6 ms·

I want money to be able to live in a nice city where I can walk to things, parks and arts are well funded, where the food is great, and where there are nearby c

I want money to be able to live in a nice city where I can walk to things, parks and arts are well funded, where the food is great, and where there are nearby cafes and bars. I could own a large McMansion in the burbs instead of my small brownstone in the city, but I prefer the urban living. I just don’t care about having any more bedrooms, and from my perspective the less yard I have to maintain, the less room I have to clean, the better. On the face-to-face comment: until my local cafe and bar operate a constant zoom meeting and my cycling club sets up rides inside of my home office, I don’t see internet connectivity as a replacement for real contact. I will say this though — there is a big part of me that wants to live in a mountain town in Colorado or Vermont. Convenient nature and having places to walk to — Problem is from my experience the residents are almost entirely people twice my age with a lot of old money. On the topic of Nashville, my buddy moved there from Boston. I honestly thought the city was quite fun (minus the humidity and the neighbors of the Airbnb blasting hellfire evangelical sermons on the radio for their morning lawn-mowing routine), but they’ve come to regret the decision because the running isn’t as good and socially right-wing politics still forces itself upon every space. Political compatibility, even for people who prefer to leave those conversations alone, is important.

sevensor 8y ago
Have you considered moving to the town where State U is located? Plentiful access to nature, well-educated community, Pho and independent coffee shops, affordable cost of living. This is the case in many states, since the State U was traditionally sited in a big tract of farmland.
- ilikehurdles 8y ago
  I lived in Austin and loved it but the heat got to me. I loved the food and nightlife in Nashville when I visited. Also thoroughly enjoyed Burlington VT and would love to live there some day. I wouldn’t mind ending up back in Boston again though. If that’s the kind of places you mean, then yeah. I bought a place in Denver now because it’s so much relatively cheaper than Boston while I’m making the same software engineer wage. I could only afford to buy a teensy tiny old studio or a spot in a garage in Boston for the cost of my centrally-located condo in Denver.
  - sevensor 8y ago
    I really liked living in Austin, but I'm thinking smaller. Terre Haute, Urbana-Champaign, Kalamazoo, State College, Denton, Madison, Manhattan (Kansas), Binghamton, and many others, depending on your taste in climate, topography, and politics. Maybe Burlington, but the cost of living in Vermont is surprisingly high considering how sparsely populated it is.
    - FraaJad 8y ago
      I'm surprised you mentioned Terre Haute, but not Bloomington, IN (where Indiana University is located), which is really much, much, much nicer than Terre Haute.
      - sevensor 8y ago
        List was off the cuff -- I've been to or know people who've lived in those places. Bloomington sounds quite nice, but it didn't come to mind.
bluGill 8y ago
You didn't answer the question though: Why SV? Why wouldn't Jackson, Mississippi work - I've never been there, but I can still guarantee that you will find good parks, arts, food, and you can walk downtown. The exact parks, arts, and foods will be different, but they will be good. (Note that I picked Jackson because it is the first city google maps I saw when I zoomed on the american south region - I picked the American south because of the "red-neck" association)
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  Hot and humid, mosquitoes, flat land, prone to hurricanes, not near an international airport. I presume most people working in tech would consider these a negative.
  - bluGill 8y ago
    The airport is international - any airport of any size is (a lot of one runway airports serving only small planes are international). You pretty much need to hire your own plane if you want to fly into it, but it is international. I think meant to say the airport isn't a major hub so you can't actually get anywhere without going first to some other place you don't want to be. That is a fair complaint.
    - captainperl 8y ago
      > The airport is international - any airport of any size is If there's no Customs and Immigration services, then it's not really an international airport - you cannot legally fly from a foreign airport and land in a local airport that doesn't have those services in the USA and likely other countries. Source: pilot
      - bluGill 8y ago
        Nothing you said contradicts what I said.Pretty much all airports with commercial service are international. Note that being international doesn't mean someone sane would fly into the airport international. There are no regular international flights, but is an office for them and if you schedule in advance someone will be there when you arrive internationally. If you don't schedule in advance you might have to wait in the airport for a day for someone to arrive and process you. Even if you schedule in advance expect delays as unlike a hub they don't really have either a system or the experience to process you quickly.
jnbiche 8y ago
> but they’ve come to regret the decision because the running isn’t as good and socially right-wing politics still forces itself upon every space. I'm skeptical of this. I've not lived in Nashville, but I've lived in a whole lot of cities across the South: Charlotte, Atlanta, New Orleans. What almost all Southern cities have in common is that conservatives are a minority within the city limits. And indeed, when I check the 2016 election results for Nashville, I see that Clinton won against Trump 59 to 34% -- almost double! And also not surprisingly, Nashville has a Democratic mayor. Does that sound like a city with right-wing politics forcing itself on every space? The fact is, unlike Southern small towns and rural areas, Southern cities are in general fairly moderate to liberal, with a significant conservative minority (say 25-30%). Now, given our current political situation, that minority may be at present more vocal than usual, but that doesn't mean that the city is beset by "right-wing politics" occupying every sphere of life. Also, I've lived in working class neighborhoods in Southern cities for most of my life and have never heard anyone blasting evangelical sermons, around my house or around friends. That's 20+ years as an adult. So you picked an extraordinarily unlucky Airbnb. Yes, you run into occasional racists or homophobic assholes, but I occasionally ran into the same kinds of people when I lived in NJ for 2 years. There are assholes everywhere. But by far most of my co-workers working in universities and small companies have been either moderate or liberal, with an occasional conservative thrown in. Which isn't surprising, since that reflects the city's political breakdown. But (at least until recently) we all tend to get along. Now wrt to the running, I have no idea, you may be right there (although I know that the Chattanooga area has some great running). But wrt to politics, I'm fairly convinced that your friend's experience in Nashville is either a misinterpretation or they've met with an outlier company and friends (eg, did they work for a defense-related company? if so, those are conservative everywhere, and has nothing to do with Nashville).
- eropple 8y ago
  I dunno if it's necessarily that they're outlier companies. A lot of companies in Nashville/Brentwood employ people who don't live in the city. When I used to work remotely for a company down that way the IT dudes in the office were "These Colors Don't Run" types, at minimum. The closest any of them lived was like, Franklin.
- 8y ago
kimsk112 8y ago
> but they’ve come to regret the decision because the running isn’t as good and socially right-wing politics still forces itself upon every space. Not true at all. I have lived in Nashville (10+ years), Houston, and Bay Area. There might be some area like Franklin or Belle Meade that is more conservative. But overall Nashville is like most big cities in the south which is liberal.

