It's not as cool as some people think.
We live in the city as well and deal with such things as well (minus the wild dogs). It sure is nice to have a grocery store 2 blocks away and work a whopping 20 blocks away though. I don’t know the size of your city but Portland is only a medium sized city so it is sort of cozy.
The liberal has hated the suburbs forever. They vote Republican and have high standards.