Thank U, but Tri-Cities not for us (Knoxville, Johnson City: appointed, high crime)

[garth]

We've enjoyed many E-Tenn posts on the forum and want to thank many of you for your honesty and efforts. It helped us in our search, however we've decided on living elsewhere after arriving in E-Tenn and touring the Tri-cities area.

We changed our minds because of the systematic approach we took in our investigation. For example, although we would be searching for a somewhat rural home, we knew that we would need to head into town for shopping, movies, and other activities. Thus, we began our search by viewing the city environments since we would often be headed to them.

BTW, my intent is not to offend anyone. Instead it is to give a perspective from someone who came to the area with great anticipation and left disappointed.

We viewed our investigation as multi-facited. Each part would respresent a portion of our living experience in the area. Although compromise in any of the areas would be possible, we knew that there would be conditions too severe for us to compromise about and our investigation would stop. That is what happened when we went to Kingsport and Johnson City.

What we found was not a comfortable urban environment in terms of safety, cleanliness, pride. The main cities did not appear to us to have viable economic environments from an outside perspective. If true, it could be one of the reasons for the high crime stats that show up on various websites. We found it especially apparent in Kingsport, with Johnson City showing urban problems to a lesser degree.

We decided that, although our country home might be a wonderful place, and we did see some wonderful suburban/country areas as we passed-by, we wouldn't want it to become a prison. A prison is what it would become to us since we couldn't be comfortable coming into either of the cities for a variety of reasons.

So, we're off to elsewhere. Actually, we already have made a comparison in our own minds, from prior trips, but I don't know if I should mention it. Oh heck, it's the Asheville, NC, area. We're not into Asheville as a city where we want to live, but we're okay with it as the main town we'll enter from our home outside of town for shopping, dining, and other such activities.

So, thanks again everyone, including mbmouse and others. In many ways I'm sorry we won't be neighbors.

[jmarkey]

Hey, different strokes and all that.

Actually, when we decided to move from CT, North Carolina was our first choice, though over closer to Boone. We were very excited about the western side of NC. It's beautiful and there is a wide range of homes and lifestyles. My husband started searching Knoxville for some reason. I thought he was nuts. After much time online and a visit in March, we were hooked.

I sure can't fault your area of choice. It's gorgeous and I hope it works out for you. Everyone has their likes and dislikes and druthers. That's what keeps life interesting, doncha think?

[mbmouse]

Garth,
I am sorry the Tri-Cities didn't fit your needs but I personally appreciate your honesty. You were very smart to take that time to look around and get a feel for the place before getting your hearts set on it. If one place was right for everyone, we would have a lot of empty land in this country.
I wish you and your family much happiness and shoot Asheville isn't far at all, we'll still be neighbors!

[williboy]

In reading this old post, I found that we took a similar approach. Originally, we were aiming at Hickory, NC, but it did not fit our needs job wise. We then set our sights on Asheville, NC; while checking out Asheville, Johnson City caught our interest. After thouroughly checking out both areas, it was the Tri-Cities area that we wanted to make home. Asheville seemed more cosmopolitan, but the small town feel of the Tri-Cities area was just what we were looking for.