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In the past I never gave much thought to living downtown. Living in the central area close to downtown had appeal all of its own. However, since moving downtown not only have I come to enjoy it but I cant say that I would want to live elsewhere again. The one huge con to living downtown is the lack of house. It is all concrete and high rises.
There are many benefits of living downtown...however, there are some other cons as well.
First off how many large grocery stores do you have downtown? None! Convenience stores are a dime a dozen, and there are a couple of places like Giant Tiger or IGA but that's it. When you want to do grocery shopping you need to go elsewhere. That's right, hop on a bus and head to the burbs. On the plus size, if you need to hop on a bus anyways then at least you are not limited on where to shop. You can decide to shop anywhere you want.
Want to get depressed really fast? Calculate exactly how many hours you spend every month commuting to and from work. Okay its not like we are travelling half way across the world but an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon adds 2 hours to your daily schedule. Living downtown, not only can I push the snooze button a few times but I can still crawl out of bed at the last minute and be at work in 15 minutes. My snooze button is my best friend.
Rather than making a 10-20 minute drive (okay ya I don't drive) everywhere, or waiting for a bus and taking an hour or longer downtown residents are never more than a 5-20 minute walk away from restaurants and sops and other conveniences.
One con to living downtown can be the cost of rent. However, there depending on where you live the apartment can have wonderful amenities like indoor pools or gyms. Many people choose to live downtown and not own a car thus they save money on parking costs as well. If I did drive and if I needed access to a car I could join the Peg City Car Pool.
http://pegcitycarcoop.ca/rates/
I did think living in the downtown area would be noisy. I thought with the hustle and bustle of pedestrian and vehicle traffic living in the core area would be noisy. It is not. In fact living so high up in the air we hardly ever hear any vehicle traffic.
For me there are some great benefits of living downtown:
*** Living 10 minutes walking distance from work
*** Being close to a large library
***Many neat coffee shops and places to grab a bite to eat
*** Some amazing restaurants
***I can hope on a bus and be anywhere in the city usually within 30 minutes
However, one of the down sides is lack of parking for friends and family. Running out and moving your car every 2 hours or paying 15 dollars to park in a lot all day sucks.
There are many benefits of living downtown...however, there are some other cons as well.
First off how many large grocery stores do you have downtown? None! Convenience stores are a dime a dozen, and there are a couple of places like Giant Tiger or IGA but that's it. When you want to do grocery shopping you need to go elsewhere. That's right, hop on a bus and head to the burbs. On the plus size, if you need to hop on a bus anyways then at least you are not limited on where to shop. You can decide to shop anywhere you want.
Want to get depressed really fast? Calculate exactly how many hours you spend every month commuting to and from work. Okay its not like we are travelling half way across the world but an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon adds 2 hours to your daily schedule. Living downtown, not only can I push the snooze button a few times but I can still crawl out of bed at the last minute and be at work in 15 minutes. My snooze button is my best friend.
Rather than making a 10-20 minute drive (okay ya I don't drive) everywhere, or waiting for a bus and taking an hour or longer downtown residents are never more than a 5-20 minute walk away from restaurants and sops and other conveniences.
One con to living downtown can be the cost of rent. However, there depending on where you live the apartment can have wonderful amenities like indoor pools or gyms. Many people choose to live downtown and not own a car thus they save money on parking costs as well. If I did drive and if I needed access to a car I could join the Peg City Car Pool.
http://pegcitycarcoop.ca/rates/
I did think living in the downtown area would be noisy. I thought with the hustle and bustle of pedestrian and vehicle traffic living in the core area would be noisy. It is not. In fact living so high up in the air we hardly ever hear any vehicle traffic.
For me there are some great benefits of living downtown:
*** Living 10 minutes walking distance from work
*** Being close to a large library
***Many neat coffee shops and places to grab a bite to eat
*** Some amazing restaurants
***I can hope on a bus and be anywhere in the city usually within 30 minutes
However, one of the down sides is lack of parking for friends and family. Running out and moving your car every 2 hours or paying 15 dollars to park in a lot all day sucks.
Norm says: I've been living downtown for or a decade. I know how much of each pro and con there can be with living downtown. I've never had to drive and use public transportation so that con is lost on me. It is true that visits from friends can be hampered with the parking downtown. The biggest problem is that people think that downtown is a dangerous area, like the North End. Yes there are bars and homeless around. But on a day-to-day basis I rarely have any issues with it. |