Tennesse vs. North Carolina

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by leonard

Hi,

I appreciate your thoughts. They are certainly worthwhile and should be a good guide to anyone moving anywhere.

My question was why hiknapster did not like it. Now maybe it was simply a personal thing totally unrelated to another person, however it did not sound like it. So I am curious.

Your points are certainly valid. However if I draw a circle, say 20 miles in diameter around Chattanooga, the Ringgold area is in that circle, as much as say East Brainerd or Soddy Daisy and maybe even Cleveland. In other words the services would be just as available; malls, hospital, recreation, etc in one as in the others, assuming I picked a location within that circle.

My concerns are about anything a "local" would know about the area, aside from what you have listed, that should definitely be considered?

Why do you want them to waste their time giving you info that may not be useful to you? Everbody shouldn't have to tell you what they don't like. You should tell them what you don't want and what you want.

Example (making it up) - You just offered up 20 miles. I would not travel 20 miles for the services you just mentioned so I might have told you Town X is lousy based on your original post. There is nothing there/nothing to do in Town X. You, however, might think a 15 mile trip to go food shopping is okay and would not rule out that town. My idea of recreation might be nature photography, taking classes, fishing and living history events so I might say, "Yeah, Town X has lots of things to do." Your idea of recreation may be playing golf, attending hockey games, wine and cheese tastings and going to the symphony, none of which may be near or in Town X . So, you'll think I don't know what I'm talking about when you find yourself there with nothing to do...or more likely, you'll waste valuable visiting time in a town that's unsuitable for you to discover what we could have told you if you asked the right questions.

I may have experience in a cardiac specialty hospital and you might need a cancer specialty hospital. If I told you a great hospital was right in town, how would my cardiac care experience fit your cancer care needs?

I might tell you there are 3 Malls in Town X and 5 more within 20 miles but you might rule out that town because none of the 8 have a Belks, your favorite mall store for clothes buying and one you can't live without.

Had you asked the following (for the example) - I want to be within 20 miles of a supermarket that has a butcher, the symphony, a semi-pro/pro hockey arena, a winery, a hospital that specializes in cancer treatment, and a mall with a Belks. Can you help me? You may get less answers but they'll be better ones.

Our experience here has been that people only have a vague idea of what makes them happy and they don't ask the right questions (for them) so we have to try to drag it out of them in order to give them useful info. But having us guess wastes our time and doesn't do you any good if it's not applicable to your needs/wants.

We sometimes get questions like this on the forum:

Can you help me find a small Tennessee town that doesn't get a lot of snow, has low crime, good schools, low rent and a lot of jobs?

Twenty people would answer. Some would think a small town is 1,000 people or less. Some think a small town is under 50,000. Some think a lot of snow is a foot. Some think a lot of snow is 3 feet. If the responder originally came from Detroit they might think all places in Tennessee have relatively low crime. A responder who originally came from a rural town in Utah, may be aghast at all of the crime all over Tennessee. The same person who came from Detroit might think the schools in Tennessee are great, relatively speaking. A person who moved to Tennessee from Long Island, NY might have the opposite opinion. And if 20 people told the original poster there are plenty of jobs in Town/City X, how would that help the potential resident if all of those jobs were retail/restaurant and the person is an electrician/police officer/nurse? Twenty people just wasted their time giving useless advice in an honest attempt to be helpful.

If the person had asked - I'm looking for a town of less than 10,000 people, that gets less than 6 inches of snow, gets a score of 3 or less on violent crime, that has a high school graduation rate of 90% or better and there are job openings posted now, for electricians, within 20 miles of town, they'd get better answers.

But it still comes down to whether the person asking for advice actually knows what specifically makes them happy. Sometimes, I think, they don't realize what makes them happy until they move and are unhappy because they find the town lacks things that float their boat (and that they probably took for granted in the town they left which is why they didn't think to mention it).

To sum up - Please be more specific.

[Pam& Bill]

Laura,
I can't rep you for your great post. Geez, that should be made to be required reading when newbies register to post. Or it should be a sticky on all forums as you nailed it girlfriend.
Pam

[leonard]

Originally Posted by LauraC

To sum up - Please be more specific.

To be specific; is there anything dangerous, or down right unfriendly in any of the areas within 20 miles of Chattanooga? Critical issues, as it were.

Hiknapster mentioned a "mountain mentality" great, it seems to be a problem. WHAT is it?

Since I said I have been there before on a visit and examined certain areas in detail, that should indicate that I am aware of the general area, shopping etc. I am asking about the things that are not obvious and would be unappealing or a turn off to 98% of people.

As an example on one forum a poster asked about a particular area of a city. Several pointed out that that section of town is quite crime ridden and to look further out.

In another post a small city that looked like a nice place was identified by several including some living in it, that they are closed to people who were not raised there. They will be nice to your face but will not help or socialize with new arrivals. It was especially hard on children. That is not something a person would know without being told, prior to arriving.

A friend in another small TN city has experienced the same things after living there for many years. That is uncommon in many areas of the country, but seems pretty common in some small TN towns, though not all.

I am asking about the things that might only be known by someone who has lived there, or near by, for a while. The things you mention above I can figure out on my own.