JaySeeDoubleYou
Newbie
[[[[SORRY, LONG WINDED ALERT!]]]] 
I live in a mid-sized city/metro in the middle of the country, in a state where the negative stereotypes are mostly true, except in my city, and maybe two or three other places, and the positive stereotypes are mostly true both in my city, and in most of the rest of the state. I live in the city itself, and not a suburb. It is the biggest city in the state, and the biggest metro based in the state, though a slightly larger metro, based in the neighboring state to the west (a city/metro towards which I feel the oddest mix of deep rivalry, and genuine camaraderie) does encroach just a bit into the western extreme of our state. This city of mine has changed soooooooo very much since when I was a kid (and even more since my parents were kids.) These changes are dramatic, and almost entirely changes for the better.
Mid-sized cities/metros (we'll just refer to them as cities for convenience) can either take the form of a giant "small town", or of a miniature "big city". Most, or maybe even all of them contain some elements of both. While my city has always had traces of "big city", and still has definite hints of "small town" even today, looking at the big picture, the one I grew up in was the small town, but the one I live in now is the big city. Things have changed that much here. Not as much in terms of population (since it was then, and still is "mid size), but in all the other tangible, semi-tangible, and non-tangible ways. Though the metro has grown in my lifetime from 400k or below to over 600k, and is only accelerating in its growth (the city itself did reach 200k before suburbs started to become a thing, then dipped below, and is now above again.)
The suburbs in my metro are exploding - one of the counties was in the top 10 fastest growing counties by percentage (and I think still is), and the downtown is experiencing explosive revival. I could be wrong about the publication, but I think it was Fortune magazine that gave us #1 for best "up-and-coming" downtowns. One of the cooler neighborhoods in our downtown (called "The East Village") also got #1 in some other publication's "most surprisingly awesome neighborhoods" list. In fact, we've received so many #1s, and "top 10s", etc from so many different sources, and on so many different matters recently, that they're almost starting to become passe (an absolutely wonderful problem to have), and we're becoming more and more recognized nationally and internationally (and in a positive light). People are far less likely now to say "Oh, you're from [such and such], were's that?" than they would've been 10, 15, or even 5 years ago. We've been called both "the best kept secret of the Midwest", and "the darling of the Midwest", our music, food, arts, culture, and diversity scenes are exploding, our local economy is one of the best in the nation (2nd, behind Raleigh, I believe), we have the third or fourth longest skywalk system in North America and maybe the world behind Minneapolis, Calgary, and maybe one other (1st longest per capita), our city was featured in an issue of Super Man, our crime is low (though it is rising), our unemployment is way below the national average, our income stratification is below the national average (though we were recently named the "wealthiest" city in the nation - and yet still have homeless and poor), our downtown is one of the cleanest in the nation, our traffic is one of the best per capita in the country (though that too is getting worse as we're growing faster than the infrastructure), cost of living is great, schools are at least decent, we're one of the best cities in the country for bike trails, our parks system is great, we're second, or possibly even first for Insurance hubs, we are exceedingly white collar, and we have one of the best skylines in the mid-size category (at least approaching, if not outright challenging some of the bottom-end "big cities"). For instance, there are only 21 states on paper, and only 20 in reality which contain buildings taller than our city's tallest, and our buildings are a wonderfully eclectic mix of [mostly] artful stylings. Our state capital (which is on the easternmost fringe of the downtown area) is considered one of the most beautiful of them all, and I believe, is the only one to have five domes. Though we're the smallest of the three "principle cities" in the so-called "Silicon Prairie" (one of which is even a lower-end "big city"), we're still considered the "flagship" city. We also are uniquely positioned at the junction of two of the nation's most major interstates, with truly big cities nearby in three of the four cardinal directions (two about four hours away each, and one about six), and in the final cardinal direction we have the afore mentioned comparably sized city that I both love and almost hate so much, and feel so kindred to (though I sincerely believe we are ultimately better in the heavy majority of ways).
Our weather does suck (don't come here if you don't like hot, humid summers, and frigid, snowy/icy winters, nearby tornadoes, and threats of both floods and droughts). Our roads suck too (surely one has to do with the other). Also, there isn't much in the way of natural beauty - a ton of trees, and some minor-to-moderate hills. When you get out into the country, you get treated to the gently rolling hills of mostly flat plainsland, with the to-be-expected midwestern cornfields-everywhere thing. I find it beautiful, and peaceful and enjoyable in a subtle, soothing, serene way, but it's a far, far cry from the striking, breath-taking beauty of, say, the Portland, Oregon area.
