America's finest city? A take from an educated East Coaster. (San Diego: organic, living)

[bloom]

Originally Posted by malcorub16

LOL, I feel out of place in my 4 door Chevrolet Silverado in many parts of San Diego, not East County obviously. I wonder where the OP lived where there was a "proliferation of F150's,"? ...those whacky lowbrow pick up truck drivers . If only we could all be educated and of superior mindset like the OP and would drive Smart cars.

Honestly around San Diego, I see more BMW's, Mercedes, Toyota Camry's, and Honda Civics than I do pick up trucks, especially when driving on the 5 freeway.

also a lot of prius (prii) in SD, SoCal - they get better mileage in warmer weather methinks

[bloom]

Originally Posted by elchevere

"This is not a pushy place like New York City, we don't push people off the sidewalk bumping into them when walking we don't have to pay a lot to eat a simple meal"

....have you been to the Gaslamp?...and at least in NYC you can get a good to great meal and get simple meals as well for not a lot.

"if you're on the fence don't do what this east coaster did to just move here without doing his homework"

...I agree.

"Stay there to help New York with their property taxes and be happy there in the cold rain, freezing snow, etc. While we in San Diego may not choose to think about how you're suffering there but choosing to remain there to live by choice."

...that's true--SD has better climate just as NYC has better career and job prospects, more educated people, better universities, more cultural and intellectual opportunities, closer proximity to other dynamic cultural urban hubs, more competitive, more expensive, best and most diverse population and food in the country, financial/fashion/media capitol of the country, more congested.....you have to decide what's best for you....SF and Santa Monica is probably a better fit for most people who grew up in the NY metro area who decide to relocate to CA.....if you are tired of winter, SD is for you (along with Florida); if your career aspiration is to make $50K/year, Manhattan (as well as SF, Chi, Boston, etc) is not for you.

When I lived in NYC in the 1990s, it seemed no more pushy than any other place.
NYC should have plenty of slice of pizza pie places. Maybe SD has more reasonable quality lower cost options.
SD has better climate than NYC. All moderate weather in SD all year long - no oppressive frigid winters nor hot hazy humid summers (unless climate change swallows NYC in ocean water and turns SD into hot humid place like this past end of summer, early fall)
SD is a moderately sized city and holds its own with respect to good enough universities, cultural opps, diversity, food.

[oddstray]

[quote=elchevere;36937931]"downtown has been a model for other cities, as city councils from seattle, phoenix, denver, columbus have visited and looked at the redevelopment"

...huh?....the downtown areas of Seattle, Phoenix, and Denver (Columbus, Ohio not even worth my time and effort) have been more established and more developed than 'downtown' San Diego for a long time .../QUOTE]

This may refer to the development of the Gaslamp, which was 1980's-1990's. The development in East Village is considerably newer.

[elchevere]

"SD is a moderately sized city and holds its own with respect to good enough universities, cultural opps, diversity, food"

...you have one good university (UCSD) with limited national recognition/alumni connections. If you're applying for a job on the East Coast, Midwest, South and even the West Coast is a UCSD degree more valuable than a Cornell or Columbia degree, assuming we are talking similar fields?...are there any SD based schools that offer MBA degrees (I don't include Phoenix University in that discussion or Executive MBA programs from schools based elsewhere) let alone ones that are worth anything?...what about ABA approved law schools (is Thomas Jefferson still accredited?..if so, good luck getting a decent law job outside SoCal or SD...yeah, there is always the ONE exception)....same thing for dental and medical schools....does UCSD, USD, or SDSU have such programs?--hence, the reason there are not as many professional and high paying jobs in this city as some other moderately sized cities (Boston, Atlanta, San Jose, OC, etc). There are some fields that are unique to the schools here, but they tend to be specialized--and I am just focusing on SD based universities--not Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, or even USC (great alum connections) that are based outside of here.

...as for food--Portland is a moderately sized city and blows away San Diego in that category; it does not have the sunny climes of SD, but it certainly has it's share of outdoor activities and cultural activites/arts as well.

Again, I have no problem pointing out that San Diego is a good place to live but when some claim it is America's finest city (which I have never heard outside of San Diego) I feel compelled to point out the shortcomings which all cities have. Climate, in and by itself, does not make a place the finest city in the country unless one is a palm tree where certain consistent weather requirements are a condition for continued existence. Heck, the terrorists told us on 9/11 which cities (NYC and DC) they perceived represent the greatest strategic significance to this country when they attacked us.

I agree with you about NYC NOT being more pushy than other cities...if anything, people there are more focused on getting from point A to point B and don't have time to dilly dally in the middle of traffic or be preoccupied with superficially wishing a stranger a nice day...and I hear far more "excuse me" and witness more common sense and common courtesy (i.e. letting someone off an elevator before you get on, holding open a door for someone behind them, acknowledging someone with a thank you when they do this, moving their ass out of the fast lane--i.e. passing lane--when you are driving below the speed limit, not bringing their dogs into food establishments, etc. etc.) there than I do here and in many other cities.

