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Which do you think is an appropriate American "model city?"

Which do you think is an appropriate American model city?


  • Total voters
    45
You really should pick a city with better sport teams. Life in a city just seems better when you have good teams playing there.

In before 18-1, 4th and 2 and numerous other Boston sports jokes.

I'm a Wisconsin guy. Being in Chicago would be great as I could observe, in person, the looks of frustration and cries of despair each year.
 
I have a thing for Atlanta.
 
I have always had a soft spot for Grand Rapids. Even the ghettos are tree lined. The Eastown area where Ford lived is spectacular, as is Heritage Hills.

If I could live anywhere, it would probably be San Diego. Just lived it the two times I was there in the navy.
 
I love Atlanta but I wouldn't model another city after it.

I understand you. The city is built weirdly. As much as I like Atlanta even I find the way it was built to be awkward. Like they just stopped building and the city is incomplete.

atlanta-ga.jpg
 
I understand you. The city is built weirdly. As much as I like Atlanta even I find the way it was built to be awkward. Like they just stopped building and the city is incomplete.

Don't get me wrong, it's got a beautiful skyline and there's lots of attractions. I think that incompleteness you feel when you are getting from one side to the other is that there's just so much sprawl. And it does seem like there's more freeway than destination.
 
In my whole life, I have only seen maybe five hot construction workers. And one of those was on a stripper stage in Key West. I don't think he was really a construction worker now that I think about it.

Maybe they had "appletini goggles" on when they were whistling at us. :lol:
 
i'll vote chicago, 'cause one of my favourite series of books is set there, and i like blues
 
Are you being serious? Chicago most certainly has crooks and corruption both in the private companies and in their government. It's a cesspool for crime and corruption.

All places have. Chicago is no longer famous for it.

If our values included glorifying the Mafia and corruption then I guess we should be most proud of Chicago. My dad is from Chicago and I have family that live there, it's a hell hole off the coast of Lake Michigan.

Really?

New York is over rated, but I would say it's less crooked than Chicago. Los Angeles is a crime hole like Chicago, but it's not much better. Chicago has it's history and "good" things, but overall it's a terrible city. I seriously wouldn't want the world to view Chicago as our model city.

All in all wall street and the financial world are by far the biggest and worst crooks in the world, and the biggest financial city in the world after London, happens to be New York. That makes it far more criminal than Los angeles and certainly more than Chicaco, who mostly thrive on solid legitimate businesses.
 
Of large cities, nothing beats NY city. It's awesome and has it all. Upper West Side would be my choice location.
 
I love Atlanta but I wouldn't model another city after it.

Honestly Atlanta is a trashhole. Lots of drugs(and drime), impractical city, I cant actually think of one positive thing beside from the weather.
 
Honestly Atlanta is a trashhole. Lots of drugs(and drime), impractical city, I cant actually think of one positive thing beside from the weather.

Freaknik. Hotlanta. Peachtree St...all good things about Atlanta. Oh, and Einstein's Cafe. The people. Druid Hills.

And actually, the weather there is the suck from about June on.
 
I personally love Huntsville, Alabama. Because of NASA and the space stuff, the city as a whole is incredibly educated. Alabama also has dirt low real estate taxes. Huntsville is big enough to have everything you need without the clusterf*ck factor of taking 2 hours to get wherever you want.

It's within 3 hours of Memphis, Atlanta, Nashville, and Birmingham. It's also not saturated with country music fanatics and you aren't officially property of Ted Turner by living there.
 
Boston really is great city. I'd say it's just about the perfect size, not so big that it's impossible to navigate but not so small that it's insignificant or boring. I'd wager that nearly everyone in the country knows what/where Boston is, giving people the notion that it's actually bigger than it is (much like our local beer company Samuel Adams according to their new commercials). It's pretty much the cleanest city I've been to in America, and it's been developed over the last 50 or so years to make it much closer to nature. Grass and trees are never more than a few blocks away.

It's quiet too, despite Massachusetts' reputation for terrible drivers, you can live peacefully in Boston without the constant noise of traffic. The scenery is beautiful with the ocean always close by, the Charles River winding its way through, and the scenic historical buildings that are all over the place, and the domes of Harvard beautifying the skyline over the river.

Of course it's one of the two most historical cities in the country also, with many important events in the Revolution taking place here such as the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and the Battle of Boston Harbor.

Of course, it had its trouble in the last century. Racial tension was huge here, and it got very close to breaking out into violence, immigrant groups like the Irish and the Italians had to go through the long process of assimilating (although now they run the city, you'll be hard pressed to find a politician in Massachusetts without an Irish or Italian name), and of course we were famous for our "dirty water" (which has since been cleaned), also contrary to how the city is now (very contrary) Boston used to be one of the most socially conservative cities in the country (consider the phrase "Banned in Boston"). Of course, now our reputation is as one of the most liberal areas in the country second only perhaps to San Francisco (not a problem for me, a source of pride actually, but I imagine many of you would be uncomfortable with it).

I've really come to love the city over the last few years, it's really a great place.
 
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Los Angeles is the best example of American cities. It's also a great example of what happens when you let city planners with hair-brained ideas and do-gooders get the best of your city. Los Angeles could be so much more. It's a tragic city. I love it. I wish it was more. I wish it was what it can be.
 
Detroit by far.

Detroit could be, but I don't think it represents what Americans want (single family home and driving to work) quite like Los Angeles does.
 
Detroit could be, but I don't think it represents what Americans want (single family home and driving to work) quite like Los Angeles does.

i was starting to find this list credible until detroit was found to be in 64th position:
[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_quality_of_living]List of cities by quality of living - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
 
And Washington DC is 44th. That's just amazing, lol.

What's a model city? Cars, freeways, homes, CBD (central business district) surrounded by miles and miles of sprawl, strip malls, etc. This has been the "model city" of America for more than half a century, and Los Angeles is the archetype of an American city.
 
Detroit could be, but I don't think it represents what Americans want (single family home and driving to work) quite like Los Angeles does.

Americans want to drive to work? :shock:

Its not that they do not have a choice, is it? The single most thing I hated about cities when I was in the US was the huge distances and everything being so decentralized. Nor did they have subways, trams or similar services(that I could find) in Atlanta, Orlando, Jacksonville, Talahassee, Miami, Tampa or any smaller places that I visited for extended periods of time. :doh
 
All of those options suck donkey balls.

I'm likin' Charlottesville, VA so I'll go with that.
 
Americans want to drive to work? :shock:

Its not that they do not have a choice, is it? The single most thing I hated about cities when I was in the US was the huge distances and everything being so decentralized. Nor did they have subways, trams or similar services(that I could find) in Atlanta, Orlando, Jacksonville, Talahassee, Miami, Tampa or any smaller places that I visited for extended periods of time. :doh

Yes, as compared to taking a train, biking, or walking, people would rather drive to work. There are other options that people could take right now, but by and large people drive over any other option. It's the most expensive option, but it's also the most subsidized.
 
All of those options suck donkey balls.

I'm likin' Charlottesville, VA so I'll go with that.

My friend goes to UVA and I went to see him a few weeks ago and I have to say if I didn't want to get the hell out of the South I could see myself in Charlottesville. It is a really nice place to live it seems like.
 
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