If not Greenville

[JCT]

I thought about listing Florence Italy myself, or anywhere over there, I love that country.

Yeah, I love Italy too. Maybe Greenville could set up a temporary exchange program with it's sister city of Bergamo. I have never actually been to Bergamo, but that whole northern lakes area is beautiful. If I am not mistaken, it is located near the Alps north of Milan. I bet I could stand to live there for a few years.

[btoy]

When I was over there a few years ago, I thought of going to Bergamo, but my Tour book described it as an unattractive industrial city. So I went elsewhere.

[Chickenwing]

Surprisingly, I liked Rome much more than Florence.

[krazeeboi]

It's in the mountains west of Denver. The company my wife works for has an office there. I figure she could work at her job & I could work at the ski areas in the winter and give mountain bike or rafting tours in the summer.

Sounds like a plan.

[krazeeboi]

I find it interesting there are a couple of you selecting Atlanta & only one so far picking Charlotte. Can I naievely ask why is that?

Although it seems as though your question was directed more towards those who are residing in Greenville, for me, I wouldn't choose Charlotte because it's practically my secondary residence now. I guess it's a bit of overexposure combined with the fact that the city still has a ways to go in defining character for itself. It's in the process of becoming big city-like, but it's not quite there yet. On the other hand, Atlanta, despite the drawbacks, is simply a fun city, full of character, with plenty to do. It is also known more as an upwardly mobile place for Blacks, although Charlotte is starting to attain a similar reputation.

But for the long haul, give me Columbia. A small mid-sized city with a lot of potential, close to home, with good proximity to other cities.

[Spartan]

There's always one in every crowd!

Okay, so if you couldn't live in Greenville OR your current city, where would you choose?

Technically I can say that since I don't live in Spartanburg right now

But I'll paly along- --- in no particular order:

Charlotte

Jacksonville

Atlanta

Charleston

Columbia

Where's "Vail"? In Colorado? I've never heard of it.

Vail is a rather trendy ski-lodge village type place. Sort of like Aspen.

[Greenville]

Interesting to see Jacksonville pop up. I like Jax simply because they did what I want Greenville to do: combine city and county governments to improve efficiency and cut out the barriers to success. And we always have to follow that dream with "it will never happen, given the philosophical differences between Greenville County and the City of Greenville."

A friend of mine was in Jacksonville over the summer, and he said that Jacksonville's downtown was nowhere near as developed and happening as Greenville's. Would you guys agree with that assessment? I haven't been to Jacksonville since I was a little kid, so I am curious to hear your thoughts.

[krazeeboi]

My mom was in Jax a few weeks ago, and what she enjoyed the most was Jacksonville Landing; she went on and on about it. That St. Johns River, I tell you, it's something majestic.

As far as developments in downtown Jax similar to what's going on in DT Greenville, I'm not sure; perhaps vicupstate knows something, since he's supposed to be moving down there (since only, like, forever...).

[EDPro]

My mom was in Jax a few weeks ago, and what she enjoyed the most was Jacksonville Landing; she went on and on about it. That St. Johns River, I tell you, it's something majestic.

As far as developments in downtown Jax similar to what's going on in DT Greenville, I'm not sure; perhaps vicupstate knows something, since he's supposed to be moving down there (since only, like, forever...).

Greenville is still a long way away from getting a monorail downtown like Jax.

(Please note the heavy sarcasm here. I always think of the The Simpsons episode, "Monorail! Monorail! Monoraaaiilll!!!", when I think of Jacksonville's d-t).

I agree with the point about merging city/county government. Louisville also recently accopmplished this. Went from a city of something like 200,000 to a city with 700,000 overnight.

As us Greenvillians know all too well, perceptions and population numbers do matter.

And to close the thread topic loop, Louisville would be a great place to live.

(check out this initiative: www.keeplouisvilleweird.com)

[teshadoh]

^ You mentioned a GREAT city that is sadly overlooked. Louisville is by far one of the most interesting cities around, it's southern but also midwestern, it's got some of the nicest neighborhoods & beatiful parks (Frederick Law Olmstead's impact on the city is all over the place). Not to mention Louisville has a great quirky vibe, it was the musical mini-Chicago of the 80's, a major college rock center during the 90's & because it didn't become a Seattle or Chapel Hill - is still 'underground'. I think Louisville deserves a lot of hype...