Rate your city: why you love it or lump it. - Page 7

Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico - 6.7/10 Pros: - Really good food. Really, good, food, everywhere. - Can live very well with an American college education - Big sense of regional pride - One of the best universities in the world - Millions of people = shit going on all the time - Decent cultural fare Cons: - Gross adoration of American luxury - Slums - Would be unlivable if not fluent in Spanish Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico aught to be a 9+ imo

I grew up out there, and you just have to get used to the mist. Put an REI raincoat and a hat on. You're fine. If you can't get used to it, you will be stuck indoors. And that's sad.


That's pretty funny. I know a lot of these people. The Walla Walla Wine Woman Woman, the Accidental Tech Millionaire, etc, etc. Hilarious.


b

I'd say about the same. But with some qualifications and additions.

PROS
1. Lots of good food at a variety of prices
2. The Metro is generally clean, usually runs fine, and takes you where you need to go.
3. Lots of opportunity for jobs.
4. Great schools to get an education at all levels.
5. Lovely fall weather. I even like the winter, mostly.
6. Greatest city ever for cultural shit. Look at all of the free museums! The Kennedy Center and other institutions constantly have top notch programs.
7. One easily accessible internationl airport. Two others available.
8. Neighborhood-y feel to much of the city. You'd never know you were in DC in some places.
9. More green space than most large cities (I've heard DC is the greenest city in the nation).
10. Easy access to other big east coast cities via train (Baltimore, Philly, NYC, Boston).
11. Alternative transit is being integrated better and better into the city (bikes, walking, subway, streetcars, busses).

CONS
1. Some of the best ethnic food can only be had out in the Virginia suburbs (Korean, in particular).
2. The Metro is sorely underfunded, yet takes a massive percentage of the federal government to work and the Feds don't want to pay for it. No transit systems are completely self-supports--including roads!
3. Competition for jobs is very high unless you have an advanced degree or excellent experience.
4. Local public schools are dismal. In part I'll blame Congress for messing in our business. Stop experimenting with our schools. In part, see #9 below.
5. Summers here suck ass.
6. I hear (though I can't vouch for it) that nightlife here isn't great.
7. Two other international airports that are not at all conveniently served by public transit.
8. Congressional control over our city is killing us. We have no true home-rule. Any law the City Council passes can be overturned by Congress. And we have NO VOTE IN CONGRESS.
9. There's a huge proportion of the population that just doesn't give a shit about the city. They litter on the Metro, they don't do their public-serve job well or at all, they steal from the city (Harriet Walters), etc. etc.
10. Tourists who act like the city's an amusement park and that people don't actually live here.
11. A lot of people who are way too full of themselves. No one cares that you work for Rep. So-and-so. The guy next to you, who isn't bragging, is the Under Secretary of Something Way More Important. That woman is a lobbyist pulling in $250k/year and has the ear of people more important than your boss. And that guy sweeps the floors and empties your garbage--without him, you'd be living in filth because you think you're too good to do that.
12. Rampant NIMBY-ism kills many of the best transit-oriented development. See the Tenleytown Library, the revamp of the Safeway on upper Wisc, and the attempt to kill the Giant revamp on Wisc.


I know I have more cons, but the pros outweigh them. DC's actually a really nice city to live in. If I could change one thing, I'd make it flatter so I could bike to work more easily.

b

Boston 9/10 Pros: Any cuisine you please. Women of all kinds. Very walkable Culturally diverse Decent nightlife*[See below] Cons: Crazy rent *T closes at 1245, bars close at 2...there's a disconnect here. Weather is hit or miss. I can't stand walking the city while it's raining or windy/cold in the winter. And you have to walk since it's just not that kind of city. If weather was like San Diego, it would be my favorite place to live.

Edmonton has more festivals than any other city in North America, a new art gallery, a well respected symphony, state of the art theatrical facilities, and one of the largest universities in Canada. All these things add to its cultural diversity. Edmonton is by no means on par with cities like New York, London, Tokyo, and so on, but for a medium sized city, I think it's quite livable.

