't cool off until late October
-horrific number of irritating suburbs (Folsom, Roseville, El Dorado Hills) filled to the gills with Juicy Couture tracksuit wearing/Ugg clomping/Escalade driving morons
-a truly crappy downtown
-cars are an absolute must
-complete lack of interesting stores (would kill for a Barney's or Saks)