Rate Your Town

[my porsche]

Technically I live in a "village" not the city of Houston, but it is deep within Houston and by no means a suburb. so for most I will rate Houston.

Town----------------------------- Houston, Texas.

Population (City Limits)------------------------2,100,000
Population (Metro Area)-------------------------5,700,000

Elevation------------------------- Sea Level

Climate & environment------------ 7

Scenery & views----------------- 5

Crowds-------------------------- (not sure if a higher rating means more crowds, or better crowds) 5?

Medical availability--------------- 10

Housing expense (City)-----------------4/5 (Average probably about $250,000)

Housing expense ("Village")-------------9 (Avg. probably about $1,200,000 or so)

Cost of living---------------------5

Taxes (City)---------------------------4

Taxes (Hood)--------------------------7

Recreation & culture-------------- 8

Special senior citizen services----- um...?

Pollution-------------------------- 7

Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 10

Cars, variety available------------- 10

Shopping------------------------- 10

Police & fire protection------------ 10

Overall rating---------------------- 8

Most-liked features---------------- Coastal access and general laid-back mentality of most residents.

Least-liked features--------------- Summer humidity.

Trivia----------------------------- Many movies set and filmed here, huge musical scene, 4th largest city in the United States, larger than Dallas despite Dallas' desperate efforts to combine every city within a 50mi radius into the "metro area", a short drive from the beach or country, about 45 miles either way.

I love my city.

[baddabang]

[quote=Fleet 500;712872]Time for another poll... rate your town.
I got some of the categories from a book called "Sunbelt Retirement."
Ratings are 0-10 (0= poor; 10= excellent)
You should be able to find your town's population on Wikipedia.

Here are the ratings for my town...

Town----------------------------- Massena, NY.
Population------------------------ 13,000
Elevation------------------------- 230 Feet. Wow thats low.

Climate & environment------------ 9-Borders the Adirondacks
Scenery & views----------------- 9- Same as above
Crowds-------------------------- 2
Medical availability--------------- 9
Housing expense----------------- 5 (ave. house ~$100,000)
Cost of living--------------------- 2 Cheapest electricity in NY most likely
Taxes--------------------------- 4
Recreation & culture-------------- 10
Special senior citizen services----- 9 It's an old town.
Pollution-------------------------- 4
Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 3 (I'm in a valley)
Cars, variety available------------- 1 haha good one
Shopping------------------------- 7
Police & fire protection------------ 9

Overall rating---------------------- 8

Most-liked features---------------- Scenery, access to mountains, Canada, and great outdoor areas.
Least-liked features--------------- I'm in bum f*** Egypt

Trivia----------------------------- Home of the GM plant that produces the I4 heads for GM vehicles.

[Mr.Tiv]

Town----------------------------- Elkton, Maryland
Population------------------------ Like 16,000 in 2005 (yeah it's a small town)
Elevation------------------------- Not Very High

Climate & environment------------ 8
Scenery & views----------------- 7 (if you take a short drive out of town, it's quite nice, but the town sucks)
Crowds-------------------------- 3 ( too sparse for me)
Medical availability--------------- 7
Housing expense----------------- 9 (assuming a higher number denotes a fairer price)
Cost of living--------------------9 (assuming the same)
Taxes--------------------------- 8
Recreation & culture-------------- 3
Special senior citizen services----- I wouldn't know
Pollution-------------------------- 5 (for a town this small, it's not very clean)
Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 7
Cars, variety available------------- 7
Shopping------------------------- 7
Police & fire protection------------ 8 (would be lower if it weren't for state cops)

Overall rating---------------------- 6.5 (I hate this town)

Most-liked features---------------- fairly entertaining roads around here
Least-liked features--------------- Most of the residents
Trivia----------------------------- Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller got married here, a plane crashed here; the British landed here in 1777

[sutton4481]

Town-----------------------------Katy, TX
Population------------------------11,755 in town, ~170,000 in Katy area
Elevation-------------------------low

Climate & environment------------ 7
Scenery & views----------------- 5
Crowds-------------------------- ?
Medical availability--------------- 10
Housing expense----------------- 9
Cost of living--------------------- 9
Taxes--------------------------- 5
Recreation & culture-------------- 6
Special senior citizen services----- who cares, they're old
Pollution-------------------------- 7
Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 8
Cars, variety available------------- 10
Shopping------------------------- 8
Police & fire protection------------ 8

Overall rating---------------------- 8

Most-liked features---------------- Excellent schools, low cost of living, easy access to Houston, beach and countryside
Least-liked features--------------- hot, humid
Trivia-----------------------------Former waterstop on the Missouri Kansas Texas (MKT) railroad, this was shortened to KT, then Katy, where the town got its name.

[drakkie]

Town----------------------------- Oostvoorne
Population------------------------ +/- 6000. In summer season about 20.000
Elevation------------------------- Sea level for my house, +20 or -10 metres for other parts

Climate & environment------------ 6+
Scenery & views----------------- 8
Crowds-------------------------- what should this mean ?
Medical availability--------------- 2 (ambulances take almost 30 minutes to get here. Three GP's in town though.
Housing expense----------------- 1 (average of 690.000 € according to my dad)
Cost of living--------------------- 3 (for the entire Netherlands this goes..)
Taxes--------------------------- 5 (local taxes are OK, because my dad sets them each year for a living )
Recreation & culture-------------- 5 (nothing for young people)
Special senior citizen services----- 7.5
Pollution-------------------------- 2 (worst air pollution of Europe in this area)
Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 6 (because of the nearby sea)
Cars, variety available------------- 7 (BMW, Hyundai and Lade/general dealership in town)
Shopping------------------------- 4 (over expensive tourist shops...)
Police & fire protection------------ 5 (0.8 police officer and a voluntary fire deartment with two trucks).

Overall rating---------------------- 5 1/2

Most-liked features---------------- Nearby beach and high-speed-test-track (deserted highway), large amounts of jobs nearby.

Least-liked features--------------- Heavy crime, vandalism, pollution, bad government, arrogant rich people, drugs problems, over-crowded city centre and shops, tourists , closed (for cars!) beach and associated extremist environmentalists and so on and so on...

Trivia----------------------------- Biggest camping of the country

[jorismo]

Town-----------------------------Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Population------------------------ ~205,000
Elevation------------------------- Low

Climate & environment------------ 7
Scenery & views----------------- 7
Crowds-------------------------- (Explain please!)
Medical availability--------------- 10
Housing expense----------------- 2
Cost of living--------------------- 4
Taxes--------------------------- 5
Recreation & culture-------------- 8
Special senior citizen services----- 8
Pollution-------------------------- 4
Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 7
Cars, variety available------------- 10
Shopping------------------------- 8
Police & fire protection------------ 9

Overall rating---------------------- 8

Most-liked features---------------- Great variety in people. For Dutch meanings quite big, but still feels like a village.
Least-liked features--------------- Lot of rain and there always seem to be roadworks everywhere.
Trivia----------------------------- Hometown of Philips Electronics and DAF Trucks. Of course hometown of PSV Eindhoven, biggest sporting club in the country (17 different sports clubs in 20 types of sports). Eindhoven also has a technical university. And of course the Stratumseind, a street with around 30 bars/pubs/clubs in a row.

[Turbo.Jenkens]

Here are the ratings for my town... BTW I wasn't born here.

Town----------------------------- Phenix City, AL (Originally misspelled by the founders)
Population------------------------ 29,000
Elevation------------------------- 400 feet

Climate & environment------------ 7 Summers are humid, Winters are mild
Scenery & views----------------- 4
Crowds-------------------------- 9
Medical availability--------------- 6 must drive to Georgia for hospitalization
Housing expense----------------- 10 (ave. house ~$72,000)
Cost of living--------------------- 10
Taxes--------------------------- 10 Property tax? we ain't got no stink'n PT
Recreation & culture-------------- 3 Prime deer hunting, lake Harding near by, and one of Alabama's premier dirt ovals. No movie theater, mall, or fine dining.
Special senior citizen services----- 6 Grociers give a 5% discount on weds
Pollution-------------------------- 6
Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 10 (very few foggy days)
Cars, variety available------------- 2
Shopping------------------------- 1
Police & fire protection------------ Good where I live, but not so good elsewhere in town

Overall rating---------------------- 4

Most-liked features---------------- Mild climate and low cost of living
Least-liked features--------------- No single girls in there 20s without kids

Trivia---------------------------- Until the 1950s the Mafia ran Phenix City. Then the Police ran out the Mafia because they were giving them too much competition. From what I've heard it was a pretty lawless place the first half of the 20th century. Its been compared to the american Old West.

[Waugh-terfall]

Technically I live in the village of Easebourne the other side of the river from Midhurst but...

