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So I know alot of people are always curious about what other cities are like and often go ahead and ask people in the perspective forum for their opinions about the city and often get bad answers from people who are "homers" or overly biased or the thread turns into a huge argument over someone being too pessimistic or overly protective of their city.
Put all stereotypes, biases, and arguing aside and realistically list several good things and several things that suck about the current city you live in.
I'll start...
I live in West Covina, CA which is in the San Gabriel Valley of L.A. County
Good:
Scenery with the San Gabriel Mountains
Hiking
Diversity
Fairly decent restaurants
Lots of colleges nearby
Beautiful women
Bad:
Haven't experienced it yet, but I hear the summers are brutal here
Traffic
Lack of walkability
Not much vibrancy
Strip malls!
Suburbia
Cost of housing
Negative:
High housing costs
High taxes
Weak public schools
Positive:
Comprehensive, cheap mass transit
Demographic diversity
Abundance of cultural amenities
Abundance of nightlife and entertainment
Major world transportation hub
Major world business and finance center
Great medical and hospital facilities
Great colleges and universities
Generally low crime rate
Moderate weather with four real seasons
I'm going to try to steer this thread in a way that is as equal as possible (5 positives and negatives....no lopsidedness):
Minneapolis Positives:
1. beautiful lakes (makes what would be an average Midwestern city very very beautiful, and they're everywhere)
2. good schools (K-12 AND collegiate, suburban AND city)
3. great culture ("lakes culture", liberal but not too much, friendly, not afraid of the weather, outdoor-centric)
4. family-friendly (great place to raise a family and a great place to grow up)
5. tons to do (summer/winter outdoor sports, museums/theatre, nightlife/restaurants, etc.)
Minneapolis Negatives:
1. winters too cold (could still be snowy/icy but warmer, IMO)
2. a bit isolated (wish there were more 1M+ metros within 3-4 hour's drive)
3. behind U.S averages (on diversity, population growth%, temperature, alcohol/bar related laws)
4. passive aggressiveness (don't prefer aggression but don't like the behind-your-back nature of the local culture)
5. topography (besides lakes, I wish there were even bigger hills, mountains, or a huge body of water nearby)
I'm going to try to steer this thread in a way that is as equal as possible (5 positives and negatives....no lopsidedness):
Minneapolis Positives:
1. beautiful lakes (makes what would be an average Midwestern city very very beautiful, and they're everywhere)
2. good schools (K-12 AND collegiate, suburban AND city)
3. great culture ("lakes culture", liberal but not too much, friendly, not afraid of the weather, outdoor-centric)
4. family-friendly (great place to raise a family and a great place to grow up)
5. tons to do (summer/winter outdoor sports, museums/theatre, nightlife/restaurants, etc.)
Minneapolis Negatives:
1. winters too cold (could still be snowy/icy but warmer, IMO)
2. a bit isolated (wish there were more 1M+ metros within 3-4 hour's drive)
3. behind U.S averages (on diversity, population growth%, temperature, alcohol/bar related laws)
4. passive aggressiveness (don't prefer aggression but don't like the behind-your-back nature of the local culture)
5. topography (besides lakes, I wish there were even bigger hills, mountains, or a huge body of water nearby)
Positives
1. The Weather - I go to beach when most of the country is huddled up in their homes for the winter
2. Food - Food from literally every corner of the planet can be found here, usually quite affordable
3. Access to East Asia - Direct Flights to China, Singapore, Japan
4. Colleges - You have your pick of excellent Universities in this area
5. You're in driving distance of a ton of activities, everything from nature hikes to Vegas
Negatives
1. Cost of living - One of the highest in the country last time I looked
2. Traffic - Made rush hour bumper to bumper scenes famous
3. K-12 Education - Public schools here are a mixed bag, but they tend to lean on the **** side of the spectrum.
4. Lack of Walkability
5. The Sprawl - not just sprawl but THE Sprawl
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Albuquerque:
Positives -
1- The Climate: One of the main reasons I stick around here is the fantastic year round climate. For me it's nearly perfect, I appreciate seasonal changes but can't stand lots of cloudy days. ABQ has 300+ sunny days and I love all the vitamin D coming from Boston and Seattle before then it makes a huge difference. Winters are short with only occasional snow dustings just enough to appreciate the season but not too much cold and snow to get tired of it. Summers are long with t shirt weather between April and October but not oppressively hot. Albuquerque in my opinion has a great abundance of 'nice' days in terms of weather in just about any season.
