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These 2 cities cities seem to be pretty similar on their faces and I wonder how they stack up?
How does Columbia SC compare to CO Springs when it comes to:
Demographics of best fit (retirees, college students, retail workers...)
Jobs - Industry - Career - Federal Dependence (both have a decent military presence)
Sprawl - Neighbourhoods - Downtown
Chain vs individual stores and restaurants
Homelessness and city tidiness
Political and religious environment
I know climate is going to be a personal preference as the people who like SC won't like CO Springs and vice versa; hot and wet vs cold (relatively) and dry. Likewise recreation will be a personal preference thing as well. I'd assume COL is about the same in both.
A personal question for me is how bad are the snakes, mosquitoes, ticks, and chiggers in Columbia? CO Springs only has rattlesnakes.
Which city would you prefer overall? What are some things you really like about these areas?
Demographics of best fit (retirees, college students, retail workers...)- Colorado Springs
Jobs - Industry - Career - Federal Dependence (both have a decent military presence)- Colorado Springs
Sprawl - Neighbourhoods - Downtown - Colorado Springs has a nice and active downtown with plenty to do
Chain vs individual stores and restaurants- Colorado Springs encourages to eat local
Homelessness and city tidiness- Not sure
Political and religious environment- Colorado Springs is more liberal
I would choose Colorado Springs because it is not as religious or conservative. I also like the appearance of the city and activities.
I don't know a lot about Colorado Springs, but I've never heard it and "liberal" in the same sentence. El Paso County is pretty red, whereas Richland County is pretty blue.
Climate/location alone make this choice not even a contest for me. Colorado Springs all the way. (I'm sure there are plenty who would say the same exact thing for the same exact reason and choose Columbia. Everyone's preferences are different!)
Colorado Springs is cool little city in a great location with an awesome setting. It gets a lot of criticism for an undersized downtown, but that doesn't bother me. The downtown they have is an intimate area, and if some of the plans on tap go through it'll be a really cool neighborhood.
I think one of the most regrettable things about Colorado Springs is its poor growth management. At 700,000 people it's not really a "big" city but because of its rapid growth since the 1960s it isn't as well designed as it could and should be. Part of the problem is the era in which it sprung up, too. To me it seems anything designed and built in the 1970s-1980s is just not all that well designed and has not aged gracefully. These are things that can be overcome by the city, but it will take a long time before it ever reaches its potential.
Still, those shortcomings aside, it's nice enough and its location puts it over the top for me.
I don't know a lot about Colorado Springs, but I've never heard it and "liberal" in the same sentence. El Paso County is pretty red, whereas Richland County is pretty blue.
Exactly. Columbia is pretty progressive overall and in the past election Clinton won by a margin of 65-35 over Trump in Richland County (where Columbia is located).
Exactly. Columbia is pretty progressive overall and in the past election Clinton won by a margin of 65-35 over Trump in Richland County (where Columbia is located).
Yep. Plus Columbia scored a 75 on HRC's Municipal Equality Index while Colorado Springs scored a 53. Neither are bad scores, but in light of this and voting patterns, it's hard to understand why someone would say they would pick Colorado Springs because it's not as conservative.
Because they see Columbia is in SC and automatically assume its super conservative.
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