Nearly every city mentioned on here has a strong liberal voting block within it's borders if you break it down to a precinct or neighborhood level. All of them. If you look at a voting block over all as a city, metro, or county, then the picture changes. At this level you can then say an area leans more conservative or liberal. The best map I've seen that breaks this down to that level of detail was done by the NY Times;
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/.../40.14/-110.42
Quote:
Originally Posted by TCHP
What constitutes nice? Best scenery, friendly people, widest job opportunities, range of shopping, variety of eateries?
Quote:
Originally Posted by concept_fusion
Not ordered:
1) Limited natural hazards. 2) Good geographic location. 3) Nice, desirable downtown area (a skyline or vistas would be nice). 4) Strong local culture and sense of community pride. 5) Low crime rate. 6) Good business climate. 7) Tourism to the local area. 8) Food and restaurants.
|
|
Again, things like good, nice, desirable, strong, low are relative and based on _____ compared to _____? Several cities mentioned here so far can likely meet a majority of those criteria.
Since I'm in Colo Spgs and its been mentioned here and has placed high on numerous best of lists, I'll try to address your criteria relative to my home town;
Limited natural hazards - we have forest fires on the west side, floods in low lying areas, small tornados on the east side, golf ball or larger hail everywhere, can get blizzards in winter and are an inherently dry area with low rainfall. Bear, deer, fox, coyote, moose, mountain lions have all been seen within the city and many have had documented violent interaction with humans and animals. All that aside, we typically have a somewhat uneventful existence here most of the time. Tsunamis, earthquakes, major landslides are a big negative. Is that limited?
Good geographical location - well, we're almost in the middle of the continental US. We're several hours from world class skiing, we're an hour away from Denver and its cultural activities, but were more than a days drive or several hours by air, from other major cities. Is that good?
Nice or desirable downtown - Downtown is the location of the highest concentration of locally owned businesses and restaurants in the city. The Olympic Museum is nearly complete, an outdoor stadium has broken ground, extensive renovations are underway, we have an increasing density of low rise housing being built, several buildings around the 200' height, and for vistas, we do have Pikes Peak and the Front Range of the Rocky Mtns. Nice?
Strong local culture or community ride - Well, in this regard Colo Spgs is kind of homogonous. Its marked trait is survival, which means it reinvents itself every generation or so. It has been in its history a wild west supply town, a genteel resort, a millionaires enclave, an infirmed recovery center, a military compound, a religious headquarters, a technology manufacturing hub, and is now eyeing the cyber world. Is that a strong local culture or fluid adaptation?
Low crime rate - Like any city its size, it has areas where crime occurs frequently and areas where it rarely happens at all. As a composite, it sometimes appears higher then comparable cities, but nearly half of our crime occurs in 4 of 18 area zip codes. Is that low?
Good business climate - in a word, yes. Numerous companies have relocated here with branches of nearly every tech company you could imagine. It doesn't mean they stayed, but the environment was such that they came. We also have started numerous business incubators, co-hosted meeting spaces, and are seeing a sizable increase in start ups. Is that good?
Tourism - Uhh, yeah. We've been a major tourist destination since the 1860s and continue as such to today. You can live here a decade and not complete visits to everything reasonably accessible from here. With the Olympic Training Center and two international events on Pikes Peak, we have a global tourist trade.
Food and restaurants - Yup, numerous local places including a variety of local foods from around Cos and Pueblo, regional chains out of Denver, and of course nearly everything national. Some televised food shows have come through town. We have a large German, Korean, and some middle eastern expat population that bring their food with them. We also have a growing transplant population opening more places with a flair of where they are from.
So does that qualify as good, nice, or desirable? With strokes that broad, only you could determine that. Come out for a visit sometime.
https://www.visitcos.com/
https://coloradosprings.gov/