2- Roadtrips!: Albuquerque is a fantastic base for some amazing roadtrips all over the Southwest. Some of the country's best National Parks, mountains, canyons, exceptional hiking and recreational destinations, and interesting landscapes are all within a day's drive. My favorites have been White Sands, Tent Rocks, Taos/Rio Grande Gorge, Southwestern Colorado/San Juan Mountains, Grand Canyon/Northern Arizona. I also love soaking in the local hot springs resorts, it's my favorite thing to do here in winter. Ojo Caliente and Riverbend are amazing.
3- Santa Fe is only an hour away: Sometimes I need to get out of the commercial monotany Albuquerque on a day off and just be someplace close but very different. The charm, artistry, history, architecture, excellent dining,and atmosphere of Santa Fe are all nearby and I enjoy the drive up.
4- Biking: Albuquerque is bar none one of the best biking cities in the US. There are several paved separated bicycle trails around the city, with an excpetionally long one through the beautiful bosque forest along the Rio Grande, and awesome mountain biking trails at the foothills of the mountains.
5- The Sandia Mountains: I think it's awesome on my commute home as I drive up the hill I'm approaching a big wall of mountains. I love having the foothill trails a mere 10 minute drive away combined with all the ammenities of a medium sized city I could ever need at my doorstep.
6- Plenty of elbow room: I love the views of expansive horizons here and all the open space in, around, and at the edge of the city, and some of the best sunsets imaginable. I just love looking at the endless skies here as they are very inspiring.
Negatives:
1- Low esteem: It hasn't realized its potential. There is some local pride here in Albuquerque regarding its heritage and character, but this is not a very esteemed kind of city. Even a lot of locals and natives are cynical and complain a lot about the city and many downright diss it. Albuquerque needs a healthy does of civic pride.
2- Airfare and flights: ABQ has easy access to anywhere in the West, but flying back East is a pain with connecting and expensive airfares
3- Isolation: Though this pairs up with the open space and elbow room that I love about the city, nearest big cities are El Paso (no thanks) 3 hours, and both Denver and Phoenix are 7 hours away.
4- High rate of auto accidents. People complaining about the way people drive in certain regions is commonly found and I'm sure is remarked in threads most states on these forums. I'm from Boston where they drive very aggresively. Unfortunately here they drive like lunatics and there is a very high rate of auto accidents. There's aggressive and even rude driving, then there is just stupid. Unfortunately many Albuquerque drivers resemble the latter.
5- Lack of urban vibrancy downtown and around the city: Downtown Albuquerque is very lackluster and quite frankly dirty (like tagged vandalism and needles on the street kind of dirty). I get down there every now and then but the atmosphere just isn't all that compelling. There are signs of improvement with some interesting small businesses and restaurants but there is so much vacancy there. Some blocks feel vibrant and the next block over can feel derelect. Downtown and surrounding neigborhoods really need a lot more TLC. There are historic neighborhoods on the edges of downtown that have quality craftsman home sand interesting architecture but they are not very well kept.
There is a whole lot more vibrancy and eclectic options down the road on Central Ave in Nob Hill and around the UNM campus. I know many others have seen the city's potential in having a very vibrant urban corridor between Old Town, Downtown, UNM, Nob Hill, and Uptown. However anytime some sort of suggestion of improvement (such as light rail/streetcar) to enhance the cohesiveness of the urban nodes in this city and build it up into a unique and vibrant urban corridor that only Albuquerque could have it gets lupe warm responses to downright rejection in some instances and it will take a lot of time for any true prosperous urban development to get going, especially downtown. There are noticable improvements and steps such as a new grocery store downtown, but overall our downtown and urban vibe is rather lame when it has the potential to be so much more. This city already has a lot of unique local character, it just needs to a big boost to kick it up several notches.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 04-09-2013 at 03:56 PM..
Grand Rapids, MI
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Positives:
1.Easy to navigate through
2. GREAT Beer
3. Nice summers (usually, last July got a little too hot)
Negatives:
1. Too conservative
2. Poor selection and quality of music venues and all around entertainment.
3. Weak music scene (though it IS growing and getting better)
4. Not very diverse
5. Not a great selection of restaurants
6.(this may be redundant) but our one major music venue gets 6 acts per year and 3 of those 6 are Kenny Chesney and the other 3 are 2 pop artists and 1 classic rock artist....
7. weak public transit
8. Not very bike friendly
9. We've had a HUGE spike in violent crimes over the past year.
10. Too far from any really breathtaking nature (The UP would be the closest at a 4.5 hour drive)
11. Winters here are hell on earth, it's still not spring... and it's April 9th.
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