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^^this thing of Philadelphia and the Northeast being rude is extremely overblown. I just don't see much of a difference.
By cold, do you mean weather or attitude? If weather, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis are significantly colder climates. If by attitude, again I just don't see it. You're not going to get significant difference in attitudes between any of these cities.
No, the Northeast is not rude. In fact, it's real and genuine. Plus it's crazy to generalize an entire region for anything. NY and New Yorkers are wonderful by the way. But Philadelphia definitely has a thing. It's not because it's the only city I've lived in where I've actually been held up at gunpoint, which might pre-dispose me to bias; rather, it's because Philly simply does have an attitude, all its own. From the boisterous sports fans to the chilly and sometimes off-putting arrogance of locals, especially from the west of the city in the Mainline, it's a special place. Someone born and raised there is not going to be the best person to judge that. Again, don't get me wrong, I like Philly, the culture, the food, the great nightlife and all of that. It's tops. But sometimes it is filthadelphia, and that is just fine. I will still say Pittsburgh (and Minneapolis), imho may not have all that Philly does, but are still more livable to me. And you can't tell me that folks in Philly are generally nicer or as nice as the folks in Pittsburgh because a) that's another generalization and b) it's not true.
No, the Northeast is not rude. In fact, it's real and genuine. Plus it's crazy to generalize an entire region for anything. NY and New Yorkers are wonderful by the way. But Philadelphia definitely has a thing. It's not because it's the only city I've lived in where I've actually been held up at gunpoint, which might pre-dispose me to bias; rather, it's because Philly simply does have an attitude, all its own. From the boisterous sports fans to the chilly and sometimes off-putting arrogance of locals, especially from the west of the city in the Mainline, it's a special place. Someone born and raised there is not going to be the best person to judge that. Again, don't get me wrong, I like Philly, the culture, the food, the great nightlife and all of that. It's tops. But sometimes it is filthadelphia, and that is just fine. I will still say Pittsburgh (and Minneapolis), imho may not have all that Philly does, but are still more livable to me. And you can't tell me that folks in Philly are generally nicer or as nice as the folks in Pittsburgh because a) that's another generalization and b) it's not true.
You are right about the difference. They basically see the rest of PA as hillbillies and push Pittsburgh into the Midwest and the worst toward opposing sports fans and never leave their team colors or whoever- showing on your car parked there. Back in a day - you'd have no tires and more at stadiums.
I would recommend Minneapolis. It's safe and walkable, historic and culturally open. I think the cold is overrated, except for maybe one month out of the year. It has good public transportation and you could live without a car if you wanted to.
St. Louis would not be what you're looking for. It's a beautiful old city and I love it for its history, food and architecture. However, you wouldn't catch me walking in many areas due to the high crime. The economy is depressed. You would want a car.
I think you would like Cincinnati, although I don't know a lot about the public transportation there. I did take it while I was there and it seemed pretty good.
As others have said, Philadelphia is the clear winner here.
Pittsburgh would be next for me.
St. Louis and Minneapolis are other nice cities worth checking out, that are underrated IMO.
No, the Northeast is not rude. In fact, it's real and genuine. Plus it's crazy to generalize an entire region for anything. NY and New Yorkers are wonderful by the way. But Philadelphia definitely has a thing. It's not because it's the only city I've lived in where I've actually been held up at gunpoint, which might pre-dispose me to bias; rather, it's because Philly simply does have an attitude, all its own. From the boisterous sports fans to the chilly and sometimes off-putting arrogance of locals, especially from the west of the city in the Mainline, it's a special place. Someone born and raised there is not going to be the best person to judge that. Again, don't get me wrong, I like Philly, the culture, the food, the great nightlife and all of that. It's tops. But sometimes it is filthadelphia, and that is just fine. I will still say Pittsburgh (and Minneapolis), imho may not have all that Philly does, but are still more livable to me. And you can't tell me that folks in Philly are generally nicer or as nice as the folks in Pittsburgh because a) that's another generalization and b) it's not true.
For someone who doesn't like to generalize you are sure generalizing.... I am sorry for your negative experience being held at gunpoint, but that can happen in any city, so I wouldn't hold that against Philadelphia.
From my experience living in both NYC and PHL, people in Philadelphia (city) tend to be a little more rough around the edges, but I wouldn't say one city is more or less rude than the other.
The Main Line and suburbs have their snobbery, but again, there are millions of people in the PA burbs and I find the snobbery to be limited to certain enclaves or social groups. So its silly to say NYer's are wonderful, have you met all 9 million of them?
Sports fans I agree with you.
And everyone's definition of livable is different. I find NYC and PHL more livable because they have amenities, activities, and a big city flair that you cannot find in Pittsburgh or Minneapolis.
I agree on cons versus negatives for Baltimore and Minneapolis.
The one thing for me regarding Pittsburgh is that it has a bunch of great walkable "nodes" but they're not necessarily connected. They're each kind-of their own thing.
You have Downtown, and Oakland, and Shadyside/East Liberty, and Squirrel Hill and South Side, etc. They're all basically their own thing though. They're not really connected. You can't really walk from one to another. It's like a bunch of urban neighborhoods and towns spread across the city.
I would suppose most of the lack of connectivity is due to the topography and the Rivers.... but I think the continued build up of the Hill District and the Strip District will help Pittsburgh a lot in feeling a lot more walkable, connected and cohesive. Also, the addition of some form of true public transportation to connect these areas would help a lot as well.
Wilkinsburg, Homewood/Point Breeze, East Liberty, Shadyside, Strip District, and Downtown are connected by the MLK East Busway. The heavily used busway connects these flat walkable communites.
If you live between Rankin Borough and Shadyside you can get to Oakland via the MLK Busway by catching the P3 Oakland bus.
I agree on cons versus negatives for Baltimore and Minneapolis.
The one thing for me regarding Pittsburgh is that it has a bunch of great walkable "nodes" but they're not necessarily connected. They're each kind-of their own thing.
You have Downtown, and Oakland, and Shadyside/East Liberty, and Squirrel Hill and South Side, etc. They're all basically their own thing though. They're not really connected. You can't really walk from one to another. It's like a bunch of urban neighborhoods and towns spread across the city.
You can definitely walk from one to the other in Pittsburgh, people do it every day, but it's less inuitive due to non-cohesive street grids. But that's more of an issue for visitors, not residents. If people don't like to walk up hills or cross bridges then its a problem. Pittsburgh has one of the highest percentages in the US of people who walk to work.
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