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Denver is in a different stratosphere. More urban, bigger, better shopping, transit. Bigger buildings, more sophisticated, more pro teams. Bigger and better economy, better scenery, more urban and fashion forward. This is not a good comparison and anyone voting Nashville is probably none and not well traveled out west.....
Denver is in a different stratosphere. More urban, bigger, better shopping, transit. Bigger buildings, more sophisticated, more pro teams. Bigger and better economy, better scenery, more urban and fashion forward. This is not a good comparison and anyone voting Nashville is probably none and not well traveled out west.....
I live in Nashville, I've been to Denver only once, but I think you could be right.
Nashville is a fairly nice place to be. But, IMO -- I'm reluctant to say this because it'll be considered inflammatory, but here goes: it's TOTALLY over-hyped and overrated. Totally.
I recently got back from a large Northern metropolitan city for my 2nd visit in a couple of months. I won't say which city, because I don't want to go off topic, but the visits made me realize how much I miss living in a highly walkable city with a real street life (people of all ages walking around all over the city, day and night); very good public transit; a huge choice of culturally diverse food for REASONABLE prices; a fantastic downtown market; many attractions, etc.
Nashville has its "thing," I suppose, but none of these ^^ things.
I live in Nashville, I've been to Denver only once, but I think you could be right.
Nashville is a fairly nice place to be. But, IMO -- I'm reluctant to say this because it'll be considered inflammatory, but here goes: it's TOTALLY over-hyped and overrated. Totally.
I recently got back from a large Northern metropolitan city for my 2nd visit in a couple of months. I won't say which city, because I don't want to go off topic, but the visits made me realize how much I miss living in a highly walkable city with a real street life (people of all ages walking around all over the city, day and night); very good public transit; a huge choice of culturally diverse food for REASONABLE prices; a fantastic downtown market; many attractions, etc.
Nashville has its "thing," I suppose, but none of these ^^ things.
Nashville is an awesome city...it just cannot compare to actual big cities with way more amenities!
Nashville is an awesome city...it just cannot compare to actual big cities with way more amenities!
And there's nothing wrong with that. I actually really like mid-sized cities, and Nashville is a nice one.
But when it constantly toots it horn for being an "It City," all while:
a) not having essential infrastructure in place for all the rapid growth, including almost non-existent public transit, BUT also ignoring the need for expanded infrastructure, including shooting down a much-needed public transit plan;
b) everything is SO overpriced for the level of quality provided;
c) well-paying, diverse employment opportunities with potential for continued advancement -- outside of the usual fields of healthcare, IT, and more Nashville-oriented fields like music, tourism, and hospitality -- are limited. I work in an area of education, for example, and jobs in education that pay salaries commensurate with Nashville's cost of living (housing is very expensive, for example) are extremely limited. Anything to do with (public) education really isn't valued here.
d) the nightlife everyone raves about is confined to a few blocks and seems entirely targeted to tourists, etc...
And there's nothing wrong with that. I actually really like mid-sized cities, and Nashville is a nice one.
But when it constantly toots it horn for being an "It City," all while:
a) not having essential infrastructure in place for all the rapid growth, including almost non-existent public transit, BUT also ignoring the need for expanded infrastructure, including shooting down a much-needed public transit plan;
b) everything is SO overpriced for the level of quality provided;
c) well-paying, diverse employment opportunities with potential for continued advancement -- outside of the usual fields of healthcare, IT, and more Nashville-oriented fields like music, tourism, and hospitality -- are limited. I work in an area of education, for example, and jobs in education that pay salaries commensurate with Nashville's cost of living (housing is very expensive, for example) are extremely limited. Anything to do with (public) education really isn't valued here.
d) the nightlife everyone raves about is confined to a few blocks and seems entirely targeted to tourists, etc...
then I start to object to the hype.
I don't live in Nashville but this is my impression of the city when I leave after a visit. It seems like a nice place but very average for a MSA of 2 million. If it was still at a MSA between 1 to 1.5 million, I would say Nashville is punching above its weight or what ever people say. I think many who hype Nashville are looking at either the "everything is country music" theme or what "Nashville use to be". There are many cities that have what Nashville has in terms of everyday living. Also, I've noticed many have different ideals of what makes a good urban city. I don't see Nashville being comparable to Denver at this time.
