Portland vs. Maine (Bangor, Ellsworth, Rockport: apartment, houses, neighborhood)

[softmachine]

This seems like an obscure thread, I know. I have been contemplating on where to live for the past couple of months. I thought about Boston, but it is just a behemith at over 500,000. I have been giving serious thought to Portland, ME also; the only thing that would stop me from moving there would be its distance from my family in Niagara Falls, and its small size of 64,000. 64,000 seems more like a big town than a small city. I did not even consider moving to any of the New York "Rush Belt" cities until recently when starting to contemplate Syracuse. I never liked the industrialization of these cites or the fact that they are urban islands with only small, rural towns between them. If I lived in Portland, I would be near Boston, Manchester, NYC, Hartford ect.--New England is great like that. I have been doing research about Syracuse, and keep hearing about how it is a good Jazz city. This sparked my interest since I am heavily into jazz, both as a fan, student, and player. I keep reading about things in Syracuse like the "Society for New Music", " , "Frank Malfitano's Syracuse Jazz Festival", and "CNY Jazz Arts Foundation's Festival". New England, especially Portland, always seemed much more comsmopolitan than Upstate NY--maybe syracuse is the exception. Is there anybody out there who could compare these two cities for me. Keep in mind that I am a 22 year old single male and care little about the things that a man with a family would care about.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by softmachine

This seems like an obscure thread, I know. I have been contemplating on where to live for the past couple of months. I thought about Boston, but it is just a behemith at over 500,000. I have been giving serious thought to Portland, ME also; the only thing that would stop me from moving there would be its distance from my family in Niagara Falls, and its small size of 64,000. 64,000 seems more like a big town than a small city. I did not even consider moving to any of the New York "Rush Belt" cities until recently when starting to contemplate Syracuse. I never liked the industrialization of these cites or the fact that they are urban islands with only small, rural towns between them. If I lived in Portland, I would be near Boston, Manchester, NYC, Hartford ect.--New England is great like that. I have been doing research about Syracuse, and keep hearing about how it is a good Jazz city. This sparked my interest since I am heavily into jazz, both as a fan, student, and player. I keep reading about things in Syracuse like the "Society for New Music", " , "Frank Malfitano's Syracuse Jazz Festival", and "CNY Jazz Arts Foundation's Festival". New England, especially Portland, always seemed much more comsmopolitan than Upstate NY--maybe syracuse is the exception. Is there anybody out there who could compare these two cities for me. Keep in mind that I am a 22 year old single male and care little about the things that a man with a family would care about.

I think you are going to have to make a decision based more on what you will need to do to support yourself than the kind of music to which you want to listen. There is a lot of activity in Portland, Maine, and describing it as a city of 'only' 65000 people is a tragic misrepresentation of what the city is, just as much as saying that New York City is a city that has only Greenwich Village to commend it.

The greater Portland area includes a lot more than just the city, and it is the center of the majority of Maine's population. But it is a small city by any standards. I would also suggest that the population of metropolitan Boston is far greater than half a million, and describing Boston that way only shows that you need to go and visit all of the areas that you have described personally before you can even think of making a decision.

What will you do for a living once you are there? Is that kind of work available and if so, will it pay you what you will need to live?

Your mentioning of Syracuse, New York, reminded me of the time about ten years ago when I was seeing a charming woman who was a media personality in Syracuse. She described it as living in "Syracorpse".

Go travel around a little and then decide.

[softmachine]

Is'nt that what this site is for, getting some opinions from other people before you go and make some of your own. Of course I am going to make broad, sweeping generalizations on an online post, that is what you do; just like how everyone uses the phrase "vibrant city". I work-online, location is not an issue; I support myself by online investing and could swing anywhere from 600-900 for an apartment. If you want to get personal about the music thing, I am a music student and have decided to study jazz and third stream on my own for a while. I just thought it might be nice to be around musical peers and have somewhere to play--as if I were that rediculious of a person to move to a city based on the type of music I listen to. I have been to Boston many times, it is way too big for me--it's metro sprawl is just unreal. What I know from Syracuse is from living in Buffalo and frequenting Rochester and Albany--all rust belt cites that are similiar in size and feel. And excuse me if I came off as pretensious or dismissive about the whole "man with a family" thing. I just do not care about things like property taxes or good school districts or safe places to raise a family.

