A few questions for Chicagoans (live, pit bull, buses)

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Ramo Nash

To you. I was just stating an opinion to try to give the OP a more nuanced picture from someone from the northeast who now lives in chicago. If you feel chicago is the best city out there, more power to you, but I disagree.



Yep and I said "seriously considered." There's not really a contradiction there. And Austin's bodies of water, while not as large as the lake are 10x more beautiful and 10x more usable.

Hope you find a way out of the hell we all know as Chicago soon.
I find it odd that you hold such an ill (and in most cases grossly inacurate view with sprinkles of half truths for good measure) towards a city you have managed to call home for 7 years. It took you 7 years to figure out you hated Chicago? You should have left after a year if you think it sucks so bad.

I dont think your first post was very nuanced at all in the true definition of the word.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by Ramo Nash

...There's that famous chicago sense of humor...

Oh, that was not a joke.That was an educated observational guess.

Originally Posted by Ramo Nash

...If you feel chicago is the best city out there, more power to you, but I disagree....

I never said I thought it was.I just challenged you on your skewed views. So what is your best city in the country? Hmmm,nevermind, I am pretty sure I can guess what it is.

Originally Posted by Ramo Nash

Anyway, I don't hate everything about the US, but chicago and the midwest is a concentration of a lot of what's bad about this country...

I suppose you believe the East and Left coasts do not contain nearly anything bad about this country. The Midwest epitomizes all of the U.S.A.'s shortcomings, but the coasts dont. If you honestly think that, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

As Steven Tyler said: "Dream on..."

[Ramo Nash]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Hope you find a way out of the hell we all know as Chicago soon.
I find it odd that you hold such an ill (and in most cases grossly inacurate view with sprinkles of half truths for good measure) towards a city you have managed to call home for 7 years. It took you 7 years to figure out you hated Chicago? You should have left after a year if you think it sucks so bad.

I dont think your first post was very nuanced at all in the true definition of the word.

The thread starter wanted peoples' opinions and I gave mine. If you disagree, state your view to help them out. I never said my post was nuanced, but that I wanted to give a more a more nuanced picture to the TS (ie most of the other posts were positive, mine was more negative). If you want to discuss my view of chicago, this isn't the thread.

[Ramo Nash]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

I never said I thought it was.I just challenged you on your skewed views. So what is your best city in the country? Hmmm,nevermind, I am pretty sure I can guess what it is.

It's my opinion, of course it's skewed. It would be more helpful to the TS if you stated why you disagree with my characterization of chicago, rather than pointless drivel.

I suppose you believe the East and Left coasts do not contain nearly anything bad about this country. The Midwest epitomizes all of the U.S.A.'s shortcomings, but the coasts dont.

I never said that. Why do you care what I think anyway?

[thePR]

Originally Posted by chicago_bound

Hi everyone, I posted last year and received some great tips and I am hoping this time will be no different. I am currently residing in Boston and have been planning my escape for the past year almost. I was hoping to move this year but it looks like that won't be feasible, so I'm hoping to be in Chicago by next summer. As for living in Boston, I just dont really agree wtih this city. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful city architecturally speaking and is easy to get around in. However the social climate here is a bit "cold" for me and I don't feel like i really belong here. It's also a little too small for my taste. Its hard to explain, but I lived in NYC for 7 years before Boston and loved it, but had to leave due to the high cost of living, plus it was getting a bit too stressful for me. I believe in the "energy"of a city, and Boston just doesnt have much for me. Believe it or not I find folks in Boston to be much more rude than NYC! I had no problems making friends in NYC but here in Boston it has been a struggle. Too provincial I think. I visited Chicago last year for the first time and fell in love with it immediately, I just really got a good "vibe" from it, something I never got in Boston. I liked how Chicago was a big city like NYC, but seemed so much cleaner and less stressful. Im planning another trip to visit Chicago in October.

Anyway, my questions are as follows: First, I hear people talk about how crazy cold winters in Chicago are, can they be that different from Boston? We do get a significant amount of snow here and cold weather, so wondering if there is anyone in Chicago who used to live in Boston who could tell me what the differences/similarities in winter are. My next question is, that I would REALLY like to get rid of my car when I move to Chicago. I'm assuming most of Chicago is pretty accessible by public transportation? Do most neighborhoods have good access to the subways? I would be looking to spend between 1200-1500 a month on a 1 bedroom, and I am hoping that would be enough to get me a place that is in a safe neighborhood with good access to transportation.

