With Friends Like These…
Ann Arbor is the second most renter-friendly city in the country, according to the site apartmentratings.com. But if you click through and read the fine print, you’ll notice that the rating is based on satisfaction and affordability as reported by tenants to the site — and every one of their reports is for a large apartment building or complex. In A2, apartment complexes tend to be far from the center of town and cheaper than other apartments (not to mention reasonably well-managed compared to rental houses.) In cities like Boston, which ranked near the bottom, the opposite is often true.
Furthermore, the people in the cheapest housing in Ann Arbor tend to be students, who are probably disproportionately likely to have ready Internet access and post to a site like apartmentratings.com, further dragging down the site’s estimate of A2 rental prices. And even though the rental price data is based on tenants’ reports, a city’s affordablity score is computed by comparing it to federal income data, which bears little or no relation to the incomes of the self-selected sample they’re using to estimate prices.
So we’ve got jaw-droppingly flawed methodology, total misunderstanding of the subject material — and one more list that puts A2 near the top. Just another day in the city-ranking industry.
OKAY…”renter friendly”…I’ll bite…YOU seem to know alot about Ann Arbor. I grew up in Michigan, have been in Los Angeles for quite a few years now. Im in my mid 30’s and tossing the idea around about moving back to Michigan.
posted by knobby on September 27th, 2005 at 6:01 amBeing that Im in LA, Im really wanting that “urban” scene, with out the “urban”…as in, graffitti, trash, high crime rates, and want to lose the homeless drunkard that pees on our front door.
I miss the clean air, the clean landscape, the seasons.
I HAVENT EVER MISSED, the small town attitudes of the place in Michigan I grew up, the “if its different, its BAD” nonsense. Im looking for fun and friendly. NOT Hank Hill goes to Ann Arbor types.
Im looking to be around a progressive community. Not biased, prejudiced, overly religious fundementalist, and afraid of new people.
From the reseach Ive done on the WEB, Ann Arbor offers quite a bit.
WHY wouldnt a guy from L.A., want to move to Ann Arbor for a change of PACE?
Id appreciate any input….
Stay where you are, knobs. There’s graffiti here, too.
*shudder*
posted by Dale on September 27th, 2005 at 11:03 amHey knobby, I’ve been living in Ann Arbor for the past four years. I’m currently into the third week of a three-month stay in L.A., and am quite grateful to be getting a break from AA.
First off, if you desire an air quality improvement, just move to Santa Monica or Venice. The air smells sweet and clean compared to AA. Second, moving to AA — especially to a student neighborhood — will only increase the amount of trash you encounter.
My favorite part: I’ve been in L.A. for three fall saturdays, and not once have I been woken by the sound of a beer keg being thrown into the street.
Granted, the polish of a place always wears off with time; but so far, I’m left wondering why I moved to AA in the first place.
-J
posted by jason on September 27th, 2005 at 7:10 pmhey jason,
You mentioned Fall. WE DONT HAVE FALL HERE. Only Summer, and Winter rain. You dont even notice Spring or Fall unless you really think about it. Wait until your working in the Valley or the Inland Empire during the Santa Ana Winds. You will be pleading for a different season.
I LIVE in Venice…and NO the air isnt “sweet” here…unless fast food grease and urine stench from all the junkies is “sweet” to you. How you get “sweet” is laughable. DO NOT, lay down and stretch out in any of the grassy areas in Venice Beach. The smell will be in your clothing all day, and DO NOT, walk on the “boardwalk” barefoot, unless Hepatitus is a good time for you. Its been more than one time, we’ve found used needles in the sand also.
Santa Monica? ahaha you have got to be KIDDING.
Ive lived in LA for more than a few years(almost 20). Ive lived near USC at one point also. I UNDERSTAND what its like to live near a major university.
TO ME, it sounds like you are just happy as heck to get out of Michigan for a while. Understandable, I grew up in a SMALL TOWN in Michigan. I couldnt wait to get out.
