Posted on 11/10/2007 4:58:04 PM PST by shrinkermd
Triple-digit monthly parking fees, $12 movie tickets, clogged intersections and weekly grocery bills that rival some mortgage payments. Welcome to life in the Big Apple. And Los Angeles. And Chicago.
But, it's possible to enjoy such amenities without the hassles. Step one? Look for more affordable spots that offer a similar or better quality of life, and where the dollar goes far.
The Cities are:
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
humid is an understatement in Houston. Its a little over an hour from the Gulf of Mexico and it has a port. Its horrible in the summer and gets up to miserable in the fall.
I get the feeling both son and daughter will be here long after I'm gone. Maybe my youngest son who graduates from Carlynton next summer will move out.
My wife's family also has a small farm in Mercer - a few miles from where my family used to have around 20 acres on Shanango - and going there keeps use sane since it's bit more the type of rural community we like.
prisoner6
Neyland Stadium is a n amazing, almost frightening, thing to see. UT is in a long-term war with U. Michigan for the largest seating capacity -- whenever one stadium takes the lead, the other one adds another tier. A lot of folks drive motor homes to Knoxville for game weekend, because there aren't enough hotel rooms in town to accommodate the fans. I'm not sure there are enough hotel rooms in the country.
The Strip on game day is something to behold. Orange as far as the eye can see. If you're not dressed in head-to-toe orange, people look at you like you're a potential terrorist. I'm not a stranger to SEC zealotry -- I grew up in Georgia -- but UT takes it to a whole 'nother level.
As a native New Englander, I just don”t tell people I’m from the North and we all get along fine.
It's a college town, so they're used to folks from all over.
This is as good a place as any to clarify the distinction between Yankees and Damnyankees -- Yankees are folks from the North who move south. Damnyankees are folks from the North who move to the South and try to change it, to make it more like the places they fled.
Another category, thick on the ground in middle and eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, are the halfbacks -- Yankees who retired to Florida, didn't like it, and moved halfway back. Tennessee towns like Sweetwater, Telico Plains and Cleveland are seeing a boom in housing construction because retirees can get a big house on a big lot for cheap. They don't care about the big-city nightlife, and the grandkids will come visit no matter where they are.
I don't.
- John
Jus' that way.
Our connecting inbound flight from Houston was without air conditioning. Nice intro.
For me the only measures of a good city are:
1. Ability to stay safe there.
2. Shortness of the commutes from decent, affordable neighborhoods.
3. Ability to find a good church.
4. Good history to explore/learn about nearby.
The rest is all gravy.
even for a flight that short, its still considered torture by the House Democrats.
When I was 18, two of my girlfriends and I hitchhiked through E.St.Louis. Two blondes and a red head. We had no clue.
Hardly a hub, but improved small jets make this possible.
Hear, hear!
My sympathies. I just left MD. I hope you’re watching the Special Session of the legislature - the “tax a day” effort. I won’t bore you with the details, but you’re about to get hit big time, even if some of the proposed taxes get pared back.
Interesting that Cincinattie and New Orleans were also on the list of Ten Most Murderious Cities:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1923960/posts
Daughter goes to school in Minneapolis. I’ve gotta agree on that call. It’s a great town. As for the cold, we moved to Wisconsin from South Carolina, so to us it’s absolutely brutal. Farm chores in the months of January thru March are a real experience. When properly dressed however it’s beautiful. The stars in the night sky @-30 degrees look like sparklers. Summers have a retroactive nurturing effect. The summer works full time apologizing for it’s alter ego.
Should have added in that Forbes used METROPOLITAN AREA DATA, not just that for an old core city full of nasty stuff (e.g. Cincinatti, St.Louis,...)
I remember my first winter in Houston. I called my mom in Colorado, all excited about our first snow. Turned out to be a hatch of small white bugs.
I need to check out Pittsburgh. What I’ve heard, and correct me if I’m wrong, is that since Big Steel melted down, P’bgh converted unused industrial sites and rail bed into parks and greenways. I’ve heard, read and watched a lot about it being pleasant and livable.
I’m talking about a visit. I don’t think I could live there, because my thin Southern blood couldn’t handle the winters. Seriously. To me, anything below zero Fahrenheit is below the capacity to sustain human life. I am an incredible weather wimp on the low end of the scale, but 100+ °F temps don’t faze me.
You have to be careful when comparing "cities" to "metropolitan areas", also known as SMSAs.
Good example is the Washington DC SMSA. Because the standard for naming an SMSA is to pick the name of the most populous city, it should actually be called Fairfax VA SMSA, with DC itself identified as a mere suburb.
Fairfax VA has a low murder and crime rate. On the other hand, it has several places ~ e.g. DC proper, Prince Georges County MD, and portions of Montgomery County MD that are as dangerous as Baghdad on a hot Summer's evening.
As it would be wrong to speak of Fairfax VA about conditions in DC, it's equally wrong to talk about DC when the reality is the comparison is being made with Fairfax.
Darn not one city in the Republic of Kalifornia is mentioned.
Once you get outside the city limits it's pretty much like any Ohio Valley or Midwestern city's suburban areas which means good hospitals, plenty of first class shopping, low crime rate, cheap housing, etc.
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