Madison - The Best and The Worst (Milwaukee, Washington: crime rate, new construction)

[dirt _farmer]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

The Worst, all the homeless people and hippies, a lot of people not really doing anything with their lives.

I've seen some homeless, and many Yuppies. But for the life of me, pray tell me where the Hippies are! They're not on Willy St., State St., Atwood Ave., etc., like days of glorious yore.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by dirt _farmer

I've seen some homeless, and many Yuppies. But for the life of me, pray tell me where the Hippies are! They're not on Willy St., State St., Atwood Ave., etc., like days of glorious yore.

No, not really Hippies, plenty of Hipsters everywhere, though

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by mlb

I'm a Madison native...... lots of family there.

Nephew just bought a house near Milwaukee Street and Stoughton Road - great ranch home - for $175K.

His mortgage payment will be $675.

His wife will work in the neighborhood and he will commute to the west side.

Very nice neighborhood.....

Madison can be affordable if you know where to look.

Must've had a big downpayment, or that $675 is only P&I on a 30-year mortgage.

For a 30-year mortgage at 4% with 20% downpayment on a $175k house in Madison with the typical 2.5% property tax rate, you'd be looking at a monthly payment of ~$1,030 plus insurance and utilities. Still cheaper than many other housing options, but a far cry from only $675.

Also, I wouldn't want to commute to/from the West side of Madison every day from that location.

[poochcol]

I'll add a few points from someone researching into Madison in looking to locate from NYC that I don't recall being mentioned above:

<Bad>: the state has the tenth-highest Lyme disease incidence per capita; it's not very common, but enough that I wouldn't feel safe touching vegetation with anything but the my hands or the soles of my feet when its >50 degrees. I would educate yourself on the subject if you're not already:

I don't think one needs to get too up in arms about it, but just be aware of things like not rubbing against vegetation when it's of decent temperature, brushing yourself afterward when you think you might have (you have a a number of hours before Lyme disease can transmit from the tick), using anti-deer tick spray when such is unavoidable, paying attention for unusual rashes, and the like.

<Good>: cooler summers than most of the Midwest of similar latitude. The unemployment is pretty low for a metro its size, and -the- lowest for a strongly liberal metro of at least a couple hundred thousand people.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by poochcol

<Bad>: the state has the tenth-highest Lyme disease incidence per capita; it's not very common, but enough that I wouldn't feel safe touching vegetation with anything but the my hands or the soles of my feet when its >50 degrees. I would educate yourself on the subject if you're not already:

As far as education goes, what they heck would touching vegetation have do do with getting lyme disease? Deer and wood ticks move like nobodies business. I find deer ticks on me frequently while wearing long pants, long shirts, and walking in places where I'm not rubbing against vegetation. It's what they do.

[everwinter]

Originally Posted by sailing_st_croix

I'd love to hear the actual best and worst parts about Madison

Best: It's a very comfortable place to live (traffic isn't a problem. Crime's low. Most everything you need (shopping, entertainment, good restaurants) is there.)

Worst: A lot of residents think too highly of Madison, & it gets old quick. Like I said, Madison is nice, but many make it out to be a unique utopia that can hardly be found anywhere. It's a medium sized city with a couple lakes with the state university. Not that unique.

[Chelito23]

Agree with Everwinter. I have also noticed other similar cities in the Midwest have the samesuperiority complex as well. Des Moines thinks very highly of itself too. I guess it's better to cope with this issue as opposed to the opposite (can we say Gary, Indiana?). But the attitude does get old and it's reinforced by minimal interaction and relocation of people from different backgrounds and regions.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Chelito23

Agree with Everwinter. I have also noticed other similar cities in the Midwest have the samesuperiority complex as well. Des Moines thinks very highly of itself too. I guess it's better to cope with this issue as opposed to the opposite (can we say Gary, Indiana?). But the attitude does get old and it's reinforced by minimal interaction and relocation of people from different backgrounds and regions.

Madison offers more than many other cities of a same size but it is an insular place. The continual flow of people with degrees keeps wages down in many cases with lots of competition for "good" jobs.

[topinambour]

Idle boosterism is common to many places. Sometimes I think it's accentuated in college towns, since moving to one can be a revelation for young folks coming from insular backgrounds — and so it becomes a kind of point of pride.

But college towns, at least for major research universities, tend to be far less insular than elsewhere. It's that continual flow of people, often from around the world.

[poochcol]

Originally Posted by timberline742

As far as education goes, what they heck would touching vegetation have do do with getting lyme disease? Deer and wood ticks move like nobodies business. I find deer ticks on me frequently while wearing long pants, long shirts, and walking in places where I'm not rubbing against vegetation. It's what they do.

I found this in a quick Google search:
"Some, like the blacklegged (aka. deer) tick are very passive host-seekers; even in the adult stage, they rarely move horizontally more than a few meters. Instead, they typically climb up onto vegetation to wait for a host to pass by, then when they start to dessicate, they move down into the more humid leaf litter to re-hydrate. They may incrementally be drawn towards a host-source, like the shady edge of a pasture or a regularly-used deer trail or parkland path, if there are strong enough host stimuli. [...] American dog ticks or possibly Lone Star ticks are a bit more aggressive and will travel towards host stimuli like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Sometimes this brings them to edges of roads or parking lots due to auto emissions."

If you have bugs on your clothing without rubbing against vegetation at all, they weren't deer ticks.