America's 10 Best Downtowns (2014, city hall, neighborhood)

[the topper]

Originally Posted by KodeBlue

Downtown Baltimore should definitely be in the mix. One of the highest populated, fastest growing, largest natural Harbors, best waterfronts on the country.

Other than Inner Harbor, downtown is bottomless pit.

[the topper]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

^in order?

Yep.

[KodeBlue]

Originally Posted by the topper

Other than Inner Harbor, downtown is bottomless pit.

[ClemVegas]

Originally Posted by SportsMHNut

What exactly is likeable about Ashevilles downtown? I think people like to say good things about Asheville just because its somewhat trendy to do so. I find Asheville as a whole and downtown specifically to be extremely boring. I have walked around that little downtown in the middle of the afternoon during the work week and found the streets and sidewalks to be nearly empty. At night the traffic picks up a little but compared to other Downtowns even Downtowns of similar size such as Greenville SC and Wilmington NC which you did give credit to, Asheville just doesnt stack up.

Asheville has less corporations downtown and makes sense there are less peopel there plus it is the center of a smaller metro than Greenville.

I usually see a good bit of people around Pack Square.

There are a lot of restaurants in downtown Asheville, along with the park and some retail. I don't think there is much difference b/t it and Wilmington, and main difference with Greenville is Greenville has more trees and looks more modern.

[ClemVegas]

Originally Posted by jacobwilliam77

Pretty good read......

America's Best Downtowns

1. Chicago, Il
2. Portland, Or
3. Burlington, Vt
4. Indianapolis, In
5. San Antonio, Tx
6. Savannah, Ga
7. Kansas city, Mo
8. Winston-Salem, Nc
9. Greenville, Sc
10. Santa Monica, Ca

I've never heard WS's downtown get touted. I thought Greensboro downtown was considered best in Triad area.

I would have Greenville SC ranked much higher than Winston Salem if I were to rank all the downtowns that I've seen.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by KodeBlue

Downtown Baltimore should definitely be in the mix. One of the highest populated, fastest growing, largest natural Harbors, best waterfronts on the country.

What's its downtown pop.?

[shunketsu]

Originally Posted by Simpsonvilllian

I've never heard WS's downtown get touted. I thought Greensboro downtown was considered best in Triad area.

I would have Greenville SC ranked much higher than Winston Salem if I were to rank all the downtowns that I've seen.

Nah, Downtown W-S is considered to be better than Downtown GSO by most people except when it comes to nightlife. What puts Downtown W-S ahead is the Old Salem historic district, which is a 17th-century preserved town right in the center of the city, as well as the Downtown Arts District and charming West End. I know not everyone considers Old Salem and the West End part of the "Downtown core" (CBD), but Old Salem was Forbes's reason for including W-S in the list, and both are adjacent and within walking district from the heart of the CBD, 4th St. Downtown GSO is pretty much dead except for its main street (Elm Street). However, Elm's nightlife is better than W-S because Greensboro has more college students.

[KodeBlue]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

What's its downtown pop.?

44k

[deepindeed]

I can comment. I've lived in the Burlington area for 25 years, and in between moved to Savannah GA.

Burlington is literally a 'down-town'. Whichever area you're traveling from leads you to descending weathered roads that give you a glimpse of Lake Champlain. There isn't really a historic prescence to the area, but its certainly it's own breed. What makes Vermont unique entirely, is that its run on a lot of small businesses, and Burlington fits that category.

Picture Charleston, SC with King street. Burlington is similar in that they have a fixed cobblestone walkway that meets storefronts on every side. Lots of restaurants and shops. If you walk further down, it's about a 10minute walk to the nice waterfront with a museum and some docked boats, more restaurants and a field of grass, skateboarding park a little ways over. It's unique in that it really has an ideal set up.

Drawbacks are that it's incredibly expensive, and to live in Vermont, you are taxed an awful lot, including small business owners, so with the state's liberal system where everyone pays to piggyback off one-another, it actually drive out small businesses rather than rewarding them. I would come home to visit family for a few days, and be excited to get downtown and I'd be through with it in less than 3 hours.

Burlington should make this list among those initial few which I can also comment on, but Vermont has pros and cons just like any other. It's expensive, and the weather is otherwise very, very cold leaving very little sun in winter. People are also very quirky and kind of cold in personality. But there are alot of public parks, trails leading to mountain areas and the lake is massive.

--

Savannah, GA is beautiful. 25 minutes away is Tybee Island, a nice beach. Savannah has so much history and I was lucky enough to live 10min walking distance to the immediate downtown area. It's incredibly small and littered with little bars and artsy places, which make it great for the students, but it can otherwise be somewhat of a ghost town during the colder months. This is one of the reasons I had to leave, because I knew living there wouldn't guarantee my field of work.

I was lucky enough to live in a 2000 sq ft apartment with two other friends $600/mo per room. That's pretty ideal and normal in this area.

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by KodeBlue

44k

44,000 seems a bit high to me for "downtown" Baltimore. Which neighborhoods are combined to arrive at the population figure? Inner Harbor? Federal Hill? Mount Vernon? Harbor East? Little Italy? Fells Point? Others?