Love It or Hate It???? (Florida: live in, move, food)

[abramsltr]

Your post succintly and beautifully expresses why I love New England seasons here in Massachusetts

[brfire]

I have lived in central Massachusetts all my life. I never thought of living anywhere else up until about 2 years ago. It's come to the point I can no longer afford to live in this state. Hopefully soon I will be heading north with my family to attempt to start over.

[brightdoglover]

I moved to Mass. at age 20 for no particular reason, have come and gone and returned several times.
I hate the summers- sticky sticky ugly nasty.
I like the overall intellectual environment around Boston. I like driving past Walden Pond and the church where Emerson lectured. I like that there are Quakers and the oldest Unitarian Church around. I like the sheer number of educated, accomplished people and used to like the number of bookstores, although the internet and Amazon have changed that. A lot of people read. A lot.
The cost of living is a bite. Housing/rental/buying is like a slow war.
It's great being so close to Maine. It's like, of Washington-Boston, Boston is the end of the line, and the urban sprawl thins out north of Boston into Maine (and a bit of the New Hampshire coast).
I appreciate access to great medical care (and expect I'll appreciate it more as I age.
There are plenty of colleges and schools if you want to change direction in life (as I've done several times). I love the odd ethnic restaurants tucked into most towns, if not downtown.
There are no real mega-suburbs with zillions of cookie cutter houses- no land available for same.
Would I move here now out of the blue? Not with these sticky summers and expensive living. But that would also depend on where I was coming from, why I'm moving, and so on.
I think I'm basically a New England kinda person. With mega-vacations out West.

[xbreaka]

This is mostly in regards to the cape.

My family has lived on cape cod all the way back to the pilgrims (william brewster) . I'm moving to Oklahoma, and the rest of the family is already almost entirely relocating to Georgia. We are selling our 3 acres of land in Orleans and buying near six times as much down south.

Now I don't want to badmouth MA to much, I've made great friends here and will sorely miss the small town that I grew up in (wellfleet). It just ain't like it used to be though. Atleast on the cape development has had an impact, and the shift in the region to an increasingly elderly population has to.

We are often called the Nanny State, Peoples Republic of MA as the environment here is very much regulated and people often feel the need to dictate how you should be living or should be doing on your own property/home.

Examples :
If you don't buy into the "change" don't let anyone know, because many here feel the need to force their ultra liberal progressive viewpoints onto those who are not in the moonbat camp. Moderates will probably also feel out of place, as there is really only one political camp in the state.

The state government is run by absolute clowns, who somehow keep getting elected by a seemingly braindead electorate.

Mass, and the Cape in general used to be a fairly rural expanse where one could hunt, fish, or ride dirtbikes/atvs without fear of persecution. Don't try that today, during hunting season I get harassed daily by people. There isn't anywhere to ride so don't bother looking.

On the cape in the off season its a tough environment to raise children, the elderly dominated electorate are generally not very supportive, it took years to get a few skateboard parks built, the schools are often in budget battles as the electorate won't support budget overrides to fund teachers/sports.

Be prepared especially on the cape to have an abundance of special interests, or concerned usually wealthy citizens becoming involved in your personal affairs, it took us almost 6 months to put up a building on our property on the cape, in Georgia it took 2 weeks to get all the permits.

Some positives -
The water is great, and I'm sure I'll miss that the most after I get to OK.

There are still a few small quaint rural towns left, I grew up in Wellfleet where the year round population is around 2,000. Most of the town is related, you have the regulars at the general store, the fisherman who hang out at the pier and mostly all local businesses.

For students, the summertime is great. Work is abundant and lots of opportunities to socialize with a large summer youth population.


So in closing, I think if you can deal with the politics of this state you may very well enjoy it, however if you are a live and let live type working person who is just trying to enjoy themselves I would suggest looking somewhere else with a bit more freedom.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

I moved to Mass. at age 20 for no particular reason, have come and gone and returned several times.
I hate the summers- sticky sticky ugly nasty.

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

Would I move here now out of the blue? Not with these sticky summers and expensive living.

This has me laughing! Usually we hear about the winters, but you see the sticky summers as a major drawback. I guess we can't win.

I actually don't think summer's so bad. I've spent a decent amount of time in NYC and DC and the summer's much more humid there. When it's really sticky I don't love it, but I generally prefer hot to cold. I'd move somewhere warmer if Mass. didn't have so many other things that appeal to me that I could never get in those places.

[ZGACK]

Love the state but hate the state government. And a 25% increase in the sales tax was just passed too. Typical Massachusetts - never try and find a way to cut spending...just find a way to raise taxes. Also the corruption in State government is epic.

[clevedark]

Oh please you don't know from taxes. Try living in NJ.

[bgrasser]

Affordable housing, low cost of living, rut free roads, plentiful good paying jobs;
isn't that the Greater Boston area that we all love to be part of ? NOT. I won't even get started on the whether, traffic, politics, or crime.

[WhooFleuryScores]

I don’t think Chelmsford (or New England) is bad; I actually love it here. I think every town will have it’s share of bad apples but that’s expected. In New England we tell you to your face (or send clues) if we like you or not; so you should have a fair idea of where you stand.

Anyhoo getting late; need to hit bed then prep for some interviews tom.

[DieselFatal]

Been living in Boston all my life and I think it's a time for a change. It's a historical placeno doubt and it's one of the best cities to live in the country but as I grow older more and more I need to move someplace else. Main reason why I dislike the city so much is because of the lousy weather. Short summers with bugs and high humidity. Long freezing winters. Enough said. I do love all the Boston sports especially the Celtics.