Reviews & Comments
Fort Mill, SC
re: Need honest feedback about living in Fort
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6/21/2022Lots of people asking but no on replying . We're in the same boat -- thinking of moving here but having a nuclear power plant and now learning of a superfund site is pretty distressing. We're also worried about not being churchgoers and liberal on the political scale. We like Chapel Hill very much -- same kind of "major, international" vibe that you feel in Palo Alto, CA or Cambridge, MA -- but the prices have just skyrocketed in the last 2 years since we've been thinking about where to retire. We're interested in living in a place where people want to respect and support their neighbors -- ALL of them -- and use their time and talents to create a thriving, well-rounded, happy community.
Raleigh, NC
re: Why We Said No to Raleigh and Yes to Wilm
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6/18/2022JUST 6 months of research? We're here in SFrancisco and I've been looking for 2.5 YEARS. Of course -- I have Golden Gate Park (larger than Central Park in NYC) 3 doors from my house, my summers are "nuclear summers" spent under a dark canopy of drippy fog and late May - early Sept the most normal days are 56-60 degrees (and often "white outs" that leave me unable to see even a block away) -- plus a "brisk" icy wind off the Pacific fog. SO...when I read that the "average" summer temp is 85, I totally freak out. Earthquakes? I'm a San Franciscan -- lived through the '89 one no problem. One could come at any time -- or not come in my lifetime (I'm 65). HURRICANES are what freak me out. They come EVERY year and global warming is making them much more frequent and stronger. We can't afford to stay in SF once we retire -- have to live off the money we'll get selling our home. And also -- here on the NW side of SF is "suburban San Francisco" -- it's deteriorating but is still nice (remember: no fog in the winter and the weather is the same -- I run in shorts and t-short on Ocean Beach in January, because there's no fog to create the icy wind and it will be 62 degrees! Just think of us as New Zealand -- which is actually where half the plants/trees in GGPark are native to...)
But tragically, my lovely beautiful, charming, beloved-by-the-world city is now a nightmare. I won't upset you all with details -- and the are extremely upsetting. We were looking seriously at the Chapel Hill/Raleigh area -- flew back and stayed 2x. Wanted the diversity and bustle and intellectual life that large university towns provide (I grew up in Palo Alto; myhusband lived in Cambridge after his graduation); the great health care and the more international/liberal attitudes of the Chapel Hill area -- and the small amount of snow. But the building is shockingly frenzied -- what others verified here is true -- no way the infrastructure can keep up and any 2-lane road that has a fair amount of traffic on it today is going to be a 6-lane expressway in 5 years. It's awful. Housing prices for CRAPPY ugly homes have all doubled in the last 2 year I've been watching, there's absolutely NO "walkability" and "fine dining" seems to be Hardees and Chick-Fil-A. (We did eat at some good restaurants - Palio and Squid's had some of the best seafood I've ever eaten in my life -- just PERFECT along with their hushpuppies!) As for Raleigh -- there is absolutely NO "there" there -- we went to a show at the historic, legendary Lincoln Theatre -- and learned they're fighting to keep from being torn down! (Amazingly they have a parking lot next door that is...(wait for it!) FREE. I write this and am still stunned. It would've been TWENTY DOLLARS (or more) in San Francisco! But still doesn't make up for the summer heat, the lack of ability to walk anywhere, the shocking, appalling urban sprawl. Haven't any of these people hear of global warming? Why are they building -- literally -- tens of thousands of houses that will be TOTALLY dependent on cars for transportation?!
San Francisco, CA
re: A Balanced Review After 10 Years
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9/27/2021Take all of this with a big grain of salt. I'm not saying these people aren't being truthful about their experiences or anything that they say. What I going to say is that, even though San Francisco (both city & county, which have exactly the same boundaries) is just 7 miles square, a person's experience of this city will be VASTLY different depending where they live in it, their age, and what they want from it.
