jeninifer

You're absolutely entitled to your opinion. Thank you for sharing it.

I wasn't just talking about emissions tests. Many states do extensive testing of vehicles for other reasons - road worthiness, etc. They are very costly and people go without them and drive illegally because they can't afford them.

In my opinion it's ridiculous to charge people huge sums of money to get your car tested for government regulations. Why doesn't the government offset the costs or use an income-based sliding fee scale?

As far as pollution and air quality goes - it's all relative. The entire state of Indiana doesn't share the same air - just as any state or country. The industrial areas of Gary and East Chicago, Indiana are FAR more pollutant than the rest of the state. In my research - such statistics are based on metropolitian areas or by county. The EPA doesn't even list and Indiana city in it's report of Top 12 metropolitan areas with heavy pollution and emissions.

I appreciate your love of the earth and all things green, but I think that you'll have a very hard time finding somewhere pollutant free to live in the US.

beyness

I guess different people just like different things. I don't even HAVE a car, so I guess the sprawling suburbs and horrible public transport just don't fit to my personality... I love lakes, oceans, and mountains, and I guess I just long for those.. after travelling around Australia, NZ, Europe, and Asia, Indianapolis is just a huge disappointment to me, but I have to stay here for noe because of Greg and this petition.. otherwise, I'd split in a minute. I'm coming to terms with living here though... for now...

Keebee30

It depends on what part of Australia.
The job situation isn't any better there.
I should know this.....I never had a full time job the whole time I
was in Australia.
I always found casual & part time
I now live in Oregon.
I have always managed to find a job....the big question is what kind
of job do you want? Or what does your wife want to do?
Then figure out what state might be able to offer you more options in
that line of work.
NSW & S Australia are very hard places to gain full time employment
(depending what you want to do)
Queenslands not too bad....Tasmania is out of the question (high
unemployement rate) not sure about W Australia. Victoria I would
imagine would be the same as NSW & S Australia.NT not sure about.
Canberra you might find work (not too many people want to live there)
As I said it just depends what your line of work is....

Keely

Scout

I guess I should weigh in from the South, since not many have. I live in Atlanta. Pete loves the sunshine here.........but he's a mad Englishman and what does he know? lol.......We have mild winters here with usually only one or two small snows a year. The springtime in Atlanta is beautiful and can't be beat anywhere. We have lots of trees in Atlanta, thanks to some ordinances that won't let builders cut them down willy-nilly......they are fighting those ordinances however and we do lose a lot of trees every year despite them. Housing is cheap to expensive. The further out from the city you go, the cheaper the houses. If you want to go to some of the outer reaches of surburbia and commute in, you can still find 2000 sq feet of house for around $150,000. In close to the city, a 3000 sq foot house can go for $350,000 to around $ 800,000 depending on what "neighborhood" you live in. Schools are "ok" ........with some areas boasting really great schools and others with dismal records regarding education.

The economy was booming here but has now slumped. Atlanta has the 4th highest unemployment in the nation right now. That's because of all the IT jobs lost recently amongst other things. Lots of people are being laid off around here, but that seems to be the trend everywhere these days. I do know the housing and real estate market has not cooled down much though.

In Atlanta, you are only about and hour's drive from the mountains and a 3 hour drive to the coast. So recreation is easily available.

Atlanta has the worst traffic in the country though. I don't care what anyone else claims, they are wrong, lol. We drive faster and ruder than anyone. Another wonderful side effect of our traffic is pollution.........We have bad air days from May through September when car exhaust sits over the city like a brown cloud on hot days with no wind or rain. It can blow out with a rain storm, but it doesn't take long to return........it's not a pretty thing.

Good luck wherever you go.

Cheers,

Leslie

ScarlettHill

I LOVE DALLAS!!!!!

I'd agree with everything the earlier poster - southcoast? - said about Texas.

The people here are so friendly, there's a great multicultural mix here in Dallas, and Fort Worth up the road is full of arty goings on.

Yes you take your life in your hands when you venture onto the roads - Dallas drivers are worse than Parisians and that's REALLY saying something - but as soon as they get out of their trucks they're nice as pecan pie. Right now I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world. So ner!

Regards
-=-
HappyHappyHappy

Vicky88

We are in San Diego, California and love it. However as someone mentioned previously cost of living and taxes are high here. To buy a decent house in the area somewhat within reasonable of my husband's workplace is going to cost $500,000 and that is for nothing special.