Town----------------------------- Midhurst, West Sussex
Population------------------------ Wait, I'll just go count... UNKNOWN
Elevation------------------------- Car says 140m(it's very hilly here)

Climate & environment------------ 8
Scenery & views----------------- 10
Crowds-------------------------- 5(BusStand druggie group, mainly Fri/Sat nights...
Medical availability--------------- 10
Housing expense----------------- 7 (expensive are)
Cost of living--------------------- 8 (gas prices/council tax/high house prices)
Taxes--------------------------- 0 - 'cause I don't pay 'em
Recreation & culture-------------- 8
Special senior citizen services----- 10
Pollution-------------------------- 6
Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 3.5
Cars, variety available------------- 8.5
Shopping------------------------- 3 - Computer shop, small supermarket, then like, 100 charity shops...
Police & fire protection------------ 8 - both in town

Overall rating---------------------- 7.5

Most-liked features---------------- Scenery (countryside) - Local roads (A286/A272)
Least-liked features--------------- Charity Shops/Holmbush Council Estate/'Bus Stand Druggie Crew'

Trivia----------------------------- #1 best town to live in in the UK - 6miles from Goodwood

And last night, I put a stop to crime Lying in my bed I hear 'BANG! HONK-HONK-HONK' from a car alarm (12.08am) - out of bed and to the window, a bunch of 'hoodies' come running out of the opposite road yelling at each other, then then take to kicking the phone-box opposite until I flash my torch at them, they run off, a few mins later, with my Dad in the room there's another few lound bangs, and some glass smashing - police called - just as they go back to the same car, 'BANG!' and off it's alarm goes again. - Obviously not the brightest of vandals... Then again, are they ever? *ehem*sam*ehem

[my porsche]

I think another good category to add would be pop. density.

Houston: 3,480/sq mi

and tom get on msn.

[Waugh-terfall]

Dude, I can't - It won't let me - some kind of error with the MSN servers. Damn the UK.

[my porsche]

Eh...I forgot what I was going to tell you anyway.

[Waugh-terfall]

lolz, I'm on now

[ripper46]

Town----------------------------- Schilde, belgium
Population------------------------ 19,000
Elevation------------------------- 20 metres.

Climate & environment------------ 6 but if suv's remain popular it could evolve to 8 or so
Scenery & views----------------- 5
Crowds-------------------------- 2
Medical availability--------------- 9
Housing expense----------------- 2 there is no way I could ever afford a place here
Cost of living--------------------- 5
Taxes--------------------------- 1 Belgium =tax hell , however , the national sport is tax evasion
Recreation & culture-------------- 5
Special senior citizen services----- 2
Pollution-------------------------- 8
Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 9
Cars, variety available------------- 10( porsche,ferrari, bmw , merc, honda, aston martin, ford, volvo
and a lot of other dealers just a stonethrow away
Shopping------------------------- 7
Police & fire protection------------ 9 police once let me off when i was fooling around on a parking lot

Overall rating---------------------- 8

Most-liked features---------------- close to a deserted airfield, when you are a car nut youre pretty well catered for, allready 3 996 turbo's here, I haven't got enough hands and feat to count the ferrari's and aston's, however I am 1 of only 2 gti owners and the other one is one step away from the scrap yard , basically when something new and exotic hits the market it will be in my area real soon . despite all of this I'm not a keen exotic car fan, which doesn't mean I don't like them .

Least-liked features--------------- a lot of people living here , are the cayenne-x5 kind of people as I like to call them, think they are better than anyone else, they are in fact just a bunch of criminals. can't really explain it that good in english so for the dutch speakers iedereen teert hier op vermogen en doet zelf niets productief , en de helft van hun inkomen is in het zwart . they are a bunch of f*ckers things haven't changed all that much since the 1800's when you look at it , these people exploit the society.
The thing with my vision on these people is : I work in restaurants and places where I get confronted with them quite a lot, so i'm constantly reminded of them, thats why I hate them so much probably.

however there are also some normal people

Trivia----------------------------- not really, as said above , a deserted airfield in the back yard

[Lagonda]

Schilde. That's close

Town----------------------------- Schoten, belgium
Population------------------------ 33,000 (I think)
Elevation------------------------- 20 metres (probably the same as Schilde)

Climate & environment------------ 8 relatively green (around 30% of the town is greenery, woods etc.)
Scenery & views----------------- 1 not much scenery around here
Crowds-------------------------- n/a Still don't know what this is supposed to mean.
Medical availability--------------- 9
Housing expense----------------- 3 Pretty expensive, especially in my area.
Cost of living--------------------- 4
Taxes--------------------------- 3
Recreation & culture-------------- 4
Special senior citizen services----- 8, I think we have a brand new old-people home somewhere.
Pollution-------------------------- 8
Fog (less days= higher rating)----- 9
Cars, variety available------------- 10 As ripper said, everything is available from Fords to exotic machinery like Aston Martin, Maserati and Ferrari. Heck, I saw a Porsche GT1 once here which is as rare as it gets.
Shopping------------------------- 10 large shopping mall close by and Antwerp isn't far either (12km to city center)
Police & fire protection------------ 10 they saved our burning roof last year. Police are assholes though.

Overall rating---------------------- 8

[Pinin]

Trivia----------------------------- #1 best town to live in in the UK - 6miles from Goodwood

Are you going to Goodwood FoS?

Got a spare room for Sunday night?