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Lookin to get out of PA after graduation. Will be looking for a job in either environmental assessment or planning/land use. Would prefer to live a in city with a lower cost of living and someplace I can ride bike back and forth to work within the metro area.
There doesn't need to be much outside the city with the exception of having some good scenery. I won't need space for the first few years. Don't want to live someplace that still thinks the car is priority.
Any pointers?
Indy, Louisville, Cincinatti...
Though i'm not sure how many people really go without cars in these cities...
Cost of living in Indy is really low, though rent would be significantly higher any place that would be close enough to downtown, or in downtown that you could ride your bike everywhere. The sweet spot here is living maybe 5-10 miles outside of downtown and paying $300 less a month in rent, and using that $300 a month in gas/upkeep.
I can't speak from experience about the other two, but from driving around or visiting, about the same.
I live in downtown Indy and it is getting much more bike friendly. They have put in bike lanes next to my house and on many of the downtown streets.
My apartment was around $700 a month ($350 a person) and it was 2 blocks from the circle.
NVHEngr wrote:I live in downtown Indy and it is getting much more bike friendly. They have put in bike lanes next to my house and on many of the downtown streets.
My apartment was around $700 a month ($350 a person) and it was 2 blocks from the circle.
That's not too bad, actually... Mind if i ask what apartments they were? I looked into Riley Towers at one point, and briefly considered Canal Square before i ended up staying south and paying ~$500.
I have noticed that there are more and more bike lanes being put in on the north half of the city, haven't seen much on the south yet.
Heh... you probably live about 2 blocks from where i work.
Check out Columbia, Missouri. We're like the Madison WI and/or Austin TX of MO, it seems. (progressive)
www.gocolumbiamo.com. Check out "pednet," our local pedestrian/pedal organization. An Anti-Bike Harrassment law just got passed recently (and is quite the hot spot). I think our Bike Polo group just hosted a pretty big tournament. I participated in a "party ride" just a week and a half ago...riding ~40 miles round trip along the old railroad right-of-way turned city/county/state park.
It's a "small" town at ~100,000. It's a college town, so pretty cool. You'll drive a couple hours or more to get to an autocross or trackday, though. But you wouldn't need to because you could come Back 40 racing with us ;).
Biking is a great mode of transportation for guys like me who might or might not have a running car at any given time ;).
Clem
93celicaGT2 wrote:NVHEngr wrote:I live in downtown Indy and it is getting much more bike friendly. They have put in bike lanes next to my house and on many of the downtown streets.
My apartment was around $700 a month ($350 a person) and it was 2 blocks from the circle.
That's not too bad, actually... Mind if i ask what apartments they were? I looked into Riley Towers at one point, and briefly considered Canal Square before i ended up staying south and paying ~$500.
I have noticed that there are more and more bike lanes being put in on the north half of the city, haven't seen much on the south yet.
Heh... you probably live about 2 blocks from where i work.
They were the apartments in the old chateau thomas winery building. They are behind the Arby's on South Street. The house I bought is in Fletcher Place.
SE Michigan, Detroit and it's suburbs.
No, seriously I mean it.
Michigan is as awesome place to live. In and around the Metro Detroit area you can find anything you want in the way of sports, recreation, cultural activities.
We have all major league sports, world class museums and arts (The DIA, The Opera house, Orchestra hall and several theaters) all built on the original auto money.
Just about any band or play worth seeing has SE MI on its tour list.
Michigan is a great place for out door activities, hunting, skiing, snowmobiling, sailing, hiking, camping etc etc.
Some of the most beautiful countryside in the Union is here. I've been to every state except Washington, Idaho, North Dakota, Main and Alaska and I can honestly say the NW corner of the lower peninsular is flat out one of the best, most accessible and beautiful places there is.
The car culture is amazing.
Three race tracks in Southern Michigan plus easy access top those in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois etc.
Thriving autocross scene with both the SCCA and independent clubs putting on series.
Woodward dream cruise.
Bikes popular and accepted.
Anything goes as far as getting a vehicle registered for the road, heck I've seen a Bigfoot (as in the Monster truck) driving down Rotunda Avenue. No emissions testing or inspection.
If Michigan still isn't good enough for you Chicago is only a 4 hour drive away and Florida is 20 hours by car.
Economy.
Yeah it's crappy right now, but that means the buy in price is at rock bottom. Forget the news stories of houses being sold in Detroit for $1-$50, but you can get a really nice house in the suburbs for $100k right now. There was a piece on NPR yesterday in a series called 'Generation Y Michigan' http://generationymichigan.org/ Talking about the brain drain for collage graduates. Part of the piece was really interesting. They talked to collage students who all said 'There's no Job's in Michigan so we're going to/are looking out of state' Then they asked employers who all said 'There are no graduates in Michigan so we're recruiting from out of state' A stupid catch 22. A lot of people are trying to bring green energy jobs' to Mi. There is lot's of effort around wind turbine production, renewable energies etc.
