What DON'T you like about Huntsville/Decater areas? (Decatur, Madison: crime, how much)

[relo854]

Any comments on the negatives of living in Northern Alabama are greatly appreciated.

[zenjenn]

Heh, this is the question my husband likes to ask Huntsvillains. He feels like everyone is always trying to *sell* him on Huntsville as the garden spot of the world. He says "it's creepy. It's like they are stepford wives or something."

Some of the answers we've gotten, or observations we made in our very brief visit: not much of a happenin' night life, the city is struggling with some growing pains in terms of infrastructure/school zoning issues, it can get hot and humid, it rains a lot (except for now, drought-time!), there are tornadoes, brown recluse spiders, mosquitoes, and someone found a water moccasin in their backyard.

Bear in mind, I did not encounter one water moccasin, brown recluse, tornado, or even a mosquito the weekend I was in Huntsville. I did get some rain, lightening, heat, and humidity. The night life I don't care about - and the little I do, there seemed to be plenty of nice places to eat and hang out for my taste.

I also read an article that rated Huntsville one of the "worst cities for culture", but honestly I find that a little snobby. There seemed to be plenty of culture there to me, but it was "local" culture and not like, "big city quality". And if you really wanted that stuff, there are 3 major cities within a couple few hours of driving. I see it as no different than my current situation. I don't live IN Los Angeles, but I live close enough to it where I can drive there if I really want some high culture.

I think that about covers it? Some people like to add in "it's conservative", but whatever. It doesn't seem that conservative to me, and when I look at the stats, it seems to me to be 60% red, 40% blue. I don't consider that to be a gross political imbalance, and my feeling was that it wasn't an extremely political city in either direction, and most folks kept their personal politics to themselves.

That is an outsider's view from asking around.

[rnc76]

#1 for me is sprawl. We have beautiful countryside here and developers are gobbling it up while older areas in parts of the city sit half vacant. I fully understand all the reasoning behind it, but it seems wasteful and it is catching up with us. It will manifest itself in long commutes, horrible traffic and a complete lack of community identity. Every other fast growing metro in the country has seen this happen, I don't think we are immune to it.

#2 is the Christian conservatives. I don't mind true fiscal conservatives, but I can't stand the holier-than-thou judgemental types that think the Bible should replace the Constitution and the 10 Commandments should replace the Bill of Rights. I never deal with those people, but they seem to have a powerful influence on the state government, which effects N.AL.

LOL about the boosterism. I think it comes from having to defend where you live all the time to outsiders. I can't tell you how sick and tired I got of defending our decision to move here. You do it so much, you feel like you should work for the chamber of commerce.

[relo854]

Looking more for info on weather, bugs, traffic, housing, taxes, recommendations on cities/towns to live and why (housing price range $200,000-$260,000 around Huntsville/Decater...etc

[harry chickpea]

Decatur is a bit too flat for me to want to live there. It is OK for shopping though. Huntsville has sprawl. Both of them have cell phone coverage, which means the drivers can be distracted. The area where we live has lousy cell phone coverage, but it is a real pleasure to see people driving down the road with both hands on the wheel and aware of their surroundings. I hadn't realized how much the phone grafted to the ear cult has been destroying real face-to-face interpersonal communication.

[zenjenn]

Relo, also try looking on the main City-Data page for Huntsville/Decatur/Madison cities. It has excellent data and shows weather trends by month (temperature, rainfall, snowfall, etc.) as well as median home prices, etc.

[Reactionary]

Focusing on Huntsville:

#1 - allergies. It's tough to breathe in the spring and fall (lotsa sneezing, puffy eyes, stuffy nose). At times the pollen is so thick you can see it floating in the air and covering your car / house like a yellow ash. The flip side of that is that the trees and flowers look nice.

#2 - In general, NW / SW HSV are wastelands. The schools suck, there's too much crime, and the housing is rundown. It's basically a racial statement, but don't misunderstand, I want it fixed; but I don't know how to fix it and I don't know of anyone who knows how to fix it. The city schools are still under federal desegregation orders which limit school construction, zoning, etc. The result is that 'white' schools are overcrowded (and none can be built in 'white' areas) and 'black' schools are at half-capacity. A secondary effect is the growth of private schools and homeschooling. It's a mess and I feel helpless (so do city leaders).

#3 - infrastructure hasn't kept up with growth, sprawl, traffic, sewerage, zoning, crime, tackiness. But then every city in which I've lived has had problems (Boston, DC, NOLA).

zenjenn - it's home; I'm proud of it. HSV is 'better' than any other place I've been.

As far as being conservative: it is. The 60 red / 40 blue ratio you note is misleading. Alabama Democrats are generally more conservative than California Republicans. For example, the Dem-controlled legislature banned sex-toys, passed state constitutional amendment defending marriage (man and woman only) which was later approved by the people 80 / 20, and supports the death penalty.

rnc76 - "I never deal with those people"...

[relo854]

I know Alabama is hot but is it normally close to 100 degrees most of the summer?

[rnc76]

No, it isn't normal, hence we are setting record highs. Check out the daily averages throughout the summer on weather.com, that will let you know what is "normal".

[Keeper]

Not usually in the 100s during the summer, but mid 90s (even high 90s) is norm. This is the hottest for this long in 7 years. The hottest time of day is 3 -5 pm. You can check out http://www.city-data.com/city for info on temps and other things about cities in AL.
If you see a city of interest you can ask about the city and people here can tell you more about it.
I moved here from FL and love it. Small town, little crime and friendly people.