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It's a nice little town (when I say "little" i mean LITTLE at a whopping 63,000 people- expected to drop as of the most recent census), but just way too small for me. Nothing about it feels like a city, you get to know most people (can't go anywhere, even "accross town" without bumping into people you know) quickly and see them everywhere. A car is really a must as public transit is next to none, there's no density... it turns into an old residential suburb immediately outside of the tiny (but quaint and nice) downtown, there are no real urban amenities (nightlife is next to nil, dining is overrated to exponential proportions, arts and culture are mediocre but probably standard for a town this size), and there's a real provincial/ small town mentality (everything is "Buy Local!" "Support our Farmers" "Maine this, Maine that"- it's self congratulatory and annoying most of the time). I'm all for supporting local economy, but it's as if this place is isolated from the rest of the nation.
It's got next to no crime, it's pretty, the people are friendly, but it's just way too isolated and tiny for me and a BIT self congratulatory. While this may sound perfect to some, I'd like to be back in a real metro area and live in an urban environment... Portland doesn't have it. I'll be out soon enough.
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
8,900 posts, read 15,939,050 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lrfox
Nope: Portland Maine.
It's a nice little town (when I say "little" i mean LITTLE at a whopping 63,000 people- expected to drop as of the most recent census), but just way too small for me. Nothing about it feels like a city, you get to know most people (can't go anywhere, even "accross town" without bumping into people you know) quickly and see them everywhere. A car is really a must as public transit is next to none, there's no density... it turns into an old residential suburb immediately outside of the tiny (but quaint and nice) downtown, there are no real urban amenities (nightlife is next to nil, dining is overrated to exponential proportions, arts and culture are mediocre but probably standard for a town this size), and there's a real provincial/ small town mentality (everything is "Buy Local!" "Support our Farmers" "Maine this, Maine that"- it's self congratulatory and annoying most of the time). I'm all for supporting local economy, but it's as if this place is isolated from the rest of the nation.
It's got next to no crime, it's pretty, the people are friendly, but it's just way too isolated and tiny for me and a BIT self congratulatory. While this may sound perfect to some, I'd like to be back in a real metro area and live in an urban environment... Portland doesn't have it. I'll be out soon enough.
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
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