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SF has 24 hour service. ...Can't really run later than that.
maybe i didn't look hard enough. are you talking about the busses, or light rails, or subways (bart, muni)? or are all of these 24 hour services?
i was mainly referring to the bus services though. like for example i was trying to get from financial district to haight-ashbury but i couldn't find anything that took me there past 11pm. i thought it was strange.
I grew up in Chicago, and agree with many of the sentiments expressed. I haven't lived there in 12 years though, so I can't really comment on how it is now. When I visit family, I find myself enjoying it more. Any views I'd express would be clouded by the views of adolescence.
That said, living and growing up in Chicago in the 90s with the Bulls was a magical time.
Enough good stuff. NEGATIVE! About my current home town, Seattle:
1) The weather in winter. One secret about this area during the summer is, IT IS ABSOLUTELY GLORIOUS! It's got the best summer weather in all of the USA. Period. Doesn't matter where you are in the US, it doesn't compare.
BUT, COME WINTER ... it's slit your wrists depressing with dank, cold, drizzle. It's not even rain. It's mist mostly. No thunderstorms even. It's just ... there ... and you miss the sun after five days of none of it.
2) The bums. I love Seattle, I really do, and do enjoy living in a vibrant city that is safe and has a core that is also vibrant (if closes early). But my lord, the bums are AGGRESSIVE, ANNOYING, and at times, THREATENING!
3) Cost of housing. While I was house-shopping, I only saw homes $400k and up. For a two bedroom bungalow built in the 60s. That needs a new roof, driveway, ... basically tear the thing down and build a new one. It's gotten better since the housing collapse, but man, it's still too expensive. Then again, most families have two incomes, and make about $175k a year, at least the new families. Older families can get by on much less because they bought it when Seattle was a blue collar town.
4) The crazies. Seattle is safe on the whole. Only 30 murders last year in the entire area (not counting Tacoma). But my word we do get our share of crazies. A guy is on trial now for killing a cop last Halloween and vowed to be on a crusade against them. Another guy killed four cops earlier this year and got gunned down in Seattle. A transient set fire to a set of very popular shops in a northern neighborhood, and it's sad because htat was the soul of the neighborhood. And don't forget the ultra-left crazies and the ultra-right crazies they attract.
5) Shyness. OK, I get it. You don't want to make eye contact with me. Or befriend me. But at least acknowledge my existence if I try to make small talk in an elevator, or see you day in and day out. We're human, not automatons. I dunno, maybe this is my Midwestern neighborly influences coming out. But the Seattle "freeze" exists to an extent. It's hard to make friends, but you eventually learn people in Seattle like making "arranged" friendships through clubs, interests, and events, and that's alright.
6) THE ROADS. Most. Terrible. Anywhere. Period. Ruts in the roads, I-5 has the same concrete it had since the 1960s. City streets are falling apart. And for some reason each mayor wants to ignore the problem and tell people to bike it. WELL SORRY FOR NOT WANTING TO LIVE IN HIGH RISES NEXT TO ANNOYING PEOPLE WHO DON'T GIVE A DAMN IF YOU NEED TO SLEEP PRIOR TO 1 AM!!!
Birmingham
1. No pro sports. I like college sports, but having to drive two hrs to a NFL or NBA game blows.
2. Lack of mass transit. The bus fleet is outdated, no light rail and people mentality of those who use mass transit are poor, etc, etc.
3. Playing second fiddle to Atlanta, Charlotte, and Nashville. Cities that were once on par with Birmingham.
4. 10% sales tax on most general goods and taxes on food and medicine
5. Lack of progress in expanding the tax base, reforming K-12 education, airport expansion, convention complex expansion, etc.
6. Low growth rate. Shockingly people think its a good thing that this metro has a .7% growth rate.
Air pollution
Interstates right through the middle of downtown.
Transit needs improvement.
Needs more sidewalks.
Downtown is disconnected from the neighborhoods - you have to cross a river, a long viaduct, a mission district, a student ghetto or industrial wasteland to get to downtown.
No cute shopping districts (more than 2-3 stores). Some neighborhoods have good shopping, but it is of the strip mall variety.