While I do have a genuine love for my state, I also try very hard to make a distinction between my city and my state. When people who are from, say, Kansas City introduce themselves, or are introduced, or identify where they are from, they do not usually say Missouri, but Kansas City. To say you're from Missouri usually denotes "NOT KC or St. L". While my city has grown in every way imaginable, and has much improved, both in terms of its place on people's "radar", and the reputation it carries with it, myself, and my fellow residents are still usually referred to as "so and so, from my state", and not "so and so, from my city". So by my all but total refusal to identify myself as "so and so from state", I guess I'm doing my teensy tiny part to bring the city up to the level where people refer to us as "so and so from city" by default. It's the oddest thing, I really do love my state, but I also am somewhat distancing myself from it for the above reason. Granted, my metro may only be about 1/4 the size of Kansas City, but I still think it has come to deserves that distinction.
Again, my city is a mid-size, which means it's neither truly small nor truly big. For some, this means it's the letter to Laodicea, neither hot, nor cold - lukewarm. Too big and hectic for the lovers of small-town tranquility, and yet too small, and staid for the lovers of the big city sizzle. While for others (like me) it's Baby Bear's porridge, not too hot, not too cold - juuuuust right, possessing [on a smaller scale] most of what makes the big cities awesome, while lacking most of what makes them terrible. But either way, it would not be fair to compare them directly [either favorably, or unfavorably] against truly big cities, or truly small towns. I will say this, though - while I genuinely love that my city is not "all big city" (as it would be too much for me), it is the big city elements of it, and not the small town ones that make me really love it (hence why I'm so rabidly pro-expansion), and if I ever did have to move, I'd insist it be to some place equal to, or bigger than it. I would not want to move someplace smaller if I could at all help it.
Bottom line (and to really finally answer this thread's question) I love my city! Love it, love it, love it! I've become something of an "evangelist/apologist" for it. I marvel at how much it's improved over the past 10, 15, or even 5 years (if you haven't been here in the past 5 years, just treat it as if you've never been here ever), and there's no sign of this trend stopping, or even slowing, so I marvel even more at the very realistic thought of what this city might become in the next 10-15, or even 5 years! The sky's the limit, and baby, I'm riding the wave. I never intend to leave here. I intend to look back and say "I was there when" - the great revival!
So, what city am I from? What city has tied up so many words on page, and so much of your time reading about in rave review? I'm from Des Moines, Iowa! The 515, baby!
I live in a mid-sized city/metro in the middle of the country, in a state where the negative stereotypes are mostly true, except in my city, and maybe two or three other places, and the positive stereotypes are mostly true both in my city, and in most of the rest of the state. I live in the city itself, and not a suburb. It is the biggest city in the state, and the biggest metro based in the state, though a slightly larger metro, based in the neighboring state to the west (a city/metro towards which I feel the oddest mix of deep rivalry, and genuine camaraderie) does encroach just a bit into the western extreme of our state. This city of mine has changed soooooooo very much since when I was a kid (and even more since my parents were kids.) These changes are dramatic, and almost entirely changes for the better.
Mid-sized cities/metros (we'll just refer to them as cities for convenience) can either take the form of a giant "small town", or of a miniature "big city". Most, or maybe even all of them contain some elements of both. While my city has always had traces of "big city", and still has definite hints of "small town" even today, looking at the big picture, the one I grew up in was the small town, but the one I live in now is the big city. Things have changed that much here. Not as much in terms of population (since it was then, and still is "mid size), but in all the other tangible, semi-tangible, and non-tangible ways. Though the metro has grown in my lifetime from 400k or below to over 600k, and is only accelerating in its growth (the city itself did reach 200k before suburbs started to become a thing, then dipped below, and is now above again.)
