Chicago (specifically Printers Row/South Loop): 1. Homes - Many apartment buildings are 75-100 years old which comes with a whole slew of issues - Buying a condo or apartment in the city is difficult due to Illinois taxes and the states shit financial situation 2. Outdoors - Chicago has a fantastic lake front and some public parks that are nice but there is little to no, "outdoory" things to do in the city or even ne…
Lol, I am from Chicago living next to Boulder now. Everyone on my street is from the midwest, the weather here in the winter and summer is 1000x better.
Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
121–130 of 132 posts
Re: Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
#122Chicago (specifically Printers Row/South Loop): 1. Homes - Many apartment buildings are 75-100 years old which comes with a whole slew of issues - Buying a condo or apartment in the city is difficult due to Illinois taxes and the states shit financial situation 2. Outdoors - Chicago has a fantastic lake front and some public parks that are nice but there is little to no, "outdoory" things to do in the city or even ne…
I'll add that while it's got a great transportation system, it's still a very car centric city. Train transportation is directed at getting you into the loop, and not so great if you want to traverse to other parts of the city. Want to go from Pilsen to Lincoln Park? You'll probably drive. Pilsen to Wicker Park? I doubt you are going to take the bus, so you'll drive there too. The advantage of it being flat is that y…
Re: Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
#123Chicago (specifically Printers Row/South Loop): 1. Homes - Many apartment buildings are 75-100 years old which comes with a whole slew of issues - Buying a condo or apartment in the city is difficult due to Illinois taxes and the states shit financial situation 2. Outdoors - Chicago has a fantastic lake front and some public parks that are nice but there is little to no, "outdoory" things to do in the city or even ne…
I've lived in the Denver metro (suburbs) for 7 years now and still love it. I moved here from a small city in the south. - Large and growing tech community. Every year, I see job postings from new companies in the area. Google, FB, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft all have sattelite offices. Plenty of options to choose from if you're in development, IT, finance, etc. Lots of non-profit organizations as well. Good universitie…
Re: Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've lived in the Denver metro (suburbs) for 7 years now and still love it. I moved here from a small city in the south. - Large and growing tech community. Every year, I see job postings from new companies in the area. Google, FB, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft all have sattelite offices. Plenty of options to choose from if you're in development, IT, finance, etc. Lots of non-profit organizations as well. Good universitie…
I'll echo some points: - I-25 traffic is crazy bad, even compared to the 405 in West LA. Really, it's no joke. - Politics isn't really purple in Co, per se. It's a western state, so it's more libertarian than republican, sorta. People are independent as a rule. I think it's something about the long drives and the mountains that keeps up a love of open spaces and a comfortableness with being alone and out of range of…
Re: Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
>"2) The local popular religion (Mormonism) has an outsized influence on legislation, so there are weird laws surrounding alcohol, business on Sundays, use of downtown property, etc. Outside of SLC proper people assume everyone is Mormon, and one's religion (or lack of it) can affect job opportunities, etc." This really annoys me as someone who loves the state of Utah. People who don't really know about the Mormons a…
Do you live in Utah? That's not been my experience at all. You meet a lot of Mormons and you can often tell who they are, but they are very nice and it doesn't seem to affect day-to-day life much at all. I would not describe the government as a theocracy. Liquor stores aren't open on Sunday and you can't buy full strength beer in the grocery store. Other than that the differences living here vs. elsewhere aren't huge…
Yes.
> You meet a lot of Mormons and you can often tell who they are, but they are very nice and it doesn't seem to affect day-to-day life much at all.
Well, I didn't say it affected my day-to-day life, I said that it affects local legislation.
> Liquor stores aren't open on Sunday and you can't buy full strength beer in the grocery store. Other than that the differences living here vs. elsewhere aren't huge.
You can't buy liquor (apart from the low-strength beer) from any stores except the state-owned ones. The state strictly limits the number of liquor licenses they give out to restaurants and bars, and the rules surrounding the use of those licenses are strange and ever-changing, such as the "Zion curtain" that forbade bartenders from making drinks in view of the public. The strongest drinks bars/restaurants are allowed to serve are weak, 1 ounce of liquor per drink if I recall correctly (it may be 1.5). For a while they had that weird "sidecar" exception that allowed the establishment to sell you an extra ounce of liquor on the side the customer can mix in themselves. Servers are not allowed to serve you an alcoholic drink if you have one unfinished. Restaurants cannot sell you liquor unless you also order food. And so on.
