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Iowa's congressional delegation in DC is an absolute joke. Meanwhile, this state has been constantly lauded for its great education system for decades. That's funny to me.
Just goes to show you that even the best education doesn't make you very smart. Our voters prove that hypothesis every two years.
Yep. It was Steve King who spearheaded the movement to prevent Harriet Tubman from eventually gracing the front of the $20 bill.
And I don't think Iowa and "great education system" really go hand-in-hand anymore. A generation ago, sure, it was one of the most respectable in the country. I don't even think the quality can be even considered middle-of-the-pack anymore. Hell, these days Alabama's best schools put Iowa's best schools to shame.
Yep. It was Steve King who spearheaded the movement to prevent Harriet Tubman from eventually gracing the front of the $20 bill.
And I don't think Iowa and "great education system" really go hand-in-hand anymore. A generation ago, sure, it was one of the most respectable in the country. I don't even think the quality can be even considered middle-of-the-pack anymore. Hell, these days Alabama's best schools put Iowa's best schools to shame.
I don't know specifically about Alabama's best school districts vs Iowa's best schools but I know that Alabama & Georgia, where I live right next door to you, have many dreadful public school districts & specific schools that are far below what is commonly found or typical of those in Iowa. In other words, their worst is far worse than the worst of Iowa's public schools.
I also do know that some of the best metro Atlanta high schools have 3,000 to 4,000 students or more. Iowa's largest come in at or near 2,000 students. I would never consider enrolling a child of mine is a gigantic school with an enrollment of a few thousand students.
Yep. It was Steve King who spearheaded the movement to prevent Harriet Tubman from eventually gracing the front of the $20 bill.
And I don't think Iowa and "great education system" really go hand-in-hand anymore. A generation ago, sure, it was one of the most respectable in the country. I don't even think the quality can be even considered middle-of-the-pack anymore. Hell, these days Alabama's best schools put Iowa's best schools to shame.
I feel like Iowa has a good educational system compared to most state's but we are not at
The top of the pack anymore, we are more like the top fifteen or so. This is probably due to Iowa struggling with a 500% increase in ESL students and the decline of so many small towns which. Iowa has never had nearly as many ESL students in the past 100 years as it does now and I think Iowa is struggling with this. Luckily, some school districts such as the Des Moines public schools have made improvements despite a rapidly changing demography. Also, the decline of small towns, though it has slowed albeit, has also probably taken a toll on Iowa's educational system.
Immigrants are helping out Iowa a lot and I hope more come, but sadly, I think many of our schools can't handle the needs of some new Iowans due to these school districts never having the experience.
Sadly, I do agree that Iowa's congressional representation is pretty poor as of now, hopefully this will change this election, Iowa is probably one of the most evenly divided state politically and ideologically, but right now our many of our politicians are not like this.
And where, pray tell, do you live? You do owe that much if you are going to come in and make a statement of that nature.
Currently live in Montana, have lived in Minnesota and Illinois in the last 10 year. Lived in Iowa for most of my life. Least interesting place I have ever lived. Absolutely nothing in Iowa that you cannot find a better version of 1, maybe 2 states away tops. However, can think of a laundry list of things neighboring states have that Iowa is lacking. Despite having few amenities the part I lived in (Cedar Rapids) somehow managed to have big-city problems, the highlight being a murder rate close to that of Los Angeles.
Iowa is shockingly expensive considering there is absolutely nothing unique or interesting about living there
I lived in Iowa for 18 years (finally escaped last fall), and I can say without hesitation that Vitae's statement is the most accurate and succinct I have ever read about Iowa!
Currently live in Montana, have lived in Minnesota and Illinois in the last 10 year. Lived in Iowa for most of my life. Least interesting place I have ever lived. Absolutely nothing in Iowa that you cannot find a better version of 1, maybe 2 states away tops. However, can think of a laundry list of things neighboring states have that Iowa is lacking. Despite having few amenities the part I lived in (Cedar Rapids) somehow managed to have big-city problems, the highlight being a murder rate close to that of Los Angeles.
Fine. To each their own. I think that people should try to find the best living environment for themselves.
I did it for myself when I left Iowa 37 years ago. But personally, I've discovered that living in a mecca growth metro and state that supposedly has a lot going for it is not necessarily all that it's cracked up to be as compared to Iowa & what it has to offer.
All of of my more recent return visits to Iowa have pointed out to me how better balanced & better run the state itself & the pace & quality of life are as regards my own personal tastes as a person on the cusp of retirement.
When traveling through various cities & small towns in Iowa I never have felt that I was in danger nor that I was viewing the third world like living conditions & levels of poverty & social disorder which I have seen in several large urban settings in American metros.
Of the states you have lived in beside Iowa, I only share time in Illinois with you & can't speak to life in Montana.
I do know that Illinois offers metro Chicago which is a wonderfully fascinating place to visit but I could never ever live there again.
As for your LA and Cedar Rapids murder rate comparison, what you have stated is considerably misleading and I need to clear that up. See the stat links I will post below which will include actual numbers that are based on multi-year statistics. The key wording there is "multi year".
