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Old 06-28-2010, 11:05 AM
 
Location: Peoria, IL
148 posts, read 621,175 times
Reputation: 56

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joann62 View Post
Well, after quite a bit of research, I have narrowed my choices down to the cities of Bloomington IL, Pittsburgh PA, and Columbia MO.

Bloomington has many transit options like Amtrak, Trailways, Megabus and Greyhound, which I found for a city it's size great! Not sure about the transit inside the city itself though. On compare cities, it was low in crime so was another plus. I did find on other sources though, that there were problems with Bloomington Public Schools. I am focusing on Bloomington more than Normal (which I understand schools are better), due to the college students.
THX
Unless you live within a several block radius of Illinois State Univeristy (ISU) the impact of college students is about the same in Bloomington as Normal, so you really shouldn't let that impact your choice. Most people in Central IL consider B-N schools to be pretty good, especially Normal schools.

The public transit within B-N is ok. The buses will get you to most places you need to go, just maybe not when you want to go. You need to plan your schedule ahead of time though so you don't end up waiting an hour for a bus.

Like you said, for it's size the transit options in B-N are good. However that mostly has to do with B-N being located along a major transit route between Chicago & St. Louis. Most of the transit options from B-N will get you to Chicago or St. Louis, but you'll need to make other arrangements if you want to move on from there. Train service is OK, but unfortuantely often late (sometimes hours late) heading towards Chicago. I haven't used Greyhound or Megabus from B-N so I can't comment there. There is also another transit option you don't have listed. Peoria Charter Coach runs daily service, several times per day to both O'Hare & Midway airports in Chicago (with a couple stops along the way). The Peoria Charter Coach stop in B-N is as the ISU student center.
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Old 06-28-2010, 05:33 PM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,687,747 times
Reputation: 29966
If those were my choices I'd move to Pittsburgh without a second's pause. Schools in the city proper can be problematic but there are charter school options and IB magnet programs. there are also good school districts right outside the city in suburbs that are so indistinguishable from city neighborhoods that many of them even have Pittsburgh addresses. Dormont and Mount Lebanon are good places to look -- good schools and good public transit access, including light rail that goes downtown. As for being not friendly, I found Pittsburghers to be friendly almost to a fault, nearly bending my ear at times when I would have preferred to be left alone.
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Old 06-28-2010, 11:00 PM
 
75 posts, read 171,544 times
Reputation: 162
Joann,

This one isn't particularly close. You're comparing two rather dinky homogenous deeply midwestern towns, with a major American city just voted "Most Liveable City In The Country" by The Economist, Forbes, and Places Rated, surrounded by lush green hills that look almost like Ireland, a downtown skyline that National Geographic deemed "The 2nd Best View In America" behind only the Grand Canyon, 3 professional sports teams, great colleges (Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne, Carlow, etc), some of the highest rated medical facilities in the country, an extremely stable housing market, a rebounding population, a great arts and museum scene, only 6 hours from the beach, only about 7 hours from roughly 10 more major American cities, only an hour from gorgeous Appalachian Mountains for stunning fall drives, great skiing, wonderful hikes, and on, and on, and on.

And you're gonna trade all that in on account of the "grey sky and bad air"?

Let me tell ya a little about both...

#1- The "bad air" is actually getting much better, and in fact it's not bad on the smog front (you'll find visually the air looks pretty good), but rather the particulate matter in the air, and that isn't really Pittsbugh proper, but rather a few outlying working class suburbs southeast of town like Clairton that the EPA has air-monitors up at in the few remaining parts of the metro with heavy industry. In other words, if you live on the nice side of town, like Wexford, Cranberry, Bethel Park, Bridgeville, etc...the air is fine. Look into those stats more, they're misleading.

#2- The grey skies...do we have more grey sky days than the other two places? Yes, but in fairness, only about 25% more. I mention that because of this. To COUNTER that 25%, our temperature ranges are WAY more stable. Those cities have far more extreme weather (more days in the summer above 90, more days in the winter below 20, etc). Pittsburgh's hills have sort of a moderating effect, where our summer days are almost always between about 70 and 88, and our winter days are usually between about 25 and 45. So wouldn't you trade in slight increase in overcast days, and in return get all the advantageous of a major metro area, PLUS less severe storms, less tornado threats, less sub-zero blizzards, etc?

Pittsburgh is the perfect city for someone looking for a rare combination of affordability, beautiful rural surrounding pastoral scenery, and yet all the advantages of a major metro.