I say this as a "native." I have lived on the NW side -- the "Richmond district" since 1979, just out of college. I was an unmarried woman until I was 58 (I was a runway model in h.s., Masters degree, tall, thin, worked for leading int'l corps all my life in advertising and marketing). Golden Gate Park, larger than NYC's Central Park, is a few doors away, I am 2 miles from Ocean Beach (not the Bay, but the open Pacific). A mile away is the Presidio -- the only urban National Park in the U.S. (our city's former Army Base -- gorgeous). My neighborhood is quiet, "middle-class." While I had relationships of many years with a couple of men, I also lived alone for much of my life -- and went out to clubs, concerts, bars, restaurants, running in GGPark alone (and NEVER armed) all my life and never felt scared -- mind you, I am 5'10' fit, and am not an idiot (didn't wear heels I couldn't run in, didn't take a purse and didn't dress like I was looking for "attention from strangers" that I didn't want). I have loved living here -- and yes, I have been happy to live in summers where the high temp was 58 degrees in summer. I could drive 5 miles and be in 68 degrees and spectacular open areas...and it was not uncommon at all to be running on the beach in a tshirt and shorts on Thanksgiving Day (no cold summer fog in winter = no freezing wind off the summer fog...so still days of 60 degrees!)
It is TRUE that the city has gone wayyy downhill. The fabulous views that made this city so magical are now ruined by far too many ugly (and now empty) highrises. TOO many people have crowded in. We don't have water for them ( in a good year -- and this is a drought -- AGAIN), we get just 21" of rain a year. Our sewage system if 100 years old. Our streets can't be widened and before Covid they were IMPOSSIBLE during rush hour. By that I mean you could spend 15 minutes going 3 blocks south of Market.
Because our city exploded due to the Gold Rush that began at the very end of 1849, when "the world came rushing in" -- we have been a tolerant city (unless you were chinese or American Indian -- we took the scalps of the latter and refused to let the male chinese marry, lest they "breed"...but I digress!)
Anyway, we were a great city for Jews, the "beat" artists, people with different ideas and ways, from hippies to gay people. We shrugged and said 'to each his/her own" and went about our business. But that attitude, despite the great things about it -- is proving our undoing...I cannot see how my beloved city is going to move forward at this point.
Their solution to everything is "more housing -- and subsidized housing." Well, you know...I am 64. I am about to retire. I worked my ASS off as a single woman to finally buy a place 17 years ago...and my taxes on my 1600 s.f. unit are over $8k a year (and that's with CA state tax frozen). My husband and I go out for happy hour for 2 drinks and an appetizer and it costs us $40 or more (and I'm in a middle-class neighborhood. People are stunned by the costs here -- they have no clue. I just looked up today's gas prices. Here in the Bay area, it's $4.59 -- in TX? $2.82. I can get a $100 ticket for parking in my own driveway -- and leaving 2 square of pavement on the sidewalk clear for people to pass. I cannot go to the north without paying $8 toll over the GGBridge (it's 2 miles from my house to the other side). I can't go east without paying $6. Parking meter is $6/hr -- unless you're anywhere that could possible considered a "tourist area" -- oh, and they operate on SUNDAYS now, too! If you're parked at an expired one? $84. If you're downtown, make that $94... it just goes on and on and on...
People who are horrified by prices on restaurant menus? By the time you add tax and tip you'll need to add another 30% to what you see printed.
SF is also a city of RENTERS. And these renters have RENT CONTROL. That means that there is NO incentive for landlords to fix things -- they can only make money if /when the tenants MOVE OUT. Renters vote through every single bond measure (and there are often ten per election) because they pretty much don't pay for them. What they DO is say that the property owners should pay for everything -- becuase they're certain they're all "rich." Like me -- 64 and barely holding on, hoping to retire with my 75-yr old husband. Or the man who loves across the street who is in his 70s and lives in the bottom flat and rents the top one out to tenants who have been living there for nearly THIRTY Years with almost no rent increase. In a building that's 96 years old, made of lathe-and-plaster -- ANY idea what it costs to maintain these buildings?
So I'm out of here. My parents were from here and I have LOVED this city with all my heart. But I can't afford to retire here. And this has been THE worst summer I've ever seen...we depend on March-most of May being lovely before we get the fog for most of 3 months...and then our "hot" weather mid-sept thru late Oct. Well, it's Sept 27 and we have had FIVE days with more than 2 hours of (thin, cool) sunshine since MARCH. I am growing moss -- and as a native, I'm pretty moss-resistant!
