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Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,547,924 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Facts Kill Rhetoric
For the purpose of this thread, the Mid-Atlantic Region includes the entirety of the metropolitan areas of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Harrisburg I suppose. For California, just use the entire state of California.
Compare them on what they have to offer, their standard of living, and what their socioeconomic (social and economic), physical (urban) and natural (nature) environments are like.
- Location - Mid-Atlantic (center of the universe)
- Climate - California
- Topography - California
- Economy - Mid-Atlantic (economy stronger than CA's entire economy)
- Costs and expenses - Better in Mid-Atlantic (most if not all Cali is "expensive" and highly taxed)
- Public education (K-12) and higher education (colleges and universities) Mid-Atlantic
Yea California has pretty area, but a lot of its also just dusty desert. I'd argue the Mid-Atlantic is "prettier" and California is more "breath taking" when I think Mid-Atlantic I think this: http://www.atlanticmaintenancegroup....aintenance.jpg
That lot of dusty desert is beautiful, but it's maybe a quarter of the state at best. There's a lot of variation in California's climate due to its oceanfront location, north-south axis, and varied topography with massive mountain ranges and deserts.
Mid-Atlantic can be beautiful, though a lot of where it is beautiful is outside of "metropolitan areas of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Harrisburg" that the OP specified. The many bodies of water is probably the nicest parts of those, but comparing that to the entirety of the Mid-Atlantic leaves out the Great Lakes waterfronts and islands, most of the river valleys, most of the Appalachians, the Adirondacks and Finger Lakes.
I guess here's what I like from both (places I'd for sure be okay with);
- New York: Pretty much the only "big city" in America that actually is built the right way. There is a stack of amenities, often several of the things you may want like a particular store or brand has been replicated somewhere else in the city, often many times over, so it makes the region less congested when there is more than just 1 specific thing for such a large metropolitan area. For example, if you want to get, lets say cologne or something from a Ralph Lauren store and you walk over to one and the lines are long, the inside of the store is packed beyond belief, and you begin second guessing whether you even want to deal with it, that's where stacked amenities in New York take over. Probably another, or several more, Ralph Lauren stores within walkable distance that wont have that congestion issue. The amenities come in surpluses in New York, for almost anything and everything, and the city is built finely for getting around regardless of which mode you pick to do so; walk, bike, take a cab/Uber/Lyft, take a train, use your own car. Also is represented by every nationality on Earth, so an abundance of stuff to take in and enjoy from so many different cultures, which adds a bigger dimension to its overall offerings when it is able to offer for such a wider range of people than less diverse and more limited cities. I don't care for its location, the cities within immediate striking distance from Greater New York are some of my least favorite on the planet (save for Washington, D.C. which is alright), so that isn't a selling point for me, but it does need to be said that flights to London and most of the rest of Europe are shorter than 99% of the rest of America could hope for. That's a benefit because the cities that interest me the most in the world are typically all outside of America on continents like Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Lets see, what else do I like about New York? I guess I like that it is a full service metropolis, I mean I'm not here to argue that everything about Greater New York is top shelf quality at everything it has or does but it does have such a varied and diverse range of stuff; mountains within immediate distance, beaches, bays, gulfs, rivers, forests, suburbs (all kinds too), so on and so forth. I think that's great, especially if you want to maximize what you have available to you in your general area.