Here's the coolest stat about Pittsburgh's incredibly strategic location...follow this...

75% of the U.S. population, lives within 500 miles of Pittsburgh. I'll repeat that. 75% of the U.S. population lives within 500 miles of Pittsburgh (or to put it another way, within an easy day's drive).

Compare that to a city like Denver or Seattle or Minneapolis where you're a day's drive to just get to the FIRST major city nearby.

Listen to this list of cities within 500 miles of Pittsburgh. These are all people you could be having dinner with if you left your house mid-morning, and in many cases, could be hvaing lunch with...

Indianapolis, Cincinatti, Collumbus, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Louisville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Virginia Beach, Atlantic City,
Toronto, Columbia SC, Charleston WV, Richmond, Knoxville, Detroit, and even flirting with Charleston SC, Myrtle Beach, and Boston.

Pittsburgh has ALWAYS been an impossibly perfect location. And other than a little extra in gray-sky days, it's weather has always been a robust 4 season where each season lasts a proportional 3 months.

The ONLY KNOCK on Pittsburgh is its reputation as "dying steel town", and anyone that hasn't lived in a cave knows that reputation is outdated now, and the city has bounced back very strong, and is winning awards for its comeback left and right.

Now, if you want to trade that in for Nowheresville, Midwest USA, you can...but there's no way you'll get as much out of your life as a location and great rebounding metro like Pittsburgh will afford you.

Do you have 120,000 dollars to spend on a house? If so, it'll buy you a beautiful large home with a half acre of land on the cities suburbs in a clean safe neighborhood. Go for it now before more people catch on to what a steal this city is right now. Because they're starting to catch on fast.
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Old 06-29-2010, 11:45 AM
 
Location: Peoria, IL
148 posts, read 621,175 times
Reputation: 56
Quote:
Originally Posted by Citypoot View Post
Joann,

This one isn't particularly close. You're comparing two rather dinky homogenous deeply midwestern towns, with a major American city just voted "Most Liveable City In The Country" by The Economist, Forbes, and Places Rated, ... a rebounding population....

Here's the coolest stat about Pittsburgh's incredibly strategic location...follow this...

75% of the U.S. population, lives within 500 miles of Pittsburgh. I'll repeat that. 75% of the U.S. population lives within 500 miles of Pittsburgh (or to put it another way, within an easy day's drive).

Compare that to a city like Denver or Seattle or Minneapolis where you're a day's drive to just get to the FIRST major city nearby.
....
Now, if you want to trade that in for Nowheresville, Midwest USA, you can...but there's no way you'll get as much out of your life as a location and great rebounding metro like Pittsburgh will afford you
There's nothing wrong with having pride in your home town and Pittsburgh has made a great deal of progress since the days when it was known as a Steel Mill town, but you have some glaring inaccuracies in your statements:

First, while Pittsburgh is the largest of the 3 choices the OP presented, Bloomington-Normal, IL & Columbia, MO are by no means dinky, homogenous nowhere towns in Midwest USA. If Pittsburgh is a major city, then B-N and Columbia are midsized cities each boasting populations over 100,000 (compared to Pittsburgh's roughly 330,000) with all the amenities of such.

Second, Pittsburgh is located within 500 miles of roughly half the US population, not 75%, which is still a nice location, however the same can be said of Columbus & Cincinnati, Detriot, Roanoke, VA and many others.

Additionally, major cities (using Pittsburgh as a model) within 500 miles of:
Minneapolis: Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Omaha, Winnipeg
Seattle: Tacoma, Portland, Vancouver, Spokane
Denver: Albuquerque

Finally, while the metro area around Pittsburgh is growing, the city of Pittsburgh's population is declining and has been since the 1950's.
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Old 06-29-2010, 02:12 PM
 
Location: The canyon (with my pistols and knife)
14,169 posts, read 22,574,016 times
Reputation: 17323
http://www.pitt.edu/news2010/Figure-1.pdf

http://www.pitt.edu/news2010/Figure-2.pdf

http://www.pitt.edu/news2010/Figure-3.pdf

http://www.pitt.edu/news2010/Figure-4.pdf
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Old 06-29-2010, 09:23 PM
 
Location: St. Louis
7,442 posts, read 6,957,490 times
Reputation: 4601
Columbia is a nice mid-western college town, but as stated, you can't really compare it a major city like Pittsburgh. It's just apples and oranges.

