Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Like I said, KC between the River Market and the Plaza is pretty amazing and awesome. Outside of that area, not so much. But the same could be said about all the cities in this thread outside their respective urban cores.
Let's all just enjoy where we live and be done with it. All this back and forth stuff is really getting old. I need a break. I'm getting out of here for a while.
Let's all just enjoy where we live and be done with it. All this back and forth stuff is really getting old. I need a break. I'm getting out of here for a while.
This thread seems pretty civil to me. I have been reading it but just have not posted. All the cities are fun up and coming cities.
This thread seems pretty civil to me. I have been reading it but just have not posted. All the cities are fun up and coming cities.
Yeah I can definitely think of MANY worse cities than these to live in. Would I rather be in Chicago or DC or NYC or some other more urban, cosmopolitan city? Yes and especially NYC if money wasn't an issue right now. But I'd definitely not be forced to cry myself to sleep in any of these cities if they were the only place I could find employment.
Big time impact. Cool begets cool. Hip begets hip. Indy people on CD will never admit the truth about their city and that is ok. We have two forumers here who also moved to Louisville from big cities...they corroborate what I say. I stand by my rankings, and most everyone is polling the same way. Hip, artsy and cool is subjective but Louisville is ranked in dozens of online polls to this effect. You will barely find Indy on a few and all Indy people can come up with is "we're bigger and generate more money." That's great. Detroit is 5 times bigger than Austin but would anyone consider it more hip? Not that Indy is anything like Detroit but you get the idea. What is a marquee event in Indy outside 500? When I come to Indy, what is a food or drink that represents the city? Where can I listen to live blues at 330 or 4 am? Can I get sushi at 2 am? I can do all that in Louisville.
These are the type of people who move to Louisville from Indy. Creative types. Indy gets Louisville's corporate types as indeed the economy is more robust with corporate office jobs. Her shop will have the best cookies, coffee, and pastry in Indy if she expands there. Her 2nd location is in the rapidly gentrifying, dense and urban Portland area, and her third store is going into the hipster neighborhood of Clifton.
What is the economic impact of Louisville's hipness? If you can't prove that hip translates into the all mighty dollar or some other measurable metric then why boast about it? Stop passing opinions as facts.
1. I don't recall ever arguing that KC or Indy are "big cities". I certainly don't think they are. But they are both demonstrably bigger than Louisville and Nashville in every regard. Doesn't make them "better". I think KC is quite a bit better than many cities bigger than it is, and I'm sure a salient and relavent argument could be made for Louisville, or Nashville, or, for that matter, many of the cities in the next teir down from Louisville. But to me, KC and Indy are on the smallest end of what I would call mid sized cities. Louisville and Nashville as "small cities"). To me a "big city" more or less means an urbanized area of 3 million plus. So your San Diego/Seattle/San Francisco sized cities on up.
Nashville is in the same tier as Kansas City and Indianapolis. Even some of the developers from Indianapolis with major projects underway in Nashville (Buckingham Development/Aertson Midtown, Gulch Highrise) seek opportunities here. Business is on the rise between Indianapolis and Nashville, and that is a very good thing. While all three cities are different, they are all competing for jobs, investment, and new residents, just like Austin and Charlotte.
2. KC offers quite a few things that Louisville simply does not, including, but not limited to, pro sports. That's just part and parcel of being 1.5 times bigger. Cities that are 1.5 times bigger than KC (like StL, Baltimore and Denver) offer things it does not. Cities than are 2/3rds the size of Louisville, even cool ones like Grand Rapids or Omaha, don't offer quite as much as Louisville. It's not a value judgement or an indictment of Louisville.
While I would generally agree, bigger is not always better, and it certainly does not mean the city offers more. Examples Houston vs. Philadelphia, Richmond vs. Jacksonville. Pro Sports are great and provide a large economic base, however, sports are not everything for everyone.
Quote:
3. Not that it is any kind of point of pride, but, for the record, college sports is as big a part of KC culture as it is Louisville's. And KU is just straight up cooler than Louisville (though I still think the Big XII would have been wise to pick up Louisville [and Cincinnati!]).
Nashville is in the same tier as Kansas City and Indianapolis.
I would agree. KC/Indy/Nashville are pretty much in the same tier. However Louisville would be below them all. I really like Louisville, but it's still a "AAA" city to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shakeesha
While I would generally agree, bigger is not always better, and it certainly does not mean the city offers more. Examples Houston vs. Philadelphia, Richmond vs. Jacksonville. Pro Sports are great and provide a large economic base, however, sports are not everything for everyone.