My husband and I have been downtown 2x in the 1.5 years since covid arrived. The last time, my husband (who was born and raised in NYC, lived in Boston for many years, then here) said to please just go home and not stop where we had planned...said downtown SF was such a "dystopian nightmare" that it was making him really anxious and he just wanted OUT right now.
For this, I am paying these prices? And how are they going to go DOWN, when the VAST amounts of money this city made from business taxes and conventions has vanished completely? Just the Oracle World conference used to have EVERY hotel and retaurant in this city booked for a week. Ellison said the icty was too scary and dirty for attendees to want to come anymore. (And sadly, he was right. I used to walk to work past Moscone Convention Ctr each day and my heart broke for the poor tourists...)
I will never replace San Francisco. It is unique. When we move I will mourn it for the rest of my life -- as one might mourn a child that has died. No place was more beautiful, more sparkling, more thrilling, more glorious. It was like holding a hummingbird in your hand. Incomparably, heart-breakingly lovely and rare.
But humans have a way of ruining everything they love. And they have no ruined San Francisco -- even fro a native who cannot -- literally cannot -- imagine living anywhere else. But I'm just going to have to learn. Because what I loved just -- it's gone. Over. Doesn't exist anymore. Is not going to come back, ever. San Francisco had about 475,000 residents when I moved here as a newly minted college grad in 1979. Today, it has 875,000. Growth of about 90% in my 40 years here. It's been the death of everything almost all that made it so beautiful, so liveable, so magical a city.
Fuquay-Varina, NC
re: Fuquay Varina
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9/25/2021given the explosive growth that is now occurring in this area, I'd REALLY like to see some newer postings. We have visited the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel hill area 3 in the last 5 years (most recently last Memorial Day for 5 days) -- and sorry but I have to laugh. RUDE, UNFRIENDLY? I was parking my car parallel just off Franklin St in Chapel Hill last Memorial Day weekend. I notice the lack of cars and the thought htat maybe it wasn't legal to park there had JUST popped into my mind, when a woman walking on the sidewalk stopped next to my car, smiled and asked if I was looking for a place to park? I said yes, and she directed me to a place down the street to park. I do things like this ALL THE TIME -- and I am a native of and resident of San Francisco. I live 3 doors from Golden Gate Park -- where people from all over the world visit. My husband says the city should pay me, because I'm always asking people who seem confused if I can help them find something in the park (or a bathroom or some food or the way to the bus?) So I felt SO "at home" in R-D-CH. As for "bad traffic" and "high cost of living" -- are you JOKING? Compared to San Francisco?!
Durham, NC
re: Durham, the Romance is Gone!
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9/20/2021There is no city in the U.S.A. named "Cali." It is a city in Colombia, South America. There is a state on the Pacific coast called "California." Perhaps Michael in Durham just didn't have time to type the additional letters?
Raleigh, NC
re: Not as great as it appears on paper
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9/16/2021I have been to the RDU area 3x now. And we have been seriously considering moving there. Anytime a house catches my eyes, I STUDY where it is on the map in great detail, the "amenities" nearby, flood zones, etc. And I look at the "street view." What SHOCKS me is that -- with climate change clearly a reality -- all of the developments have been built and continue to be built in ways that make it IMPOSSIBLE to walk instead of driving! I am 64 and my husband is 75 -- we walk half a mile to the store -- and back up our STEEP street because it's faster than taking out the car and trying to find a parking space -- and also we like the exercise. We will walk 2 miles down to the ocean and have a beer and walk back. But most of the streets I see don't even have sidewalks! And most of them are cul-de-sacs within cul-de-sacs that lead to main roads that also have NO way to walk safely on them! WHY? These layouts mean that, even if a restaurant or store is, say 1/3 of a mile away -- an easy distance to walk -- by the time you circle and circle and get out of the maze the developer has created, you'll have had to walk 3/4 of a mile! And walking on the shoulder of a 4-lane road isn't safe. TERRIBLE planning. Disastrous for the long-term. I know it's a lot hotter in the summer than where I live but -- for the environment and for the health of people, all these cities should be doing everything in their power to make it safe to ride a bicycle or walk (or walk to public transportation) -- and encourage people to do so. I know what I'm speaking about -- I watched a gorgeous place, "the fruit basket of the US" be transformed from the Santa Clara Valley into a nightmare known as "Silicon Valley." With the explosive growth of the RDU area -- the city councils should use the mistakes made there as a "cautionary tale" -- and NOT repeat them.
