COMMENT BY
jacquie from Johnson City, TN
COMMENT ABOUT PLACE
Johnson City, TN
COMMENT
Just okay-
okay after living here 10 years:
The good- people are mostly decent, but it depends on your neighborhood. If you are a married couple, it will take some time to find neighbors who are friendly. SOME neighborhoods are worse, as the religion issue comes into play.
The bad- Culturally, unless you are into shopping at the mall every weekend, the area is limited. You do have Asheville NC an hour south and beautiful mountains. The wildlife also is nice. Lakes are nice but some are polluted. Stay out of Kingsport (Eastman chemical).
Johnson City is better than Bristol, and from what I read on here Knoxville and pollution is bad. So, JC is better than those places. But unless you have a big network of friends, expect to be challenged, and possibly bored. For college students its probably okay. But if you have family and are trying to settle here, its not too diverse.
The economy centers around the University, Med center and retail big box malls(boring). The older downtown (approximately 5 blocks) is supposedly being redeveloped but I've heard this will take ages for city planners to agree on any change.
Not the worst place we've lived, but are looking to move to a more diverse place with culture.
Not dissing the south, but people in some regions of east tenn. are averse to change, I guess this is part of the problem many have when they relocate.