"Moving to San Diego" thread on Tribe
Amber over at Tribe.net began a thread entitled "Moving to San Diego". It's been getting a fair amount of follow-up, no doubt because it also mentions lesbians, belly dancing, and bi girls. Chuckle. I found it through Blogger's blog search dashboard, searching for the keywords "moving san diego". Honest.
Amber, you write that you are "from Seattle" and "in Georgia right now". Would that be Atlanta, GA? Would you like to share any comparisons between Seattle, San Diego, and Georgia cities?
posted by Monte Hayward @ 8:41 PM
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5 Comments:
Monte,
Interesting blog. I just moved from Tucson, AZ to Austin, TX. I actually graduated from high school in Portland, OR. The winters always got to me. I feel Austin is much better than Tucson. I got sick of the sunny days in Arizona and lack of greenness. Everyday was sunshine. It is nice every once a while to have some rain. Austin is more affordable in real estate than Tucson. In 2002, a median price for a house in Tucson was $120,000 and by 2005, it was $220,000. While price increased significantly, there was no rise in real incomes. It took me a year from studing different markets to find Austin. It is the right size, affordable real estate can still be found, and Samsung is going to open a $4 Billion plant north of the city. It is a booming town. Governor Perry has also reduced the property tax in the recent special session of the legislature. Buy a condo and investment purchase, a four-plex can be had around $225,000. Yes, $225,000. But real estate is going up in Austin, in Travis County it rose 16% this past year. But Williamson County just north of Travis that has the northern suburbs only rose 5%. Also another major difference is in crime, Tucson had around 60 murders in 2005 while Austin only had 26. Austin has 200,000 more people than Tucson. Recently, Austin was ranked as the third safest city in America for a city over 500,000 people. San Jose and Honolulu were ranked 1st and 2nd. Well, best of luck to Monte.
Dan Lawrence
Dan,
Thanks for your thoughts and wishes.
What differences do you see between the social climates of Tucson, Portland, and Austin?
I did a Google Earth "flyover" over Tucson, and architecturally, it seemed as if there was no "there" there.
--Monte
Monte,
The social climates of Tucson and Austin are certainly different. Tucson is actually more liberal than Austin. In Tucson, every city council member is a Democrat and only one conservative Democrat is on the council. Tucson does have a Republican Mayor but he drives a Toyota Primus, a hybrid car. I don't think Austin is that socially liberal. For Texas, it certainly is but Austin is just a little more off-kilter than Tucson. Austin always has off-beat candidates that run for local office. Tucson is like Mother Jones magazine and Austin is like Mad Magazine. Portland, is probably the more liberal of the cities. Portland has a great mass transit system with light rail and a modern downtown streetcar system that runs from Portland State University through the heart of downtown to the Pearl District. However, I think the hardest time meeting people was in Portland, Oregon. In Tucson and Austin, for me, it is much easier to meet people. In general, people are a little nicer in Tucson than Austin but not by much. Austin has a better bar scene but I'm still new to the city. Texas women seem like they are a little harder to figure out. As for Tucson and the city, well, you're right, there is no "there" there. It has a very small downtown and it might improve. In 1999, the voters passed Rio Nuevo which was a re-development project to build condos, retail, a planetarium, and museums. When I left in April of this year, the only structure completed was a very nice parking garage and the restoration of the Fox Theater. No condos, retail, or museums have really been started in the past seven years. Since I left, Tucson passed a comprehensive transportation bill that improves mass transit. Additionally, it will create a modern streetcar runnning from the northeast section of the University of Arizona to downtown Tucson. It will have stops on University Blvd. and 4th Avenue, where all the bars are located. Both Austin and Tucson are spread out cities but Austin has a great downtown.
Dan,
I did not expect for you to say that Tucson is more liberal. I've not been there, but have heard tales of Arizona being loaded with gun-owners. Maybe the frontier is mellowing.
Not so embarrassing that Tucson is slow in its renewal project. Seattle got up to its ankles in a monorail project, then quit it when the going got rough. They never laid a mile of track. All we have to show for it now are some publicly owned strips of land (which are being sold off to reduce project debt), and a futuristic mural in the sodo district, which depicts the train that never was.
Sigh. Looks like more days of soggy commutes are ahead for the emerald city.
I've lived in SD for 6 years; originally from Seattle. I live in PB. My neighbors are UCSD/SDSU students or young professionals who enjoy "socializing" into the wee hours of the a.m. If you're into frat-house type partying then PB is your neighborhood, if not then drop by the local drugstore for a couple of earplugs and you'll do fine. The only redeeming quality to this location is I'm 5 blocks from Mission Bay and 6 blocks to the ocean. For the most part living in SD has been wonderful. I've never had any challenges with meeting people here or anywhere for that matter but then maybe it's because I "think" I'm a pleasant, approachable, and funny person. If you're the same then you should have no issues with meeting people. Good luck on finding your bliss in whichever town/burg/city you decide to settle in.
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