There was a law (it still may be in place) that forbade car dealerships from being open both Saturday and Sunday. Since no dealer is dumb enough to close on Saturday, this was an obvious effort to force those businesses to close on Sundays.
The state has been very amenable to big land deals with the LDS church downtown, deals they would not have made with any other entity. For example, the City Creek project.
The church strongly influences legislation on things like medical marijuana and gay marriage. For certain people, those influences would very much affect day-to-day life.
This is what I can remember off the top of my head, I'm sure there are more. Like I said, it's mostly a good place to live. But the church currently has too much influence in government.
Re: Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
#126Stoke UK: Public transport: shockingly bad, both expensive and time consuming, our city is 5 towns, all of which link through one meaning any journey requires 2 buses and usually an hour or more all to travel around 4 miles. there is no tube/tram or other option Jobs: there just arent any General life: most major stores have given up on the city, the high streets are becoming increasingly filled with empty shops that…
Re: Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you live in Utah? That's not been my experience at all. You meet a lot of Mormons and you can often tell who they are, but they are very nice and it doesn't seem to affect day-to-day life much at all. I would not describe the government as a theocracy. Liquor stores aren't open on Sunday and you can't buy full strength beer in the grocery store. Other than that the differences living here vs. elsewhere aren't huge…
> Do you live in Utah? Yes. > You meet a lot of Mormons and you can often tell who they are, but they are very nice and it doesn't seem to affect day-to-day life much at all. Well, I didn't say it affected my day-to-day life, I said that it affects local legislation. > Liquor stores aren't open on Sunday and you can't buy full strength beer in the grocery store. Other than that the differences living here vs. elsewhe…
> the Utah government is essentially a theocracy... which dictates every aspect of society in the state. It makes the place completely unlivable for normal people
Which is a pretty strong claim and does not seem grounded in reality. Especially when you consider many "normal people" from the rest of the US have moved to Utah in the last few years. People seem comfortable making unsupported claims about Mormons in ways they would find abhorrent if similar unsupported claims were made against other minority cultural or ethnic groups.
Re: Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Do you live in Utah? Yes. > You meet a lot of Mormons and you can often tell who they are, but they are very nice and it doesn't seem to affect day-to-day life much at all. Well, I didn't say it affected my day-to-day life, I said that it affects local legislation. > Liquor stores aren't open on Sunday and you can't buy full strength beer in the grocery store. Other than that the differences living here vs. elsewhe…
I agree with you on pretty much all of that. I was replying to aphextron who wrote: > the Utah government is essentially a theocracy... which dictates every aspect of society in the state. It makes the place completely unlivable for normal people Which is a pretty strong claim and does not seem grounded in reality. Especially when you consider many "normal people" from the rest of the US have moved to Utah in the las…
Re: Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
My wife and some friends visited NYC recently. My wife was the only one that liked the city, albeit only to a degree. I definitely think NYC is a great place to visit, but I could never see myself living there. I love the public transport system but hate so many other aspects of life there.
I definitely think NYC is a great place to visit, but I could never see myself living there. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that about NYC from a visitor, I could afford to buy a place here :) Seriously though, why do people only seem to say this about NYC? Does anyone say they enjoyed visiting Dallas but couldn’t see themselves living there?
The same thing I like about the city, is the same thing I hate about the city, if that makes sense. Every time you step out the door, it's like an all day adventure. I'm not a very fit person, I don't like working out. So by the end of the day seeing the sights you are EXHAUSTED. Obviously if I lived there, you would not be in tourist mode seeing things daily and traveling to all the boroughs, but being active is very much a way of life there. I don't recall seeing too many fat New Yorkers. Perhaps because they are walking everywhere.
I want to have my cake and eat it too. Here I have the choice of getting in a car, the feeling of alot of space around me, but wish some areas were served better by public transport for those times that I may need it.
Re: Ask HN: What sucks about where you live?
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Do you live in Utah? Yes. > You meet a lot of Mormons and you can often tell who they are, but they are very nice and it doesn't seem to affect day-to-day life much at all. Well, I didn't say it affected my day-to-day life, I said that it affects local legislation. > Liquor stores aren't open on Sunday and you can't buy full strength beer in the grocery store. Other than that the differences living here vs. elsewhe…
I agree with you on pretty much all of that. I was replying to aphextron who wrote: > the Utah government is essentially a theocracy... which dictates every aspect of society in the state. It makes the place completely unlivable for normal people Which is a pretty strong claim and does not seem grounded in reality. Especially when you consider many "normal people" from the rest of the US have moved to Utah in the las…