Columbia is in the middle of the state and less than two hours drive to both Kansas City and St. Louis.

It has a very nice small downtown area, lots of walking and biking trails, the MU campus is very nice.

Very good public schools.

Not aware of a crime problem per se, not sure where that comes from.

It has earned high marks in various publications.
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Old 06-30-2010, 12:45 PM
 
Location: St. Louis
7,442 posts, read 6,957,490 times
Reputation: 4601
Quote:
Originally Posted by linicx View Post
The difference between Central Illinois and Central Missouri is like the dkfference between a cat and a boat. The weather, the topography, the soli, the exports, entertainment, population, etc.. are entirely different. JC and Columbia is where the Ozark Moujntain range begin. It is hard to grow a garden or flowers for the clay and hardpan soil.. It is isolated by comparison.

I think you are off a little bit in your description of Columbia. I've never been under the impression Columbia was in the Ozark Plateau or Ozark Mountain range and a quick google search seems to confirm it, although it is close. It looks like the range begins south of the Missouri river and Columbia is north. Northern Missouri is very much a farm state and Columbia would be part of that, although it is more centrally located. The soil conditions you describe might be true in southern Missouri, but not Columbia. Is it isolated? That depends on perspective, I guess. It is less than two hours drive from two major metropolitan areas in KC and St. Louis, and is served by St. Louis and KC papers and TV news. Does not seem isolated to me.
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Old 07-02-2010, 08:57 AM
 
Location: Not where you ever lived
11,535 posts, read 30,099,703 times
Reputation: 6422
How far is Columbia from JC and say Lake of the Ozarks and Mexico, MO? What is your soil comprised of? Is there a city bus in Columbia? What fuels the economy? How many full time students at MU?

I've seen so many errors at Google I wouldn't use it for toilet paper let alone a reliable source - especially in Missouri. Everything I read places the most northern part of the Ozark Mountain Range at the feet of Jefferson City. I.ve crossed the Missouri River and been through Jeff City more times than I can count, been to University Hospital which was a big disappointment. and went ot the best skin doctor in the world - Dr. Roller - not far away from it, and played in the Ozark's for 25 years. .

I've never followed the course of the Missouri River or done much with JC or Columbia except to follow the concrete ribbon. Until I locate a reliable map I have no idea how far JC is from the river, or how wide the river is?
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Old 07-02-2010, 09:38 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,147,178 times
Reputation: 35920
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scio42 View Post
There's nothing wrong with having pride in your home town and Pittsburgh has made a great deal of progress since the days when it was known as a Steel Mill town, but you have some glaring inaccuracies in your statements:

First, while Pittsburgh is the largest of the 3 choices the OP presented, Bloomington-Normal, IL & Columbia, MO are by no means dinky, homogenous nowhere towns in Midwest USA. If Pittsburgh is a major city, then B-N and Columbia are midsized cities each boasting populations over 100,000 (compared to Pittsburgh's roughly 330,000) with all the amenities of such.

Second, Pittsburgh is located within 500 miles of roughly half the US population, not 75%, which is still a nice location, however the same can be said of Columbus & Cincinnati, Detriot, Roanoke, VA and many others.

Additionally, major cities (using Pittsburgh as a model) within 500 miles of:
Minneapolis: Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Omaha, Winnipeg
Seattle: Tacoma, Portland, Vancouver, Spokane
Denver: Albuquerque

Add: Omaha, Salt Lake City

Finally, while the metro area around Pittsburgh is growing, the city of Pittsburgh's population is declining and has been since the 1950's.
Pittsburgh's metro population has been declining as well. There is a lot of excitement there about the 2010 census, which many Pittsburghers think is going to finally show a population increase.

Pittsburgh, PA MSA Population and Components of Change
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Old 07-04-2010, 03:11 AM
 
Location: The canyon (with my pistols and knife)
14,169 posts, read 22,574,016 times
Reputation: 17323
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana View Post
Pittsburgh's metro population has been declining as well. There is a lot of excitement there about the 2010 census, which many Pittsburghers think is going to finally show a population increase.

Pittsburgh, PA MSA Population and Components of Change
It won't show an increase. The region has the elderly population of a 3,000,000 metro, the working-age population of a 2,000,000 metro, and the birth rate of a 1,500,000 metro. At least the region is becoming more affluent and educated as the elderly population dies off.
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