Refuges for stranded liberals?

[jmowreader]

In a couple of years, the only two reasons I'm still in Idaho will be gone and I will be able to go too. But where?

What I am looking for in a new home:

1. Either east coast or west coast.

2. I like cities.

3. An hour or less from an ocean.

4. No farther south than Philadelphia on the east coast; Washington or California on the west coast.

5. I can find work so that's not a huge concern.

Right now I'm planning to get the three licenses you need to work in a day spa (massage, manicuring and esthetics) and am looking at Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston as possible homes.

Many people would say stay where you are and try to fix it. This state can't be fixed; it gets more broken every day.

[Paulie]

1. Why not Chicagoland?

Or do you only want salt water?

[jmowreader]

6. I've been to Chicago

It's nice but...it didn't feel like a home for me. Seattle and Boston both do. I haven't been to the California cities yet.

Berlin really does feel like a home for me but I don't speak German well enough to live there.

[harmonicon]

9. I've heard that it's all too easy to get by in Berlin only speaking English.

I need to go there this summer to visit some friends, and I guess I'll find out. In Switzerland, where I'm living for the first half of this year, one could get by with just English with few problems, but I always feel like I'm imposing when I ask for people to speak English (my German consists of a few simple sentences, at most).

[jmowreader]

14. You can very easily get by in Berlin as a visitor speaking only English

When you need to start signing contracts and get a job, you really need to be able to speak German.

[RILib]

2. Boston includes Cambridge, sort of

Not sure what the taxes are like now, or rent.

Los Angeles is horrible, in my opinion. Plus no mass transit to speak of. Nothing within walking distance.

[jmowreader]

7. Mass is a little different...

Because of the T, anything from Fitchburg east would be fine.

[libodem]

3. This is an awful

Conservative state. I'd love to be in Oregon or northern California. Your job sounds fun. I have a fun friend who is an esthetician(sp) I have no clue how to spell that.

[jmowreader]

8. You live in Washington?

You're quite right...the only place for a liberal to go is the Sound.

So do I go there, or somewhere they've got large areas of liberals?

[opiate69]

4. Olympia, Washington...

Great little progressive city, relatively inexpensive, on the Puget sound, with the State's best clamming ocean beaches about an hour away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia,_wa

[LancetChick]

5. I live 40 minutes north of San Francisco.

In the San Geronimo Valley, down the road from the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, past all the signs that call for no war in Iran, past all the cyclists and older hippies with gray hair halfway down their backs, and past the Community Center which offers gentle yoga and sessions with local musicians and artists, as well as a farmers market on Wednesdays. You go up the hill by the general store (where you can get Rice Dream milkshakes), and there I am, near the guy who plays the recorder while walking his dog. Mount Barnabe is nearby, and offers a view to the ocean on a clear day, and you can see the Point Reyes lighthouse, too.

There's a Good Earth grocery store in Fairfax that offers all-organic foods and humanely raised organic meats (which are expensive), and people stop their cars in downtown Fairfax to let wandering hippies cross the road. I've lived here for 7 years and have yet to meet an asshole. It's not cheap, though.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

26. Sounds like an ideal spot.

[Chan790]

10. Might I suggest CT?

I grew up there and will likely move back if I don't move back to NYC instead. I have family there and remain involved in local activism.

Taxes are high but if you move into the Hartford or Farmington Valley areas, property values can be really cheap. It's weird. There are pockets of really-rich (some of the richest neighborhoods in the country) which are directly adjacent to lower middle class areas and nobody seems to think anything of this. Generally, east of the (Connecticut) River is poorer than west of the River. The coastline is obscenely expensive though. The town I went to HS in, Bristol, it's still possible to find a 1200sq.ft. 2BR/1BA house under $100K in a semi-urban setting.

Crime is really low.

It's one of the most liberal states in the US...they have one congressional district that the GOP can honestly contest (CT-5) and that's only by running moderate Republicans that draw the ire of the rest of the national party for saying things like "being pro-life is not consistent with conservative values and support for small unintrusive government." The Democratic governor may lose re-election but that's because he's managed to piss off literally everybody...he's a fiscal conservative and a social moderate who has taken a few controversial extreme positions on both ends of the spectrum; he's likely facing a primary that he will probably lose. Democrats maintain a strong supermajority in both houses of the state legislature.