Seriously, give us a look, you may be very pleasantly surprised.
Adrian
Minneapolis is very bike friendly. It's been ranked as the #2 city in the US for bikers, after Portland. Tons of bike paths, plenty of bike shops. http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/bicycles/
Ok... I'll be the desenting voice here... I'd need buckets of $$$ to move out of the Northeast...
Stay in PA... or more specifically: Philly.
The more cities I visit, the more I like Philly. IMHO, one of the most under-rated cities for biking in the country. Especially for its size. And I've spent a reasonably amount of time in a few of the more popular locales.
The grass ain't always greener... although sometimes you need to move away to learn that... so this is all I'll say...
I wouldn't recommend Cincy for bike friendly (I live a short ways from there), not much for bike lanes, and lots of hills.
I've got a friend who lives in Lexington, KY, and bike commutes from the inner suburbs to downtown pretty regularly, though.
Chicago. Yes it's expensive - but do well here - you'll be fine anywhere. World-class stuff here. There's bike paths that run the length of the city - not to mention lots of groups. No shortage of stuff in the burbs either. Relatively easy to get to tracks - autobahn, gingerman, road america, black hawk...rockin' nightlife and somethin like 4 million wimmin - some are friendly 
PAC NW.
I have a friend who is a huge bicyclist and he lives in Louisville.
I don't know, we Louisvilians seem to kill a lot of cyclists.
A guy competing in the Triathlon was killed on his bike recently.
COMPETING for God's sake. 
Ms. America killed a lady I think on her bike several years ago.
A couple other high profile deaths.
We do have a bunch of cyclists, including a bunch of the militant ones that won't use the bike lanes.
Madison, WI. Very bike oriented, huge bike culture, great shops with knowledgeable staff. Job market is very good with nice wages, cost of living is higher than your average WI city, but I'm sure it's cheaper than Philly. Jobs are available in most tech/medical/gubmint fields.
Only downside (or upside, depends on your views) is that it is EXTREMELY liberal. I can see a lefty point of view and sometimes even agree, but these people are just loopy. I'd swear if it was 75 and sunny outside that I was in California...........
OOhhhh, I read the OP wrong, I thought he meant bikes, not bikes if you get my meaning. I still say SE Michigan, but look to Ann Arbor.
In reply to stuart in mn:
+1 for Minneapolis
Adrian_Thompson wrote:OOhhhh, I read the OP wrong, I thought he meant bikes, not bikes if you get my meaning. I still say SE Michigan, but look to Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor, or Lansing in Michigan. AA has more diversity in the job market, Lansing is a Top 5 city in tech growth and is pretty good for engineering statewide because of it's central proximity.
John Brown wrote:Adrian_Thompson wrote:OOhhhh, I read the OP wrong, I thought he meant bikes, not bikes if you get my meaning. I still say SE Michigan, but look to Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor, or Lansing in Michigan. AA has more diversity in the job market, Lansing is a Top 5 city in tech growth and is pretty good for engineering statewide because of it's central proximity.
For AA- we have the strongest economy in Michigan (which doesn't say a lot), great jobs in the environmental area- starting with the EPA Office of Mobile Sources (they regulate anything that moves), and a TON of smaller others. Ann Arbor is quickly becoming a biking city- the two main roads through downtown are being reduced from 3 to 2 lanes to add a large biking lane.
I've not been to Lansing enough to see if it's the same, but I would suspect its similar.
But both biking and running are pretty big here. We commute downtown on bikes vs. cars- parking is free, and you can drink and pedal. 
Eric
alfadriver wrote: and you can drink and pedal.Eric
No, it will get you a ticket as well.
Lawrence, Kansas. Seriously. About as progressive as your likely to find in the midwest (except maybe Minnesota), vibrant college community, active bikers. Nice town. Check it out. William S. Burroughs liked it, so they'll definitely take all kinds.
Well, most of the country has winter, so the further south the better I guess. Miami? LA? Somewhere in southern Texas? Never understood the bicycle as daily transit thing though....parked my bike when I got my license and never looked back.
Bike Friendly? Most definitely!
Progressive? Not quite as much.
The answer, Mackinac Island, Michigan
Ian F wrote:Ok... I'll be the desenting voice here... I'd need buckets of $$$ to move out of the Northeast...
Stay in PA... or more specifically: Philly.
The more cities I visit, the more I like Philly. IMHO, one of the most under-rated cities for biking in the country. Especially for its size. And I've spent a reasonably amount of time in a few of the more popular locales.
The grass ain't always greener... although sometimes you need to move away to learn that... so this is all I'll say...
+1. Philly is adding more bike lanes in the downtown area in the next couple years and there are some great trails in the immediate area or not too far of a drive away. If you ever get bored, there are some of the best riding roads around in the out my way in the 'burbs.
Chicago has a whole bike trail going all the way to the WI border. It's nice. Cleveland has something similar going east to west.
Florida has an exercise program for bikers—you pedal harder so you don't get run over by rednecks and the nearly dead.
