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People in San Francisco and Washington DC both believe in big government -- the former because they think they know what's best for everybody, and the latter because they want to keep their jobs.
I'd say they both are, and the argument is one of semantics.
I've got a coworker who lives in Tysons, and it takes him nearly an hour to get into the city each morning. That's exurban in my book, even if the distance from DC is not all that great.
Maybe your friend should take the Metro. I've never heard of an exurban community that had access to the city rail system. I'm pretty sure that residents of McLean, Vienna, Fairfax, Oakton, Herndon, Springfield, Annandale, et al do NOT consider themselves anything but suburban DC.
He does. That commute time involves driving to the station, training into DC, switching lines, and arriving at his final destination. You think he wouldn't have figure a faster way into the city by now?
Another thing, you can't treat all aspects of the county equally--it's not some singular entity. Montgomery County, MD, for instance has some towns that are absolutely exurbs, even though places like Bethesda and Silver Spring exist just over the District line.
I know you lived there many moons ago, but times change. Believe it or not, Fairfax isn't as close to DC as it once was.
It's a startlingly accurate one. They're either people from Harvard or Princeton who have been told that they're the most special and the best of the best, or they're people who just want to get by and clock out by 4.
As for the original question, I realize that DC isn't for me, seeing how despite its high amount of young people and transient population, is probably one of the most socially uptight places around, especially with it's 20-something population. Some people may have different experiences, and that's fine. The thing is that I keep hearing San Francisco as an alternative to live in. But in all honesty, San Fran is not on the top of my list. The reason is because of its reputation of its citizens being very smug and limousine-liberal. I've observed more than enough of that while in DC and really want an environment that's more congenial and down-to-earth.
Sounds to me like a southern city would be more suitable for you.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jman650
WTF? Alright, we all know that you have a major hard-on for DC and love to make SF out to be echelons below DC at every opportunity you find. (I'm assuming you were a sheltered East Bay kid who finally moved out of the house and began experiencing real adulthood in DC.) You never lived in SF and your knowledge of the actually City has proven in the past to be flawed, so I take much of what you say about it with a grain of salt. But seriously, dude, SF is isolated from all other cities and DC isn't? Do you actually even believe you were playing fair here?
How do Baltimore (1 hour), AC (3 1/2 - 4 hours), NYC (4 1/2 hours), Williamsburg (2 1/2 - 3 hours), and VA Beach (4 hours) count as "much more variety in terms of different places to visit close by?" You act as though SF isn't right next to Oakland/Berkeley (10 minutes), Napa/Sonoma wine country (40 minutes) and San Jose (45 minutes), and "close by" Sacramento (1 1/2 hours), Santa Cruz (60-75 minutes), Monterey (2 hours), Tahoe (3 1/2 hours) or Reno (4 hours), and many, MANY more.
Or that the distance to LA (6 hours) is so much greater than the distance to NYC (4 1/2 hours). Not to mention Vegas is only a few hours more on an LA road trip. SF is hardly isolated, and those places you've listed are hardly "close by" compared what SF is surrounded by. You seem like you're just trying to convince yourself that your relocation to DC was the right call by consistently trying to take SF down a notch. And its getting really old.
I understand you want to get your point across but those distance estimates are way off for DC...Baltimore is 40-45 mins on an average day, Atlantic city is 2 1/2 hrs and thats taking the scenic route. And I have driven to the Lincoln Tunnel in NY with no traffic from DC metro area in 3 hours flat, was I speeding? yes but it is not 4 1/2 hours away.
I guess they're similar in being expensive, compact cities, but the people are quite different and the activities available are as well. There seems to be a lot of people who are far from limousine liberals in SF and more people who are not only idealistic but also try to take action in their daily lives to back up their politics. I also vastly prefer the weather in SF, though it is fair to say norcal is mostly isolated from other large metros save for Sacramento (which isn't particularly great urban fun, but then again, I don't think most people make daytrips to other metros often enough to make this particularly important). Also, Oakland is great--it is not simply an analogue to SW DC
No, it's not, it's an astoundingly ignorant one. But that is apparently OK; we're apparently fine with trashing people who devote their entire careers to serving this country, accusing them of simply sucking at the government teat and not giving a damn. Fortunately for all of us, most of them ignore that rhetoric and keep doing their job, to the betterment of everyone.
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