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Have any of you found and are living in your ideal city? And loving it?
Not at all. Little Rock is tolerable and nothing more. While the natural beauty makes living in this quaint small city bearable, my goal is to move to somewhere more urban, more exciting, and more progressive when the economy turns around. This place is way too auto-centric for me. The suburban sprawl is not only out of control, but its completely dysfuctional like there has been no city planning whatsoever. People here get excited about McMansions, gated communities, and chain restaurants. Its not unusual here to see them demolish 100 year old historic structures to put up parking lots yet there is always a huge anti-development uproar over every project that would actually benefit the city (because the good ole' boys don't like it). I want someplace that has moved beyond that type of stuff.
You're definitely right about the whole small town mentality. I went to USM for a couple years, stayed on the Gorham campus. It's like they have to write everything with Maine beside it. I swear, on the Maine tpk I saw a sign saying Maine every 2 miles or so. They have some serious hometown pride going on in that state. It's not a bad thing, I find it funny. My fiance and I visited Maine a couple summers ago. We were joking about how we saw so many Maine signs. I can't remember which ones we saw, but it was pretty funny. They also have to be different. They call their airport a "jetport" and their lighthouse the "headlight." Plus more things, just can't think off the top of my head
It's funny you mention the Turnpike signs. As soon as you enter Maine on I-95 from the South, there is a sign that says, "Maine Welcomes You" (It's on the bridge), then there is one that says, "Maine, Vacationland" and right after that there is one that says, "Maine, Worth a Visit, Worth a Lifetime." Right after that, they have one sign to tell you you're on the Maine Turnpike (established in 1946 or so), then right behind it another talking about the "award winning Maine Star Turnpike." So, within a one mile stretch, there are literally 5 massive signs essentially advertising their state (this doesn't include all the typical exit signs, tourist info signs, and "welcome center" signs).
You're right about hometown pride, it's not a bad thing... everyone should take pride in where they live. It just borders on extreme sometimes up here(hence the "self-congratulatory" nature of the place). It seems like everything takes a back seat to what's going on locally... be it something to do with locals arts, local business, local products, local people and even local news. It just has a very closed-off, provincial feel. Sheltered in short (which again, some people really want... just not me).
For instance, just last night the headline on the news wasn't how the economic stimulus passed, but how Maine Senator Susan Collins made some republican enemies (in Maine) by supporting the bill. It seems like priorities are skewed here. I personally don't care about Susan Collins involvement... I care about the stimulus. The stimulus program was mentioned in passing.
Another example that annoyed me to no end was last summer during the Olympics when Michael Phelps was going for gold, a Portland Press Herald (the largest local paper here) headline blatantly said, "Maine Swimmer is Last Chance at Beating Phelps." Now don't get me wrong, everyone should be proud of their local athletes (the article was about Ian Crocker, an Olympic Swimmer form Portland, ME), but Phelps' historical run was big for NATIONAL pride and everyone in this country should have been behind him. Instead, the Maine paper was hoping the local swimmer beat Phelps. I thought this was just wrong (hey, maybe it's just me). The priorities of the media and people seem skewed to an extreme degree at times.
In the end, the people are generally nice. It's a pretty place and I will certainly visit "Vacationland," but I can't wait to not live here anymore.
Mineral Springs, North Carolina, was formed so we could have control over our zoning and remain country. When you get inside our town the blood pressure goes down a few points and life gets easier.
Last edited by NCN; 02-12-2009 at 02:16 PM..
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