What is your city or town really like?

Another thread got me thinking. What is the town or city you live in really like?

Is there police violence?

Is there rampant racism?

How do the citizens treat each other?

I live in Albuquerque, NM. I was born and raised here. Or "I was born and raised here all my life." That's how locals say it.

What I see happening all over the country is not quite what happens here. Sure, we do have our little isolated incidents of racism. But its not on the level I see on TV.

Albuquerque is a very unique place. Well, NM is very special in general. But this little city in the desert is not like any city I have been to. In Albuquerque, the same families that settled here in the 1500s are still here. They are still Spanish and have assimilated almost every other immigrant family that ever settled here. So it is not uncommon to see blond haired and blue eyed people with a "Hispanic" last name. Its prolly more common than uncommon.

In Albuquerque, you can distinguish where what neighborhood they come from just by their accent.
My first girlfriend was a blonde, blue eyed chola with the heaviest South Valley accent. Which sounds part Canadian part Spanish and part surfer.

We just don't treat each other like that. For a city with almost a million people in it, ALL of us know someone who knows someone who knows you.

We hold doors open for each other. We say "sup" and do the head nod to total strangers. We all eat green and red chile on everything. We have no major sports franchise so we root for our world champion fighters. (Bobby Foster, Johnny Tapia, Danny Romero, Holly Holm). We have nothing else that will get us on that world stage. But when a Burqueño does make it, they become complete bad asses. (Neil Patrick Harris). And we root for them.

Its not uncommon to see a "hispanic" in a high ranking position. So when I see, "the first hispanic" whatever. I think, "this is new? They act like we are retarded."

I love my city. I love the people that live here. The only thing I hate here is the police. The police here, just like most of its citizens don't discriminate, they kill and assault every color. There is no white privilege here. We are all treated equally. And they will kill us just the same.

What's your city like?

a reply to: galaga

The people where I am seem friendly. I've heard that the cops are really corrupt though. I haven't had to deal with them, thankfully.

a reply to: galaga
It is fairly awful in Reading, PA. It is a very poor city.
A lot of ghetto trash inhabit it.
The cops are terrible shots. They shoot each other sometimes. One cop shot his partner in the head when he was shooting at a bad guy..... they charged the bad guy with the cop's murder of course.

Ooops, I forgot one cop story. A few weeks ago, a cop MC gang (Iron Order) beat up a woman and threw her in front of a moving vehicle on a highway and her head was run over by the car and she was killed. The county DA called it an accident.... until social media outed the MC member as a cop... now they say they are re-investigating, as if the DA didn't know the cop was involved.

Depends. Where I live or where I'm from? I live in a small Ontario town. Pretty basic. Ordinary. I'm from Metro Halifax though. Mid sized city, just under half a million. Nasty. Little racism, NS gave Blacks right WAY before everyone else. It's a military and college town though. LOADS of partying. Loads of drugs. And DON'T screw with the HPD. Just don't.

I love NM. I worked for the Santa Fe Opera for 3 years. I swear it just feels different out there!

I'm currently in south Florida, not quite Miami, but close enough.
The weather is fantastic! The people are a little distant. I'm originally from South Carolina, its really different from that atmosphere. I've never had cop problems, but I'm not in the business of even so much as speeding. However, there are news stories monthly, of some sort of corrupt police activity. Just about daily there's a shooting within news shot. Lately multiple shootings.

I've been here about 7 years and crime seems to be rising. I think the distance in the people comes from people being somewhat transient. Few people I've met are from here, or plan to stay here much longer.

For instance, I've lived in the same place for 5 years. I'm friendly to my neighbors to the right, and they are friendly back, we smile and wave, but they don't speak English. To the left is a rental, that has turn over pretty regular. No direct troubles, but no one on my street interacts aside from the occasional smile or wave.

It's kinda dirty, down the street which is downtown. Buildings need repairs, homeless people on the street corners, and outside of most of the Walgreens. Don't know why they choose Walgreens, I swear I think if I were hungry, I'd hang out at the grocery stores. I would love to help them, and when I can I do, but sometimes it's annoying and scary to be approached every time you try to get gas, day or night.

Seems like about half are busting ass trying to make a living, about half are really well off. And then there are the homeless.

I've seen smash and grabs but I haven't witnessed actually violent acts.

I must note that I'm planning on moving in a few months, to Georgia.
I don't love it here.

Well, I'm originally from a beautiful part of Pennsylvania. I loved it there... But then I moved to Florida to go to a school down here and let me tell you, this is by far the s***tiest place I've ever been. I'm not even exaggerating when I say everything about this area sucks. My soul feels dead just from being here. The day I finish school and leave will be the happiest day of my life.
Screw Florida. Screw the whole thing. I hope it sinks into the ocean.

