Rate Your City's Downtown Area (crime, hotel, home)

[Awesomo.2000]

It will once the recesssion is over. I am waiting for riverparc to come to ours, but that got delayed. Every city has made its mistakes with building hideous development downtown or in other parts of town. I know where you are talking about, and agree that it was a giant mistake.

No city has the Colonial streets of America's first Capitol to just waltz around and get lost in. I think 90% is even a understatement. When I worked in Philly (15th/Locust) I would get out and just get lost in Center city and Old City every day, drink at the pubs, and check out the women. Philly's downtown is very livable. It is what Pittsburgh's is trying so hard to be close too. Compared to Manhattan, it may not be up to par, but compared to most every other major city's downtown, it is better. (atleast to the ones I've been in).

[jjbradleynyc]

I'd give my city--Stamford, CT--an 8 out of 10. We have a thriving corporate presence--RBS, UBS, GE, Phillips, GenRe, and many, many other big corporations. We have luxury housing under construction--the Trump Tower, The Highgrove, the proposed Ritz-Carlton. We have amazing potential in the Stamford Center for the Arts and Symphony. We have a great mall with new stores, we have theaters, new restaurants, bars, a few clubs, a Target and other new shopping, and new highrises proposed. We have a train that connects to all other cities. We sit right on the Long Island Sound with amazing access to the ocean.
The drawbacks begin with the lack of progress on some "razed construction sites." They sit vacant for years without work. We need more affordable housing, and more housing in general downtown. A few more vibrant and good restaurant/bars would help as well.
Stamford has HUGE potential and it's doing well.

[First24]

Dallas gets a 5. Needs way more entertainment venues and affordable shopping. Residential density and rail service are coming along nicely though, let's hope the other things will come soon. City leaders really need to get it together and keep the major sports stadiums (football and baseball) within Dallas. The central core skyline is showing it's age, definately could use the sleek new 700 foot residential tower that is planned on the east end.

Atlanta gets a 7. Skylines of downtown and midtown are starting to fill in. Much potential here, good tourist and entertainment venues. Shopping and residential are booming. I like that Atlanta has five colleges and universities in or near downtown.

[lrfox]

Boston: 9/10... I don't think skyline means jack in terms of urbanity in downtown areas (Look at London, Paris, Rome, Washington DC... even Boston's Best neighborhoods are mostly low-rise). While it's pretty to look at from afar (and sometimes up close) skylines really add nothing to a city-scape (possible exception being the canyonization in Manhattan).

That being said, Boston has a terrific downtown fully of all sorts of restaurants, shops, and nightlife. Some of the nations best museums are here and the city is obviously teeming with history. The ancient street grid allows for interesting, unique vistas from every corner. A mix of periods and architectural styles is quite pleasing to the eye. the Common, Public Garden, Post Office Square, Copley Plaza, the Commonwealth Mall and The Fens are a few of the best public spaces in the U.S. Public transit and an amazing pedestrian friendly nature make Boston one of the best downtown areas you'll ever visit. I'd give it a 10/10 but I went with 9/10 becuase i don't think anywhere is perfect.

New Bedford, Massachusetts: This is the small city (about 95,000) I grew up near in South Eastern Massachusetts. I give its downtown a 7/10. There is nothing in the way of high-rise (The highest is 16 stories), but it has a dense, historic downtown complete with some incredible architecture and cobbled streets. This city is also teeming with history as it was the worlds largest whaling port (and the basis of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick") and a key cog in the underground railroad (Fredrick Douglas settled here). The downtown today is in the middle of a HUGE revitalization (you woudn't want to visit 5 years ago) as the city is now the richest fishing port in the country (in terms of value of catch... 9 years running). There are great restaurants, fantastic shops and art galleries, stunning architecture, good nightlife and some entertaining musueums. Not to mention it's on the beautiful Southern New England coast with views of the Elizabethan Islands and Martha's Vineyard.