Raleigh, NC
re: Not the Southern State You're Looking For
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9/16/2021This is interesting because we were visiting Chapel Hill for 6 days over the Memorial Day weekend in '21 -- and while I expect friendliness from hotel staff, we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of total strangers. For example -- I was at the "Carrboro end" of Franklin street, and had pulled around the corner and was parking my car when I suddenly wondered if it was really ok to park there. As I was wondering, a woman -- just walking by on the sidewalk, probably mid-to-late 50s (like me) stopped and smiled and I rolled down my window...she asked if I was looking for a place to park? And told me there was a parking lot down the street. This kind of thing seemed common. I'm a native of San Francisco and if I ever seen anyone with a map out or looking confused at a bus stop, etc. I will always stop and ask if I can be of assistance. We live 3 doors from GGPark -- which gets tourists from all over the world. It's larger than NYC's Central Park and easy to get turned around, so I always ask people if I can help them -- do they maybe need a bathroom? Looking for a place to eat? People are amazed that I do this because MY city is now flooded with "blow ins" from all over the world whose goals in life seems to be to 1: Get Rich and 2: Appear to "Be Cool." Sick of it. Was SO nice to be amongst people who wanted to take a moment to "visit" for a couple of minutes, whose speech wasn't filled with "s--t" and "f--k", who would ask how you are, o ask to greet you as one human being to another. (My city, alas, has changed, too -- and sadly, not for the better.)
Durham, NC
re: Meh. Ready to move on.
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9/16/2021My husband is a fine chef and loves good food. He's also a native of Manhattan, who lived in Boston for many years before moving to Carmel, CA -- and who has now lived in San Francisco for 7 years -- and who travelled extensively throughout Europe for many years on business when he was with IBM. He swears that THE BEST steak he ever had in his life was some 15 years ago in Cary NC -- when he was out doing work for IBM.
Durham, NC
re: Welcome to the GHETTO
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9/16/2021The ignorance of these comments is amazing. YES, "hispanics" most definitely ARE "Caucasian"! Did you people get past the 4th grade? Have you ever heard of a dictionary -- it's on the internet. Seriously, it is! And here is how the PEW Research Center (you've never heard of them, I suppose? Sigh...) defines "hispanic" in the context of the U.S. :
“Americans who identify themselves as being of Spanish-speaking background and trace their origin or descent from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish-speaking countries.” This includes 20 Spanish-speaking nations from Latin America and Spain itself, but not Portugal or Portuguese-speaking Brazil."
IT HAS TO DO WITH YOUR LANGUAGE -- and of course, language is wedded with culture. And yes people who are from Spain or Portugal are Europeans -- e.g. "caucasian." AND just like people from Georgia, or Mississippi or Arizona or Utah -- they may ALSO have had ancestors who are American Indian, African-American, Asian, Pacific Islander. If your family has been in NC for many generations, you might well be VERY surprised to find out who some of your ancestors were!
Durham, NC
re: Welcome to the GHETTO
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9/16/2021The ignorance of these comments is amazing. YES, "hispanics" most definitely ARE "Caucasian"! Did you people get past the 4th grade? Have you ever heard of a dictionary -- it's on the internet. Seriously, it is! And here is how the PEW Research Center (you've never heard of them, I suppose? Sigh...) defines "hispanic" in the context of the U.S. :
“Americans who identify themselves as being of Spanish-speaking background and trace their origin or descent from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish-speaking countries.” This includes 20 Spanish-speaking nations from Latin America and Spain itself, but not Portugal or Portuguese-speaking Brazil."
IT HAS TO DO WITH YOUR LANGUAGE -- and of course, language is wedded with culture. And yes people who are from Spain or Portugal are Europeans -- e.g. "caucasian." AND just like people from Georgia, or Mississippi or Arizona or Utah -- they may ALSO have had ancestors who are American Indian, African-American, Asian, Pacific Islander. If your family has been in NC for many generations, you might well be VERY surprised to find out who some of your ancestors were!