The suburbs in my metro are exploding - one of the counties was in the top 10 fastest growing counties by percentage (and I think still is), and the downtown is experiencing explosive revival. I could be wrong about the publication, but I think it was Fortune magazine that gave us #1 for best "up-and-coming" downtowns. One of the cooler neighborhoods in our downtown (called "The East Village") also got #1 in some other publication's "most surprisingly awesome neighborhoods" list. In fact, we've received so many #1s, and "top 10s", etc from so many different sources, and on so many different matters recently, that they're almost starting to become passe (an absolutely wonderful problem to have), and we're becoming more and more recognized nationally and internationally (and in a positive light). People are far less likely now to say "Oh, you're from [such and such], were's that?" than they would've been 10, 15, or even 5 years ago. We've been called both "the best kept secret of the Midwest", and "the darling of the Midwest", our music, food, arts, culture, and diversity scenes are exploding, our local economy is one of the best in the nation (2nd, behind Raleigh, I believe), we have the third or fourth longest skywalk system in North America and maybe the world behind Minneapolis, Calgary, and maybe one other (1st longest per capita), our city was featured in an issue of Super Man, our crime is low (though it is rising), our unemployment is way below the national average, our income stratification is below the national average (though we were recently named the "wealthiest" city in the nation - and yet still have homeless and poor), our downtown is one of the cleanest in the nation, our traffic is one of the best per capita in the country (though that too is getting worse as we're growing faster than the infrastructure), cost of living is great, schools are at least decent, we're one of the best cities in the country for bike trails, our parks system is great, we're second, or possibly even first for Insurance hubs, we are exceedingly white collar, and we have one of the best skylines in the mid-size category (at least approaching, if not outright challenging some of the bottom-end "big cities"). For instance, there are only 21 states on paper, and only 20 in reality which contain buildings taller than our city's tallest, and our buildings are a wonderfully eclectic mix of [mostly] artful stylings. Our state capital (which is on the easternmost fringe of the downtown area) is considered one of the most beautiful of them all, and I believe, is the only one to have five domes. Though we're the smallest of the three "principle cities" in the so-called "Silicon Prairie" (one of which is even a lower-end "big city"), we're still considered the "flagship" city. We also are uniquely positioned at the junction of two of the nation's most major interstates, with truly big cities nearby in three of the four cardinal directions (two about four hours away each, and one about six), and in the final cardinal direction we have the afore mentioned comparably sized city that I both love and almost hate so much, and feel so kindred to (though I sincerely believe we are ultimately better in the heavy majority of ways).
Our weather does suck (don't come here if you don't like hot, humid summers, and frigid, snowy/icy winters, nearby tornadoes, and threats of both floods and droughts). Our roads suck too (surely one has to do with the other). Also, there isn't much in the way of natural beauty - a ton of trees, and some minor-to-moderate hills. When you get out into the country, you get treated to the gently rolling hills of mostly flat plainsland, with the to-be-expected midwestern cornfields-everywhere thing. I find it beautiful, and peaceful and enjoyable in a subtle, soothing, serene way, but it's a far, far cry from the striking, breath-taking beauty of, say, the Portland, Oregon area.
While I do have a genuine love for my state, I also try very hard to make a distinction between my city and my state. When people who are from, say, Kansas City introduce themselves, or are introduced, or identify where they are from, they do not usually say Missouri, but Kansas City. To say you're from Missouri usually denotes "NOT KC or St. L". While my city has grown in every way imaginable, and has much improved, both in terms of its place on people's "radar", and the reputation it carries with it, myself, and my fellow residents are still usually referred to as "so and so, from my state", and not "so and so, from my city". So by my all but total refusal to identify myself as "so and so from state", I guess I'm doing my teensy tiny part to bring the city up to the level where people refer to us as "so and so from city" by default. It's the oddest thing, I really do love my state, but I also am somewhat distancing myself from it for the above reason. Granted, my metro may only be about 1/4 the size of Kansas City, but I still think it has come to deserves that distinction.
Again, my city is a mid-size, which means it's neither truly small nor truly big. For some, this means it's the letter to Laodicea, neither hot, nor cold - lukewarm. Too big and hectic for the lovers of small-town tranquility, and yet too small, and staid for the lovers of the big city sizzle. While for others (like me) it's Baby Bear's porridge, not too hot, not too cold - juuuuust right, possessing [on a smaller scale] most of what makes the big cities awesome, while lacking most of what makes them terrible. But either way, it would not be fair to compare them directly [either favorably, or unfavorably] against truly big cities, or truly small towns. I will say this, though - while I genuinely love that my city is not "all big city" (as it would be too much for me), it is the big city elements of it, and not the small town ones that make me really love it (hence why I'm so rabidly pro-expansion), and if I ever did have to move, I'd insist it be to some place equal to, or bigger than it. I would not want to move someplace smaller if I could at all help it.
Bottom line (and to really finally answer this thread's question) I love my city! Love it, love it, love it! I've become something of an "evangelist/apologist" for it. I marvel at how much it's improved over the past 10, 15, or even 5 years (if you haven't been here in the past 5 years, just treat it as if you've never been here ever), and there's no sign of this trend stopping, or even slowing, so I marvel even more at the very realistic thought of what this city might become in the next 10-15, or even 5 years! The sky's the limit, and baby, I'm riding the wave. I never intend to leave here. I intend to look back and say "I was there when" - the great revival!
So, what city am I from? What city has tied up so many words on page, and so much of your time reading about in rave review? I'm from Des Moines, Iowa! The 515, baby!