Some downtown New Bedford Photos:
Looking North on Purchase Street Downtown:


South on Purchase looking at Olympia Tower... A surprisingly successful facadectomy:


Looking towards Union Square in Downtown... Star Store Building on the left:


Star Store: Home of some of UMass dartmouth's Downtown NB Campus:


Union Square Decorated for the holidays:


A nice store on Union Square:


Webster Bank Building on the corner of Union and Pleasant:


Looking North on Pleasant St. Towards City Hall Square:


City Hall and City Hall Square with the "Holiday Tree"... they had a nice concert later in the evening:


closeup of the City Hall Christmas Tree:


City Hall Square (concert setup):


Clock and Santa's Sled across from City Hall on Pleasant:


Looking East across pleasant st. towards William St... unofficial entrance to the Whaling District:


Looking North on Pleasant St:


The Decor on William St. looking towards the whaling district and the harbor:


Detail on a building on William St:


Cherry Building- an Art Deco Gem on the corner of William and Purchase St:


looking North on Purchase St from William St:


Looking South on Purchase from William St:


Herman Melville Square in the Whaling District:


Shops on Acushnet Ave. in the Whaling District:


Dover Street:


an old Bank:


Freestone's City Grille... good food even better drinks:


More shops and galleries:


Whaling Museum entrance and the end of William St (another old bank in the background):


Johnny Cake Hill, Whaling Museum is on the left:


North Water St. in the Whaling District (Cafe Balena on the right serves great Sicilian cuisine):


Nice older buildings:


Looking down towards the Harbor... you can see some of the fishing fleet:


Again, towards the waterfront:


Looking West (away from the harbor) on Front St:


Cork Wine and Tapas on Front St (fantastic, btw):


Catwalk Bar and Grille on Union St... lots of fun on their roof deck in the summer:


Looking West on Union St... Ocean Explorium is the building with the Columns on the left:



The tree at the Ocean Explorium:


Union Square Clock on the Ocean Explorium:


Star Store again:


Zeiterion Theatre:


Olympia Tower:


Old Facade below Olympia Tower:

[thatguy1]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Kansas City gets a 7. It still is pretty quiet but thanks to some new apartments, condos and shopping and entertainment being built in recent years it is starting to come back to life. Free on street parking would encourage more people to go down there.

Wow, you must be having a great day to rate anything about KC above average!

[Awesomo.2000]

Irfox, I agree. A cool downtown is how it looks on street view. Cool historic streets, cool pubs and bars, walkability, and many other things make the downtown. Not having new modern highrises finally filling in where a sea of parkinglots once stood.

Boston has a incredible downtown. Once of the best in America. I spent a week for work right in downtown Bastan. It was a great week.



Just wanted to add, there is nothing worse than a downtown with parking lots. If your downtown has more than 3 small parking lots than you are already dropped below 5 IMO.

[thatguy1]

I would rate Omaha a 6 overall (for cities it's size)

Skyline - 6


Entertainment/Restaurants - 7







Shopping/Retail - 5

North Downtown - little bit of everything

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by burgerflipper

Wow, you must be having a great day to rate anything about KC above average!

Actually, I don't let my feelings or emotion rule over logic and intuition. That is something that seems all too common in this part of the country.

Looking at downtown KC from an objective standpoint I can see that it is definitely making a comeback and perhaps in a few more years it will become a truly livable downtown for those that prefer dwelling in a downtown environment.

[thatguy1]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Actually, I don't let my feelings or emotion rule over logic and intuition. That is something that seems all too common in this part of the country.

yeah yeah

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Looking at downtown KC from an objective standpoint I can see that it is definitely making a comeback and perhaps in a few more years it will become a truly livable downtown for those that prefer dwelling in a downtown environment.

I'm guessing it's missing the same sht every plains city is missing in it's downtown. Basic amenities such as a Walgreens, grocery stores, etc. (within reasonable walking distance)

[toughguy]

Seattle I would give an 7.5/10. The shopping is great, it's compact and walkable, and the hustle and bustle/pedestrian density makes it feels like a larger city. Things to improve on: the waterfront is tacky and run down (This should be remedied once the highway 99 viaduct is torn down and the replacement tunnel is finished). Also, we need more residential density. Seattle went through a pretty large condo boom the past 3-4 years, but obviously that has cooled off considerably along with the rest of the country. We are behind our west coast brethren Vancouver B.C. and San Francisco in terms of downtown residential density.