What do you like best/ least about where you live?

I live in a suburb of NYC that also happens to be an island.

Best:
a short train ride to a truly dynamic city
lots of nearby hiking
great beaches
great schools
low crime
we get all 4 seasons
tons to do and see

Worst:
ancient infrastructure that is falling apart
super high cost of living
lots of people with the affluenza mindset because most of us have money

 

I'm really searching for something I like about where I live, but it's hard...

I guess a couple of the bars are kind of ok.

Worst:
Heat, elitism, classism, the bad roads, the shady cops, the pill heads, the bad water, the trashy belligerent people, the casual racism, the heat, the complete lack of anything to do except drinking or watching traffic... I can do this all day.

 

Best: The food.

Worst: Lots, lots of narrow-minded and conservative people who aren't open for new ideas, changes etc...

 

I've lived majority of my life in two locales so far, so:

Boston/Southern NE-
best: environmentally quite "green", great opportunities for outdoor recreation (and lots of other stuff), it's one of the most beautiful parts of the USA imho
worst: expensive, people can be j-holes at times (and some also quite close-minded as opposed to my other location below), housing shortages, no horse racing

Los Angeles-
best: anything you could possibly aspire to do or create can be done in LA, lots of opportunities for almost anything you can think of, most of the people are very cool and open-minded, moderately eco-friendly, top notch horse racing
worst: EXPENSIVE, housing shortages, not a fan of the weather (way to arid and warm all year round= boring. Mostly I hate dry weather), endless traffic (and public transport generally sucks)

 

Where do you live?

 

Florida. Specifically, Spring Hill. It's about 50 miles north of Tampa, 15 miles north of Hudson/New Port Richey, where about a quarter of the Florida Man stories come from. If you like dysfunctional intolerant people, murderous heat, and the unique opportunity to experience every disease known to man at the same time, this is the place for you.

 

Fair warning! The only place I've been in FL was Tampa actually, about 8 years ago, mainly because I wanted to visit the race track there. Must have been a "cold snap" that weekend too since it was in the 60s the whole time...

 

Best:
Cheap yet good quality housing
No state income tax.
Southern Hospitality
Lots of room/land that hasn't yet been bulldozed and concreted over.
A very ethnically diverse population
Great museums and parks; a general fostering of public art
Worst:
Heat straight from Hell's furnace for 7 months out of the year.
Drastic cycles of flooding and drought.
Redneck, racist Neanderthals that are heavily armed, promoting violence while claiming to be Christians.
Religion sticking its nose into every damn nook and cranny of daily life.

 

Oh yeah, that's a cold snap. It's usually in the upper 70's daytime in the winter, with occasional dips into the upper 50's. We have had some legit freezes though, and in the passed couple of years we've gotten some legit long term cool-downs, but for the most part it's summer 10 months of the year.

Actually it's more like summer for two months, two months of autumn and Satan's Underpants/Surface of Venus for eight months.

Alabama?

 

^Texas.

 

best: All four seasons.
worst: winter***********

 

Where I live. We have some pretty great pubs, not so many as there were, but some remain. Some of them span four centuries.

The cost of living is reasonable, you don’t need to be a millionaire to buy a house here, but if you are, you’ll find something with a view worth every penny.

This area commands some of the most awesome natural beauty you’ll find anywhere on the planet, and just the sight of the golden sands and snowcapped peaks on the short walk to the village local were more than enough to make me stay.

My mornings greet me with cattle mooing, lambs bleating, or cackling migratory birds resting the night, depending on the time of year. And the sun rises without fail to a fierce red sky from the behind the highest hill to the east.

The population mix is somewhat jumbled, with a prominent Irish presence, and a polish community that long predates the current wave of migration, along with Asian and Muslim communities that bring some great eateries. On top of that, the transient population brought here from across the world to our local universities gives us an enormous cultural mix. The street food of the Saturday market are amazing and varied, but expensive.

But we are still a small town, two small towns to be fair, separated by a river and appalling transport links, but everywhere is accessible on foot or a short bus ride.

The crime rate is low. Even the derelict slumyards are safe to visit at night and the sunken faced druggies largely keep themselves to themselves.

We have good schools, some as good as the best you’ll find anywhere. It’s s generally safe area and a good place to raise kids.

On the downside. Not much employment in the area. There are some professional positions, but they’re limited to a small number of big employers. Most people on a good income commute south. I did that for a while and it put me right off work. Not seeing my firstborn awake during the week, except for nightfeeds soon taught me what really mattered.

Being a semi rural university town, we seem to have a lot of smug lefties, champagne socialists and Green Party voters. Nimbysm seems to stunt much of the city’s growth. Yeah, the environment matters, but we gotta live too. Homelessness is an issue too.

One thing I wish I could change though is the weather. This year isn’t so bad but we get a lot of rain, lots and lots.

I live in a nice place. I have my own crayonista journal of what I’d change , but it’s rather nice the way it is.

 

Sounds beautiful, where is?

 

Morecambe Bay.

As this is an international forum, I’ll add the things we take for granted but aren’t enjoyed everywhere, like universal healthcare funded by the taxpayer, social care, state pensions, unemployment and housing benefits. Big one is Gun control. Policing by consent is another. Employment rights, paid holiday entitlement.

I look at places around the world where I might like to live, but I think we’re doing alright here, it ain’t perfect any means, but we get a lot of right.

 

I love my area has very little crime, houses are affordable, and cost of living is low. I love how easily I have access to beautiful public parks and beaches along the Great Lakes. I love how I have good museums nearby, and quality education.

I don't like seven months of winter. And construction on every road during summer is super annoying.

 

Alright you sold me on never moving to FL...

@Butters your place sound awesome. Wish we had universal healthcare (or really a Federal gov't that would help out its citizens in any way,shape or form) might be time to apply for that citizenship certificate from Canada soon.

 

Best: No snow and ice!!!
Worst: Houses do not have furnaces. Winter is more cold indoors than outdoors. Having to pile up with blankets and hot water bottles makes me feel like it’s the 1800’s.

 

Best: I'm happy and independent here - close to everything, shops, supermarket, Post Office, even hospital etc.

Worst: We have to move.

 

I'm in Austin...On the top of my head...

Best

• The Food
• Outdoor day activities
• How dog friendly it is
• Hell of a view from work

Worst

• The heat and long term dry weather
  
• How hard it is to find camping on the spur of moment. Back in DC, my wife and I once decided to go camping around midnight. No problem. Here, we'd have to make reservations weeks or even months in advance. The reservations are pricier too. Not to mention the ground at the campsites we've gone to wreaked havoc on the tent stakes.
• The...gun-toting trumpeters outside of Austin and other cities..

*Lot of people around here would cite the traffic and cost of living. I excluded them because I had it worse. I've lived in areas more suburban than where I am and had more traffic to work, on back roads than on the main roads here. Also, yes the cost of living is going up here, but they are far cheaper than what we had to pay back in Boston and DC.