We are both Aussies and intend to go home eventually. However, as others have poitned out the employment situation is not that good at the moment. Seems to be more and more contract positions, no jobs for life anymore. My husband is a telecomms engineer and has not been able to find a job in Australia which is why we move between the UK and US where there is decent paying work available in his field.

Lotjet

Florida, Florida, Florida, FLORIDA!!!
For beauty, cost of living, taxes, housing, fun, job opportunities...

FLORIDA!!!!!

stevelisaw

The only downfall I see to Florida is mozzies, those really big bug things and humidity.....other than that I like that state as well.

Lotjet

Mozzies?? There are plenty of little lizards running around but I really don't see any big bug things. As for humidity, there is
nothing worse than a midwestern humid summer complicated by all that heavy northern city industrialized pollution. (raised in Chicago). Besides, between the pool, the beach, air conditioning, and trade winds, who thinks about humidity????
The only disadvantage is that there are no mountains, if you are a skier or like to mountain-climb, etc. Otherwise, it's about as close to perfect as a U.S. state to live in. You can still buy a nice house in a nice area under $100,000, there is no state income tax, there are homestead tax exemptions, bankruptcy cannot touch your house in case you go under (as opposed to many other states), there are job opportunities everywhere, and certainly, there are plenty of things to do and see here. The weather is wonderful 98% of the time.

Lotjet

Margaret

I live in Idaho. Boise is the largest city of about 185,000. Total
population of the state is 1.4 million. I love it here but as far as
good jobs go it rates as a big zippo. I know whatever I get here will
never match what I was paid in Ontario, however it doesn't matter to
me. It's just supplementing the income that is coming in now.

I find the people very very friendly and crime rate is low. Sales tax
is 5% Other than the job situation, it's a lovely state.

So far no snow and I'm loving it! After 42 years of winter seasons
and snow, snow, snow in Canada, I don't miss it at all.

Kimberly

I'm probably gonna regret this,due to the response that I'll no doubt
get, but I have to nominate West Virginia. It has great beauty, and a
few nice cities, Charleston, Parkersburg and Morgantown. There is
culture but, you have to drive to get to it. The people are generally
friendly and curious as to anyone not from here but in a nice way. I
drive 350 miles a week to work and back, but you get used to it. The
cost of living is low as is the crime rate, and salaries as well on
the professional levels, but there's a lot to be said for it. And yes,
before anyone asks...I have shoes. :-)

Targaff

southcoast wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > No-one has nominated Texas yet......so here goes...

Reason I haven't nominated Texas is because I don't like it here. I'm
lucky enough to be in Austin, which is exceptional, but the weather
isn't exactly to my suiting. If I had my choice I'd hightail it to
Washington, which has its fair share of bad points too, but I like the
rain (makes me feel like I'm back in England) and I don't drive, so I
get to avoid the hassle of the I-5.

Actually I think when I finally settle down I'd like to live on San Juan
Island...

    > Texans are generally very nice people, but there driving habits
    > are pretty bad.

No kidding... I thought the driving in LA was bad, but I've seen some
examples of bad driving here that put the Valley in the shade (not least of
which was deliberately exiting a freeway where there was no exit).

--

Targaff

Scout

Is this aversion to bugs a British thing? Pete is terrified of them here in the South. The only thing about bugs he likes here is that we don't have big brown house spiders like in Wales, lol. I want to know why I have to kill the bug?...........I always thought it was the man's job to kill the bug!

Cheers,

Leslie

nathan barley

Who ever told you that is a bare faced liar!

I haven't seen a single spider or bug since I came here from england either, I'm blissful in my bug-free state.

cindyabs

Leslie covered the benefits of Atlanta area pretty well, it's a little different down here in the "Coastal Empire/Low Country". The Savannah area isn't doing too badly-pretty city that didn't/doesn't rely on dot.com industry. Acutally it has enjoyed a quite a career in the last 10 years as the setting of quite a few movies-Forrest Gump, The Gingerbread Man, Something to Talk About, The General's Daughter, Bagger Vance and of course Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. We have JCB's North American HQ here as well as a new Daimler/Chrysler van plant being built. We have the ocean which is nice.
We do indeed have bugs-biggest damn spiders I've ever seen.......and of course poisonous snakes and fire ants. However having said that I found I had a lizard living in my house which is fine since spiders are their favorite food! Also since I live on a marsh we have little tiny crabs that crawl around the yard. There is the stray gator or two! My husband didn't mind when I told him about the lizard but he did wonder though when I told him about the squirrel that had gotten in and was making itself at home. He's rather squeamish about bugs too, so I guess I get to continue to be the exterminator once he gets over here.