Reviews & Comments
Owensboro, KY
Pretty nice but a little strange -
9/2/2018I moved to Owensboro last year (KY is my 6th state) and these are my thoughts so far. The good: Owensboro is a nice size of about 55,000 not too big or small, there's plenty of stores and places to eat. The Riverfront area called Smothers park is very beautiful, the downtown area of a few streets is as well, there are a few other parks that are nice in the city and a pretty decent bike path but it could be longer and lead to more stuff. it is pretty easy to learn your way around also if you like second hand goods there's 2 goodwills and a few indoor flea markets, Traffic is not as bad as Bowling Green, most parts of the city look nice and there's some stuff around to do. The Bad: a few areas are pretty run Down even main through ways such as on Triplett a few blocks around the intersection of 18th wheres Gabes tower is, Gabes is a big abandoned round building that used to be a Hotel and now is a symbol of downtroddeness. but they did build a farmers market that is nice a few blocks up, and a little talk of fixing the area so at least there's hope, a few streets on the west side are rather downtrodden and there's crime. Also there are no places that rock or Metal bands come to play here. The Strange: Owensboro has a weird vibe most places you go will have a steady vibe that is either good or bad or in between but Owensboro's vibe changes on a day to day basis that can not really be attributed to anything in particular its like sometimes the wind blows depression over from Indiana or something. All in all I'd say Owensboro is pretty good, really good on the good vibe days but a bit depressing on the low vibe days. Also the weather can be bi-polar. Also you will overhear the phrase "My Husband" 1000x per day passing by any of the married women in the area.
Warrenville, SC
Turn back now! -
1/24/2018If you are thinking of moving to Warrenville please read my review of Aiken SC. I Actually lived in Warrenville but reviewed the entire area. I put a one star on this Warrenville review because it made me put something
Aiken, SC
My Aiken warning -
1/24/2018I moved to the Aiken area specifically Warrenville. (this review will cover both) I moved to South Carolina to get away from the cold weather and high high property tax and rising violent crime in York PA. I chose SC because it was the complete opposite, warm weather, cheap property tax, lower violence. I chose the Aiken area because the beach areas and Greenville were too expensive for my budget and youtube videos and a short 2 day visit in march all made it seem nice enough. I choose Warrenville because it was cheaper still outside the city and I thought living on a country road would be peaceful and nice. WRONG WRONG WRONG. I do not even know where to start. I guess I will do a good bad kind of thing.
the good: OK trying to be positive as best as I can
its inexpensive to live around there, the houses are cheap and the property tax is extremely low.
A good percent of the people I met were nice and friendly
Odell weeks park and Hopeland gardens are nice to walk around as is downtown Aiken and Graniteville cemetery
Between oct-early march the weather is much better than up north.
its easy to learn your way around.
there are a lot of Horse activities and horse specific areas so if you are rich and own horses this is a really good place to live but in my opinion would still only be good as a second home so if you are rich enough for that have at it
the bad:
The weather is way way way too hot and humid, summer especially is unbelivably unbearable (think heat index close to 120)
trying to get anything done is a major struggle especially in the Warrenville and smaller town areas surrounding Aiken, stores will be closed randomly even though their business hours are clearly stated, like they will close 4 hours early because its slow, if you go to the post office in Warrenville be prepared to wait 10 minutes before anyone even comes out of the back room, or stand in line behind someone talking to the clerk for 20 minutes about patti's operation while they completely ignore the fact there's 4 people waiting to mail something.
DOGS: people in the areas surrounding Aiken have no idea how to take care of dogs, dogs are chained up in yards never played with and are left to bark and annoy you for hours on end (and all hours of the night)with no one coming to tend to them and quiet them up. they frequently break loose (and who can blame them) and end up on your property while you call the dog control officer Mr Miller who is probably the busiest guy in Aiken county, he deserves an award.
NOISE: you would think the country would be quiet but noooo it seems the goal out in those parts is to make as much noise as is humanly possible, you have gun shooting, fireworks going off at all hours, loud booming car stereos, barking dogs, drunk people arguing in the road, non existent mufflers on huge 4x4's everywhere
LITTER: if you love picking up litter up and down your street every 2 days then this is the area for you Aiken city is not that bad because they probably have laws about it but in the country parts they seem to litter as a national pastime, I would normally have to fill a large 33 gallon trash bag every week (I picked up probably 300 feet of roadway)
SRS: there is a huge nuclear waste facility really close nearby which may or may not contribute to poor health of the area. I suggest you look into this separately
Warrenville specific: extremely boring place with nothing at all to do except go to the gas station or church, massive litter, extremely slow to get anything done people, loose annoying dogs, redneck activities.