Sure but KC punches above its weight. I honestly think that KC offers more than Louisville, Indianapolis and Nashville. The city has more attractions and things to do. It's more of a regional tourism city for a huge part of the midwest while Indy, Louisville and Nashville have more tourism competition nearby form other cities. I understand that Nashville has much better image and national tourism appeal than KC, but I have been there dozens of times and I just think KC has more to actually do for locals even if the rest of the country has no clue what's in KC. KC has Worlds of Fun, Oceans of Fun and Schlitterbahn for example. In Indy, you drive to Cincy or StL or Chicago for amusement parks. KC has a world class performing arts center, several high end museums. The WWI museum is one of the best museums in the country, seriously. Read the trip adviser reviews. And yea, I think MLB is a top tier pro sport and KC is lucky to have a team because MLB is a very large city league. These don't make KC a better city. I just think there is more to do there, at least that interest me.
I don't care about KU. It's not even in the metro and honesty the KU "culture" in KC is more annoying than anything. It's mostly just middle aged suburban people that flaunt KU. I would much rather have an urban university like Louisville or Cincy or SLU than a bunch of people running around with KU licenses plates. One of KC's biggest negatives is its lack of a major urban university. UMKC is okay and it's great for KC to have Lawrence (college town) and KU in the region, but it's not the same as actually having a major university based "in" the city.
KCMO, as someone who has visited all four cities (multiple times to Nashville, KC and Louisville .. only once to Indy), I agree with you that Kansas City is the most urban of the four. I was very surprised by KC the first time I visited it. I didn't expect it to have as much as it does. It's major drawback is how isolated it is. No offense to the good folks of Kansas, but proximity to your state isn't exactly a bonus.
I picked Nashville over KCMO because it has a much better live music scene (and not just country.. anyone who thinks Nashville is just country music has obviously never been there) and it has easier access to other parts of the country.
I also agree with you about Louisville. It's fourth of the four in urbanity. Still, it's a cool, up and coming place that seems interested in smart development, so it gets points for that. If I were considering living in any of the four, it would come down to Nashville and Louisville for me, and I could very well end up in Louisville if I could find the right house in the right neighborhood.
I hate to stir up the Indy crowd, and I'm not trying to bash, but as a matter of personal taste .. it's last in my book. It's just a very bland city in the middle of a very bland state.
I just posted a link to a few of those rankings last night. I take it you didn't bother to read it which I suspected. Lou was in one and that was the bucket list with the derby. The culture and hip polls Indy fell in Louisville didn't so what's your point?
Big ticket items is only Indy 500? You have brickyard while not as prestigious as Daytona for obvious reasons actually draws more people. Gencon, Indiana black expo, mini marathon, big ten football championship, the final fours it hosts, moto gp, national ffa convention which used to split with Lou until ffa just decided to stay with Indy, drum corp international world championship, Penrod art fair, heatland film festival, big 10 men and women basketball tournaments and on.
500, Penrod, heartland, mini all draw international visitors every year.
Indiana bars by law close at 3am, last call at 2:30 so you can get a drink at any of the 2600 restaurants open that serve it compared to the 1590 in Lou (source: trip advisor). Blues go to the slippery noodle, oldest bar in indiana or the chatterbox or jazz kitchen or naptown boogie. Come on man, you are grasping at straws here. Do you really think Indy doesn't have these things. Just use a little common sense man. Indiana known for its pork tenderloin and sugar cream pie and the shrimp cocktail at St Elmo's.
Stop injecting your personal opinion as fact. If you just say in my opinion Lou is this and this, fine. When you say the world think Lou is this and better blah blah, well that's a bunch of bull and should be called out for what it is.
You broght up TripAdvisor so let's put those tripadvisor #'s through the gambit here:
Louisville
Hotels: 94
Restaurants: 1590
Things to Do: 230
Vacation Rentals: 61
Kansas City
Hotels: 110
Restaurants: 1260
Things to Do: 211
Vacation Rentals: 46
Indianapolis
Hotels: 184
Restaurants: 2130
Things to Do: 261
Vacation Rentals: 25
Nashville
Hotels: 152
Restaurants: 1818
Things to do: 396
Vacation Rentals: 208
These are the snapshots from tripadvisor for all four cities. Yeah, I know tripadvisor is a good source until it's numbers don't come out the way we like them to. Then it's bad. KC, this isn't the first time you've stated KC has more things to do and of course I retorted no, it's about the same always. Just starting with that metric, Nash is definitely above its weight class. It's up there. KC dead last actually below it's weight class. All 4 cities have multiple museums and this and that and some type of memorial or memorials somewhere.
