Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

[timkona]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Kealia, South Kona

Pros
Hookena Beach 5 minutes to the south
Honaunau (2 Steps) 5 minutes to the north
Hookena School is excellent with only 150 students total from k-5
Kealia is a "dry" pocket in rainy South Kona
Property taxes in Hawaii are cheap, cheap, cheap


Cons
Traffic in Kainaliu at 5 pm
No Retail/Commercial businesses - so you always have to drive to town for goods
Heavy anti growth mentality, so the children inevitably must leave in search of jobs/housing.

[tikiyaki]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Sunland, CA - Just north/east of Burbank in "the Foothills"

Pro's - Not many, as I bought a house here 2 years ago, and am selling it already,just in time for the "cooling off period" that being said...

1. Nice Mountain Views all around
2. Lots of cool Mid Century Modern (1950's modern) and Post and Beam houses, some by known architects
3. The cooler temps in winter - We actually got Snow this past winter - in SO CAL ! The mountains get snowcapped, and it looks really pretty.
4. The smell of fireplaces burning, reminds me of the fall growing up on Long Island
5. Lower priced than most of LA

Cons -

1. It's NOT Hawaii
2. No good restaurants in area, just fast food
3. Our only decent retail store, K Mart closed right before I moved here, and Home Despot bought the lease. The town has been fighting tooth and nail for them NOT to open here, for which I agree. Now everyone has to leave town to shop for basic stuff like socks and underwear.
4. Lots of empty storefronts...no bigger businesses want to come here because of some stigma the area has...former Hell's Angles town Tujunga is right next door, that was in the 70's and 80's tho, but there still are leftovers, but they're older, sober, and more mellow now...so we have no really good retail and restaurants, making the main drag it look really crappy
5. Very remote and too far away from it all...for ME this is a con, for others this is a pro
6. Hotter in summertime
7. Coyotes and mountain cats in area...keep the pets closeby!
8. because of how far away from town I am, my friends don't come visit as much.
9. Some Meth lab tweakers in area...those creepy guys riding around on motocross bikes who are way too old to be riding them...usually they're dirty and shirtless.

I could go on....I can't wait to move

[D'Alani]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Kalihi born and raised...it's all good...can't think of any cons at the moment.

[beaker]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Hilo

Cons:
Living in Hilo is like being in state of suspended animation.
Inadequate coffee shop selection.
Incompetent post office.
Traffic jams.
High rent for single people and pets usually not allowed in rentals.
No seasons.
Mold.
Sweating buckets in the tropical heat and humidity. :P

Pros:
Typically 5 degrees cooler and shadier than the rest of hawaii and cools off at night.
Close to nature places and the best parts of the island (the saddle, mountains, volcano and ka'u).
Historical buildings and things, and older Hilo style houses.
Far from Konafornia and the resort mess in south kohala.
My orange tree.
Small enough to bike most places.
O'Keefe's bakery.
The University.

[tutusue]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Pros:
[...]
The bluest skies I've ever seen
[...]
Cons:
[...]
Smog
[...]

Hi Hope...
Must admit I'm a bit...
I know in L.A. smog equals brown skies. Not true in LV?

[SusieMisajon]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Cons:

It's not Home
Everybody here is French


Pros:

The grinds are good
I like the four seasons
My kids get to be bi-lingual
The schools are good

[Hope]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

I know in L.A. smog equals brown skies. Not true in LV?

The smog is only hanging about if we don't have winds blowing, it gets trapped between mountain ranges. You can really see this at a distance, i.e., on approach to LV. However, mostly, I've never seen clearer, or bluer skies in my life.

Let me mention this con that I forgot...
really freaky, aggresive SPIDERS! Eeeeeeeeek! I wake up with bites on me all the time!

[blueyecicle]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Pros:
Green clean air

Mountains

Easy access to fresh produce and 100 farms

Great homeschool tools and access

The hippies

Jobs available

Lots of dairies and farms

Public markets and artsy type things!

Diversity and tolerance

Free activities all the time

1 hour from beaches and 1 hour from Cascades.....

Beautiful storms

Cons:

Bad Health Care/insurances (can't keep Dr's)

Too many people opposed to bathing

Too many strips clubs! More per capita in my town than in 90% of cities. We are in the top 6 !!

Poor schools

The hippies

Low wages

Bars every 2 feet and by every elementary school. (Don't get me wrong I go to bars occasionally)

College town

Sometimes too much tolerance! RIOTS even...

