Nashville Is A Very Nice City, However.... (Memphis, Franklin: fit in, violent crime)

[MichaelBNA]

Originally Posted by FutureTexan

I relocated to Nashville 6 years ago by force from FL.

There are some great things about Tennessee, It's not as expensive as Florida. The housing seems to be average. The land is beautiful if you don't have some " country " folk reving up their trucks and blasting freebird at all hours.

I'm not fond of a 9% sales tax, I'm not fond of a wheel tax to register my car. I'm not fond of having to live in the city to avoid rednecks either.

Per capita, Florida has more "rednecks" than any state in the union. I don't know that I would start throwing stones unless I checked my background to make sure I don't look like a fool like you just did.

[malea26]

Originally Posted by mps74

Greetings,

I moved from Chicago, IL to Nashville about 2 months ago. I wanted to share with you some of my reasons for wanting to move to Nashville and my experience so far. Chicago is a wonderful city I grew up there and am a huge Bears fan! I wouldn't ever want to replace that experience, however my family is originally from the Nashville and Memphis area, and the last 3 years or so we were in Chicago I felt a longing to live in a place where there was natural beauty, more land, lower cost of living etc..I had wonderful memories similar to this ideal of my visits to my family in the south. However, I did not want to give up the culture, shopping, diversity etc.. completely either. I have noticed since I've been here that all of these things are in Nashville and appear to be growing, you just have to seek them out. And when you do seek them out and find them it is generally a less expensive, less crowded and stressful experience than trying to deal with the rat race in Chicago. Chicago is just a much bigger city so it makes sense that it is this way. Also in Nashville, we can drive 1 hour and be amongst beautiful hills and lakes, without sitting in a 2 hour traffic jam! It is also refreshing to have people smile and say hello to you here, a rarity in Chicago. Not to mention the weather, after so long of dealing with those winters the cultural experience just didn't balance out our reasons for staying there. But I will always be a Chicagoan at heart, it is a wonderful city, it was just my time to leave it! Go Bears! But I am very happy to be here now.

I am trying to relocate to Nashville in the very near future. What are some good neighborhoods that I can choose from. I have two boys who are school age.

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by malea26

I am trying to relocate to Nashville in the very near future. What are some good neighborhoods that I can choose from. I have two boys who are school age.

Green Hills, Hillsboro Village, Hillwood, Bellevue, the West End area, West Meade, Sylvan Park, Oak Hills, Forest Hills, Belle Meade (where Al Gore lives) . . . or many of the towns in the surrounding counties.

[scottv]

Originally Posted by malea26

I am trying to relocate to Nashville in the very near future. What are some good neighborhoods that I can choose from. I have two boys who are school age.

You'll need to give a house/rental budget for this question to be answered accurately...

[cassarina]

Yes we southerners take these things for granted. I am from New Orleans and was touched by how nice the people in Nashville are. Atlanta is just the opposite. It reminds me of the north. We often say in New Orleans that New Orleans is the northern most point of the caribbean because of our culture, music and food. Well I say that Atlanta is the southern most point of the north because of the hurried and cold way people are here. I have lived in Newnan for 2 years now and this is a cold, redneck, racist place. I know what it means to miss New Orleans! If not for the fact that I carried around a baby everywhere I went in Newnan no one would have spoken a word to me. My daughter now 2 was the reason for every comment to me. Where I am from we say "good morning" "good afternoon" and "good evening" ALL DAY and to EVERYONE regardless of race. I say these greetings in Newnan and people just look at me.

[NODAK1979]

Overall I wouldn't disagree with much, but I would disagree that Nashville is a typical southern city. Its demographics are nowhere close to most southern cities like Memphis, NO, ATL, Richmond, Birmingham, etc. It's way whiter than those cities, and it has a huge influx of northerners (including me) moving here every year. I don't even think most people here really have an accent even, honestly. It's definitely far removed from the deep south.

As far as not being as world class as ATL, I think that's expected considering that Nashville has a metro area about 1/3 the size of ATL....so we just don't have as much to offer here. It's OK though, I don't really have much liking for ATL, so I'll leave them to their world class status.

[TNNative]

Originally Posted by cassarina

Yes we southerners take these things for granted. I am from New Orleans and was touched by how nice the people in Nashville are. Atlanta is just the opposite. It reminds me of the north. We often say in New Orleans that New Orleans is the northern most point of the caribbean because of our culture, music and food. Well I say that Atlanta is the southern most point of the north because of the hurried and cold way people are here. I have lived in Newnan for 2 years now and this is a cold, redneck, racist place. I know what it means to miss New Orleans! If not for the fact that I carried around a baby everywhere I went in Newnan no one would have spoken a word to me. My daughter now 2 was the reason for every comment to me. Where I am from we say "good morning" "good afternoon" and "good evening" ALL DAY and to EVERYONE regardless of race. I say these greetings in Newnan and people just look at me.

My friend that has lived in Florida just came up last week for the funeral of her born and bred Tennessean father who remained true to stay in his hometown long after his children left for other states. I rode in the car with her and her young adult daughter on the way to the cemetery and she just cried the whole tiime not only for the loss of her dad, but she kept saying, "look at the people pulling over and paying respect to my dad, just look, every single car is stopping..." And her daughter replied "you never see that in Florida"...

Yep, I guess I take it for granted. If I were in another state, I'd probably pull over for a funeral and get rear ended. That's just what I've seen done all my life.

[Carrera4S]

I am from Detroit and recently spent a week in Nashville doing a "check it out" thing because I am thinking of moving there. For the most part I found the area to very pleasant. The people were all very nice and friendly and most people I talked to said they loved it there. I usually spent my nights at a place called "BB Kings" because it was the closest thing I could find to a jazz club. The one thing I couldn't understand though was while I saw "help wanted" signs all over the place, there were a multitude of people begging downtown. I can understand that in Detroit were there is pretty much a waiting list if you want to work at McDonalds but as I said, I saw places hiring all over the place. The one altercation I almost got myself into was when I stopped at a gas station to ask directions. I guess the clerks boyfriend didn't like me talking to his girlfriend and actually walked up to my car as I was leaving. Now that is something you JUST DON'T DO in Detroit. Even the beggars at gas stations here will try and get your attention at least 15-20' away.

[artemis]

There are normally some of them Downtown, but the Police have been working to shag them out of the downtown area. During the Winter, we see an influx from the North due to our mild Winters.

When I lived in Fort Myers Florida we had a huge wave of drifters come down for the Winter. Not only did they beg, they used to nap on the hood of the cars that had warm engines underneath. They also slept in the lobby of the Post Office.

I'm sorry that boyfriend was rude to you. You have to be careful about what neighborhood you're in before you stop. I would recommend a map instead. (Not trying to be flip, I always have a Nashville map with me, and I live here.)

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by goodbyehollywood

Chicago IS an outstanding city! If you can handle snow in May-- and root for the Bears-- it's practically perfect.

I second this, Chicago is amazing.