Looking for a warm, not-car-depenent city (rent, car insurance, employment)

[grapico]

hate to dissapoint, but your ONLY option is San Francisco, and it isn't exactly warm, but it doesn't get cold either. The rest will not work, despite what homers might have said already, or will inevitably come in the thread and say.

[creeksitter]

I seem to recall some mass transit in Savannah, but you could arrange your life so you don't need it. There is a nice modern grocery store just to the NW of the historic district. Hardware store, too. I think you could make a nice life without a car. You certainly wouldn't lack for entertainment options.

[LiveUrban]

Portland, Oregon

[AK123]

Originally Posted by bentstrider

Austin actually has a rather all-inclusive bicycle scene down there.
With the universities and tech-industries all over the place, I could see it as a fairly decent place to get around on two wheels with.
And it's Houston that's known to be the car-centric city of Texas.

More of these silly misconceptions. Austin does a very good job of promoting itself that is sometimes misleading.

All cities in Texas are car-centric. Yes, even Austin. At least Houston has a light rail system, so it's no more car-centric than Austin is (which doesn't have the light rail system or the extensive park-and-ride / HOV system like Houston does.)

[bentstrider]

Originally Posted by AK123

More of these silly misconceptions. Austin does a very good job of promoting itself that is sometimes misleading.

All cities in Texas are car-centric. Yes, even Austin. At least Houston has a light rail system, so it's no more car-centric than Austin is (which doesn't have the light rail system or the extensive park-and-ride / HOV system like Houston does.)

Well, I've been living in an area that's pretty much "car-or-sit at home and rot" for all my life and I've been cycling it just fine since '04.

Austin may be car-centric, but I wouldn't let something like that keep me from moving to there or anywhere else for that matter.
If anything, I've always found large cities with major downtown areas and small, simple towns easier to deal with than these OC-inspired, cookie-cutter suburbs that have popped up everywhere in the past 20-odd years.

[tfox]

Denverite here. Just wanted to clarify some of the claims made on this forum.

I don't think the OP is going to like Denver on account of climate. Yes, our average high is 46 degrees in winter, which is not bad (similar to parts of NC or TN), but average lows are closer to 20 (which is FAR colder than anywhere in the southeast). And there's plenty of snow in Denver, so we certainly don't have a "short snow season" by any means. We are, after all, a stone's throw into the mountains to Ski Country, USA. We ARE mild compared to the midwest, and milder than our latitude would indicate (on the east coast, our latitude would be near the PA/MD border). And we do get a lot of sun, especially in winter, which is in contrast to the gloom that settles over the northeast and midwest. But we're NOT "mild" like California or Texas, that's all I'm saying.

As for mass transit, yes, we're in the middle of a very ambitious expansion project (Fastracks) that should be coming on line in the next few years (expanding our light rail system from two lines up to seven). But we're not in the same category as a Boston, NYC, DC, or SF by any means, even after our expansion is complete. And to be honest, our system is more of a commuter system, so if you truly want to be without a car completely, you'd have to live in the center city, which of course is doable. Lots of families here do fine with one car and rely on transit and biking, if for no other reason in that there's no mass transit to the mountains.

I don't think there's a truly warm weather city that meets the OP's requirements, other than perhaps SF Bay Area (which is virtually snow free although not really warm). If the OP is willing to compromise a bit on climate, then I think Denver would be a good choice.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by bentstrider

Well, I've been living in an area that's pretty much "car-or-sit at home and rot" for all my life and I've been cycling it just fine since '04.
Austin may be car-centric, but I wouldn't let something like that keep me from moving to there or anywhere else for that matter.

That's all fine, but what you said before -

Originally Posted by bentstrider

Austin actually has a rather all-inclusive bicycle scene down there.
With the universities and tech-industries all over the place, I could see it as a fairly decent place to get around on two wheels with.
And it's Houston that's known to be the car-centric city of Texas.

- really isn't quite right. It sounded like it was going off propaganda (or really outdated information) more than reality.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by tfox

Denverite here. Just wanted to clarify some of the claims made on this forum.

