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No. It is going to have to be further south than Charlotte.
When most people here are shoveling snow or walking in sleet during 30 mph near zero wind chills I will be outside wearing shorts and will make sure to visit an outdoor basketball court 7 days week.
You forget, I can come and go as I wish and will always have a place to stay around here free of charge for as long as I want.
It is one of the advantages of being a native.
Wait a minute - you don't get to brag about being a native and then abandon the home that has given you so many graphic images to post! That just makes you another transplant, and if we've learned anything from you, transplants are a weak, sad little bunch who can't get women because they've never had Mumbo sauce, ruin this city because they are all boring and don't like go-go, and happened to be born in a hospital more than 30 miles from you (or, God forbid, somewhere in Ward 3, which we all know now isn't nearly as DC as PG).
I've lived many places and DC is my favorite for its mix of cosmopolitan energy, more laid back size / design than NYC, and the interesting, smart people who live here (interesting in a professional sense, not in the "I met this crazy guy living in a hut on this desolate island" sense). Being closer to the actual coast if we're allegedly living on the "east coast" would be nice, though.
Be sure to live within walking, biking, Metro, or a very short drive to work. Everybody who hates it here, like the earlier poster, sits in traffic. That means find a job first, then find your housing accordingly.
I agree also that it doesn't necessarily take forever to find an individual who will hire you, but it takes forever to actually get hired with all the bureaucratic processes. There's not much entrepreneurial, handshake work here. There are a lot of archaic human resources departments.
My personal bias is that if you're going to live here, might as well live within the District, Alexandria, Arlington, Silver Spring, Bethesda, or other points close in. It gets real suburbany and generic beyond that, which means you'll be paying out the nose to live the same lifestyle you could find outside Cleveland or Indianapolis, and wondering, as many do, whether it's worth the cost. You'll probably need to scale down your housing needs to scale up your living desires.
Wait a minute - you don't get to brag about being a native and then abandon the home that has given you so many graphic images to post! That just makes you another transplant, and if we've learned anything from you, transplants are a weak, sad little bunch who can't get women because they've never had Mumbo sauce, ruin this city because they are all boring and don't like go-go, and happened to be born in a hospital more than 30 miles from you (or, God forbid, somewhere in Ward 3, which we all know now isn't nearly as DC as PG).
Just messin with ya.
I have left this area (for as long as 6 months) in the past.
My personal bias is that if you're going to live here, might as well live within the District, Alexandria, Arlington, Silver Spring, Bethesda, or other points close in. It gets real suburbany and generic beyond that, which means you'll be paying out the nose to live the same lifestyle you could find outside Cleveland or Indianapolis, and wondering, as many do, whether it's worth the cost. You'll probably need to scale down your housing needs to scale up your living desires.
One could argue that DC has already become suburbany and generic with all of the Target, CVS, Bed Bad & Beyond, Best Buy and Wal-Mart etc... stores which have moved here and/or are planning to move here in the next few years.
DC is rapidly becoming what many of the transplants who recently relocated here were originally trying to escape by moving here.
The ones who were here before Target arrived probably view themselves as some sort of urban pioneers by now.
One cannot hide who they truly are. It will eventually catch up with them.
All the fancy condos and perceived newfound urbanness is just marketing schemes created to sell overpriced real estate to unsuspecting consumers.
One could argue that DC has already become suburbany and generic with all of the Target, CVS, Bed Bad & Beyond, Best Buy and Wal-Mart etc... stores which have moved here and/or are planning to move here in the next few years.
DC is rapidly becoming what many of the transplants who recently relocated here were originally trying to escape by moving here.
The ones who were here before Target arrived probably view themselves as some sort of urban pioneers by now.
One cannot hide who they truly are. It will eventually catch up with them.
All the fancy condos and perceived newfound urbanness is just marketing schemes created to sell overpriced real estate to unsuspecting consumers.
Columbia Heights is pretty unique in the District landscape. Hopefully it isn't the model of all things to come. There's some significant opposition to Walmart moving to the District.
One could argue that DC has already become suburbany and generic with all of the Target, CVS, Bed Bad & Beyond, Best Buy and Wal-Mart etc... stores which have moved here and/or are planning to move here in the next few years.
DC is rapidly becoming what many of the transplants who recently relocated here were originally trying to escape by moving here.
The ones who were here before Target arrived probably view themselves as some sort of urban pioneers by now.
One cannot hide who they truly are. It will eventually catch up with them.
All the fancy condos and perceived newfound urbanness is just marketing schemes created to sell overpriced real estate to unsuspecting consumers.
Not at all. You're making it sound like theres gonna be a Target on every corner which isn't the case especially since there's not enough space for that thankfully.
I don't see anything wrong with having multiple CVS branches and other familiar chains around. I think it helps the overall performance of the business district. Finding a good balance between chains and mom & pop shops or independently owned biz(s) is essential to having a retail district that successfully offers shoppers everything they need. People are always quick to stay chains are the devil, but statistics show that people are more comfortable shopping at chains for their apparel. (Macys, nordstroms, etc.)
If you don't have any of these chains, the people go shop elsewhere, won't shop there as frequently and in turn won't be as curious to pop into that local mom and pop store just because they happened to be walking by. Again though, there has to be a balance.
One could argue that DC has already become suburbany and generic with all of the Target, CVS, Bed Bad & Beyond, Best Buy and Wal-Mart etc... stores which have moved here and/or are planning to move here in the next few years.
DC is rapidly becoming what many of the transplants who recently relocated here were originally trying to escape by moving here.
The ones who were here before Target arrived probably view themselves as some sort of urban pioneers by now.
One cannot hide who they truly are. It will eventually catch up with them.
All the fancy condos and perceived newfound urbanness is just marketing schemes created to sell overpriced real estate to unsuspecting consumers.
You believe that because in your mind the city is supposed to be gritty and struggling and tough and the suburbs is where all those creature comforts reside. That's how it was for a brief period in parts of the District (about 1960 - 2000) so that's what a lot of people have locked in as "the real DC" and how it should remain. But cities are dynamic places with immigrants from all over the world. For most of its history, and that of any major American city, the retail, entertainment, jobs, and middle class were inside the city - with wealthier people living in whatever their era's version of the condo was - and there was not this "keepin it real" backlash that's so pervasive now as the city returns to that balance.
All you're seeing is the rebirth of the American city. For every Target that opens (and, I might point out, plenty of natives shop there who used to have to drive out to the burbs on the weekends for their shopping) a number of local joints open.
I agree with the above - it's about the balance. If you can't do basic shopping in the city, then you don't have a city. Just look at rust belt cities. I'm always surprised when I pay attention how many national chains are tucked away in neighborhoods that are dominated by local chains or independents and retain a lot of character. I might also point out that those national chains, especially fast food joints, are predominantly supported by locals.
Let me quote one of my friends who is a realtor and self admitted "a**hole"
He is a local. Born and raised here. Big ego too.
I don't know why it matters so much where people are born and raised (I think you'll find that fade after you live enough places), but his assessment isn't really accurate. Much of the influx of people from the suburbs or from other parts of the country is from middle class people raised in suburbia and now choosing a different development pattern that's not necessarily familiar to their background.
Anyway - it's not like living in a city is inherently hard. It's a lot easier than suburbia in many ways.
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