Which do you mean? The winters in Nashville or Denver? Denver's winter is actually often mild with temps in the mid 50's and higher with lots of sunshine. People have figured that out and have moved there in droves the last few years. When I lived in Denver, housing costs were pretty average, now they are out of control.
Anyone who says Nashville is 'all country music' apparently has never been there or never been off the Broadway/Market tourist nexus. Of course, that's a key part of the media hype with the NFL being the most recent to be lured by it. But anyone who truly knows Nashville knows there are places where the tourists go (essentially downtown) and then the locals go to a half dozen other hubs of bar/restaurant activity. Gulch/Division; the Village; Germantown; 12South; WeHo and East. Locals go downtown only when they have out of town visitors who need to visit at least once.
Both cities punch well about their classes. Denver is in the next notch up in size. So it gives a noticeably larger feel. But both cities are hubs of their state and the states around them. Denver is the model city that Nashville leaders now look at for guidance on their blistering growth. Mass transit is already back on the agenda with the Metro Council. Both cities are destinations; so they benefit from lots of tourism and a very positive business climate although I think Nashville has passed Denver on key metrics in recent years (remember this thread started 3 years ago). Both cities are seeing a LOT of migration from west coast 'creatives' and middle class families.
I spend a lot of time in Denver and Breckenridge where my in-laws have a house. I love that part of the country, but I don't like the idea of living in Denver. The LoDo area is fun. It has burgeoned in the past 10 years, and the campus area around UCD also has improved vastly. I also like the proximity of Coors Field to downtown. And I think their Union Station beats all other similar adaptive reuses (although still a train station) of any other midsize city. Also, I like the summers, but the winters are brutal. Yes they have their 'warm' days, but overall, I couldn't stand it, especially the late winter/early spring snowstorms. No thanks! I much prefer to go to the snow when I'm prepared for it, and can leave when I choose.
Denver is one of those cities that has a better skyline than it appears at street level. The apartment towers in particular look pretty shabby close up. Lots of 1960s-80s concrete bunker-style buildings. Cash Register is looking very dated. Got to say the nighttime skyline is possibly the best of its class. There is a cool new building downtown and some interesting new commercial buildings. So like Nashville, Denver is seeing a lot of new activity downtown. The wide streets are nice, but don't give a very human feel. That's why LoDo is where I prefer to go, where the streets are a bit more narrow and the backways are interesting. It is nice to have residential areas close to downtown, but the houses are not especially remarkable in design. Nashville's downtown streets are all narrow. But even that city's Broadway would be one of the lesser of the main thoroughfares. That's just a function of the eras in which both cities were originally laid out. Denver, being a new city and one that grew very fast from the start, planned for lots of traffic and widened many streets for motorized traffic early in the twentieth century. On that note, Denver has simply been a big city for much longer than Nashville, which is now realizing that fate.
Now, I'm going to say a key reason I can't imagine living in Denver is maybe THE ONLY REASON some of the folks here would/do live there. That's its legalization of pot. As someone whose brother started smoking pot at the age of 12 and moved on to much harder drugs and then eventually succumbed to heroin, I simply don't want to live anywhere that approves of it. I hate the line that any drug is just 'recreational'. And I will avoid that, especially now that I have children. Lots of research is now coming to light, not the least of which is that car accidents (DUI) rose 15% compared to surrounding states after the law was passed. So not to get off topic (because that is very topical to me), I can't vote for Denver. THIS IS NOT A DEBATE OF POT LAWS, just the key reason for me.
Finally, the bums in downtown Denver are extremely aggressive. There's one who has 'ruled' the corner Broad & Colfax for the past three summers we've been there. Now we just drive through. He threatened the life of my son! I actually saw him chase down a young woman into the civic park. He's just the worse we've seen, but many there are quite aggressive when they're not passed out from their daily 'trips'. Yes, lots of cities have bums (even aggressive ones), horribly long winters, and stupid laws, but that's a factor in wherever I choose to live.
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