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I'm not going to diss the other cities, just speak on KC my home town.
1. It is not walkable in most areas. If you live downtown, midtown, plaza, Westport, or river market then it's VERY walkable. Westport has one of the highest walkability rankings in the country.
2. Schools are very cheap here if you plan to go back.
3. The KCPD are hiring and have a great new police academy.
4. If you like art this is the place. Great museums many galleries, first Fridays has outdoor shows and hip hop and other music on the streets.
5. The area will have the most bang for your buck on cost of living and housing.
6. It's a beautiful city with many art deco buildings downtown and the plaza is beautiful with a lot of upscale shopping.
7. Best BBQ ever IMO
There is a lot of history here and plenty to do and a very vibrant night life.
We do get snow, but not tons anymore. But it gets very cold in the winters.
To put things in perspective, Cleveland used to have 2x as many people (pop. 900,000) within its city limits as it does today. That means the density was over 10,000sq/mi at one time. I guarantee you can walk to just as many markets, bars, and restaurants in Cleveland as you can in Portland. Most Rust Belt cities are also dotted with little corner stores (bodegas if you're out East) where you can buy booze and junk food, as well as numerous ethnic grocery stores that cater to various cultures.
Was over 10,000 sq./mi. Which is fine. I am not saying Cleveland isn't walkable, but would just caution against underestimating the walkability of Portland (or Cleveland, for that matter... I voted for it in this poll). There are tons of convenience stores and whatnot to be found in Portland, in addition to real supermarkets and various small businesses smattered around within walking distance of most parts of the city. Outside of downtown, Portland is more like a collection of small towns centered on their respective "downtowns" that are replete with all the necessary businesses you'd need.
To 5Lakes:
This also goes into the night life aspect. Many bars in Portland aren't centered on a particular nabe. They are more scattered across the various places like Hawthorne, Belmont, Alberta, St. Johns, etc.
Last edited by backdrifter; 12-21-2009 at 02:50 AM..
Was over 10,000 sq./mi. Which is fine. I am not saying Cleveland isn't walkable, but would just caution against underestimating the walkability of Portland (or Cleveland, for that matter... I voted for it in this poll). There are tons of convenience stores and whatnot to be found in Portland, in addition to real supermarkets and various small businesses smattered around within walking distance of most parts of the city. Outside of downtown, Portland is more like a collection of small towns centered on their respective "downtowns" that are replete with all the necessary businesses you'd need.
To 5Lakes:
This also goes into the night life aspect. Many bars in Portland aren't centered on a particular nabe. They are more scattered across the various places like Hawthorne, Belmont, Alberta, St. Johns, etc.
I never said Portland wasn't walkable, I just think Portland's walkability has been greatly exaggerated. Population density is the best indicator of walkability and Cleveland is a much denser city than Portland.
Forget Kansas City. Crime is awful here and they are not hiring cops right now due to serious budget problems at City Hall.
Cleveland has a lower crime rate and a nightlife thanks to the new and improved downtown that has developed over the last 20 years. Not sure about availability of single women but I think if you look at neighborhoods near colleges or universities then you'll likely be able to meet a few.
I can't believe Portland is winning this poll. It's as though the other C-D members just voted for the trendiest city on the list, and didn't even bother to read the OP.
So Portland is the best place to meet women of many different colors, despite being the least diverse? Portland is a good place to go clubbing and listen to hip hop, despite being a haven for hipsters and indie bands?
Haha...this really is kind of funny. Portland IS the "nicest" city of the bunch, but not so much the greatest fit for everybody. I don't know much about KC, but Cleveland works for what the OP wants. However, it is very shady and you need to know where you are and what you are doing...can't imagine it being any different or worse than Atlanta though. If you're street smart, then who cares. But Cleveland is still a gritty/industrial city in terms of look and feel, however it does have a nice nightlife and plenty to do. It's not all "the mistake by the lake" and dirty. The overall perception is a bit misleading and doesn't fit the whole city. It's the most urban of the three and "city proper". Portland is more or less nothing at all like an east coast city, and more of an artsy/music easy-going type of place. I think Cleveland might be the best fit here when looking at cost of living and the big picture.