I don't think the OP is going to like Denver on account of climate. Yes, our average high is 46 degrees in winter, which is not bad (similar to parts of NC or TN), but average lows are closer to 20 (which is FAR colder than anywhere in the southeast). And there's plenty of snow in Denver, so we certainly don't have a "short snow season" by any means. We are, after all, a stone's throw into the mountains to Ski Country, USA. We ARE mild compared to the midwest, and milder than our latitude would indicate (on the east coast, our latitude would be near the PA/MD border). And we do get a lot of sun, especially in winter, which is in contrast to the gloom that settles over the northeast and midwest. But we're NOT "mild" like California or Texas, that's all I'm saying.

As for mass transit, yes, we're in the middle of a very ambitious expansion project (Fastracks) that should be coming on line in the next few years (expanding our light rail system from two lines up to seven). But we're not in the same category as a Boston, NYC, DC, or SF by any means, even after our expansion is complete. And to be honest, our system is more of a commuter system, so if you truly want to be without a car completely, you'd have to live in the center city, which of course is doable. Lots of families here do fine with one car and rely on transit and biking, if for no other reason in that there's no mass transit to the mountains.

I don't think there's a truly warm weather city that meets the OP's requirements, other than perhaps SF Bay Area (which is virtually snow free although not really warm). If the OP is willing to compromise a bit on climate, then I think Denver would be a good choice.

To put what you said about snow in Denver into proper perspective, Albany NY only averages about 4 more inches than Denver(63.9 for Albany and 60.3 for Denver): Snowfall - Average Total In Inches Interesting.......

[aaronstlcards]

Long Beach, CA. - obviously "perfect" weather year around.
Long Beach is the southern terminus for the Los Angeles Metro Blue Line light rail corridor. Blue Line trains run from Long Beach City Hall to Downtown Los Angeles. The Metro Rail Blue Line Maintenance Shops are also located in Long Beach just south of the Del Amo Blue Line station.
There is an Amtrak Thruway bus shuttle starting in San Pedro, with stops at the Queen Mary and downtown Long Beach, that then goes to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, and ends in Bakersfield. The Blue Line MetroRail connects downtown Long Beach to the Staples Center and downtown Los Angeles where it connects with Hollywood and Pasadena.
Greyhound Lines operates the Long Beach Station in downtown Long Beach.[22]
Public transportation in Long Beach is provided by Long Beach Transit. Besides the normal bus service, which charges a fare, Long Beach has free routes, the Passport routes, which use mini-buses to shuttle passengers within the downtown area. The Passport "C" route between the downtown, The Aquarium, The Pine Ave. Circle, Shorline Village, and the Queen Mary, and Passport "A" and "D" buses go East-West along Ocean Boulevard, linking the Catalina Landing in the west with Alamitos Bay or Los Altos via Belmont Shore in the east. A $1.25 fare is required when traveling east of Alamitos Avenue. Another free route, Passport "B" in the East Village, visits museums and other points of interest.Long Beach Transit Web Site
Long Beach Transit also operates the 49-passenger AquaBus water taxi, which stops at the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Queen Mary, and four other locations; and the 75-passenger AquaLink water taxi, which travels between the Aquarium, the Queen Mary, and Alamitos Bay Landing next to the Long Beach Marina.
There is also limited bus service to Orange County through Orange County Transportation Authority buses. Route 1, from Long Beach to San Clemente is the longest bus route in the OCTA system. Traveling along Pacific Coast Highway for most of the route, it takes 2-2.5 hrs to complete.
Torrance Transit buses go from downtown Long Beach to the South Bay. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) has bus service from downtown to San Pedro, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) has two regional bus lines that serve downtown Long Beach.

[bentstrider]

Originally Posted by AK123

That's all fine, but what you said before -

- really isn't quite right. It sounded like it was going off propaganda (or really outdated information) more than reality.

Third hand accounts from some friends at midnightridazz.com.
They took a couple of road trips down to there from LA for a bike-polo tournament and "Tour de Fat", or something like it.