sevensor 8y ago

Have you considered moving to the town where State U is located? Plentiful access to nature, well-educated community, Pho and independent coffee shops, affordable cost of living. This is the case in many states, since the State U was traditionally sited in a big tract of farmland.

ilikehurdles 8y ago
I lived in Austin and loved it but the heat got to me. I loved the food and nightlife in Nashville when I visited. Also thoroughly enjoyed Burlington VT and would love to live there some day. I wouldn’t mind ending up back in Boston again though. If that’s the kind of places you mean, then yeah. I bought a place in Denver now because it’s so much relatively cheaper than Boston while I’m making the same software engineer wage. I could only afford to buy a teensy tiny old studio or a spot in a garage in Boston for the cost of my centrally-located condo in Denver.
- sevensor 8y ago
  I really liked living in Austin, but I'm thinking smaller. Terre Haute, Urbana-Champaign, Kalamazoo, State College, Denton, Madison, Manhattan (Kansas), Binghamton, and many others, depending on your taste in climate, topography, and politics. Maybe Burlington, but the cost of living in Vermont is surprisingly high considering how sparsely populated it is.
  - FraaJad 8y ago
    I'm surprised you mentioned Terre Haute, but not Bloomington, IN (where Indiana University is located), which is really much, much, much nicer than Terre Haute.
    - sevensor 8y ago
      List was off the cuff -- I've been to or know people who've lived in those places. Bloomington sounds quite nice, but it didn't come to mind.