I do not recommend to anyone
Aiken Specific: Aiken is much better than Warrenville and its other surrounding areas however it is only good for 2 types of people, Rich horse people, and retired people and not just normal retired people but boring retired people who don't want to do anything.
the people in the area: theres 4 types of people I have noticed, rich horse people, older retired people, loud rednecks, and native southern people who are very friendly but their conversations always take a sad or disturbing turn out of the blue.
It is by far the most aggravating while also being the most boring place I have ever lived, I give it one star overall because it would be a good place for a few very specific types of people but for the general public please do yourself a favor and avoid moving there,
York, PA
My assessment of York -
7/12/2017I lived in the East end of York city basically on the Border of spring Garden township. Moved there in 2005 and left in 2015. These are my opinions and views from my perspective, nothing more nothing less.
Here is my review:
Weather: I will start with weather as many people find this the first thing they look for in a town, The Summers are hot (in the 90's and sometimes 100's) and somewhat humid (not like Florida or South carolina or anything but still humid) The Winters can range from mildly cold 30-40 degrees to a frozen hell of sub zero temps, snow can range from barely any one year to 2 30 inch snowstorms in one week with several more large snowstorms all winter, so as far as winter goes you never know what you will get. Oct. and May are the only really nice months.
Property taxes: HIGH HIGH SO DAMN HIGH!!!! Highest percent wise I have ever seen in my life...and I lived in NJ before. I can give you an example, my house in York was assessed at $50,000 and the yearly property tax (school and municipal) was $3000. that is more than 5% of the houses value every year in tax!!!
Roads and schools: for that high tax mentioned in the previous section you would think the streets would be paved in gold, or at least paved smooth, they are not, in fact they are some of the worst roads I have ever seen potholes everywhere broken asphalt and when they have to go under the road to fix lines and repave they do not use a steamroller they just shovel asphalt in the cut square and run it over with the truck a bunch it seems, or when they do use the steamroller they do not use enough stuff and the square sinks to a dip, there are these messed up squares everywhere some of the roads would be nicer if they just tore up the surface and left it dirt. In the winter they plow the main arteries fairly quickly but the side roads take them days to get to. And now schools, you would think for these taxes that the kids would be the most well educated around, but no! York city schools came in 499th in the list of 500 PA school districts (second to last!!!) Taxes are not being used to better the roads or schools or anything they are supposed to
Jobs: There are more jobs in York than there are where I am living now but that is not saying much. for someone who is not specialized in a field there are basically two choices, 1.warehouse jobs that force you to do mandatory overtime and retail/fast food that are low hour PT jobs with low pay
Crime: York city is extremely crime ridden for its size, one year it ranked 18th in the country for murder. I personally witnessed a boy of 14 laying lifeless in the downtown area at about noon with cops standing around him later on the news I learned a bunch of 14 year olds had a shootout in the streets (this was downtown) my area mostly experienced a lot of car and garage break-ins and property damage, my car got invaded twice. I hear it has gotten even way worse in my area since I left from people who still live there
Shopping: most of the shopping i did was not in the actual city but more in the East York, and West of York areas, Good selection of stores and they just re-did Manchester Mall which was kind of dead into a nice outdoor style Mall, for a traditional mall you can go to Galleria in East York. all the usual corporate stores and eating establishments can be found in both these areas as well. Downtown York has some small privately owned stores that are cute and eateries that are real nice, and if you like drinking there are a lot of different types of bars.
Parks and Bike trails: York county has a lot of Parks and a cool rail trail, I will jsut say the Park situation is very good for any kind of park you like, many many park choices as compare with other places i have lived and they are all very nice
People: the people of York can range from really pleasant to really grumpy, there really does not seem to be an overall mood to the place.
Located: York is located in PA. PA can be an annoying state to live in for various reasons many taxes and fees they like to nickel and dime you, not as bad as NY or NJ but they still take that cue. the car inspection style is one of the worst money grabs, the state leaves it in the hands of private garages to do your yearly mandatory car inspections which of course they always find something to "Fix" for you so you can pass, most everybody i knew never got away without at least a 500 dollar bill to get their car to pass the inspection, a nightmare that you have to look forward to every year!! and they also do mandatory yearly emissions testing in the York area.