- San Diego: I like San Diego more than the bigger California metropolises because it offers the same thing, same vibe, same culture without as much of the hassles. For example, I'm of the belief that if you took Greater Los Angeles' 18.8 million person population and divided it by 3, then it would be a better metropolis and city as a result of it. Less human bodies = less congestion, less traffic, and less of your personal time being drained down. Would be easier to get around, easier to enjoy living in the place, and easier to justify paying exorbitant costs and maximizing on the potential quality of the environment. That's simply my only actual beef with Los Angeles and especially the San Francisco Bay Area (probably the worst at this). Anyhow, San Diego has the same food scene as the other coastal California cities, same Asian ethnic foods, same Mexican offerings, same seafood offerings, Coastal California's food scene is exceptional but also unilateral, going all the way from the north coast to the south coast of the state and maintaining the same quality while doing so. San Diego has the same seeds in its cosmopolitan composition, same climate and topography and location benefits as Los Angeles. I like the place, a nice, neat, well organized city, pretty clean and well taken care of. Takes less than 30 minutes to get anywhere of relevance but its most prominent areas from say, Downtown San Diego to La Jolla Cove or even Torry Pines are in a condensed and smaller footprint, making relevant areas of the city very accessible. Pretty good standard of living and a diverse diaspora of the human population across the board; smart people, dumb people, average people, extraordinary people, ambitious people, lazy people, so on and so forth. Every walk of life is represented in San Diego but it has the key institutions like colleges and universities, cultural institutions, tourist sites, employer base and the like to be able to draw from a wide spectrum. Hopefully it doesn't draw anymore people, it is the perfect size right now, the more people it adds the more hellish it will become and the more its standard of living and quality of life will suffer. Thankfully it isn't adding like 100,000 people per year, somewhere around a third of that, so San Diego's in no hurry to grow up in my lifetime at least, which is perfect. If you live in a place with perfect weather and scenery and the place isn't built to European urban scale, why on Earth would you want strong population growth? You'd only have to share perfect weather and scenery with millions more people, which, to me personally, is not okay. That's why San Diego.
- Santa Barbara, CA: Cool city, very scenic and beautiful and a basic summary for it is that I think along with the Monterey Bay Area and San Luis Obispo that the Californians that live in the state's Central Coast region live the best version of California there is. They get the peace and quiet they want without compromising on the location, at least two out of three of those places are easily reachable from a major metropolis in California within relatively easy distance. To be honest though, before visiting most of the United States, I never cared much for small towns. It was only after seeing 47 states and seeing the downsides to how America's "big cities" are built that I came to view small towns as places with some immediate value instead of just skid marks on a map. I guess you live and learn in life and that opinions change over time.
- Monterey Bay Area, CA: See the commentary under Santa Barbara but also add the exceptional Big Sur to the perks as well.
- San Luis Obispo, CA: See the commentary under Santa Barbara and Monterey Bay Area.
Maybes:
- Washington D.C.: I mean there are at least 50 places in the world I would rather be than Washington but to be fair, I need Washington. Since leaving the tech industry to gain personal experience in the administrative and government sectors, especially with regard to international relations and foreign affairs, Washington is one of the top places in the world for someone in my field to be working in. It's not easy, it is a very competitive region, you have to have a solid network but even more have to be an assertive individual to reap the benefits of success in the DMV. Like I mentioned under New York, outside of Greater New York, the DMV region is the only other place in the entire Northeastern United States that I am okay with and don't dislike. I think the city of Washington is alright, lots of unique things there, stuff that you can only find in America in Washington and solely Washington, but the trajectory and the general sleekness of the city is also promising. I like tidy, well planned, and generally clean and sleek looking cities out of "big cities" in America and Washington is pretty good on those fronts. For what it is worth, I lived in the DMV area not that long ago, I liked it, I mean I am not going to pass over a Sydney, Melbourne, Miami, Tel-Aviv, or Barcelona to live in Washington but I did like living there. Could "envision" myself living there again if I had to as I didn't completely hate it the first time around.
I have no interest in anywhere else that I didn't write about above.
Overall I would probably go with California because there are more places that I'm okay with out there than the other region being compared. Lots to like in both, for me, but California would be it between the two.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,547,924 times
Reputation: 5785
People lets realize the mid-Atlantic consists of more than just NYC, PHL, BAL, DC. There are so many either small towns or mid size cities that make up the mid-Atlantic.
Trenton
Allentown
Harrisburg
Annapolis
Ocean City, MD
Wilmington
Dover
Rehoboth Beach
Atlantic City
etc
Are each notable towns in the Mid-Atlantic, but it seems these threads only continue to focus on the 4 major urban centers.
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