I know about neighborhoods such as Lakeview and the Loop. Any other nice neighborhooods close to public T that I should consider? Oh I am a single gay male in his 30's but dont need to live in a "gay ghetto". As long as I am near the subway, close to some restaurants/cafes and shops that is cool with me. Some trees would be nice to

Thanks for reading my post and I look forward to your responses!

I've never experienced a Northeastern Winter but what I've heard from people that have experienced both is that Chicago might have similar temperatures but it feels a lot colder, nippier. Like a slap in the face.

$1,200 is enough to get yourself a nice place and Lakeview would be the most accommodating from what I've heard. Chicago overall has a nice amount of greenery and restaurants are everywhere.

FYI Chicago doesn't have a subway, we have the "L."

[thePR]

Originally Posted by Ramo Nash

It's my opinion, of course it's skewed. It would be more helpful to the TS if you stated why you disagree with my characterization of chicago, rather than pointless drivel.



I never said that. Why do you care what I think anyway?

Your post might have been what the OP wanted in terms of your true feelings but you have an obvious hate for the area not just a disliking. You didn't need to go and say it the way you did.

[j33]

I think what set Avengerfire of with the underhanded insinuation that everyone living in Chicago were a bunch of hicks. That rubbed me the wrong way too. As one who works in the arts, and couldn't make a living if chicago didn't have a cultural scene, I also know quite well it is a bunch of BS. There is certainly some truth to some of Ramo Nash's observations, but he is painting with a very broad and unflattering brush, and mostly touting tired stereotypes. I have a lot of family out east too (Boston area), and none of them look down there noses at me when I go out for holidays, and I've certainly never been dismissed as a dull and uninteresting hick based on geographic location, so don't do what Ramo is doing and dismiss the entire east coast and its residents the way he is so obviously willing to dismiss the entire Midwest and its residents.

To the OP, are there some cultural differences between Chicago and Boston? Yes. Most certainly. Chicago, while having a huge international population, is largely a magnet to the Midwest when it comes to younger people (this is both good and bad, however, in my book club there are members who hail from Seattle, Boston, Iowa, and Mississippi, so it isn't as if people from other places don't move here). Despite what the has been posted, there is a lively cultural scene (if attendance at last years Humanities festival was anything to judge by, we certainly aren't all citing home at night watching Desperate Housewives). However, Chicago's blue collar roots still show through much more than Boston's, so you'll notice that as a difference (and, if you live on the north side, you won't be able to walk two feet without stumbling over someone from Michigan ). The best way to make friends is to join something or take a class. A friend of mine, new to town, took classes in acting and improvisation at Second City, and made several fast friends in her class.

As far as winter is concerned, we are a bit colder, but you get more snow.

[olive_green]

Originally Posted by Ramo Nash

I am utterly horrified every time someone in an elevator starts telling me their life story. It's one thing to be friendly, but much of the time there is just nothing interesting going on with people here.

Originally Posted by Ramo Nash

before deciding to make the leap to a flyover state.

There's nothing objectionable about your negative perceptions of Chicago.

But then... "Utterly horrified" at someone who is making an attempt to be friendly? That, and the use of the obnoxious term "flyover state", combine to make you come across as a coastal elitist and a bad person in general. Yes, you offered a more "nuanced" perception of Chicago, but you also used this thread to be malicious. I wouldn't be surprised if you get a few bad reactions. Just try to take them in stride and try not to be "utterly horrified" by them.

[Ramo Nash]

To everyone who responded to my post--yeah I do in fact really dislike chicago and did not try to hide it in my post, because the TS wanted people's opinions and reactions moving from the northeast to chicago (ie not people from chicago saying how much they like it). If I didn't respond with a little vitriol, my post would have been completely unhelpful.

I really don't think I said anything untrue or even debatable really and the comparisons I make come from living here for the better part of a decade, exploring the city from top to bottom and interacting with musicians, artists, business people, government workers, etc. etc. By the way, I know many northeast transplants who feel exactly the same way I do about chicago and some that don't, but I don't think any would think that what I've written in my post is false or completely biased, despite the fact some of the things may be stereotypes. Kudos to those who responded and gave their perception.

[j33]

Ramo - I don't think that 'not liking Chicago' is the problem. There are loads of people who don't like chicago, and for many good reasons. What I do think is the problem is how willing you are to dismiss the entire population as dull, uninteresting, hicks. Quite frankly, that is where you lost me and I quit actually taking your post as a serious post by someone who moved here and found it didn't quite fit what they were looking for and started to read it through much less forgiving eyes. Oh, and you'll never make any friends, or get people to take you seriously if you start talking about 'flyover states', period, end of story.