Ultimately on paper at least, Nash and Louisville are punching above KC (on paper, reality may be totally different and always subjective).
Now is tripadvisor going to capture every little nook and cranny of a city? No. just as the census misses people entities like tripadvisor will miss a restaurant or some obscure thing to do. Seeing as how the permits of said places are easy to obtain, should be somewhat accurate.
Taking the numbers of all 4. If you are a person(s) who can't find something to do in any of these places, it's not the city it is YOU. You are just a boring person or too lazy to actually get out and about and expect every nook and cranny of a city to just fall at your doorstep which I notice a lot of younger people tend to want nowadays.
Disclaimer: In no way shape or form am I advocating one city over the other. Personal choices are personal choices but since numbers do actually matter in life, they by right should also be included.
KCMO, as someone who has visited all four cities (multiple times to Nashville, KC and Louisville .. only once to Indy), I agree with you that Kansas City is the most urban of the four. I was very surprised by KC the first time I visited it. I didn't expect it to have as much as it does. It's major drawback is how isolated it is. No offense to the good folks of Kansas, but proximity to your state isn't exactly a bonus.
I picked Nashville over KCMO because it has a much better live music scene (and not just country.. anyone who thinks Nashville is just country music has obviously never been there) and it has easier access to other parts of the country.
I also agree with you about Louisville. It's fourth of the four in urbanity. Still, it's a cool, up and coming place that seems interested in smart development, so it gets points for that. If I were considering living in any of the four, it would come down to Nashville and Louisville for me, and I could very well end up in Louisville if I could find the right house in the right neighborhood.
I hate to stir up the Indy crowd, and I'm not trying to bash, but as a matter of personal taste .. it's last in my book. It's just a very bland city in the middle of a very bland state.
I agree "nearly" 100%
Yes, the location of KC pretty much sucks. It's isolated and the rural areas around KC don't offer much (MO or KS side) within a few hours. However, I do think it's better than the area around Indy. Indy is actually in a more stereotypical "kansas" area than KC (flat, few trees etc) while at least KC is mostly surrounded by lush and wooded rolling terrain. Louisville and especially Nashville beat KC though.
However, it's not all bad. KC may be more isolated, but if you travel the entire country on a regular basis, it's almost the perfect place to live. You can drive anywhere in the country in less than two days and almost every major city is a short nonstop flight. You can get to both coasts more easily from KC than any other large city. Also, while KC doesn't have a half dozen major cities close by, it's close to the Missouri Ozarks and St Louis and the closest big city (other than Denver) to the Rocky Mountains. KC has the best air access off the four although Indy has a much better airport terminal, but hopefully KC will finally be replacing their airport terminal in the next few years. Again, KC is isolated, but because it's such a regional type city, you really don't need to have other major cities 1-2 hours away. The location is not really that big a deal. But yea, the state of Kansas has almost nothing to offer (recreation/tourism) while Missouri is probably one of the bigger recreation/tourism states in the midwest.
If you like live music, then yes, Nashville wins. That city has a great music scene. I also agree that it's not all country. Actually outside the touristy areas of the city, country music doesn't even seem that popular there. I think all the cities are pretty similar when it comes to the preferred music types. I don't think country music is dominant in any of the cities. I would guess Louisville might be the most country simply because it's a more southern city, but I honestly don't know.
Louisville is more urban than Indianapolis. It's smaller, but it's more urban. KCMO is the most urban followed by Nashville/Louisville where are pretty close and then Indy.
It will be interesting to see all of these cities in 10-20 years. Louisville could evolve into more of a major metro and possibly land a pro team. I think Nashville will continue to boom and could have more of an Austin or Charlotte type skyline. Indianapolis and Kansas City will continue to develop. Indy and Nashville may pass KC in population over the next couple of decades, but KC will continue to grow and add density at a nice pace and remain the more urban feeling city with more amenities. If KC is able to expand the streetcar and finally connect the plaza to downtown (which would bring make midtown take off), I think KC's urban core will be pretty untouchable compared to the other three cities even if Nashville goes on a skyscraper building boom.
Again all four cites are pretty cool and have their own charms and assets. I enjoy visiting them all.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