Anarchists burning our local buildings and vehicles

[Hope]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Too many strips clubs! More per capita in my town than in 90% of cities. We are in the top 6 !!

Yep, we suuure have our fair share of them here in LV, and...our kids get to see the backs of girl's arses, advertising the clubs, right on the backs of taxicabs!

Too many people opposed to bathing

You're...um...KIDDING, right?

[Bard]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Too many strips clubs! More per capita in my town than in 90% of cities. We are in the top 6 !!

And IIRC, Portland is #1 Oregonians looove their strip clubs I guess.

Too many people opposed to bathing

You're...um...KIDDING, right?

Not even a little bit, unfortunately...

[blueyecicle]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

[I]



Not even a little bit, unfortunately...

You beat me to it....if I was kidding it would have been funnier ...I hope!

I know people who don't bathe on purpose ...contests even! YUCK

[Bard]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

I know people who don't bathe on purpose ...contests even! YUCK

I heard a guy on the light rail the other day bragging about how he'd once gone 3 weeks without a bath. He was pretty fragrant when I saw him this time too...

Well, now that I'm here anyway, Blue pretty much covered the pros and cons of Western Oregon in general. For Portland in particular, I'll have to throw in...

Pros:
- Right next to the Columbia River Gorge (awesome!)
- Fantastic bike support (bike lanes, bike signs with directions, mileage and time, multi-use paths, etc)
- Fantastic public transit (bus, light rail, street car)
- Urban Growth Boundary, no superlative sprawl here...
- Super cool old early 1900s houses

Cons:
- Those super cool old houses are PRICEY (though I guess I won't get much sympathy from this crowd but a doctor friend of mine recently bought a modest house for $600K...)
- 4 months of 45 degrees, gray, rain, and 8-9 hours of "daylight"
- Large homeless population (pro: we try to take care of them here...)
- Taxes, taxes, taxes
- Stuck in the Willamette Valley all winter unless you've got a 4WD and snow chains

And one that could go either way depending on your perspective:
- Anything goes in "keep it weird" Portland!

[jessicat]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Even though I'm new (and kind of young), I figured I'd join in.

Ewa Beach:
+ OceanPointe, getting pricy, but with fabulous new housing, and soon to be marina, etc. It's opening a new elementary, pre-school, neighborhood park, etc.
- Terrible traffic getting out in the morning, terrible traffic getting in, in the evening.
+ JCHS, a good high school.
- Some pretty sketchy areas, needs to be cleaned up a bit.
+ By the beach (of course, it is Ewa 'Beach').
+/- Never rains!

[U'ilani]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Pros:
Highly-educated, multi-cultural, family-oriented community (I lived in East King County)
Excellent public schools
Endless walking/biking/hiking trails
Large sidewalks throughout my community (safer for kids on bikes)
Low crime
Most pet owners clean up their dog's poop
Views of the mountains and lake
Good stores nearby (Trader Joe's, PCC, Costco; and Uwajimaya is only 20 minutes away)

Cons:
It can get extremely depressing in the fall and winter with the endless cloudy days and constant drizzle/rain.
I can't ride my bike (my primary form of exercise) half of the year due to the weather.
Ridiculously high property taxes.
Frozen lau lau from Zippys.com just doesn't do it for me.
Uwajimaya sells their poi for about $7 a bag--and of course it's never fresh poi.
No bakery goods to rival what you can get in Hawaii.

On the other hand, my husband bought a shave ice machine in Japan a few years back. He carried that bugger about 2 miles to the train station! There's nothing like finely-shaved ice on a hot, sunny day--in other words, our Hatsuyuki shave ice machine is only useable (sp?) 4-6 weeks a year.

[Kahalu'u_Chrome]

Re: Tell us the pros and cons of where you live!

Let see , Kahalu'u...

Pros:
Its still country
Beautiful mountain views especially after a storm...
Valley of the Temples
Heeia Kea Pier ( only harbor on the windward side)
Peace and quiet, and a 1/4 acre on either side between me and my nieghbors
Ocean is less than a mile away

Cons:
Da frickin mosquitos can carry away your children if you not careful!
Ocean is close, but no sand, only mud ( unless you have a boat and got the Sandbar)
More development every year
No real stores, gotta go over the mountain, or at least Kaneohe



No matter what , the Windward side, and especially Kahalu'u, has always meant home to me - I wouldnt trade it for anything! Its where my heart is......