Before You Relocate to Columbia

[neonrider]

Originally Posted by undercoverkitty

hi all, been a silent reader for a while. from the map and what ive been reading, it seems to me that Columbia is a bit similar to Brisbane City (in Queensland Australia) where I used to study. There's the big river and a big uni campus in the city/downtown, so i'm excited about our upcoming move to Columbia.

My boyfriend and I are looking to move to columbia in the next few weeks. have looked at a few areas, so would like to know what are the neighbourhoods to avoid (ie safety/crime rates). Also, any recommendations on apartments? He is going to be working at Ft Jackson so would like to find a place that's about 5-10 miles away from the base. thanks for your help!

The sand-yellow and orange colours and a Mediterranean theme in local architecture seems to match well for the area and looks and feels good. I hope for more buildings like that, including private homes.

[grandiflora]

@akh in Charlotte: yes, Columbia has an amazing array of cultural offerings for a city its size. The State Museum is excellent. And yes, the Congaree National Forest is great! People rail against South Carolina, but behind that "backward" facade SC is entrepreneurial and creative. Columbia is thinking about growth but trying to go about it in a controlled fashion. The excellent roads around Columbia make rush hour a lot less painful I-77 around Charlotte! And in SC people value history. People want progress, just not at the price of trashing all the history.

Charlotte's growth has been impressive and it is a more sophisticated city than it was some years ago. That's the result of vision, carried out with success. Now of course the banking-based economy is hurting, but the mayor of Charlotte has some good ideas about diversifying. Mayor Foxx's focus on energy shows that he is thinking long-term and not bogged down with partisan political bickering and that can only be good for Charlotte.

[grandiflora]

@woodlands, the Charleston Amtrak station is in the middle of nowhere, that's why you've heard grumblings. I agree with you, we need train service! One of the recent candidates for governor was advocating high-speed rail throughout SC. I think that was a good idea, even better would be to connect to other business centers like Charlotte and Atlanta (and Miami and the Northeast Corridor) via high-speed train and slower train through the smaller towns. That will make for a great alternative to commuting by car, and the driving you do go on becomes more of a treat than a chore.

[grandiflora]

@4big - I hope you got to leave Vegas for Columbia before the mortgage meltdown went over the cliff. From these postings, you'd think that people here obsess over race, but I don't think so. I went to USC and liked living in Columbia, there were lots of interesting family-owned restaurants with international foods. I don't know much about a Jewish scene in Columbia, but with your Puerto Rican heritage there is a Latin American group in Columbia that is very active in cultural events (festival, foods, cultural events, most of them family-oriented).

[waccamatt]

^As a matter of fact there was a Jewish Food Festival this past weekend. There are 3 synagogues and a large Jewish Community Center.