As of last week, they have the most aggressive gun-control laws in the nation. Gay marriage is legal and discrimination on basis of orientation is illegal under CT state law. There is a strong push for greater legal protections for trans-individuals. CT has a moratorium on executions and a ban on future capital sentences. (The 17 individuals on death row remain sentenced to death but there are no plans to execute any of them; CT currently does not have a statutorily-approved method of execution and they will all likely die of natural causes.) We have great anti-poverty and child-welfare initiatives.

LI Sound is at-most 90 minutes from anywhere in the state, the Atlantic Ocean is less than 60 minutes from most points SE of Hartford, though you will have to enter RI to get there. (The tip of LI demarks the parallel of the CT/RI border. LI used to be ours, we gave it to NY because we viewed it as worthless and hard to defend or govern. We gave 40 acres to MA at the same time to avoid drawing the state line through the center of a town.)

Metro Hartford (as opposed to City of Hartford. It's one of those weird things like London where the city-proper is tiny (when I lived there, I would hike the perimeter in under 90 minutes and across it in 30.) in a large urbanized metro-area covering dozens of towns and villages.) is legitimately a major city. New Haven and Bridgeport are the largest cities in the state. Metro New Haven is the largest Metro region, though for things like TV markets and census demographics, Hartford/New Haven is typically considered one metro-region...they're 30-45 minutes apart on the interstate and there is no non-urban area along that corridor. Boston is 2 hours away and NYC 3 hours from Hartford with regular train service...by 2020, there is a planned extension of light-rail from New Haven to Springfield, MA via Hartford at which point there will be hourly direct train service to NYC and service via connection to Boston. On the same timeframe is the construction of a regional dedicated-roadway bus-based transit system. (Like Metro, the Chicago's elevated trains or BART but with buses instead of trains. They really want to name it Busway but I and other transit activists have pushed repeatedly for HART (Hartford Area Regional Transit))

We have lots of rich people who really like their spa treatments. Demand outpaces availability for quality technicians so you're worth a premium here.

[RILib]

11. CT comments

My understanding as someone who lives in a next door state is that some of the cities in CT have very high crime rates, like near Yale. Also there are very expensive conspicuous consumption places I think you would not like.

I would not get too close to the coast anywhere, given the rising sea level and increasingly severe storms.

[Chan790]

12. I would have to admit the truth of much of this.

We do have some high-crime areas, overall crime is low. I don't think they were thinking of moving to the bad side of Yale or to Park Terrace in Hartford. But the point is valid, we have some areas in our inner cities I would not go.

Some of the very rural very wealthy areas of the state (mostly along the shoreline or into the Litchfield Hills/far NW) are very much "conspicuous consumption places" where everybody owns and drives an SUV and you have to drive to get anywhere, there is no concern for the environment and people live disposable-product lifestyles because they can and money is no concern. Having lived in every Eastern Seaboard state between MA and VA though, those places exist everywhere unfortunately. CT does have a lot of them though.

[jmowreader]

15. That does sound interesting...

Thinking out loud, isn't southeastern Connecticut somewhat of a bedroom community for rich people who work in Manhattan? It would make sense to practice there if that's where the money lives.

[Duer 157099]

13. Sonoma county welcomes you

Marin is even better but more expensive.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

16. New Hope, PA.

50 or so minutes to Philly and I'm guessing a little over an hour to the ocean.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

18. Nice!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

19. It really is... beautiful area. (n/t)

[a la izquierda]

27. New hope is awesome.

I love that town.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

40. Me, too.

Are you from PA? Know of any other towns somewhat like New Hope? I hear Bethlehem is pretty nice now. I liked downtown Carlisle, too, last time I was there.

[jmowreader]

31. Very pretty, but real estate is outrageous there

I checked Trulia and real estate prices have done the same thing they've done in every beautiful small town: gone thru the stratosphere.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

39. Every beautiful "blue" small town.

Funny how that works.

I know you said no further south than Philly, but I cannot say enough good things about Alexandria, VA... lived there for years. But like everywhere else that's good, real estate is insane.



Del Ray is an awesome little neighborhood:





^^ YUM ^^

http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/del_ray_virginias_small_town_near_the_big_city/2903

[jmowreader]

42. Some red ones too

Ever since Ruby Ridge the price of North Idaho real estate has skyrocketed. Quick example: my parents' house. It is on a fifth of an acre on the Rathdrum Prairie, which is without exception the ugliest part of North Idaho. It's flat as a board. No water. No mountains. If the license plates didn't say Idaho on them you wouldn't know where you are. Their lot is assessed at $60,000 and it's one of the cheapest lots up here. Right now you can go to Third Street and buy an eighth of an acre that doesn't have the sewer main laid yet for $99,500.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

45. Interesting...that's one state I haven't been to yet.

Will make it there someday.