[Acadianlion]

Thanks for the update. You certainly didn't come off as being in the slightest bit "pretentious". But I think that you are looking at Maine as being a simpler metro Boston, which it is not. Since you are a jazz person, I doubt that you would find Maine in general particularly fulfilling except perhaps at certain times in the summer. Now, if you were a classical music person then I would suggest that Maine my be quite a good place to be, as both Portland and Bangor have very active classical music program centered around their symphony orchestras, and througout the year there is quite a lot of chamber music programs around the state. But jazz? I doubt that you will find much year round in New England, outside of Boston.

Now, as far as being a young single person, I would think that Portland might be quite a lot of fun, as there is quite a large population of young people in and around the "Old Port" area...more so than anywhere else, although Bangor has quite a lot of life. It also need to be said that the cities in Maine draw from quite a long way out for the excitement and entertainment available. I think it much more likely for people to travel the 150 miles each way from Ellsworth to Portland to see a concert at the Cumberland County Civic Center, than it is for people to travel from Worcester to Boston, which is about half the distance. If you come to Portland or to Maine, don't expect to stand still, as the state is large and the activities are spread out over that large territory.

[tkx7]

Portland will seem bigger than 64,000, it's metro area is about 250,000. Portland is relatively close to Boston, Manchester, Portsmouth, so there is more influence and places to go than Syracuse which is more independent and further away from other cities. There are plenty of places to watch concerts or play. I guess it would be best to visit both places and see what you like.

[softmachine]

I listen to and play Third Stream, which is basically jazz pushed a little more toward the classical side. So the chamber music thing is not completely dissappointing. I know Boston is the place to be in New England for jazz, with an actual scene. The only problem I have with Boston is that its city proper is so huge and the metro area is so stretched out, that you are completely detached from nature. I grew up in the suburbs and I don't want to live in a place with rows and rows of houses ever again; If there was a place that had a big downtown that went right into countryside I would live there, but of course this is'nt possible. It seems that with Portland, you could still see some nature on the horizon--for someone reason I need this for peace of mind. I understand that Boston is the obviously choice for me as a musician, but frankly I am completely intimidated; that's why I keep looking at places like Syracuse, Ithaca, and Portland. I guess what the right question to be asking is if there is a neighborhood on the outside of Boston that might suit me, with a town feel rather than a suburban extention of Boston itself. I appreciate any and all imput.

[Acadianlion]

Originally Posted by softmachine

I listen to and play Third Stream, which is basically jazz pushed a little more toward the classical side. So the chamber music thing is not completely dissappointing. I know Boston is the place to be in New England for jazz, with an actual scene. The only problem I have with Boston is that its city proper is so huge and the metro area is so stretched out, that you are completely detached from nature. I grew up in the suburbs and I don't want to live in a place with rows and rows of houses ever again; If there was a place that had a big downtown that went right into countryside I would live there, but of course this is'nt possible. It seems that with Portland, you could still see some nature on the horizon--for someone reason I need this for peace of mind. I understand that Boston is the obviously choice for me as a musician, but frankly I am completely intimidated; that's why I keep looking at places like Syracuse, Ithaca, and Portland. I guess what the right question to be asking is if there is a neighborhood on the outside of Boston that might suit me, with a town feel rather than a suburban extention of Boston itself. I appreciate any and all imput.

I grew up in the suburbs west of Boston. Seven or eight years ago I went through my old home town on my way back to Maine from New York. I was curious to see what the old neighborhood looked like. It is MUCH smaller than I remember it as a child, although my neighborhood hadn't changed very much at all. However there was still a sort of "small town" feel to it, although nothing like the concept of "small town" that Maine has. You might look around Natick and Wellesley to see what I mean. Both of those towns, and further west, Framingham, all offer fast rail transit into Boston.

I would also suggest that Massachusetts' North Shore and Cape Ann might work for you. Rockport, Gloucester and all the way in to Amesbury are nice outer towns...the coastal towns are very busy in the summer but are bedroom communities in the winter, and transportation in to Boston is easy from all of them.

It is also easy to get into Boston from Portland now as well. I certainly wouldn't want to discourage you from coming to Maine, but my feel from what you have been saying is that you need to emerse yourself in the scene and it will be far easier to be there, than to commute.

[tye07]

Originally Posted by tkx7

Portland will seem bigger than 64,000, it's metro area is about 250,000. Portland is relatively close to Boston, Manchester, Portsmouth, so there is more influence and places to go than Syracuse which is more independent and further away from other cities. There are plenty of places to watch concerts or play. I guess it would be best to visit both places and see what you like.

actually the metro population of Portland is about 500,000.