The large town in the UK I now live in is a bit rubbish to be honest.

A few years ago someone published a book called "Crap places to live in Britain" and the town was not in the book.

They had so many complaints from residents of the town that they revised to book to include it and all the reasons how crap it was.

It is something of local pride that it is rubbish, when the UK wants to try something new to see if it will work they do it here as a test in case it makes somewhere else crappy by accident.

a reply to: galaga

Well, I'm in NM, too, so we're a lot like you describe. We lived in Albq and loved it, but we're in a small town now. Still, a lot of diversity and we all get along just fine.

The "crime" in the paper is usually something about a stolen bike or vandalism. Any cop I've dealt with has been really great. I think there are some that participate in the drug scene, but that's just hearsay.

We still smile and wave to strangers and don't think a thing of starting up a conversation with someone we don't know. Downtown, you can tell the visitors from the locals because the locals always stop to let pedestrians cross the street and the visitors don't. Stores don't always open when they say they do, and it's not uncommon to see a sign on a business that says "Be Right Back!" LOL! It's just the way it is here.

It's a college town with a lot of art galleries and historical significance. From hippies to wealthy physicians live here and get along great.

I love it here, too.

a reply to: galaga

The land of Enchantment is as close to paradise as anything the US has to offer.

Love the "Q".....Easy Livin

a reply to: galaga



Country :UK
City: medway
Pop: 274,000
Political orination : conservative
Ethinicity:
92.6% white
3.5% asian
1,4% black
1% chinese

Unemployment: 3.9

My area is mostly a lower middle-middle middle class area with a few poor areas near the docks. Most jobs here are service industry, most quailfied people commute into london 30 mins away as such we are known as being in the commuter belt.
Area was one of the UK biggest shipyards until shut in the 80's, most the long term jobless and poor are normaly those too stupid to have adapted from that and still sit on welfare whinging.

Police brutality is nearly non existant. Volence towards police is rare and I think there was only one police shooting here in the last decade I can remember.

Crimes mostly drug related or petty theft, druken assualts. Murder and rape happen buts its rare.
Drug related orgnaised crime is heavy here.

Racism is rare but happens. On the whole the large persian, turkish and polish comunitys live pretty peacefully. Not many blacks in my area so hard to factor them in. Most racism is verbal only and is confined to late night druken fights and football matchs. As most asians own successfull buisneses here and the few blacks are found equaly in poor, middle and rich areas, i think job discrimination is low. Most tension though is with the eastern european migrants.

I live in megalopolis. Over lapping juris my dick tions of Police, Sheriff and Hiway patrol.

The more urban the sprawl the more you find both good and bad cops. Had experiences with both, its how you respond to them that matters at any given time.

You can weed out the bad ones if you like, try not complying with their right to abuse you.

As is, I survived because I always let them do their joob.

I would know everyone in my town to see them, although I don't know all their names.
Mostly older people in town that are the cranky ones, things aren't as good as they used to be and all that jazz. This attitude has been going on forever in society.
Nice small town, lots of trees, cold in the winter, not much of a police presence. The only crime is usually a break in at the pharmacy/beer store done by people from out of town. My kids ride their bikes everywhere, or walk. They have the freedom that I had when I was a kid.

a reply to: galaga

The only thing you can find in my town is a linguistic tension . English/French ..It boils down to busing for French and for English . I should mention I live in a official bilingual province and I live in the capital .This bilingual policy was created back in the 60's and it was more of a political appeasement . The only real problem with it is duplication in services and some of the English feel that they have the disadvantage because they only speak English . You have to be bilingual to get a Govt. job . But with budgets coming under new pressures it may become time to look really close at the savings involved . Other then that it's quite nice quiet safe place .

a reply to: the2ofusr1

Fredericton?

a reply to: intrepid

I looked up Turtle Island and it's in BC. I didn't realize that BC was officially bilingual. Lived here for years and didn't know that lol.

a reply to: intrepid

you got er .

a reply to: Autorico

Turtle Island refers to North America . Native name

originally posted by: Autorico
a reply to: intrepid

I looked up Turtle Island and it's in BC. I didn't realize that BC was officially bilingual. Lived here for years and didn't know that lol.

I lived there in the 70's. Didn't know that either. I figured it had to be east of Que.

a reply to: the2ofusr1

oh really? my bad lol.

a reply to: the2ofusr1

Ooh ok. I went to the website your avatar was from and it mentioned BC, that's why I thought that.