I am new to this forum -- I've lurked for awhile but this is actually my first post... Hi everyone!!
I just wanted to say THANK YOU (!!) for posting these awesome photos of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Right now, my girlfriend and I -- we're in the process of moving from Wicker Park, Chicago -- and we're deciding on where to move in New England.
We want to move to a mid-sized Southern New England city with a sense of community--not Boston, too big. We both work from home so we're fortunate that we can pick our city
In Chicago, we'd narrowed down our search to Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut, and Worcester and Springfield, Massachusetts -- four revitalizing, walkable, urban cities with major construction projects either underway or fully-funded. (We'd rather be involved in a revitalization than a place that's already 'revitalized'--maybe weird but that's us.)
In each city, we were looking for historic Victorian architecture; diverse neighborhoods; a lot to do in terms of culture and other entertainment; parks and intangibles (like the city's vibe--and bonuses like Six Flags in Springfield and East Rock in New Haven.) Now that we're almost 30, we're hoping to put down roots in a new city and start a life.
Just today we finished looking at all four cities, having spent three days in each. (In my opinion, these mid-sized cities are fascinating!! All of them come across completely differently in terms of architecture, vibe, amenities, and joie de vivre.
I'm replying in the Springfield, Massachusetts, thread because Springfield was both of our favorite city of the four.
In my opinion, Springfield has one of the nicest Victorian housing stocks I've ever seen. (My wife said it looked "like San Francisco, but cheap" in Forest Park Heights because of the Victorians and hills.)
Hartford's was very nice too. Both Hford and Sfield have many houses that looked like San Francisco's Painted Ladies--except they're being sold for about $100,000 rather than $2,000,000!!! And they're virtually the same houses.
Worcester and New Haven looked as though their respective "Golden Days" were not as golden as those in Springfield and Hartford -- there were cool Victorians in both places; however, in general, they were more pricey and less "wow are you serious we could live HERE?"
To be honest, in my opinion, New Haven's real estate is over-priced. Right now, the city is ranked the 18th most dangerous city in the US, (2010-2011) and it has already experienced 13 murders in 2011 as of the day we looked there last week. Furthermore, in my opinion, the city has frustrated, angry vibe, like a lot of people are tense. (No offense, New Haveners-just an opinion.)
Hartford experienced its 13th murder on the day we looked at it, so it's dangerous too; however, the vibe there wasn't menacing or 'hole onto your wallet.' We both liked the city.
Springfield and Worcester are statistically safer than the 2 CT cities, having experienced, respectively, 6 and 5 murders to date in 2011. According to the states, neither of the two MASS cities have been particularly dangerous since 2005 or so. Their reputations for crime are greatly exaggerated.
Also, I read (on this forum albeit not this thread) that Springfield is the "6th poorest city in the U.S." Now, lol, I was shocked by this after I saw Springfield so I decided to do some research. Springfield isn't even in the Top 6 poorest cities in Massachusetts, nevermind the U.S. (Why do people say this stuff? That one lie nearly kept my gf and I from looking at the city we may move to now.)
From here on in, my girlfriend and I will concentrate on Hartford and Springfield. Right now, Springfield is choice 1 and Hartford is choice 1a.
I took a bunch of photos of all four cities and will upload them here soon.
A couple last observations about Southern NE's mid-sized cities:
* I had no idea that Springfield and Hartford were SO CLOSE geographically--24 miles apart, that's it. From what people were telling us, Springfield-Hartford used to be separate areas, but now it's become one. (more reason, I suppose to move to one or the other--you get both!) New Haven is only 40 miles south of Hartford too -- and Worcester is only 40 miles east of Springfield: these places are close together.
*Springfield is getting a high-speed rail line from the south, an intercity commuter rail headed north, and a $70 million renovation to the train station. Pretty cool, eh?
Your photos capture Springfield like I saw it--everything except how vibrant the place is (maybe b/c it was cloudy the day you were there.) Thanks again. You've helped us in our search.
