
Ask HN: Have you found your dream town? - chiefofgxbxl
What are you looking for in the place you live? Have you found a place that satisfies your needs?<p>I&#x27;m getting more involved in my city, and like the HN crowd I am aware of issues like suburban sprawl. I&#x27;m communicating with public officials and researching development patterns in my small city, but few officials recognize lane expansions or the fact that we are car-dependent as issues.<p>My dream town is one where most people ride bikes, values quiet, and spends money on public space that makes us better human beings. Does such a place exist in the north eastern U.S.?
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mindcrime
"Dream" town in the most specific sense? No, not really. But have I found a
place that's close enough in many ways? Yeah. I live in Chapel Hill, NC and I
find that this satisfies the majority of my needs. One of the few things that
I find lacking here is a music venue that caters largely (or entirely) to
metal. The closest such place is in Raleigh, about 25 minutes away. Not the
worst thing, but it would be great if there were a true "metal club" right in
downtown CH.

 _What are you looking for in the place you live?_

In no particular order, some of the things I value (and how the relate to CH):

1\. Tech jobs, technology literate populace (CH is part of "The Triangle"
region of NC which definitely has this)

2\. One or more universities nearby (UNC, Duke, NCSU, are nearby, along with
many smaller colleges / universities like NCCU, Shaw, Peace, Meredith, St.
Augustines, etc.)

3\. Places to mountain bike (Yes, in abundance, although we don't have the
elevation change here to allow for serious downhill MTB'ing. But there's lots
of miles of XC trails in the area)

4\. Bike lanes for road biking (some, but not as much as I'd like in this
area)

5\. A "pace of life" that keeps things interesting, but isn't overwhelming
(Yes, this is very subjective, hard to quantify, and may be as much about me
as the place, but it is what it is)

6\. An active tech startup scene (again, part of "The Triangle" and there is
lots of tech "stuff" going on here)

7\. Venues for live music beyond country music (yes - Cat's Cradle in
Carrboro, for example. But see not above about wishing for a more metal
oriented club nearby)

8\. Active night-life scene: clubs, bars, lounges, etc. (it's a college town,
so yeah. See: Franklin Street)

9\. Not too far from the coast (I can drive from here to the NC beaches in
about 2.5 hours)

10\. Not too far from more mountainous areas (I can drive from here to "the
mountains" in about 3.5-5.0 hours depending on the exact destination)

I'm sure there's more I could talk about, but that's a lot of the key stuff to
me.

