Where would you choose to live?

Parent Cafe
21

<p>New York?
YUCK!</p>

<p>But I guess my list includes things like safety, natural beauty, ease of getting around, and general cleanliness. Somehow, New York doesn’t do it for me. I figure that if I ever <em>need</em> New York, it’s an hour away. I avoid it as much as possible. </p>

<p>My current fantasy location is Salisbury CT … in the northwesternmost corner of the state. It gets points for natural beauty, historic feel, quirky/artsy area. However, in terms of convenient location, Salisbury pretty much scores a big fat zero!</p>

<p>– currrently living in Fairfield County CT.</p>

22

<p>Actually, all the data I’ve looked at puts COL in NYC - Brooklyn, anyway - on par with Miami, whereas D.C. is through the roof - much higher, and with no equivalent benefit. </p>

<p>I think dirt and congestion is unavoidable in big cities, but I haven’t visited enough of them to know for certain.</p>

23

<p>Hands down, Atlanta.</p>

<p>As for #7, Atlanta has lakes. And water parks. ;)</p>

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<p>cnp…the question really had to do with latetoschool’s criteria, not where we personally would choose to live. I don’t have her criteria but just trying to brainstorm/discuss it. I live in a gorgeous place and prefer living here to NYC too. (mountains of VT)</p>

25

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<p>I guess I am ruined because I love living in NYC (not having much to compare it to because I have lived her all my life and a lot of years in brooklyn). </p>

<p>I’ll be the person turning the lights off on the bridge as the last person leaving :)</p>

<p>Brooklyn as a whole has undergone a major changes. There are many neighborhoods that at a time people would not live in on a bet that are not hot spots (greenpoint, williamsburg and bedfors stuyvesant/stuyvesant heights which has some of the greatest brownstone houses). </p>

<p>New buildings are cropping up in Dumbo and around the Navy yard. Areas such as prospect heights, Clinton hills, cobble hill and brooklyn heights has remained stable and are literally minutes from the city.</p>

<p>Bone of contention is the new building of atlantic terminal with the new basketball stadium, shopping and luxury apartments, less than 5 minutes from the manhattan bridge.</p>

<p>Apartments are definitely larger than those in manhattan (unless you have a loft). The down side is because Brooklyn is becoming an attractive alternative so is the cost of living in brooklyn (rents/ cost of homes are indeed rising).</p>

<p>Love it or hate it the mass transit system runs 24/7. Nothing like summer in NYC where there is a different street fair/ festival every weekend.</p>

26

<p>I completely and totally loved (most of :slight_smile: ) my time living in NYC, too. I lived in Park Slope (Brooklyn) in the early '80s for a couple-few years (before it was a more “safe” city), above a tailoring shop on a main street. The place was vibrant, exciting, had reliable transportation both within and outside of the City, had every sort of culture and food available, and at the time was pretty much affordable. I defer to sybbie’s knowledge of local prices now.</p>

<p>We are strongly considering moving back east to NYC someday. I Love New York.</p>

27

<p>“I Love New York.”</p>

<p>Mootmom, for now, you can wear the tee shirt!
<3</p>

28

<p>If you take the size (>750K) and location (East Coast) at face value, your choices, starting from the south are: Jacksonville, Philadelphia and New York. If you are a bit more lenient on size (>500K) you can add, Wash DC (553K), Boston (569K), Charlotte (594K) and Baltimore (636K). From a cost of living perspective I would think Jacksonville and Charlotte are your best bet. </p>

<p>If you expand the definition of East Coast to include more in-land cities, you can add: Nashville (547K) and Memphis (671K), Columbus (730K), Indianapolis (784K).</p>

<p>Source: <a href=“Search | Infoplease”>Search | Infoplease;

29

<p>Pittsburgh is inland too, but actually has boating on the rivers. Lower cost of living, thriving cultural district and colleges. Hawaii or any of the USVI for tropical islands…</p>

30

<p>There is almost entirely too much information here to research properly. Sybbie and Mootmom, how awful are NYC winters?</p>

31

<p>It gets cold but not new england kind of cold. We had a one major storm this winter that dumped a lot of snow on the city, things were running a little slow but mass transit was running. Overall, it has not been a brutally cold winter (a few really cold days, but overall ok).</p>

32

<p>I was holding out – until some of my favorite places were mentioned. </p>

<p>I second Philadelphia – moved there from NYC (the Manhattan part) – where I grew up. It has lots of the culture available in NYC but is more accessible, lower cost, less “intense.” It also has a great university (U Penn) and numerous other colleges. </p>

<p>From Philly you can easily get to NYC, Baltimore, or D.C. for a day trip – either by train or car or whatever. You have access to great rivers as well as the Jersey or Delaware shores.</p>

<p>The weather in the Philly area gives you a somewhat prolonged fall and an earlier spring than NYC too. Yet we do get snow in winter – sometimes a lot!</p>

<p>P.S. to Mootmom: My brother and his family live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and love it – as well as the way their Victorian townhouse there has appreciated. :eek:</p>

33

<p>We moved to Atlanta from PA over 20 years ago, and my very first response was, “Why in the world doesn’t everybody live here?” I still love it and can’t wait to get back. Our first year there, I marvelled at wearing t-shirts in October, having the A/C on at Thanksgiving, having school closed because it snowed (didn’t even stick). Gets cold enough in the winter to have all four seasons, but not a long enough winter to get cabin fever. Spring is early and absolutely gorgeous. I remember being surprised at how green Atlanta was. Has Stone Mountain and Lake Lanier parks for water activities (probably others, but those are on my side of town). Since we’ve been gone, they have a new aquarium that I am looking forward to seeing. Also has a new shopping center with an IKEA, that I haven’t seen yet. Has symphony, opera, ballet, theater, bunch of colleges (Ga Tech, Emory, GA State, Spellman. UGA and many others nearby.)</p>