In short, the stats for well over a decade worth of murder numbers for both Cedar Rapids & LA show that Cedar Rapids through almost all of the years has had a DRASTICALLY lower murder rate than LA. In fact, in 2002 C.R. did not even record a single murder! During the same multi-year time frames linked below, LA did drastically lower it's murder numbers & rate. Meanwhile, the same figures in C.R. remained very low except for a 1 year spike in 2014 at which point their rates were close.
However, the following year in 2015, C.R. dipped from 8 to 6 murders which lowered their rate considerably while LA had a nearly 10% rise. So, there was only a 1 year similarity in murder rates which occurred in 2014.
And in the final link below, note that through late March of this year murder numbers in LA have soared by 27%.
So, if you feel that since CR & LA had an approximately equal murder rate figure in 1 year out of 14 years of stats that I have gathered here that you are justified in saying that CR has a murder rate equal to that of LA, well go have at it. However, the statistics show that to be misinformation & a gross misinterpretation of data when applied in that manner.
In conclusion speaking for myself, I've done decades of major metro living & am done with it to the extent that I know that the City of Cedar Rapids would offer me a far more pleasing & suitable quality of life & pace of living than would Los Angeles or any truly large metro in America.
I wouldn't choose a large metro area over CR or probably anywhere in Iowa either, I'm not really a metro kind of guy either. My point is that Iowa actually offers neither attractive metro living not attractive suburban or rural living. The large metro areas (CR, Des Moines, IC) are pretty lacking compared to other metro areas in the Midwest in terms of activities or amenities but not really any safer or "better" in any measureable way, but the rural life Iowa offers is also significantly sub-par as there is also very little in the way of outdoor recreation compared even to neighboring Midwestern states, let alone states in different parts of the country.
I'm aware that most crime rates in CR were significantly lower 10-15 years ago, but the demographics of that city are changing in a big way. The recent trend towards higher crime is not random chance. It is becoming a less safe place to live. As of May I believe it was of this year, they were averaging between 2 and 3 shootings per week. In a city of 120-130,000 people. That's horrible.
I wouldn't choose a large metro area over CR or probably anywhere in Iowa either, I'm not really a metro kind of guy either. My point is that Iowa actually offers neither attractive metro living not attractive suburban or rural living. The large metro areas (CR, Des Moines, IC) are pretty lacking compared to other metro areas in the Midwest in terms of activities or amenities but not really any safer or "better" in any measurable way, but the rural life Iowa offers is also significantly sub-par as there is also very little in the way of outdoor recreation compared even to neighboring Midwestern states, let alone states in different parts of the country.
I'm aware that most crime rates in CR were significantly lower 10-15 years ago, but the demographics of that city are changing in a big way. The recent trend towards higher crime is not random chance. It is becoming a less safe place to live. As of May I believe it was of this year, they were averaging between 2 and 3 shootings per week. In a city of 120-130,000 people. That's horrible.
It's all a matter of perspective I suppose & based on experiences & preferences.
I've always loved outdoor activities and never had to search hard to find the opportunities for it when I lived in Iowa as a child & young adult. Growing up with a good-sized river practically at my doorstep, and another one just a mile away, I had all sorts of opportunities for activities in the woods & on the water.
Combined with sports activities with my friends, I was out side during every season. When I left to go to college, the consensus of the neighbors that was expressed to my parents was that they missed the hub bub of youth, especially our basketball play in my drive way that went on practically nonstop. They saw it apparently as a good manifestation of energy that was positively directed.
My point of mentioning those things is that we can complain that there is little to do for out door recreation in Iowa but I believe instead that we don't have to be very creative or resourceful to find plenty to do. And that goes for living just about anywhere to be honest.
Sure I remember hearing the complaint, "There's nothing to do!" when I lived up there, but here in metro Atlanta I also hear something equivalent to, "It's boring." I think that such complaints are a common thing, perhaps especially among young people.
Looking in at Iowa from afar, I know that the rivers & reservoirs & trails of central Iowa would suit me fine. If I were blessed to live in more rugged northeast Iowa, which encompasses a pretty large area, or in the incredible Loess Hills region on far western Iowa, I would perhaps like it even more than central Iowa's offerings.
The physical attractions of Iowa may not be as "sexy" as things such as the coastline or the mountains but that is ok with me. Living in the over-hyped & overpopulated southeast, I can assure you that the beach offerings are far too overrun with people & tacky development ( oh... "tacky" just brought to mind the commercial development around Dollywood in Tennessee that I find to be practically unequaled in it's ghastliness!!!) & there are just too many people underfoot.
My step sister near Denver lives in a place "blessed" with scenery but the trouble with that as she sees it is that to try to get into the mountains from Denver on a weekend is a pain-in-the-you-know-where! Combined with the traffic backups & the overrun trails & recreational spots, she is extremely frustrated with that aspect of living in a place like Colorado that has sold it's soul out to development.
As for Cedar Rapids specifically, it may be a changed/changing city that is not of the Eisenhower era peaceful small city vision that it once was but it's urban problems are still manageable in my view as compared to what is the norm in many of it's peer cities.
Take a look at the link below from CNN on the city of Savannah which is almost exactly the same population as Cedar Rapids. Bear in mind that Cedar Rapids had 8 and then 6 murders in the last 2 complete years.
The murder numbers alone in Savannah are eye-poppingly horrible & that city has struggled with the most violent levels of crime practically all of my 37 years of living in the southeast.
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Why so serious...
