Who’s YOUR City? Blog

Ahh the peace and convenience of a smaller city. I moved from Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota (pop. 3+ million) after completing my Masters degree to Winona, MN. I am now the Assistant City Planner of a town with 27,000 people. I live three blocks from city hall in downtown and I can walk/bike to work. No more driving 30+ minutes on crowded interstates. The key though is a significant other and satisfaction with my job – these two things come together with the peace and convenience of Winona to make it a great place to live. So, I would say think twice about allure of a larger city and take a second look at a smaller city.

Sent by Carlos from Winona, Minnesota

Since it is a regional hub, our little city has many of the advantages of a larger urban area. We have two good medical centers, an outstanding library system, an expanding four-year-college with a young, vibrant music department, an active arts council, and, best of all, astonishing scenery. My husband and I can go hiking in a different remote, peaceful canyon every day of the week and not drive more than ten or fifteen minutes. We do have four seasons, but snow rarely stays on the ground more than a couple of days in January. Don’t come. I’m kidding…well, sort of.

Sent by Linda from Grand Junction, Colorado

Having lived in several creative cities I would have to say that Hamilton, ON (where we now live) compares favorably. Things I like: access to nature, gritty industrial past and future, easy access to Toronto (which is a very open, creative city), zero social pretension, friendly neighbours, the Niagara Escarpment, waterfalls, Lake Ontario, and enormous potential to take photographs of all of the above and upload them onto Flickr!

Sent by Michael from Hamilton, ON, Canada

Lakeland, Florida – I have been here only 4 years (December, 2005) and amazed at what is here, proximity to everything florida, bursting with culture and history and the town is virtually unknown. It is 20 minutes outside of Tampa, 45 minutes outside of Orlando, 66,000 people pass through it every day on I4, and there are almost 9 million people within 100 miles. No other southern town can boast that. Historic Sites: The Polk Theatre, built in 1928, On the National Register of Historic Places, one of last atmospheric theatres left in the state and smack in downtown (absolutely beautiful www.polktheatre.org) lakeland. Florida Southern College has the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the World! built over 20 years! Historic Terrace Hotel also on the national register, too many historic districts to list, even the Swan population (Lakeland has over 500 lakes) was given and are direct descendents from the queen of England! Publix Supermarkets, GEICO, MOSAIC are all headquartered here. It is an incredible place, weather is great the people (though clueless and naive) are wonderful, its a college town and they just don’t realize what is here.

Sent by Meri from Lakeland, Florida

I live in Hamilton. I moved from Vancouver to Hamilton. I love how everything in Hamilton is hidden by the gritty nature of the steeltown and the working class nature. What people don’t easily see is how beautiful and creative Hamilton is.

Sent by Ian from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada