Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Pros: Sense of pride, beaches on the lake (nice for being in the midwest), decently cheap cost of living, good food, diverse.
Cons: Depressing, cliquey, always under construction, horrible weather most of the year(I hate cold), lots of alcoholics/heroine junkies, poor/ugly infrastructure, too many factories, poor city planning.
Are you a native or a transplant? If you are a transplant, where are you from originally and why you moved?
Born and raised.
Do you like living there, hate it, or have more of a neutral view? If you hate it, where would you go if you had the chance?
Hate it. The city itself isn't the worst, and I'm probably being harsher than I should be but that's just because I've been here all my life and am working on moving out as soon as possible. I'm going to move to Florida or California after college.
Ohio is alright....I can get what I need here and the weather here isn't as bad as people say. I would like to live somewhere else eventually, or at least a different town than I'm in now, but it works for the moment.
Native Arizonan. Went from Phoenix to Tucson, both part-time, and full-time Phoenician for 18 years.
I can't stand the high temps and I want out. But I like most other things about my area... so I'll just vote that I am "content" though I will be leaving as soon as I can.
I was trying to light the forum up a little but it seemed like it backfired mostly. Lol... anyways I'll say this, Austin isn't a bad place to visit/live. We are no NYC, LA, Chicago, ect. Don't expect to much diversity, mass transit, high density everywhere. Austin is what it is and that's what I love about the place.
I think Austin is ok for diversity, especially for it's size.
Louisiana has lots of pros and lots of cons, but its a special place to me.
I was born in Baton Rouge and live in Lafayette. I plan to stay here for my lifetime.
Pro's
Joie de vivre. Its the Louisiana way!
Festivals of all kinds
FOOD. Aside from cajun and creole a lot of startups try their luck here, some of which venture to Austin and then come back. Louisiana traditional and seafood or exotic. Youll find something interesting. Patacon maracucho and sushi burritos are favorites of mine!
Lots of locally owned businesses with lots of character. Louisiana staples like CC's coffee house and Rouses market, urbanos Taqueria, or Pizza Artista.
Local music. Cajun or zydeco but also creative fun indie bands and even legends like Sonny Landreth and swamp pop classics. Music is a huge way of life here.
Art and a unique culture. Murals painted on buildings, signs, artwalks, converted old buildings to art galleries and housing. If youre an artist youll find a welcoming place! Also youll find two preserved cajun/acadian villages right in the city. They are registered as museums but often hold cultural events and parties.
Interesting cajun/french dialect and language spoken in the area. On signs and billboards. Tv. Radio. Learn a little French if you want to live here!
Decent amenities. Large cinemas, performing arts theater, orchestra, other music venues, clubs, serviceable if small downtown, good hospitals, bus transportation, parks, most things you need. Even things you dont like a cable operated water skiing place.
Reasonably safe in most areas.
University brings more youth and vitality to the area. Hipster neighborhoods and that sort of thing.
Low cost of living aside from housing costs.
Fiber internet. Gigabit fiber is a huge plus techwise. It has drawn some techies to the area but hopefully more come. Just not TOO many lol. Joking aside, theres a pilot training center and the LITE center with 3d imaging and a tech thinktank here. It gives the city a bit of modern vibe and its certainly not static!
The religious demographic is catholic not protestant or baptist, so you wont get too many hellfire threats or crazy fundamentalists. Catholics are more lax and let things be. Christianity is highly visible though. For me this is a positive for some it wouldnt.
Friendly people. They will cook and invite you to crawfish boils, help you move, watch your kids, help you in times of need. Louisiana folks are genuine and kind hearted. Louisiana struggles with many things and its people give what they can to make things right again. Incredible spirit of survival. This is the best part of living here. You feel like you belong.
Ragin Cajun games. From baseball to basketball to football, ull students love their teams and going to games is a lot of fun! Also a huge amount of LSU graduates in the mix. Strong local pride and identity.
What I like is the city hasnt had to make any claims to be strange or special, it just is by nature of the culture that exists.
In all a pretty fun place to live but not without several drawbacks.
Con's
High housing prices relative to other southern regions. The houses and land are overpriced. Cajuns apparently value their land and wont give it up easily.
High crime. While not widespread, its noticeably high. For a city of 125k the crime is not acceptable. I dont feel in danger going out but its not a bad idea to concealed carry either.
Poverty. Louisiana is a poor state so even nice cities like mine struggle with bad poverty in places. Its evident in some areas that look extremely distressed.
Traffic sucks because the roads were never meant to contain so much traffic. This area is called hub city because it is the center of acadian cajun culture and pulls business from many parishes. The traffic is stupid for a smaller city. The geography of the area and stubborn business owners makes it difficult to widen roads or build new routes. We may have to elevate.
Health problems. Its known that Louisiana has an obesity problem. There are lots of fitness centers and gyms in the city but obesity is not so easy to eliminate. Its not wal mart after dark bad but its noticeable.
Transportation is not very good. Theres amtrak trains but louisiana doesnt allow for subways. Too much underground water and flooding. There are cng buses and a fleet of university buses though.
Schools are a mixed bag. Depending on what part of the city they can range from pretty good to horrific. Its an ongoing struggle. Its not a lack of facilities or supplies either. The bad schools arent run down.
Ill put catholic culture here because religion is a con for some. Its very god fearing culture but not like other southern areas.
Lots of drunks. Louisiana loves alcohol. We have drive through daiquiri shops and late opening liquor stores. Enough said.
Trash everywhere. My #1 problem with Lafayette and Louisiana in general is the trash. People litter constantly. Its unsightly and sad. Lafayette even has a program called Project front yard to try and curb it. The state cant afford to clean it all up.
Climate is extremely hot if you like the cold. It will test you for sure!
On that note there are barely seasons besides summer and winter. Summer is very long and winter is mild and short. Snow is a once in ten years thing and maybe an inch. It rains heavily every afternoon in summer for about an hour. It rains a lot in general like a rainforest.
So thats my City. I love her to death but she has her problems. Ive only lived in jamaica aside from Louisiana, but visit NOVA frequently to visit relatives and I know for certain that wouldnt be the place for me. I appreciate the appalachians though. Beautiful area.
Currently live in Cleveland and it is just alright.... I used to be a huge fan and supporter of the city, but after living IN the actual city for a while now, I am rather disappointed and tired of it. I would love to move out of state, but that isn't exactly an easy task. I don't quite have the funds or opportunity to move out of state.
What's some pros your current city?
*Decent food scene, diverse economy, tons of job opportunities, up and coming music scene, diverse enough, lots of young professionals moving in, great COL to salary ratio, and has that "on the edge of something great feel to it but just can't put my finger on it."
What's some pros your current city?
*Mediocre park system, too many highways around DT, lack of streelife, car culture, way too much suburban sprawl, no respect for its history, lack of city pride, very copy and paste in parts, and underwhelming DT.
Are you a native or a transplant? If you are a transplant, where are you from originally and why you moved?
*Transplant from the NE. New job opportunities and wanting to see other parts of the country.
Do you like living there, hate it, or have more of a neutral view? If you hate it, where would you go if you had the chance?
*Rather neutral. Dallas is on to something and I can see it establishing an identity in the near future. I guess that's the reason why I stay. Right now, it struggles between those that want a more homegrown, organic city and those that prefer the copy and paste, bland generic look.
Pros: An hour to the mountains, two and a half hours to the beach. Mild winters with no snow, and not super cold. Decent amount of food diversity. Clovis schools are good so while we live in Fresno, the kids are in the Clovis school boundaries. People are friendly most of the time. Not too expensive to buy a house, but I think that's changing.
Cons: Bad air quality!! Super hot summers that go on and on. High power costs!! Have to drive everywhere, not a walkable city, or very bike friendly. Except for a few weeks in spring it's ugly and brown. Needs better concerts, they skip over Fresno and go to LA or Sacramento. Too conservative, and not super accepting of others of different faiths or political beliefs.
After 38 years hubby and I are finally moving out of California. We're moving to Wyoming at the end of the month and I am hopeful that we'll finally be at our forever state/ home. California had one thing going for it, our family is here, but we got to get out and I'm hoping they visit us and decide to join us on the other side.
Are you a native or a transplant? If you are a transplant, where are you from originally and why you moved? Transplant, originally from Riverside, CA, mostly cost-of-living and climate reasons.
What's some pros and con's of your current city? Pros: Growing, thriving city, very good climate, all four pro sports, mountain views
Cons: The people, the culture, the dryness, brown, few trees.
Do you like living there, hate it, or have more of a neutral view? If you hate it, where would you go if you had the chance? I'm neutral. There is plenty to do, so you can never be bored. It is pretty, but it doesn't resonate with me in most ways. It doesn't tickle my soul. Perfect on paper, but not in application. I would wander around at my leisure, and if I ever were to move away I wouldn't have much of a reason to ever come back.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