bluGill 8y ago

You didn't answer the question though: Why SV? Why wouldn't Jackson, Mississippi work - I've never been there, but I can still guarantee that you will find good parks, arts, food, and you can walk downtown. The exact parks, arts, and foods will be different, but they will be good. (Note that I picked Jackson because it is the first city google maps I saw when I zoomed on the american south region - I picked the American south because of the "red-neck" association)

lotsofpulp 8y ago
Hot and humid, mosquitoes, flat land, prone to hurricanes, not near an international airport. I presume most people working in tech would consider these a negative.
- bluGill 8y ago
  The airport is international - any airport of any size is (a lot of one runway airports serving only small planes are international). You pretty much need to hire your own plane if you want to fly into it, but it is international. I think meant to say the airport isn't a major hub so you can't actually get anywhere without going first to some other place you don't want to be. That is a fair complaint.
  - captainperl 8y ago
    > The airport is international - any airport of any size is If there's no Customs and Immigration services, then it's not really an international airport - you cannot legally fly from a foreign airport and land in a local airport that doesn't have those services in the USA and likely other countries. Source: pilot
    - bluGill 8y ago
      Nothing you said contradicts what I said.Pretty much all airports with commercial service are international. Note that being international doesn't mean someone sane would fly into the airport international. There are no regular international flights, but is an office for them and if you schedule in advance someone will be there when you arrive internationally. If you don't schedule in advance you might have to wait in the airport for a day for someone to arrive and process you. Even if you schedule in advance expect delays as unlike a hub they don't really have either a system or the experience to process you quickly.

jnbiche 8y ago

> but they’ve come to regret the decision because the running isn’t as good and socially right-wing politics still forces itself upon every space. I'm skeptical of this. I've not lived in Nashville, but I've lived in a whole lot of cities across the South: Charlotte, Atlanta, New Orleans. What almost all Southern cities have in common is that conservatives are a minority within the city limits. And indeed, when I check the 2016 election results for Nashville, I see that Clinton won against Trump 59 to 34% -- almost double! And also not surprisingly, Nashville has a Democratic mayor. Does that sound like a city with right-wing politics forcing itself on every space? The fact is, unlike Southern small towns and rural areas, Southern cities are in general fairly moderate to liberal, with a significant conservative minority (say 25-30%). Now, given our current political situation, that minority may be at present more vocal than usual, but that doesn't mean that the city is beset by "right-wing politics" occupying every sphere of life. Also, I've lived in working class neighborhoods in Southern cities for most of my life and have never heard anyone blasting evangelical sermons, around my house or around friends. That's 20+ years as an adult. So you picked an extraordinarily unlucky Airbnb. Yes, you run into occasional racists or homophobic assholes, but I occasionally ran into the same kinds of people when I lived in NJ for 2 years. There are assholes everywhere. But by far most of my co-workers working in universities and small companies have been either moderate or liberal, with an occasional conservative thrown in. Which isn't surprising, since that reflects the city's political breakdown. But (at least until recently) we all tend to get along. Now wrt to the running, I have no idea, you may be right there (although I know that the Chattanooga area has some great running). But wrt to politics, I'm fairly convinced that your friend's experience in Nashville is either a misinterpretation or they've met with an outlier company and friends (eg, did they work for a defense-related company? if so, those are conservative everywhere, and has nothing to do with Nashville).

eropple 8y ago
I dunno if it's necessarily that they're outlier companies. A lot of companies in Nashville/Brentwood employ people who don't live in the city. When I used to work remotely for a company down that way the IT dudes in the office were "These Colors Don't Run" types, at minimum. The closest any of them lived was like, Franklin.
8y ago

kimsk112 8y ago

> but they’ve come to regret the decision because the running isn’t as good and socially right-wing politics still forces itself upon every space. Not true at all. I have lived in Nashville (10+ years), Houston, and Bay Area. There might be some area like Franklin or Belle Meade that is more conservative. But overall Nashville is like most big cities in the south which is liberal.