<p>Traffic is horrible. We are not looking forward to that. Here, getting caught in rush hour means my H will be 3 minutes late. GA Govt. is still rather backwards - isn’t quite aware that life exists outside of GA.</p>

34

<p>We’ve lived in Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, and Toronto, and would choose Toronto ANYday over the other three. In fact, we chose it, for the second time recently.</p>

<p>Very vibrant business community. Home to most large Canadian companies of all types.</p>

<p>Greater Metropolitan Area population of 2.5 million +</p>

<p>Beautiful change of seasons. Not sure if the winters are colder than you want but I will say that NYC had more snow than we did this year! Had the warmest winter in 100 years here.</p>

<p>Wonderful universities, U of Toronto, York U, Ryerson U, George Brown College, Sheridan College, Centennial College, Seneca College, Humber College.</p>

<p>Excellent hospital system: Mt. Sinai, Toronto General, Hospital for Sick Children, Womens College Hospital and more than 20 others. Not to mention universal healthcare.</p>

<p>Public transit is excellent, both within the city and with the GO transit system for commuting with suburbs.</p>

<p>Less expensive cost of living than NYC or Boston. Probably comparable to Philly. U.S. dollars go further here .</p>

<p>On the shores of Lake Ontario. Hundreds of other lakes within a couple of hours drive. </p>

<p>The most culturally diverse city we’ve lived in. For example, on Sunday there was a huge parade downtown celebrating the Sikh community’s New Year. More than 150,000 Sikhs took part. Great Chinatown, which a recent friend from China claimed was the most authentic one she’d ever seen outside China. Hundreds of countries represented in the city.</p>

<p>Large international airport.</p>

<p>Easy connections to Eastern U.S.</p>

<p>I guess Toronto’s little bit of “weird”, compared to U.S. cities, would be that it’s clean, friendly, and very safe. :wink: Also have major sports teams in hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, football (CFL). Hundreds of beautiful golf courses, tennis facilities, hiking and biking trails. Culturally, no city we’ve been in (other than maybe London) compares to NYC the way that Toronto does. Theatre, opera, ballet, concerts, it has them all. </p>

<p>So if you can take a winter like NYC’s, you can take Toronto’s. Boston winters are worse than ours!</p>

35

<p>I appreciate the responses, but do not know what to make of them, and am no further along in any decision making. </p>

<p>My problem is that I spend time in four cities. I own a home in one, where we have lived since D was in 6th grade. When she left for college, for business reasons, I began spending almost all my time in, let’s say, City A. Then, a year ago, I began spending time in City B and C, in addition City A, and also in addition to the city where I own my home, which I’ll just call city H. </p>

<p>So I spend 90% of my time between the first three cities. D and I go home to City H only when we both have a break, which is starting to work out to about 4 weeks time spread out over the course of a year, and the busier we both get, the more that time diminishes. Oh, and D is a student in city C, so, we “live together” and get to spend time together when I’m there. </p>

<p>My problem is that I absolutely LOVE the first three cities, and our home city, while enjoyable and I’ll never sell the house, doesn’t really hold much for us any more. But I love the first three cities equally, and, when I’m in one, I cannot bear to leave. For example, right now I’m in City A. I love it here and really don’t want to get on my plane tomorrow to fly to City C. But once I land in C, I’ll be thrilled, and, I won’t want to board the plane to B later this month. But once I’m in B, the pattern will repeat itself, and I won’t be able to stand leaving B. </p>

<p>Oh, and I must go home to H before the end of the month too, and that one is the hardest of all to leave, even though I like it the least, which of course makes not the slightest bit of sense, but still, I hate it when it’s time to leave the home that is no longer really home, and hasn’t been for a long time. </p>

<p>Each of the first three cities has very major business and personal reasons to move and stay permanently. And they’re all different, in that each has something the other does not, and cannot be substituted. And each has been recommended/mentioned on this thread. </p>

<p>I could just simply continue hopscotching, but, I’m getting very, very tired of traveling like this; starting to get very worn out, and, I want to just stay in one place. But it’s sooooo hard to choose just one. I own a house and have two official addresses, one in H, one in C; I can live anywhere in the country I want to live, but, somehow, accidently, I don’t really have a “home”. I absolutely love it everywhere, but only when I’m “there”. </p>

<p>Should I flip a set of coins?</p>

36

<p>Boston. </p>

<p>America’s original city. Great people. Four seasons. Unparalleled academics. Boston Harbour. Amazing restaurants and shopping and not out of this world expensive like NYC. Gets my vote.</p>

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<p>Edvest1, I agree, but then Canada sounds awesome too lol. But Boston is too cold I think. And actually homefair.com and other sources put Boston’s COL equal to NYC. Plus, it’s hard to get convenient flights out of Logan - or rather, it’s easier from other cities.</p>

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<p>A, B, C, H ---- c’mon latetoschool! Fill in the blanks!</p>

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<p>Sounds to me like you should just buy an RV and call it home ;)</p>

40

<p>Here’s a new one - Charlotte, North Carolina. I don’t know about its public transit, though. Here’s another vote for Atlanta and Houston. I’ve lived in both. For my taste, I would choose Atlanta over Houston. Along with other Gulf Coast (and South Atlantic Coast) cities, you always have the threat of hurricanes and tropical storms in Houston. (Remember last year that Houston dodged the bullet on a direct hit by Hurricane Rita by only 100 miles.) It’s just something you have to live with there (or Miami or Tampa or Jacksonville or etc.)</p>