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The recent thread on Rochester's peer cities got me thinking about potential matchups that haven't been done before. While not exactly a peer city, one that came to mind was Des Moines. The Iowa capital is seldom talked about on these forums and appears to have a strong urban core and healthy economy, sharing nearly an identical GDP with Rochester. I actually think it's a very underrated midwestern city. How does it compare to the well established Rochester?
Things to consider:
Location
Amenities
Livability
Walkability
Downtown
Public transit
Education
Culture
Economy
Outlook
The recent thread on Rochester's peer cities got me thinking about potential matchups that haven't been done before. While not exactly a peer city, one that came to mind was Des Moines. The Iowa capital is seldom talked about on these forums and appears to have a strong urban core and healthy economy, sharing nearly an identical GDP with Rochester. I actually think it's a very underrated midwestern city. How does it compare to the well established Rochester?
Things to consider:
Location: Rochester
Amenities: Rochester
Livability: Des Moines
Walkability: Rochester
Downtown: Rochester
Public transit: Rochester
Education: Rochester
Culture: Rochester
Economy: Des Moines
Outlook: Des Moines
The recent thread on Rochester's peer cities got me thinking about potential matchups that haven't been done before. While not exactly a peer city, one that came to mind was Des Moines. The Iowa capital is seldom talked about on these forums and appears to have a strong urban core and healthy economy, sharing nearly an identical GDP with Rochester. I actually think it's a very underrated midwestern city. How does it compare to the well established Rochester?
Things to consider:
Location
Amenities
Livability
Walkability
Downtown
Public transit
Education
Culture
Economy
Outlook
Location - Rocherster
Amenities - Rochester
Livability - Des Monies
Walkability - Rochester
Downtown - Rochester
Public transit - Rochester
Education - Rochester
Culture - Rochester
Economy - Des Moines
Outlook - Des Moines
Location - Rochester
Amenities - probably Rochester since the area is a bit bigger, but Des Moines is no slouch in the food & shopping department
Livability - Tie
Walkability - Tie
Downtown - historically at least, the nod would go to Rochester, but Des Moines is going through a serious downtown revitalization so I'd say Des Moines if we're talking today
Public transit - probably Rochester
Education - Tie. I'd give Des Moines the edge for elementary & high schools, and Rochester the edge for higher ed.
Culture - Rochester
Economy - Des Moines
Outlook - Des Moines
Overall, I think Rochester has slightly more going for it, as A) its metro is about 50% larger than that of DSM, and B) it benefits from its proximity to major northeastern metros such as NYC, Pittsburgh, Philly, and Buffalo (all of which are closer to it than DSM is to Chicago; this distance is roughly equivalent from Rochester to Boston or Washington, DC)
On the public-transit tip, Rochester has the distinction of being the only city in the United States to have opened, then closed, a subway.
Rochester's downtown trolley subway, fed by surface lines coming into the city center from the southeast, opened in 1927 and closed in 1956. Part of a freeway occupies part of its old right-of-way, and adventurous types go urban spelunking in the piece that survives.
Rochester due to size, location(cities and outdoor amenities), has some really nice suburbs if you want that, is a legacy city that was a top 50 city for many decades/just outside of being a top 50 metro area and has nice walkable options within and outside of city limits.
Des Moines is essentially the city/metro in IA and is growing steadily. However, if it was in NY, it would be the 6th biggest metro in NY State on par with Syracuse, give or take.
On the public-transit tip, Rochester has the distinction of being the only city in the United States to have opened, then closed, a subway.
Rochester's downtown trolley subway, fed by surface lines coming into the city center from the southeast, opened in 1927 and closed in 1956. Part of a freeway occupies part of its old right-of-way, and adventurous types go urban spelunking in the piece that survives.
They are not called "freeways" in Rochester, or for that matter, in the rest of the Northeast. They are called "expressways".
Sorry, sometimes I just can't resist nitpicking, especially when it comes to regionalisms!
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