-What a *hitty waterfront- Make a nice riverwalk along the Passaic River.
-Clean up the old industrious areas that are pretty much abandoned.
-The crime rate in the western half of the city is extremely high.
-They should add more high rises in the downtown section- The downtown area can be quite empty and seedy after 6PM since very few people actual live there.
-Give Ironbound some hype. It already has a good rep, but they aren't doing such a good job putting it out there.
I'll add 2 more; it may tie in to what you just said.
-City gov't needs an overhaul. The good ol' boys network has failed for a half century. They're too liberal and out-of-touch for 2010. To them, all "outsiders"=criminals; reverse racism ftw.
-Downtown needs a makeover now. It's 2010. With a state-of-the-art arena and NJPAC, there is no reason for your main drags to be littered with low-rent establishments. Hair salons, 99 cent stores, fried chicken joints, no-name furniture outlets, pawn shops, thuggin' and buggin' joints with counterfeit clothing, all of em need to be gone pronto. Not saying to build a crapload of 50-story skyscrapers and be a wannabe Manhattan or Chicago, but give me a break. Same for the blighted "arena district". The worn-out century-old buildings need to be torn down and started over, and parking/abandoned lots to be replaced and worked on.
I love San Francisco, but I definitely have some complaints.
1. The cost of living here is too high. For a seemingly wealthy city, there are just way too many people (many of whom are well-educated) living paycheck to paycheck.
2. This obviously can't be changed, but I wish the summer weather within city limits was a little bit warmer.
3. The city is quite dirty. San Francisco needs to take lessons from cities like Chicago, Seattle, and Minneapolis and learn how to keep a big city clean.
4. I'm pretty content with public transportation in SF, but it would be nice to have 24 hour rail like NYC and Chicago.
5. The homeless population here is way too large.
Those are indeed the major complaints, annoyances with SF. I'd emphasize the public transportation though, it is sorely lacking both in the city and on a metropolitan level in comparison to the two you mentioned. It is easy to get around hood to hood on foot though, but getting around to multiple distant places fast, just isn't happening. Too many young homeless I would emphasize also, or are they trustafarians? Also seems harder to make plans with people in SF in comparison to some other cities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hendu
Chicago (in no particular order):
1) It's not NYC. In other words, a little too neat and organized and...generic in a way.
2) not much of a fashion scene here.
3) very balkanized - suburbs vs. city, south side vs. north side, etc.
4) Horrible politics and dumb voters
5) Where are the year-round local farmers markets?
6) Basically no street food.
7) public schools are a mess.
I agree with Awesome Danny, this city could and should be so much more but something is holding it back.
I'd agree with these. An annoyance of mine is the presence of too many "college bars" advertising Nebraska, Iowa, and did I just see Alabama? Yes I did... Clark/Belmont has an Alabama bar. ... Get over it to them I say, but that is who else I share it with I guess. The suburbs in Chicago are a different world, not much of a fan. Better integration between south/north sides would be nice. Fashion is indeed a bit behind, which is strange, because the shopping amenities where people can buy it is good. Winters are pretty harsh comparison to other major cities outside of Boston where they are similar. Winters can be OK in Chicago, but also every once in awhile there will be a more brutal winter span of a few weeks where it is intolerable, though not every winter has this that I experience. Only one was very bad. I've never really experienced the "bad" summer though. Summers in Chicago are better than its east coast counterparts as far as heat/humidity goes.
Kansas City is constantly at war with itself. Missouri v. Kansas. Urbanites v. suburbanites.
It is wary towards outsiders in a sense of "why did you move here of all places."
Very little civic pride, especially from a metro standpoint. Too many suburbanites have little or no respect for the city.
KC's metro is incredibly spread out to have a population of 2.1 million.
The Royals went from being a model franchise to being a joke.
Public transit is very bad. Of course, what do you do with such a low-density, spread-out place?
Jobs are very spread out, and are constantly leaving the downtown area which is thriving and growing in every other respect oddly enough. That means if your job changes, your commute can change dramatically and become much more annoying.
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