Anywhere but Detroit. Get me out of here.

OK, here are the characteristics of my ideal home:
- Medium or large city, basically 50k people or more. I grew up in a small town and discovered that the rural life is not for me.
- Urban/downtown environment. Not urban as in ghetto, as the word unfortunately seems to connotate these days. But, dense population, diverse population, things like shops nearby, lots of mass transit. I don't mind crowds outside or in stores and such, they only bother me when it's in a house or workplace and I'm trying to get something done and like 30 people work in the same room (i.e., my old job).
- Decent neighbourhoods. Not all run-down dilapidated houses abandoned 30 years ago with constant robberies and shootings like Detroit.
- Mild climate, may tend toward cold. I've always lived in very extreme climates and I'm sick of super-cold winters, snow in spring, and 90°F summer days.
- Liberal politics, both socially and economically. Ideally the government would make sure nobody is poor and give people the freedom to mostly do what they want as long as they aren't infringing on others' rights.
- LGBT-friendly. I'm not straight and I don't want to have to pretend to be. I would like access to an LGBT community where I could feel at home.
- Variety of industry. The state of Michigan is mostly dominated by an industry I have no interest in: automobiles. My school seems pretty much geared for people to work for car companies. Most of the big companies are car companies. I don't care about cars, let me get a job doing something else.

Detroit fails at all of these, except the size and being economically liberal (although it's pretty conservative socially). The downtown is improving a lot but it's still surrounded by a huge ghetto (except on the border with Canada).

Within the USA I would like to live in Seattle. I'm also liking Portland and San Francisco but I decided that Seattle was the best fit. Outside the USA, I would love to live in Canada, or Northern or Western Europe

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TKB Super Mario Bros.

Originally posted by Higsby

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Unlike my mom who dreams of moving into a bigger house, I don't really see the point of having a big house.

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My parents have 2 houses (well, 1 detached house and 1 condominium). The only beings living in them are my mom, my dad, their cat, and the fish in their aquarium. Do they really need all that space? And they were planning to buy a third house too

I have an aunt and uncle who, for no apparent reason, moved from one boring suburban McMansion to another a few years ago.

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TKB Super Mario Bros.