[Raine1967]

44. I live in Del Ray!

I was just at TDG yesterday.

and the day before...

Oh, I love it here. We rent a townhouse and LOVE LOVE LOVE walking down the avenue.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

46. Lucky you!

I visit a friend quite frequently -- she lives very near Monroe's. I was up there right before the election and my God, I don't think I've EVER seen so many political signs!

[Raine1967]

48. Commonwealth avenue is OFF THE CHARTS

with campaign signs!

I moved here in 2009, and I love it here. Oh, and Monroe's has the BEST fried Mozzy I have ever had outside of Little Italy in NYC. **drool**

Ya ever get up to Los Tios? Those margaritas are so delicious. (They have actually let us *danate* a few dollars for a half gallon of the margarita mix... )


Hubby is a homebrewer and we actually give the Dairy Godmother our spent grains that she uses to make her doggy biscuits! Liz is just awesome.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

49. I was going to mention Los Tios...

love it! Margaritas and that sweet corn tamale with sour cream... drool. We always get the same awesome waiter but I'm forgetting his name (George?). He's been there for ages.

It's a really fun neighborhood around Halloween, too. There's a house, think it's on Monroe, that goes wild!

[Raine1967]

50. The entire staff never seems to change!

Lemme tell you, right now I am about to give up on cooking dinner and going down to Los Tios and sit outside for the rest of the day.

Next time you talk to your friend, ask them if they have been to the new variety store that opened up about a week or so ago.


So great to talk to another DU'r that knows the area!

[WorseBeforeBetter]

51. That must be a good sign.

I'll ask her about it. Hope to see her soon -- I need an Alexandria fix!

I vote for knocking off and having a margarita... enjoy!

[Zephie]

17. My family just relocated to WA

We love it. This state is beautiful, the weather is wonderful, fresh fruit and veggies are easy to come by, and there's actually things to DO. I don't think I'd want to move anywhere else (in the US). We're in Tacoma, and might move a bit farther upwards towards Seattle in a year or two, but other than a difference of a 10-20 miles I just can't see myself going anywhere else.

Move to WA. You'll be doing yourself a favor.

[jmowreader]

20. I like WA. I also like MA...

And that's the crux of the whole argument: Do I want to go to Seattle, to the east coast, or is there something better out there?

Incidentally, stay the hell out of the middle of Washington State if you're a liberal who knows what's good for him. HUGE amount of teabaggers there.

[freeplessinseattle]

23. Welcome to WA, Zephie!:)

You are going to love the fresh fruits and veggies available pretty soon! and the nice walking weather....a little schizo sometimes, but those sunny breaks can be spectacular

[Jamaal510]

21. I haven't been to Seattle or L.A.,

but I can vouch for S.F. It seems like a decent place to live. Just be prepared to live somewhere totally crowded, though, if you do plan on moving there. I heard once that its population density is 2nd behind only NYC, which means that the foot traffic will be a pain in the you-know-what.

[tblue]

22. Santa Cruz & surroundings.

It is gorgeous, on or near the Pacific Ocean, Univ. of California there. Lots of cool, mostly liberal, smart people, and many small businesses, quaint & fun downtown. Santa Cruz town had a Socialist government last I heard. It's got upscale parts that don't feel snotty, and lots of working class neighborhoods that are clean and homey. People are very colorful there (unlike uber-snooty Carmel, don't go there). SC County is somewhat more affordable than the Bay Area. No smog and it doesn't ever get super hot. Fantastic Shakespeare in the summer. Lots of hiking areas and beaches galore. What's not to like?

[olddots]

24. i can't see living in L.A. for it's culture and liberals even though its here

things are very spread out and its hard to see friends that are 10 miles away when it can take an hour to get there.

industrial real estate is way too expensive to allow for an
anti materialistic scene .

what was cheap and slummy in the 60s is posh and plastic . Even the Valley which was the laughing stock is now too expensive to live simply in .....I think the new cool spot may be some run down place that the 1%s won't destroy but with no public trans the car rules and that's the minus.

[DFW]

25. If I ever move back to the States permanently

In all likelihood, it'll be to the Boston area.

