High tech and Race in Huntsville (Madison, York: to rent, car insurance, eviction)

[scatcatpdx]

I am a Black male, Electronics engineering / repair and test tech in my fifties in Portland Oregon and looking for a relocation. No, I am not a liberal hipster but a Libertarian, looking for a diffident political climate than the over regulated West Coast that making too restrictive and expensive to live, for example my studio went from $640 to $989. I tired of almost being homeless due to a stagnant height tech job market.
The question what the market like for High tech hardware jobs. How is public transportation, it will be a while before I can afford a car. Finally about race and discrimination, I seen an article about temp agencies , but am I right to take these articles with a grain of salt?

Let say I'll take steady good paying job over cool weather and NW culture.

[hey teach]

Some call Huntsville the engineering capital of the south because of the number of engineering jobs in this city. You should be able to get a decent paying job here if your qualifications meet the demand. As far as public transportation, there is a bus system here, but Huntsville is fairly spread out so a car might be a need. We also have Uber and Lift is coming but I can't imagine depending on that for daily transportation. As far a race, if you are qualified, I don't think race is an issue. Welcome to Huntsville.

[Maya Blue]

As far as I can tell, race is not an issue here. YMMV, but this is a very diverse city.

[scatcatpdx]

Thanks I never thought of returning to the south but when I check Indeed and the first hit was a job I did in Portland until December It is a good sign.

https://career2.successfactors.eu/ca...ipeline=Indeed

The issue is I just miss rent payment and the clock start to an eviction end of the month. If that happens I put everything is storage and throwing in the towel for the west coast. if the job market going make me homeless then it time to do the age old thing and move to better hunting grounds. By the way I am a military Veteran there are programs to help me to find housing.

[Southlander]

Public transportation is pretty much non-existent. You have to have a car to live here.

[scatcatpdx]

Originally Posted by Southlander

Public transportation is pretty much non-existent. You have to have a car to live here.

Thanks that is a showstopper for me.

[Justacoolguy]

Shouldn't be. Huntsville is an amazing place to live, and with your education/experience you would be an attractive candidate.

[cooldiver]

Originally Posted by Southlander

Public transportation is pretty much non-existent. You have to have a car to live here.

There is the Huntsville city shuttle system. It's enough to get you around some areas of town during the week.

https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/develop...ransportation/

[RocketDawg]

The trick would be to live within walking/biking distance of your work place. But you'd still have to be able to do essential shopping ... grocery, etc. You might not want to be evicted from your current place for lack of rent payment though. I can imagine that wouldn't go over too well when you're trying to rent again.

You could get a serviceable car for very little money, and in the end it'd probably be cheaper than taking taxis or riding the bus. It's certainly more convenient.

Acceptance by others around here is based more on how a person acts, not what color they are.

[cnygreek]

If you don't own a car then you are going to be SOL living here in Madison County. The city is so spread out and the shuttle bus system is a joke. If you have ever lived anywhere that had true public transportation and you moved here you would wonder if they have any busses at all. I have been here 4 years and only found myself behind a bus less than 4 times. In New York I would get stuck behind busses all the time. For the first two years that I lived here I never once saw a shuttle bus and wondered if they had public transportation.

Counting on Uber and Lyft to get you around in place of a car is probably going to be cost prohibitive before too long.

Don't expect to live close enough to work to bike or take the bus. While this area does have small pockets that are bike friendly, the vast majority isn't too bike friendly. Besides you don't want to artificially limit your job search.

The good news is that owning a car is probably a lot cheaper here than in the Northwest. There are no yearly safety inspections, car insurance is cheap, housing is cheap, gas is cheap, and there are a lot of high mileage cars available on dealer lots as opposed to auction houses. You would be amazed at how common it is to see a car with 130,000 miles on a dealer lot here.