I can't believe Portland is winning this poll. It's as though the other C-D members just voted for the trendiest city on the list, and didn't even bother to read the OP.
So Portland is the best place to meet women of many different colors, despite being the least diverse? Portland is a good place to go clubbing and listen to hip hop, despite being a haven for hipsters and indie bands?
Portland is an expensive place to live. Kansas City is pretty reasonable when it comes to cost of living, but it won't offer the OP much else of what he wants at least from what I read in his original message. Cleveland comes closest to offering what he outlined in the initial post.
Are there places in Portland and Cleveland that have apartments under $700 in the safe and low crime areas of the city?
OK I went to the cost of living website at CNN MOney and It says that the cost of living in Portland is higher than it is in Atlanta, why is it higher, are there better amenities in Portland than Atlanta?
I'm not going to diss the other cities, just speak on KC my home town.
1. It is not walkable in most areas. If you live downtown, midtown, plaza, Westport, or river market then it's VERY walkable. Westport has one of the highest walkability rankings in the country.
2. Schools are very cheap here if you plan to go back.
3. The KCPD are hiring and have a great new police academy.
4. If you like art this is the place. Great museums many galleries, first Fridays has outdoor shows and hip hop and other music on the streets.
5. The area will have the most bang for your buck on cost of living and housing.
6. It's a beautiful city with many art deco buildings downtown and the plaza is beautiful with a lot of upscale shopping.
7. Best BBQ ever IMO
There is a lot of history here and plenty to do and a very vibrant night life.
We do get snow, but not tons anymore. But it gets very cold in the winters.
Great post.
KCPD is a great PD. (not sure about KCK, much smaller, probably does not offer as much).
I studied Criminal Justice and spent a good deal of time doing ride alongs with the KCPD.
It's a large and very diverse department that covers a wide spectrum of demographics from high poverty urban to upscale urban to suburban. The department has state of the art training facilities that the entire metro uses. They have an extensive variety of patrols including ATV, Helicopters, horseback, bikes, a huge motorcycle fleet etc. KCPD seems to be on TV a lot as well such as COPS, KC SWAT and several others, so it's a busy department, but I wouldn't call it horribly crime ridden or dangerous either.
As far as the city goes. I like Cleveland and Portland, but coming from Atlanta, I think you will probably like KC better than those two towns. Cleveland is much more blue collar than KC and just has that blue collar vibe. It's a great town though with some fantastic urban neighborhoods and it's a fun town in the summer.
Portland is really far and hard to get to if you ever plan on returning to Atlanta or anyplace east really. KC is not a bad drive to anyplace in the country and non-stops to just about any city is a quick 2-3 hour flight.
Cost of living in KC is going to be WAY less than Portland too and probably about the same as Cleveland.
As far as transit goes, well Portland winds hands down on that one and Cleveland has a decent transit system. I have not been there since their new BRT opened.
KC has no rail, (been trying to build it for decades). But if you live in the central city, I think the city has a very good central city bus system with some of the cleanest, nicest buses you will see anywhere that run frequently and are safe. You just can't use them to get out to the sprawling suburbs as that's where they fail. There are a lot of "rail" cities with real bad bus systems, so don't get too worked up on the rail thing.
KC has an arts/museum/cultural/nightlife/theater scene that competes with cities much larger than KC and I don't think there would be any problem there at all. If you live in the city, there are plenty of walkable, urban areas that would fit your needs.
Best of all, it's an inexpensive town to live in while still getting nearly all the big city stuff and quality of life you get in most big cities.
I do like all three of these towns though and could live in any of them I think. I have always thought it would be fun to live in Portland since you also have Seattle and Vancouver not too far away. Cleveland would be fun to live by the lake and you have all the rustbelt cities nearby (and cedar point!). Cleveland and Portland are quite different though and KC is somewhere in the middle. No pun intended!
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