Question of the Day, Saturday, March 18

Winchester

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Happy Saturday!

What are the best things and the worst things about where you live? You don't have to mention where you live.

Best things:
  • We are somewhat rural and we like it that way; it's relatively quiet around here. Yes, we have to drive everywhere, so we do need vehicles. We can't just walk to town.
  • We are blessed with a cheesemaker down the road, two chocolate stores (both make their own chocolates and pastries) in town, and an excellent bagel place. A cookie store opened in town and it's doing a thriving business. We still have a movie theatre.
  • There's a great winery not too far away. While we do have our share of chain restaurants, we also have a selection of nice restaurants.
  • We live between two university towns, so they're fairly eclectic. Shopping can be quite interesting, especially around Christmas. I love parking the car and just walking through town, checking out the stores.
  • It's a pretty town. There are trees on the main street, they take care of the streets, owners take pride in their buildings. Although rents can be very high for the tenants.
Bad things:
  • Because we are somewhat rural, it can take a while for the police to get here, when needed. And sometimes, they are needed, whether because of a bad accident or because the neighbors are being idiots. We've had both.
  • Like other areas, traffic can be ridiculous. People tend to use our road as a shortcut to the mall. We have several accidents every year; I was actually hit while out walking several years ago; fortunately, it wasn't serious.
  • Taxes are ridiculous.

What about you? What are some good things and bad things about where you live?
 

sivyaleah

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New Jersey
Best:
It's an easy train ride into NYC - the station is walkable if need be
We have several very nice parks with good amenities
Within 10-15 minutes of any services we might need
We are known for our shade trees (sadly many lost in various big storms over the past few year)
It's pretty safe
We can see fireworks from our home's upper balcony
There's a thriving art scene, good restaurants and historic sites

Worst:
There's no supermarket in town
Real estate taxes are pretty high
It has a "reputation" based on a business which isn't even within town borders
Not a good place to age-in-place, most homes are quite old
Too far from the beach
Traffic can be a pita on main roads
 

Jem

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As for my town...we are an "outskirt" town but part of a larger city.
It still has a mostly small town feel, which I like, but it is getting bigger, which I don't like.
I love that I live near the woods, you can find nature in every direction, but we are losing some of this due to new subdivisions being built. It's much more quiet than being in a city, and we have large geographical space, but this does mean that driving and having a car is basically a necessity. We don't have any decent public transportation.
As for my neighborhood...
I'm in one of the older neighborhoods. Our roads are bumpy and we have no sidewalks or any of the things that come with being in one of the new subdivisions, and I'm a bit further out from the grocery stores and malls, so I have to drive everywhere, but his also means that my property taxes are still relatively low, I don't have to hear my neighbor flush their toilet, and all the houses have character, fully grown trees and landscaping.
It can get a bit noisy sometimes because we are an "outdoorsy people" so traffic from sleds, motor cross bikes, quads and side x sides is inevitable. But this also means that almost every second house on the street has a truck and plow and is more than ready to help in the winter if you get stuck or need a hand with snow removal.

There are more good and not so good things but overall, I like simplicity and I still get that in my smaller community, and I'm not too far from the city so I can still get everything I need, it just takes a bit of planning and time if you don't want to waste your time and money with needless travel.

Edited to add: Nobody knows how to drive around here!!! LOL! Which is hell considering we all have to.
 

susanm9006

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Best things - it’s a small town with plenty of places to walk - a main Street, lake with swimming beach, walking paths etc and yet major shopping centers nearby. The street I live on ends one house away so it’s quiet with little traffic and mail gets delivered to the door.

Worst things: 60 year old pine trees in the alley create so much work, and I really need a privacy fence on both sides.
 

denice

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Columbus OH
A leafy suburb that is still fairly quiet and safe though that has been changing the last few years.
Close to everything needed.
Close to a city that is growing, the only one in Ohio that is growing. Several universities, colleges, an art school. Columbus also has COSI which is Center of Science and Industry and there is always something interesting going on there.

Traffic is bad and crime is worsening.
 

MonaLyssa33

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Minneapolis
Worst: Summers are awful, humid and hot and so many bugs. Most of the diversity and population is located in metro areas (as it often is around the US), so the other 80ish% of the state has a lot of blatantly racist a-holes (not to say that they don't exist in the metro areas too, but per capita it's more common in the rural areas).

Best: It's beautiful in all seasons, aside from some crappy people, most people are good, and I love that it is cool/cold for most of the year.
 

catloverfromwayback

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Victoria, Australia
Best:
Being close to goods and services again (back on the outskirts of a regional city after living outside a very small country town);
Being back in my home state away from subtropical climate;
Being on high ground unlikely to flood or be cut off:
Being in a retirement village with nice neighbours, meals provided and gardens I don’t have to maintain;
Having a knitting group to attend in a local yarn store;
Having home help available to help with my mother

Worst:
The unreliable rubbish collection - several times they haven emptied the huge bins in the village for two weeks and we’ve had rats running around;
The roads that never seem to be any better after all the roadworks;
The number of roundabouts! Worse than Queensland with the roundabout obsession in this city.
 

neely

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I asked my husband this question and he said the worst thing is the drivers. :crazy: He goes on and on about how rude they are. Although I agree I told him you can't control how other people drive so let it go.

