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I hate DC because it has so much lost potential and accepted under performance that exists in this city. Lots of people aren't happy here, they know that they are just paper pushers and TPS report filers vs working on the next iPhone or having a hand in creating the next life changing element. There is a real and present nastiness that exists in DC vs say NYC or Chicago.
I enjoy DC. It is solidly the 2nd best city in the U.S. to live in as far as I'm concerned. Only NYC is better overall than DC is, and it is of course easily reachable from here. I don't care much about living and working anywhere else. People in the DC area are highly-educated, well-traveled and affluent. I also feel fortunate that DC is and always will be the nation's capital - bringing so many benefits to the people who live and work here because of that status. DC is well-connected to all the world's greatest cities. All of this is a winning combination and what makes the area so dynamic and appealing to live in.
But nowadays, the bottom line is you need to make at least a 6-figure household income to live comfortably in the area and have savings once you start having a family. It really is all about the money. For households that make less than this, I don't recommend DC. There are better and more suitable cities to live in.
1. The subway carpeting would last much longer than 2 days in Chicago because hundreds of thousands more people ride the DC Metro everyday than the El.
2. Swiping your card when you exit isn't complete BULL Shazam (I assume that's what those dashes meant). You're charged different rates for different distances traveled.
3. Much like the memorial for the Vietnam War, the 9/11 memorial in NYC is a beautiful homage that simplistically yet eloquently captures a very dark period in our nation's history. I do not hate the actual 9/11 memorial; I hate that we had to build it. Same is true for Vietnam.
4. If you have no institutional memory of who you are as a people - even the mistakes you've made - how can you have any foundation from which to grow? I think the Archives are great for displaying our founding documents , for example.
5. To pile on, you're no less a part of the great feats and atrocities enacted by our country and represented by some marble in DC by living in Chicago than we are living here.
If you move here, you'll live a life very similar to Chicago in most regards. The city's more low key but faster paced at the same time; it's much smaller than Chicago, so that would probably be your biggest adjustment.
Also - there are a lot of trained military and police here. I know such people who carry handguns. They are not the problem.
This is one of the wackiest "do you like DC?" threads I have read! Citing the monuments and the carpet on the metro as reasons to make a decision to move (or not)? You are a truly micro focused individual! I am really enjoying this.
It's similar to those 'House Hunter' shows. Occasionally, you get that rare individual who is most obsessed with that $400,000 house lacking the bathroom wallpaper that they'd personally prefer.
(1)This is one of the wackiest "do you like DC?" threads I have read! Citing the monuments and the carpet on the metro as reasons to make a decision to move (or not)? You are a truly micro focused individual! I am really enjoying this.
I preface all of this by saying that I have done the same thing (albeit when I was 18) BUT--
Quote:
Originally Posted by confusedasusual
(2)How can one truly make a big decision such as a cross (or half) country move after visiting a city ONE TIME? And, add to that, staying in Arlington (which, though many who live there want all of us to *think* its in the city proper, its not). Now I get if its the first time you are in town and it really grabs you and you feel called to come back. But that is not what I am hearing. You seem ambivalent. Why not visit again, stay IN the city and check out more than the must-see guidebook items?
Quote:
Originally Posted by confusedasusual
(3)And, how serious is this? You say you don't have a job and you may not ever want to leave Chicago. Are you really gonna go on the word of a bunch of strangers or are you just passing time?
1. I see you have lived up to your screen name. Maybe you should change it to "ConfusedAndJumpsToConclusionsAsUsual"
The monuments and carpeting on the Metro wouldn't factor into my decision to move to the city at all. By the way; I can look at the micro and see how it factors into the macro, and vice versa.
2. I want to visit again. The first time I didn't have a lot of time. I didn't even get to do one of my "bucket list" items: Get a picture of me flipping off the FCC building.
I will be back, and I do realize that Arlington is not D.C., and I walked away with no strong emotions either way with that city. I did feel like it was much more "urban" than other suburban areas I have been to (which I suspect is also fact).
3. Are words confusing too? I know I didn't elaborate much in my first post (I was aiming for brevity) but I went to D.C., came back home and applied for a few jobs in D.C. I did not get those jobs. I continued with my regular job, and was eventually asked to come to Chicago and work. There are only two other places that if I moved there would be a "step up" the ladder, but I have no interest in NYC or LA.
If a job came along in D.C., I would give it serious thought (especially if it paid incredibly well), but I'm inclined to say that I won't leave Chicago.
Now I wish I had read the other responses but I kinda wanted to just write what was on my mind. Now allow me to follow up.
