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Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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Their metropolitan area population is nearly in the same ball park. I haven't seen anyone compare these two cities before.
A brief history summary for Buffalo: At it's peak in 1950 it was home to over 580,000 people. At it's peak it was America's 10th largest city.
Jacksonville, the 13th largest city in our country by population (via land area) at it's peak it was 12th until about a year ago. Named in honor of President Andrew Jackson.
So the criteria would be;
- Life style
- Economy overall
- Education
- Metropolitan Area population
- City Area population
- Professional Sports
- City Scape (downtown, skyline, notable buildings)
- Public Transportation
- Major Interstates and other roads
- Airport
- Housing
- Food (Ethnic food, unique food of it's own, etc..)
- Proximity to other locations
- Economy growth and diversity
- Art galleries
- Music scene
- Museums
- Zoo or Aquarium
- Parks
- Beaches, water activities etc...
- Shopping
- Climate (which you prefer, and why?)
- Notable companies headquartered here
- Anything else you can possibly think up and want to add
Should I include a poll? Generally I have seen negative qualities to having polls, but if majority of the people who answer this thread want to include a poll, I'll add one in. Just let me know on that. Scratch that, I'm going to add it.
You don't have to compare them on every criteria since most don't know too much about either city, just answer what you can and leave the rest for someone else. And give reasoning for why you choose what you did.
Don't just write the name of the city, give reason as to why you picked it. Be sure to be civil about it.
- Life style- Buffalo. I love the food and how little congestion the city for such an impressive downtown (which is Jacksonville's huge downfall) I'd fit in more with the people in Buffalo over Jacksonville.
- Economy overall- Jacksonville, though it's not great, most places have a better economy than Buffalo.
- Education- Both cities have low HS graduation rates, but Buffalo-Niagara Falls universities are better than the colleges in Jacksonville.
- Metropolitan Area population- I reaaly try to appreciate the places I visit, but Jacksoville in general was very unimpressive. I love Buffalo's burbs, Niagara Falls (the city) is a depressing though.
- City Area population- I wouldn't consider population when determining what place is better. I like Mid-sized cities.
- Professional Sports- Not sure
- City Scape- Buffalo hands down. It's architecture is historic and the skyline is more impressive than Jvilles.
- Public Transportation- Buffalo. Jacksonville probably has the worst public transportation in the nation.
- Major Interstates and other roads- Tie
- Airport- I havn't been to either of them..
- Housing- I like older homes... Buffalo, but to be fair, Jacksonville is A LOT less rundown.
- Proximity to other locations- Niagara Falls, Canada, Lake Erie and Ontario, Finger Lakes, Rochester-Syracuse... It's why I want to move to Upstate NY so bad.
- Economy growth and diversity- Jacksonville
- Art galleries- Buffalo
- Music scene- Buffalo
- Museums- Buffalo
- Zoo or Aquarium- Jacksonville
- Parks- Buffalo
- Beaches, water activities etc...- Jacksonville
- Shopping- Buffalo
- Climate (which you prefer, and why?)- I love 4 seasons and snow makes winter great. Buffalo
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
10,138 posts, read 15,928,719 times
Reputation: 4047
I want to give this a shot also, lol. I actually like this thread, it's comparing two of the most underrated cities in their regions. Instead of the constant big city talk with the others. It's just a shame more New Yorkers and Florida people haven't sparked any interest for this yet.... =(
- Life style- Toss Up. I personally prefer Buffalo, this is the city that sparked my interest in the Northeast. Probably the best life style for me.
- Economy overall- Jacksonville. I think Jacksonville is picking up as compared to the rest of the country.
- Education- Toss Up. I generally have no knowledge of this, which is why I hoping on a successful thread.
- Metropolitan Area population- Jacksonville.
- City Area population- Jacksonville, but Buffalo feels like a bigger city, it's more dense and more lively, IMHO.
- Professional Sports- Buffalo
+ Buffalo has NFL & NHL (Bills & Sabres)
+ Jacksonville has NFL (Jaguars)
- City Scape- Toss Up. I prefer Buffalo, I like the downtown so much more, it's denser, more lively, the heart of the city, and a great lake front. Jacksonville's skyline is nearly the same size but it's not dense, and it's not lively but it has a waterfront.
- Public Transportation- Buffalo. Buffalo Light Rail even has subway stations underground and downtown stations are free of cost. Jacksonville has "monorail" it's only 2.5 miles long and serves 1,117 passengers daily. That's not that great.
- Major Interstates and other roads- Jacksonville. Interstates 10 & 95 are some of the most important in the country. However, Buffalo is strategic for it's vicinity to Canada. But regionally Jacksonville. Otherwise for other roads and such, it's a toss up.
- Airport- Buffalo. One of the most inexpensive airports in the nation, it's been voted, and one of the most user friendly also been voted. But Jacksonville isn't a slouch either.
- Housing- Toss up. But I like the style to Buffalo more, I like the areas near there way more, more of a historic feeling, Jacksonville seems a bit plain.
- Food (Ethnic food, unique food of it's own, etc..)- Buffalo. It has it's own style of pizza that's a cross between Chicago's and New York's, because of it's location between the two. And it's renowned for it's wings. Buffalo also has almost every kind of ethnic cuisine I could want too. Jacksonville does too, but theres only a small amount of them.
- Proximity to other locations- Buffalo. It's between two major US regions (Midwest and Northeast) and it's near some of Canada's most populous areas.
- Economy growth and diversity- Jacksonville. It's one of the few cities listed as "new economy". Meaning it's going to experience strong growth, even more than it's Florida peers.
- Art galleries- Buffalo. It has a large selection for a city of it's size.
- Music scene- Toss Up, I need to know more to answer.
- Museums- Buffalo. They have plenty of museums.
- Zoo or Aquarium- Toss up. Don't know, kind of hoping someone could answer this...
- Parks- Buffalo.
- Beaches, water activities etc...- Jacksonville. But you can go water skiing in both, boating in both, etc.. but surfing and beach activity go to Jacksonville.
- Shopping- Buffalo. I don't know too much about Jacksonville's, hoping someone can add to that. Buffalo shopping is popular with the Canadians who come to save money from taxes and such.
- Climate (which you prefer, and why?)- Jacksonville. But I personally like Buffalo's more. I like the idea of a White Christmas.
- Notable companies headquartered here- Toss up. Jacksonville has better known companies, and is still growing. Buffalo on the other hand is into medical and banking companies.
Perhaps someone from Florida or anyone could clear up the "toss ups" and someone whose been to either city could add more about any of the cities here.
I'm actually surprised the poll is 5 to 0, with Buffalo winning all. I honestly thought it would be pretty much in the same range.
I would probably pick Buffalo due to knowing more about it and people seem to forget that Jacksonville is pretty much the same as Duval County, as the two became one about 40 years ago, I believe.
Buffalo has one of the oldest zoos in the country and it's urban magnet high schools are some of the best in the country. So, if you want to live in the city of Buffalo, try to get into magnet high schools like City Honors, Hutchinson Central Tech, DiVinci, Emerson School of Hospitality and even schools like McKinley Vocational, Buffalo Visual and Performing Arts and Early Middle College(Occupational Training Center). City Honors is usually known for being a top 10 school by many national publications.
Buffalo's housing market is affordable, has had low foreclosures in comparison to most and has been relatively stable. It also doesn't cost too much to get into a good school district.
Elmwood Village also was recently ranked as one of the best neighborhoods in the country by the American Planning Association.
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