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Your boss is a longtime CD lurker who's worth a whole grip of money. He's decided that it's time to expand the business to major cities across America, and has opened up offices in some of the most commonly talked-about cities he sees people mentioning here in the City vs. City forum, figuring that this is as good a barometer as any as to the pulse of America. To reward your loyalty to the company, he has offered you a management gig at any one of these new offices for the next six months, to get things up and running.
You can find accomodations adequate for you and any family you may have in basically any neighborhood, within reason (i.e., he won't be paying for a four-story brownstone on Central Park, but a flat would be okay). Rent not inclusive, you'll be paid $5k/mo after taxes, and will be given a company car and gas card if need be.
Which city of the above would you choose and why, based in part on but not limited to:
Walkability/Public Transit/Traffic
COL
Outdoor Activities
Dining
Weather
Uniqueness (in general, or relative to where you live)
Cultural activities
Singles' or family-friendly scene
Schools (if applicable)
I don't know which to choose really but my closest bet would be New York City simply because I like it. However for some of the criteria it would not be good but I honestly don't know too much about the other cities to make a definite choice right now so I'll answer for NYC even though I am not 100% sure of it, it's just my personal choice but I do admit some other of the cities on the list may actually be much better than NYC in these criteria if you're gonna say roughly $30,000 during the stay there.
Walkability/Public Transit/Traffic NYC is most definitely the best in terms of walkability and transit in the US. Traffic wise though would be an absolute nightmare, but I won't using a car most likely I'd be using a subway. Do I get salary if I choose to ditch the company car in favor of transit?
COL New York City is absolutely horrible in terms of cost of living, but that is the cost if you want to live one of the greatest cities on earth.
Outdoor Activities Outdoor activities are both very limited yet a lot depending on what you do. You cannot do things like go hunting unless you own a car to drive, but getting a gun permit if you live in NYC is too hard unless you are either extremely rich or politically well connected. Sailing a boat is not feasible because they don't allow you to sail in the harbor. But there is lots of activities to do in the parks whether it be Central Park or one of the other small parks plus if you get an apartment with a gym in it that would be good.
Dining NYC is the best place to go dining I would think as it would have the most variety from around the world and with a lot of very inventive non-chain restaurants. It is a very great culinary city besides places like Chicago.
Weather Weather is not something to be proud of in NYC, it gets horrific snowstorms once in a while but at the same time it isn't too cold like it would be up north. Sometimes though in the summer, the hot can make the city smell really funny.
Uniqueness (in general, or relative to where you live) There is no place like NYC on earth.
Cultural activities The ultimate expression of cultural activities happen in NYC that don't happen much or at all in the vast majority of the US including other major cities. They have so many cultural activities it is not even funny, and it is the place where culture is made and not simply just consumed.
Singles' or family-friendly scene Singles NYC is a very great scene because there are lots of hipsters, yuppies, and other single people there as they all try to congregate there. Family friendly through... that might not be the best place although NYC has tried hard to make it more family friendly especially in Battery Park City and such.
Schools (if applicable) This is one where unfortunately NYC is horribly bad in. A city can be great but even then it can't be good at everything. If you want your children to not turn into gangsters or into drugs, don't send them to NYC public schools. However the salary is not enough to get your child into one of the elite private schools in NYC. Even if it were only for 6 months, in those 6 months my kids could end up with the wrong crowd or something bad would happen to them.
I say that NYC is still a livable and fun town on $30,000 over half a year *after taxes* if you live in a small studio or 1 bedroom in a relatively hip area of Brooklyn or one of those rare $1500ish rooms in the UES or UWS. However, it wouldn't be a good place to raise a family as you'd need to be making $1 million + to raise a family in Manhattan while sending your children to private school. If you're just gonna live in NYC for 6 months though, best you be single so your children don't have trauma going in and out of different schools in the middle of the school year.
If you're looking for a good place to raise a family then Denver, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, or Orlando would be good however I wouldn't in my opinion want to live in those places.
Last edited by JKFire108; 01-12-2012 at 10:21 PM..
I would choose SF if I could live in a non-poor style.
Just because I feel like it didn't really impress me but I keep reminding myself I went during the 4th of July holiday, so of course the place will be teeming with tourists and the bus lines will be completely f-cked with the routes and the weather hot and ... you get the idea. I just feel I totally went at the wrong time and need to really experience it in another way.
Since I already live in Florida, I'll leave Miami and Orlando off the list, even though that's probably where my preference lies.
I don't think I could take New York for more than a couple of days. Been there, done that. After the novelty wears off, it's just another Northeast US city, only bigger.
I might choose LA. While I don't think I would ever want to live in Cali permanently, it would be interesting to live there for a short time. Warmer climate, not having to deal with a true winter (which I hate). Benefits of living near the ocean, although I wish the water was warm enough to swim in most of the year. I guess the Floridian in me would want something somewhat similar to Florida, except with mountains and more dry and brown.
Wait, was Honolulu on that list? Because I'd swoop up the chance to live there for 6 months in a minute!
Your boss is a longtime CD lurker who's worth a whole grip of money. He's decided that it's time to expand the business to major cities across America, and has opened up offices in some of the most commonly talked-about cities he sees people mentioning here in the City vs. City forum, figuring that this is as good a barometer as any as to the pulse of America. To reward your loyalty to the company, he has offered you a management gig at any one of these new offices for the next six months, to get things up and running.
You can find accomodations adequate for you and any family you may have in basically any neighborhood, within reason (i.e., he won't be paying for a four-story brownstone on Central Park, but a flat would be okay). Rent not inclusive, you'll be paid $5k/mo after taxes, and will be given a company car and gas card if need be.
Which city of the above would you choose and why, based in part on but not limited to:
Walkability/Public Transit/Traffic
COL
Outdoor Activities
Dining
Weather
Uniqueness (in general, or relative to where you live)
Cultural activities
Singles' or family-friendly scene
Schools (if applicable)
For me it would be Chicago, definitely. Particularly a Northside neighborhood like Lincoln Park. It's very walkable and very good public transit. Comparatively, the COL is much better than the Western or Northeastern cities too. Even though the weather wouldn't be great for February, and much of March, it would be great from May to July. The Dining options in Chicago are great from my (admittedly brief) experience, and I'd love to experience more.
Even though its level of urbanity can be found in other cities (particularly NYC, Bos, Philly, SF, DC, and LA), Chicago's urbanity paired with its growth period is quite unique. In my opinion it's the "All American" city. Even though I'm not single, I'm still young and enjoy going out so the young professional scene--which is very strong in Chicago--is a must.
Other choices would be New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco. However I think Chicago is the best choice for me.
My first choice would be Chicago, but considering that I already spend a fair amount of time there anyway, perhaps I should consider somewhere else, especially since I may wind up there eventually anyway.
If so, then I would choose LA. I wouldn't want to live there permanently, or even a year, but I would certainly appreciate the chance to live somewhere completely different from where I am now, for a brief time..
Very fun to think about. My first thought was NYC, b/c there is so much to do, but I've already spent a good bit of time there. So now I'm thinking maybe Seattle (where I have never been) or LA (only been once for a brief visit). It would be cool to see a different part of the country and six months is a good amount of time to really get a feel for a place. And of course with it just being a six month deal if I didn't like it then I would know it wouldn't be too long before I headed back.
BTW, I'm a bit surprised you left Washington DC, Atlanta and San Diego off the list. Those are all big cities that get a lot of discussion on C-D.
Phoenix isn't often boosted here, it is more often than not trashed.
You should have replaced it with Atlanta. Can't believe Atlanta is not on the list.
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