I live in Chapel Hill, NC. There isn't much to hate about living here, but there are annoyances.
1. The airport at RDU doesn't have as many direct flights, especially international, as you'd like.
2. Our state government is currently run by (mostly) small-minded, authoritarian twats. You've probably seen the stuff on the news about the trans-gender bathroom controversy, etc. That's all very annoying.
3. From a startup perspective, we have a burgeoning scene locally, with a lot of awesome stuff going on. But this area still lacks the availability of angel / VC money of some other communities. A lot of startups here wind up traveling to NYC, SF, etc. to try and raise from investors there. And while that sometimes works, a lot of investors are reluctant to invest too far from where they live and work.
4. A lot of the startups here aren't necessarily working on hard technical problems... we get a lot of "consumer" stuff for whatever reason. That's a minor annoyance only in that if I ever attend "startup" events, I find myself bored to tears by a lot of the other companies there. That stuff just doesn't interest me.
5. "The Triangle" as a whole (which includes Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh) is very sprawled out, and it's not as bike friendly as you'd like. Chapel Hill has a lot of bike lanes, but if I want to ride from, say, my apartment to downtown Durham, a large portion of the route is on roads with no bike lanes, narrow shoulders, lots of curves, and a lot of auto traffic.
On the flip-side though, we have lots of outdoor green spaces with trails for running, hiking, mountain biking, etc. And the weather is relatively nice pretty much all year round. And from where I live I can be at the beach in about 2.5 hours, or in the mountains in about 4 hours. There are also a number of good colleges and universities nearby, which attract interesting people. There's a strong local micro-brew scene, and a pretty good restaurant scene (albeit not as rich as say, NYC or SF). All in all, there's a lot to like about this area, despite all the negative attention our government has drawn to us over the past couple of years.
- Mass transit is awful. This doesn't have to be the way but because of nimbyism and politics it is. Electrify caltrain? Extend BART? Improve service levels? Queue years of arguments...
- If a public good can be privatized, a VC has already jumped on that idea... creating what feels like a technocratic society.
- Lack of diversity. Go out in NYC and you'll rub shoulders with people from all walks of life. Go out in SF and you'll be around mostly techies because non-techies can't afford to live here.
- Housing prices are insane and new construction is consistently blocked due to nimbyism.
Compared to most places I have been, it's very nice. But there are a few things about much of the Bay Area that I dislike.
- Drugs are everywhere. People are smoking pot on the streets, smoking meth in the bathrooms. And in general you see people everywhere from many walks of life (and driving) intoxicated.
- It's a philosophical mono-culture. In New York you will see devout Catholics going to mass, orthodox Jews working in shops and going to shul, Muslims heading to prayer. In the bay there are essentially shades of secularism.
- People are largely segregated by race and income. There are black parts of town, Chinese parts of town, white parts of town, Mexican parts of town. And then they are further subdivided by "Rich {INSERT_HERE}" and "Poor {INSERT_HERE}" groups. That's not so abnormal and it might be self-imposed; but it makes the endless protests and riots about equality feel very hollow and out-of-touch.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 28.2 ms ] thread1. The airport at RDU doesn't have as many direct flights, especially international, as you'd like.
2. Our state government is currently run by (mostly) small-minded, authoritarian twats. You've probably seen the stuff on the news about the trans-gender bathroom controversy, etc. That's all very annoying.
3. From a startup perspective, we have a burgeoning scene locally, with a lot of awesome stuff going on. But this area still lacks the availability of angel / VC money of some other communities. A lot of startups here wind up traveling to NYC, SF, etc. to try and raise from investors there. And while that sometimes works, a lot of investors are reluctant to invest too far from where they live and work.
4. A lot of the startups here aren't necessarily working on hard technical problems... we get a lot of "consumer" stuff for whatever reason. That's a minor annoyance only in that if I ever attend "startup" events, I find myself bored to tears by a lot of the other companies there. That stuff just doesn't interest me.
5. "The Triangle" as a whole (which includes Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh) is very sprawled out, and it's not as bike friendly as you'd like. Chapel Hill has a lot of bike lanes, but if I want to ride from, say, my apartment to downtown Durham, a large portion of the route is on roads with no bike lanes, narrow shoulders, lots of curves, and a lot of auto traffic.
On the flip-side though, we have lots of outdoor green spaces with trails for running, hiking, mountain biking, etc. And the weather is relatively nice pretty much all year round. And from where I live I can be at the beach in about 2.5 hours, or in the mountains in about 4 hours. There are also a number of good colleges and universities nearby, which attract interesting people. There's a strong local micro-brew scene, and a pretty good restaurant scene (albeit not as rich as say, NYC or SF). All in all, there's a lot to like about this area, despite all the negative attention our government has drawn to us over the past couple of years.
- Mass transit is awful. This doesn't have to be the way but because of nimbyism and politics it is. Electrify caltrain? Extend BART? Improve service levels? Queue years of arguments...
- If a public good can be privatized, a VC has already jumped on that idea... creating what feels like a technocratic society.
- Lack of diversity. Go out in NYC and you'll rub shoulders with people from all walks of life. Go out in SF and you'll be around mostly techies because non-techies can't afford to live here.
- Housing prices are insane and new construction is consistently blocked due to nimbyism.
Subways in the summer + rush hour (no A/C in the station).
Compared to most places I have been, it's very nice. But there are a few things about much of the Bay Area that I dislike.
- Drugs are everywhere. People are smoking pot on the streets, smoking meth in the bathrooms. And in general you see people everywhere from many walks of life (and driving) intoxicated.
- It's a philosophical mono-culture. In New York you will see devout Catholics going to mass, orthodox Jews working in shops and going to shul, Muslims heading to prayer. In the bay there are essentially shades of secularism.
- People are largely segregated by race and income. There are black parts of town, Chinese parts of town, white parts of town, Mexican parts of town. And then they are further subdivided by "Rich {INSERT_HERE}" and "Poor {INSERT_HERE}" groups. That's not so abnormal and it might be self-imposed; but it makes the endless protests and riots about equality feel very hollow and out-of-touch.
Shitty people with no manners littering and bothering others.
Too much of a class system. Too much poverty adjacent to a lot of wealth. Can feel the tension all the time.
Ridiculous property taxes you must pay in perpetuity.
Crappy tap water.
Complete apathy amongst residents about both random and systemic violence and tragedies occurring daily, because they happen in "bad areas."
Bad urban planning.
(Not SF).