Charlotte 4/10 Pros: Bojangles Cheerwine People are generally nice Cons: It's still a hick-ass city There's nothing to do Very few worthwhile bands come here Too spread out, shitty public transit system People here mostly suck

Kansas City- 6 Pros Extremely friendly and unpretentious citizens People understand they aren't Chicago (unlike St. Louis) Great housing options & historic neighborhoods Low cost of living Remarkably efficient airport Steady job market Business friendly Excellent art & music scene for city of it's size Diversity of weather Fascinating and tumultuous history Cow derived cuisine College sports fanaticism "Under the radar" factor; Those visiting that expect Creationist parades and roaming cattle downtown are usually shocked at how well people are living. Cons "Can't do/ short sighted" attitude of city caused from Kansas/Missouri bi-state disputes Underdeveloped (but developing) downtown Preposterous suburban sprawl and decentralization No viability of mass transit now or in near future Atrocious KC,MO public schools Extremely corrupt city officials and school board Segregated neighborhoods with crime Mediocre shopping & many generic restaurants Weather extremes Bad dating scene Obesity The Royals

...
The Royals
The Chiefs
...

Do you live in Kansas City? I currently live here and I hate the place.

I grew up there and spend 4 months or so a year there. My work now allows me to live for the other 8 months or so in whatever city where my current project as an architect is located. I don't miss it when I'm gone but it's better than some other places of comparable size that I've lived in.

I LOLed as well. Never been to Edmonton, but Calgary looks like a dysenterrhic asshole from the air on final approach.

Vancouver is nice, but for some reason many Vancouverites are annoying flakes. Montreal is nice. I'm originally from Toronto so I'm biased that way.

Current location: OTTAWA -- 6.5/10

PROS:
- Hour from Montreal
- Nice natural surroundings
- UNESCO World Heritage Site downtown
- Does have that "capital city" vibe
- Big enough, but small enough at the same time, if you know what I mean

CONS:
- Winters suck hard, even for Canada
- Clueless tourists
- Somewhat provincial mindsets prevail
- No good home furnishings stores (Roche Bobois is the high-end...)

Agreed, I think Prairie cities inclusively look like shit from the air. Sprawling trash cans in a sea of yellow. Compared to a city like Ottawa, with the river and forests, or Toronto on the lake, or Vancouver with the sea and mountains, Calgary through to Winnipeg look pretty terrible. I would say the same thing about most Mid-Western cities as well, except for Denver, because the Rockies are so close. Even SLC doesn't look great due to the smog, although the Wasatch Front looks good covered in snow.

Oof, I'm going to come off as a negative ass, but I really don't see a way around that. Being as I am one. Anyway; I agree with all your "Cons" but would lump the Stampede, shopping and the economy/jobs in there as well. The Stampede being, well, the Stampede, is not my taste. This would be fine if it wasn't also incessantly rammed down my throat. It's a celebration of the fallacy of Calgary as a frontier town. This was a city founded on money, oil, and vice. Let's embrace that shit like Vegas and see how it rolls. The well-paying jobs revolving around the oil & gas industry almost exclusively. Sure, that's a gross generalization, but I'll be damned if anyone outside that industry will pay me what the O&G sector does. This saddens me, but I'm a greed bitch so I have to accept, nay, embrace my hypocrisy and move on. The shopping may be cheaper due to lack of a provincial sales tax, but finding anything worth buying isn't particularly easy. It's the ass end of fashion in Canada, where only the most middle-of-the-road clothes filter through from the already diluted pool that arrives in Vancouver/Toronto. There are no politics, per se, in Calgary. A majority of the population seems pre-programmed to vote Conservative regardless of candidate. the story is the Conservatives could run a mentally retarded chimpanzee in a riding and it would still win by a landslide. this has been somewhat proven by running candidates who, by all rights, shouldn't be allowed to operate a toilet without assistance let alone represent a sizable chunk of Calgary's population. Given the calibre of candidates from the other parties that are thrown on the sacrificial pike of watching the demeaning results on election night role is, this shouldn't be a surprise. Only masochists need apply. As above, so below. But with cowboy hats.

10 for Manhattan...because it's Manhattan

Montreal, Canada 9/10

Pros
-Affordable housing
-Great nightlife
-Interesting archietecture
-Great dining
-Great public transportation system
-World class events/ festivals
-Stylish, open minded people
-15$ full contact lap dances

Cons
-Tension between French and English/Threat of seperatism
-High Taxes
-Cold/snowy winters
-Lower career oppurtunities then other Canadian Cities