Help!! Need motivation to make the move to Bloomington.

[tooningBlom]

Originally Posted by sundance67

dfje2006, I really appreciate your opinions...I have so many reasons to move out there, & this is really helpful. I'm wondering how downtown Btown is- is it easy to navigate? Are there skyscrapers? Should I find a place downtown or a little outside of downtown? I've been comparing costs & Btown is way less expensive than where I am right now. What is the average rent of houses and apartments, because in the house I'm at currently, I pay $1400 a month, it's just insanely expensive out here. Thanks so much!!

Nooooo skyscrapers!!! Bloomington is very town-ish. Downtown is laid out like a grid. Here's a rule: Walnut street runs north and south and bisects the town east and west. Kirkwood street runs east and west and cuts the town in half north and south. So if you're at Best Buy on E. 3rd, you're east of Walnut. If you're at Snow Lion on S. Grant, you're south of Kirkwood. There are one-ways, and some quirks with 3rd street being a two-way, one-way, then a two-way, but you'll be alright. Rent runs from $350 for an efficiency or cheap 1 br to $1000 if you want a nice nice nice place on the eastside or at The Kirkwood. It's kind of expensive, but you'll save on gas because B-town is compact. You can also save on gorceries w/ a Kroger Card you can get at customer service for free. The cheapest side of town is southside away from campus (northeast side of down town). The closer you are to IU, the more expensive rent is. It's a pretty place and you can find some jobs here. Visit first and see if you like this part of the midwest.

[Kirkwoodgirl]

Uh, go to Indianapolis instead. Bloomington is no blooming fun!

[Kirkwoodgirl]

Originally Posted by tooningBlom

Nooooo skyscrapers!!! Bloomington is very town-ish. Downtown is laid out like a grid. Here's a rule: Walnut street runs north and south and bisects the town east and west. Kirkwood street runs east and west and cuts the town in half north and south. So if you're at Best Buy on E. 3rd, you're east of Walnut. If you're at Snow Lion on S. Grant, you're south of Kirkwood. There are one-ways, and some quirks with 3rd street being a two-way, one-way, then a two-way, but you'll be alright. Rent runs from $350 for an efficiency or cheap 1 br to $1000 if you want a nice nice nice place on the eastside or at The Kirkwood. It's kind of expensive, but you'll save on gas because B-town is compact. You can also save on gorceries w/ a Kroger Card you can get at customer service for free. The cheapest side of town is southside away from campus (northeast side of down town). The closer you are to IU, the more expensive rent is. It's a pretty place and you can find some jobs here. Visit first and see if you like this part of the midwest.

I like Indianapolis a lot better. There's more to do. The people in Indy are more easy-going. There are way more job opportunities in Indy because it's a real city. Rent in Indianapolis is cheaper and you actually get what you pay for instead of being ripped-off in a small town like Bloomington. Unless you go to I.U., Bloomington is very uncool. Go Indy!

[Troubleshooter]

We have a 20,000 unemployed in the area, due to the closure of Dana, Visteon, GE, Teletron, and several other employers.

We are on daylight-stupid time here. We are an hour ahead of the sun in the winter, and two hours ahead of the sun in the summer. This costs us more energy.

Our government here finds everything it can think of to waste money on, and wastes it. Then they go crying to the state for more taxes. We have the highest local income tax in the state, and one of the highest property tax rates.

Because of the university, we have the second highest housing costs in the state (West Lafayette has the highest).

[tooningBlom]

Originally Posted by Kirkwoodgirl

Uh, go to Indianapolis instead. Bloomington is no blooming fun!

I wish Bloomington were a Blooming Metropolis -- that would be so cool. I work lots of overtime, listen to tons of metal, jam out on my bass guitar and watch loads of TV -- it's Comcastic! Besides all that, there's just not a lot going on in Bloomington. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice place to live and all, but it's just not as exciting as a big city like Indy. I'm from St. Louis and lived in Ft. Wayne and I really do miss the metro life -- that's why I go up to Indy whenever I can. However, my employer is headquartered in Bloomington, they have good benefits and they don't have any lay-offs, so this is where I must live until something opens up in Indy. I agree with you, though... you can take me out of the city but you can't take the city out of me!