All told, San Diego is a very nice place to live. Not sure it is America's finest city...seemingly you have different sized cities claiming to be the best in the nation (i.e. Delray Beach claims to be the best small sized city in the USA)...nothing wrong with pride, but just trying to keep it real. It's one thing for San Diegans to believe this is the finest city, but the market tells us otherwise (in spite of the weather, more wealthy people from around the world want a NYC residence and pay far more for property there than they do here...heck, within the past couple of years Miami has witnessed a resurgence with the 1% from Latin America, Europe, and Russia choosing that town in far greater numbers to spend millions--often in cash--on a secondary or tertiary residence over San Diego.

Bottom line, not questioning whether SD is a nice place to live--just questioning the claim that it is THE finest place in the USA, world, or wherever to live (i.e. finest city). One of many...for my money--and much more than I do not have--I would love a residence here, NYC, Barcelona, Prague, and Rio de Janeiro....and when I'm referring to San Diego, I'm referring to the area in general, not cherry picking such as La Jolla or RSF...heck Palm Beach, Greenwich CT, Tiburon, and Tribeca are nice specific neighborhoods also.

[bloom]

Too long a post elchevere, but it is more what you do with degree than school name; that being said, UCSD is at tops in the sciences including grant money received, producing nobel laureates, top medical school, associations/collaborations with other research institutions, biopharma, innovations.
Portland likely passes SD on food though SD holds it own as I said.
Overall, if you combine SD finest climate (pending global climate change) plus holding its own in several categories, it generally makes it a fine place to reside.
The best or finest place to live is personally subjective and if you have to post about that, than it is the poster not places who is effed up.

[sfosyd]

Elchevere, gotta agree with Bloom on this one. Portland is nice but it is honestly no less expensive than SD and the job market there is god awful....significantly worse than SD. Oregon taxes suck as much as California's. Agree the food is better, but doesn't have the diversity of SD (i.e no Convoy St, PDX is pretty lily white) but surprisingly the traffic in PDX is much worse and the airport is expensive and inconvenient. Also, SD has better craft beer . The medical care in PDX is way behind SD as well, and from crime statistics, SD is much safer. Obviously, the climate of both places speaks for itself. Also, Portland is isolated, being two hours from LA and less from OC has it's advantages.

Just out of curiosity, from your other threads on this forum and others, I thought you moved to Brickell in Miami???

Agree you can't compare the culture, job market of SD to the east coast powerhouses of DC, Boston and NYC but that's not fair anyway. Portland versus SD is a much better match and in my mind SAN blows away PDX.

[bloom]

Portland is less expensive than SD for housing by far, but job market in Portland seems pretty limited. Also public schools in Portland not so good I hear. However, OR is a beautiful state with west coast more moderate climate in Portland. Also, the city is where young people go to retire or go to clown school and one can live the dream of the 90s.

[sfosyd]

Originally Posted by bloom

Portland is less expensive than SD for housing by far

This used to be true but has really changed, especially if you want to live in the city. So much Bay Area money has poured into PDX that the cost of housing has exploded.

[NYSD1995]

Portland is the rainy version of San Diego... nothing to see there. They have less of an economy than we do and OR is a welfare state.

Seattle is the premier tier two west coast city, if you care about your career and don't want to live in LA or SF, it's about as good as it's gonna get. Personally I'd rather live in Seattle but after 20+ years in SD I think I would wuss out on the weather there.

[elchevere]

the brunt of my argument was that I do not believe SD to be the finest city in America--which San Diego, not I, calls itself. That doesn't mean it's not a nice city, which I have stated it is, just questioning whether it's the best or finest..It might have the best climate several months out of the year, though not year round. Seems we've reached some common ground on this board where I'm not being attacked with the line--if you don't like it here, why don't you leave--for my not agreeing it's the finest city in America. Nor did I state Portland is a better place overall--just different with one component, food, better...I lived in Marin County (Mill Valley) many years ago which I enjoyed as much, if not more than, San Diego albeit for different reasons.

Sfosyd--still looking at South Beach, which is my first choice within Miami...unfortunately, 2 offers I had in on a couple of condos were passed over in favor of all cash offers, presumably by foreigners. In fact there was an article in this past Friday's WSJ Mansion section pointing out 90% of all new development condos in Miami are being bought by foreigners....It's me against the 1% from around the world it seems...I'm not rushing to chase/overpay on a 1200sq ft 2BR condo that will likely cost me more than $700-750K at this time in SoBe, less in Brickell, along with the accompanying 2% Florida property tax that will also be based on these high prices.....there will be a lot of inventory coming on the market within the next 18-24 months and I am hoping that or some other event will lead to a cooling off or possible downturn (might not be likely in SoBe or would adjust less) in a red hot market at the moment....in the meantime, work takes me to Miami 6 times a year and I have the option of working out of Miami for extended visits (i.e. a month at a time via condo rental at my expense) if I so choose--seems to be the more sensible approach for now.