The winters are hard to take, but chances are I'll be retired by then anyway, and can always tough out the winters back in Dallas, or even maybe Hawaii, since my daughter has a ton of contacts there in some of the out-of-the beaten-path places on the Big Island, where she went to school. But Boston has the culture, the food, the Cape, and NH, western Mass. and VT nearby--one very hard combo to beat. Plus, my wife is European, and she'll want to travel back often to see friends and family. There are a lot more flights from the East Coast than from the West Coast, although the gap has narrowed in recent years.

As one who speaks German and lives (when I'm "home," that is, which is rarely) in the Rheinland, I can tell you that while English will get you by as a tourist or a short-term visitor, living here speaking only English is only slightly easier than living in Seattle or Boston speaking only German. If you're going to live somewhere and be anything other than a hermit, learn the language of where you're living. Asking everybody else to make linguistic compromises on your behalf is inconvenient, somewhat arrogant, and will get you at best a "polite" tolerance instead of a circle of true friends. If I ever move back Stateside, my German, Dutch, Swiss and French (I speak all that stuff too) friends will be the hardest aspects of life here to give up.

[a la izquierda]

28. I loved LA when I lived there.

Then I moved, and when I make my annual trip back, I wonder how I didn't go completely insane. Love to visit. But I'd rather live in the country. I'm moving to West Virginia I. Two months...and I cannot wait.

By the way, I grew up on the beach and never wanted to leave. I'd honestly rather not live at the beach where I grew up, as it spent some time underwater recently. Think the Seaside Heights, NJ roller coaster...

[In_The_Wind]

29. Upstate New York is beautiful, not too far from the ocean, peaceful ...

lots of well educated friendly folks. Museums, colleges, theaters, hiking trails.
The one drawback ... cold winters.

[jmowreader]

32. I was at Fort Drum for two years

Syracuse has definite possibilities.

[In_The_Wind]

37. Syracuse isn't all that far away from me. Just under 250 miles.

It's very pretty up there.

Good luck on your move.

[LWolf]

30. PORTLAND. nt

[jmowreader]

34. Very hesitant on Oregon

Oregon has always seemed to me like to fit in there you had to have been born there. Is that still the case?

[LWolf]

35. I wasn't born here.

I love it. I'm not a city person. If I had to live in a city, though, Portland is the city I'd land in. I love visiting.

[Loryn]

38. That used to be true.

Now it seems that everyone here (including me) is from California. Portland is a wonderful city.

[Arugula Latte]

41. Me too. Grew up mostly in Calif., lived a few places around the country, but now live in P-town

Tons of non-natives here. People are nice and laid back -- not an issue. Portland is great.

[MrScorpio]

33. The DC area was like my second home for a good reason

Lots of liberals living there and a political junkie's paradise.

[Raine1967]

52. +1

been here since 2009 and I have to say, it feels like home.

I moved to Atlanta from the Hudson Valley in 2006 and moved here in 2009 -- Atlanta was fun, but I missed NYS.

Living here, don't miss NY so much anymore. I am less than an hour from water, liberal area -- good food and great weather.

and the Political Junkie thing works too. Just a hop skip and a metro ride to anything.

[ismnotwasm]

36. Seattle, WA

It does rain. This is true. Cost of living is also high, but there's ways around that. Traffic sucks, I won't lie.

The beautiful days are beautiful. Its a gorgeous liberal city, with a number of fun, funky little neighborhoods, and a skip-jump away from hiking, skiing-- al kinds of activities involving mountains and water.

We have a democratic governor and both State Senators are democratic. We just legalized Gay Marriage and marijuana.

We have a fairly active political community, and although I'd like to toss a couple of city counsel members out on their ear, people usually have a voice. Except, perhaps when it comes to baseball stadiums.

[jmowreader]

43. There's someone else you need to toss out

The sports editor at The Seattle Times needs to be flogged.

For non-Northwesterners: the place the Seahawks pretend to play football in was named Quest Field after the local phone company. Then there was a merger, and the football place is now CenturyLink Stadium.

So I'm sitting there one Sunday during football season just printin' newspapers like I always do, and I opened the front page...the headline read "Seahawks win at The Clink." I called the sports desk to register my lack of amusement..."hey don't blame me, the guy at The Seattle Times came up with that."

[Myrina]

47. findmyspot.com

A nifty little website that asks you a bunch of questions about your lifestyle, career, climate preference and gives you a list of 20+ cities that 'meet your criteria'. They ask for your email addy but the only email I've received is the list, no additional spam.

Have fun!!