Should we move to Provo? (Salt Lake City: attorney, house, college)

[Tony__]

Originally Posted by ChrisC

Yeah, don't move to Utah County, there are already too many people here--every man, woman, and child religious fanatics, of course. I strongly discourage anyone from coming here. Now excuse me, I need to go hit a heathen who somehow found his way here over the head with a bible.

(note: just going along with the crowd here)

I take it you like Utah county a bit better than what's been portrayed here?

Please explain why? (I would really like to know)

[DelaneyRudd]

It's not a matter of people going out of their way to be mean. It's just group think and loads of social assumptions that add up to being an uncomfortable environment.

[stycotl]

however, if your alternative is to commute from slc to provo every day, i'd move closer to provo. i commute from salem (south end of utah county) to orem every day and that is a pain in the ass. going from slc to provo is at least twice as bad.

the benefits of moving to slc are going to seem very small when fighting traffic (especially during bad weather) to and from work every day. it has been on more than one occasion that i have gotten stuck in 3-hour traffic jams in the last decade just going from provo to slc and back.

i have actually grown to not mind utah county as much as i used to, but i made a point to move out into the boondocks and stay away from normal utah county life as much as possible. i live in a small town with one stoplight, where my neighbors have horses and goats in the backyard. i like it here, although i'd like to move to an even quieter place eventually (preferably down in the brianhead/parawon area) and telecommute to work every day.

just my opinion.

[ChrisC]

Originally Posted by Tony__

I take it you like Utah county a bit better than what's been portrayed here?

Please explain why? (I would really like to know)

Yeah, it was sarcasm. But this topic comes up every once in a while and it always ends the same on this forum. It simply becomes a Utah County slamfest.

Of course, everyone's experiences with a specific location are going to be different. All I can say is that I'm not at all religious. I've been here over 30 years and I've never had a problem with the dominant religion in the area or specific members of that religion. No torches and pitchforks. No inquisition down here.

What I will say is that if your happiness depends on others' lifestyles, you might not be too keen on the area. If other people not behaving like you bothers you bothers you, you may not like it here. But if your happiness is largely dependent on yourself and you tend to mind your own business rather than everyone else's, you should be fine.

Here's an example of what I mean:

Let's say you like to go to the local bar on Friday nights. If you go to that bar and really don't care how others around you feel about it, you'll be fine. If it doesn't bother you that your neighbors live a strict religious life, you'll be fine. On the other hand, if you come out of that bar with your gaze shifting back and forth looking for anyone you might know who has "seen you" and might think less of you... if how you appear to everyone around you is critical to your happiness, this is not the place (unless your lifestyle is the same as theirs). Also, if you expect everyone to live their lives just like you live yours... well then heed all the other posts.

[kaytidid]

Or if you are big into the socializing scene, Utah County might not be for you. If you are a homebody and really only want to be friendly enough to exchange pleasantries with the neighbors, you probably would be ok.

[stycotl]

Originally Posted by ChrisC

What I will say is that if your happiness depends on others' lifestyles, you might not be too keen on the area. If other people not behaving like you bothers you bothers you, you may not like it here. But if your happiness is largely dependent on yourself and you tend to mind your own business rather than everyone else's, you should be fine.

Here's an example of what I mean:

Let's say you like to go to the local bar on Friday nights. If you go to that bar and really don't care how others around you feel about it, you'll be fine. If it doesn't bother you that your neighbors live a strict religious life, you'll be fine. On the other hand, if you come out of that bar with your gaze shifting back and forth looking for anyone you might know who has "seen you" and might think less of you... if how you appear to everyone around you is critical to your happiness, this is not the place (unless your lifestyle is the same as theirs). Also, if you expect everyone to live their lives just like you live yours... well then heed all the other posts.

great post. cultural tolerance is a two-way street, and people that fit the description you provide are socially and emotionally crippling themselves, and will not be happy anywhere except surrounded by clones of themselves.

Originally Posted by kaytidid

Or if you are big into the socializing scene, Utah County might not be for you. If you are a homebody and really only want to be friendly enough to exchange pleasantries with the neighbors, you probably would be ok.

yep. the only time i've had problems with nonmormon neighbors is when they expect me to be preachy, rude, and ignorant, and so become preachy, rude, and ignorant themselves in defense.

well, i suppose that there are the occasional problems with druggies and similar stuff in some of the neighborhoods i've lived in too, but those problems are caused just as often by mormons of the less than stellar variety.

[TheDruidsKeeper]

I live and work in Orem, and I would second everything that ChrisC & stycotl said. Majority of my coworkers are not LDS, and only 1 of them has any stories of the problems that other people have posted here, and it's because he goes out and looks for them because he is the type of person that loves to debate and play the devils advocate - no matter what subject it is.

I would definitely rate Orem, Lindon, Pleasant Grove as generally awesome places to live, if you go to Provo there are areas I would avoid (especially around BYU). There is a lot more diversity here than most active forum members make there out to be. FYI, I grew up in Denver and am an inactive LDS (we get a lot more pressure from church members than non-LDS, and it's not bad at all), so it's not like I don't know what I'm talking about.

[JohnRoxy]

Lived around BYU for 3 years. Pretty intense. Great place to raise a family. Beautiful clean. Not fun. No sofisticated adult activities. 2 dive bars. Strict liquor laws, more strict in Provo & Utah county. No night life. Byu actually has students on the Provo city board to have input and voting rights on what is built and developed in the city. They wouldn't want to temp their students into drinking and dancing.
It's ridiculous to make laws to keep one culture sheltered, so when their kids go into the real world they will have a greater curiosity. Or just keep your kids in Provo Utah FOREVER!!

[decan51]

This is so funny to keep reading about LDS hating non LDS. If this was the intent would there be one ward and district and only LDS would live in Salt Lake City? There would be no LDS in different cities across america and overseas. Come on folks stop writing and drawing this type of picture of our neighbors.

I guess we would have to call the missionaries back from all over the world if this was a true problem. If you are really interested visit the information center in Salt Lake City I think you will see a different picture about how we all live.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by decan51

This is so funny to keep reading about LDS hating non LDS. If this was the intent would there be one ward and district and only LDS would live in Salt Lake City? There would be no LDS in different cities across america and overseas. Come on folks stop writing and drawing this type of picture of our neighbors.

I guess we would have to call the missionaries back from all over the world if this was a true problem. If you are really interested visit the information center in Salt Lake City I think you will see a different picture about how we all live.

Not knowing anything about you, it's hard to comment on your post, but most of the people who have given their input so far (including me) are active LDS. I live in Salt Lake and have many, many non-LDS neighbors that I really like a lot. I know they feel the same towards me and their other LDS neighbors. But Salt Lake City is considerably more diverse than Provo is. I don't think the people in Provo go out of their way to be mean to their non-LDS neighbors, but when there is such a high percentage of people who have their religious beliefs in common and associate with each other in church activities throughout the week, I can see where a non-LDS family might perceive being left out of the circle as pure discrimination.