Apparently, my communication skills are lacking and Im not able to get what I want to say across.
OF COURSE, with ANY city, you will have “that area”. Drugs, poverty, gangs, crime, trash, graffitti,vandalism, etc…
But in NO WAY, can you say that AA is worse than LA. Traffic wise, pollution wise, crime wise… I know this city INSIDE AND OUT.
Dont get me wrong, I LOVE SoCal, Im just tiring of the grind. The traffic, sitting on the 405 for an hour to move 5 miles, blowing black crap out of my lungs after a good mountian bike ride, not being able to swim/surf on some days because the beach has pollution warnings, etc…just TIRED. want a change.
MY QUESTION, I guess, IS…JUST how “intolerant”( lack of a better word) are the locals in Ann Arbor? Are we talking typical Michigan fundie Christians and redneck hunters with a deer across the hood , afraid of anything that is “different”? (Not that Im bashing hunters or christians, dont get me wrong.)
Is Ann Arbor a community where diversity and progressive thought are encouraged? I know AA has always been a city, that can be descibed as having “left/liberal” leanings, but Im just looking for a great place to live. A change. BUT the MIDWESTERN “afraid of your own shadow” attitude is a real turn off. Im just trying to get a “feeling” for the locals in Ann Arbor.
When I was grwoing up, when a kid got HIS EAR PEIRCED, it was the talk of the town for weeks. THAT is the kind of thing I find so SILLY about a small town environment. To me, that sort of attutide is intolerable.
IS THAT the kind of nonsense that I will find in AA?
Jason, ENJOY L.A., its a real fun town!! I suggest taking a hike in the Angeles National Forest, and dont forget to try Tito’s Tacos in Culver City. HAVE FUN!!
posted by knobby on September 28th, 2005 at 2:10 pmKnobby,
Thanks for Taco recommendation. At least it will give me a reason to go to Culver City.
You’re absolutely right that I’m mostly just happy to be out of Michigan for a while. And, since I’ve only been here for 2.5 weeks, you know a lot more about what it’s like to live in L.A. than I do. Especially given that the farthest east I’ve been is UCLA and the farthest south is Venice. The part of L.A. I’ve seen so far — SM (where I live), Westwood (where I work), and the SM mountains (where I play) — has not shown much in the way of grit, grime, and crime. I’d even go as far as to say it seems safer and cleaner here than in AA. And I really do believe the air in SM smells sweet. I’ll take ocean-breeze over midwest-industrial-smokestack-emission any day of the week
Obviously, elsewhere in LA is different.
As far as the “tolerance” of the people of AA is concerned, for the most part it’s pretty good. There will always be a few curmudgeons, but most people are pretty tolerant of looks and behaviors (politics is a different story). Outside of AA, things progress back to rural MI standards pretty quickly. A good bike ride can take you well in to redneck country, where people in pickup trucks will yell at you just for being on a bike (and occasionally try to run you over).
Overall, AA is a nice place to live. There are many, many worse places to live in the midwest, and I thank my lucky stars everyday that I did not end up in Champagne-Urbana. If you’re looking for a place which is a little more suburban than urban, but still has stuff to do and good restaurants and intelligent people, then AA could very well be your place. But don’t expect it to cure all that ails you. You will still find plenty trash on the streets, drunks and homeless people, and crime (though MOSTLY non-violent). And don’t expect to be “blowing black crap out of [your] lungs after a good mountian bike ride” either. Not for lack of black crap, but for lack of good mountain bike rides.
Oh, and regardless of water polution levels, AA has a very large number of days when you can’t surf. Usually 365 or 366, depending on the year.
-J
posted by jason on September 28th, 2005 at 4:42 pmjason,
hahahah NO SURF IN AA? that settles it!!
Thanks for the info…
As for mountian biking, of course there are no “mountians”…but are there at least singletrack networks? something with a challenge?
DONT FORGET TO TRY TITO’s Taco’s!!
posted by knobby on October 1st, 2005 at 6:40 am