I personally have no dog in the taxation fight but I think it sucks that DC doesn't get a real representative. However, it does sound like you were thinking that people in DC are living the sweet life based solely on monuments. As mentioned they're just tourist attractions to most residents and would be so to you as well if you were to move to the District...
What else did you do? What neighborhoods did you go to?
I didn't/don't think they were/are living the sweet life. But it certainly *seems* like getting funding to do something in D.C. is a little, if not much, easier than in other places in the country due to its unique standing in America. I could be wrong.
With any tourist "attraction" I've visited, I walked away with a pretty good grip on where I personally stand with that attraction or location. Not so with D.C. The monuments left me extremely proud and extremely sad.
I never had that type of dichotomy when living in Indianapolis (most monuments outside of D.C., FYI), visiting/living in Chicago, visiting Toronto, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Atlanta, Tampa, St. Louis, etc.
I'm not saying it was "good" or "bad". I'm just saying my experience there was like nothing I've felt before.
We went to a few museums, saw a few memorials, took a couple tours. Not a lot of time to do much more.
^5 lol you must be saying you gotta be rich or very poor to live in dc.
i swear, man. friggin' po people and rich suckers get everything
while the working classes bust butts paying taxes to keep it that
way like dummies but never really move up; just down maybe smh.
I feel the need to qualify/explain my previous statements so as to not be painted as someone who is "clueless", "dumb", or "nit-picky"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefly
What a strange list of gripes.
1. The subway carpeting would last much longer than 2 days in Chicago because hundreds of thousands more people ride the DC Metro everyday than the El.
This has nothing to do with numbers of riders.
So how long does the D.C. carpeting last? My thought was that the carpeting on the floors of the train wouldn't last very long in Chicago because Chicago's trains predominately run outside. That means when it rains, people have to stand in that rain, then get on the train. When it snows? stand in snow, and salt, and ice then get on the trains.
The carpets looked very clean in D.C. when I was there ((in February) that's a compliment by the way), but come to Chicago in February, look at the floor of the train, and then tell me that a carpeted floor would last 2 days, 2 weeks, or two months in Chicago. The fabric seats in Chicago can be absolute atrocities leaving them vacant except for the most filthy and sleepy homeless person.
Maybe there are plenty of above ground and elevated stations in D.C.'s metro network, but everything I was on was a few stories below ground. That is a huge difference in what gets tracked onto a train. The only station in Chicago I can think of that is directly attached to a platform is the Merchandise Mart. How many stations/stops in D.C. link directly to a building?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefly
2. Swiping your card when you exit isn't complete BULL Shazam (I assume that's what those dashes meant). You're charged different rates for different distances traveled.
See? I can learn something everyday!
I prefer one fee for the trip, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefly
3. Much like the memorial for the Vietnam War, the 9/11 memorial in NYC is a beautiful homage that simplistically yet eloquently captures a very dark period in our nation's history. I do not hate the actual 9/11 memorial; I hate that we had to build it. Same is true for Vietnam.
Exactly my point!!! My uncle was in Vietnam. He is incapable of working because of it. When, not "If", the Iraq War memorial is built, I will feel a sense of pride and gratitude for everything given... but I will absolutely loathe and hate the reason(s) why we went there and our soldiers were killed/injured.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefly
4. If you have no institutional memory of who you are as a people - even the mistakes you've made - how can you have any foundation from which to grow? I think the Archives are great for displaying our founding documents , for example.
No argument from me here. I appreciate that, actually.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluefly
5. To pile on, you're no less a part of the great feats and atrocities enacted by our country and represented by some marble in DC by living in Chicago than we are living here.
Fair enough. But I didn't even have a voice, let alone a Social Security number when many of those events/people were relevant. But in D.C., that is its thing. Being the capitol and having monuments and museums is what it is known for.
Fair enough. But I didn't even have a voice, let alone a Social Security number when many of those events/people were relevant. But in D.C., that is its thing. Being the capitol and having monuments and museums is what it is known for.
It is what is known for to you and other people who don't live here. As has been said on this thread multiple times, the monuments and museums do not at all factor into the daily or in some cases even yearly lives of the vast majority of DC residents. We don't visit them, we don't think about them regularly.
You said all you had time to do was a few tours of the monuments and memorials. So you didn't see the real neighborhoods in DC where people actually live and go out. If you had seen that, you'd see that DC is really like most other large cities. People go to restaurants, bars concerts, etc. They go jogging or bike riding in Rock Creek Park. They go hiking at Great Falls.
I could go on but I think you get my point that the media depiction of DC is off base compared to the daily life here.
You wouldn't think that New Yorkers hang out in Times Square every day (it's 90% tourists) or that people from Florida ride Pirates of the Caribbean each morning?
It's the same in DC. People who live here are the least likely to go see the memorials.
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