By far the best thing is the school district which I also worked in for many years. It's also close to grocery stores, parks and shopping.
But I miss the city so take the train in often to get my fix, e.g. museums, theater (plays), opera and ethnic/vegetarian restaurants.
 

NY cat man

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Best:
The weather. We don't experience temperature extremes because of the presence of two large lakes to the north and southwest of us.
An abundant supply of fresh water from those two Great Lakes, and also the recreational opportunities they provide
The people, at least for the most part. We have a mix of small towns, rural areas, and small cities, populated, for the most part, by salt-of-the-earth people, but that, sadly, is changing as big-city escapees are moving in with us 'rubes'.
The availability of large areas of parklands and 'forever wild' areas open to the public all year long for hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, biking, or snowmobiling, although that last is only permitted on certain, but not all, state lands
Worst:
A bloated, overbearing state political structure that is dominated by New York City. They seemingly don't know, or care, that upstate is far different from them, with far different concerns, which leads to.......
Exorbitant taxes, which only increase as the bureaucracy comes up with new ways to waste our hard-earned money
Those escapees from the big cities, who are buying up homes, but they are bringing with them the same mindset that caused them to flee the big cities in the first place. Also, they are overpaying for the properties to the extent that everybody else's property taxes are going up.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Best: 4 seasons but often milder winters. Gorgeous skies and ocean access. Access to urban areas if you want it.

Worst: Not many unique dining or ethnic dining options. Political divides. People transplanting without the state planning the infrastructure for it.
 

lizzie

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Where we live is pretty rural...I think we're a couple of miles from town.We have good neighbors yet we're spread apart enough nobody is on our back doorstep,so yes we have some privacy.School district has improved much over the years,medical care has as well.Taxes are low and real estate not too bad,although I hear rents are high.In town we have an old fashioned square with a limestone courthouse and business is thriving "on the square" with new eateries and other businesses.We are a college town and churches abound.Of course I'm not a fan of the weather in that it gets so hot and humid in the summer.Also not too thrilled with being so close to tornado alley,and the ticks and chiggers will drive you mad!
 

Lari

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We have a LOT of great activities for families with children - amazing libraries in lots of nearby suburbs, museums, parks, play places, park district and other activities/classes. A lot that are low/no cost. We have a great variety of stores and restaurants, with lots of different cuisines. We have so many choices. Good schools overall. It's fairly easy to get places. We live by a train to the city and near some expressways as well.

Cons are things like the crazy Chicagoland weather. It can go from very cold to very hot in a short amount of time, and there's about 3 or 4 false springs that go back to winter before we finally get the real thing. It can be super muggy in the summer and it can be polar vortex cold in the winter, but you never know! Then taxes and cost of living.
 

Kat0121

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Sunny Florida
No snow :banana1::banana2:
Beautiful scenery with lots of amazing wildlife
It's a pretty quiet town which is good because our roads were not made with lots of traffic in mind
The fire department is less than 5 minutes away from me
There are many orange groves nearby and when the orange blossoms are in bloom the scent is heavenly

Not much for kids to do here
The shopping is awful. Our mall is a joke. You know it's a bad mall when Auntie Anne's leaves. :sigh:
We don't have stores that other places have. No Costco, Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. I'd have to drive 65 miles to the south or 80 miles to the north to get to any of these.
No good pizza. We have the big chains but they aren't worth it. The local chain is OK but it's expensive for just being OK. I buy frozen pizza from Wild Fork Foods. Their pizza is imported from Italy and is fantastic.
 

aliceneko

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Best: location - suburbs to the capital city, and also not far from the coast and the countryside. My town used to be a village, so it still feels rural in some parts and there's lots of green spaces.

Cons: can be boring in the suburbs, and our highstreet is very quiet. Some new coffee shops and a new cinema and library have opened, but there still isn't much to do. If I want to spend a day shopping or visiting sites, I'll take the train up to the city centre. Being in the suburbs also means cafes, shops and other places of interest often have early closing hours (which isn't good for insomniacs!). It's also small here so I know almost everyone, and if I don't know them I'll most likely have mutual friends with them.
 

NY cat man

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An addendum to my previous post:
An escapee from NYC is one of our next door neighbors. They paid over $140K for a 900-something square foot house on a 50x100 lot. We just got our new assessment notice, and it jumped by $14,000. I figure our new tax bill, all told, will go up another $300. Yay.
 
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