When I was a kid growing up in the gritty city, embarrassed by my neighborhood, I envied the cleanliness and newness of the suburbs, and Florence always seemed like all the rage with the newness of the Mall, and all of the development.

 

Time passed and after seeing examples of old city restoration, and growing to really appreciate old classic architecture, eventually the newness of the suburbs wore off on me to the point that it started looking generic and sterile.

 

Around this time the song "Subdivisions" by Rush seemed to really parallel what I was beginning to think about what it might've been like being raised in the suburbs.

 

The city certainly had it's pros and cons, and I suppose that the suburbs did as well.

 

Now that Florence isn't so new anymore it seems to have attracted an altogether different demographic of people that if I went on to say much more it would probably be classified as sounding rather insulting. At the risk of sounding like a big snob, some of Florence's undesirables seem to closely resemble the type of undesirables that I've grown up around my whole life in Covington.

 

Whereas when I was a kid I thought that it might've been fun to have been raised in Florence, but now if I lived there I'd probably just beg someone to shoot me to put me out of my misery.

 

It seems so crowded now, and no doubt city driving isn't always a picnic, driving through Florence to me now feels like a nightmare when years ago it seemed like such an exciting big deal. Now it just drives me to complete utter boredom and aggravation.

 

Tells us what you really think!

 

And seriously everyone, I love Florence, it is a great place to work, live and play.

Tells us what you really think!

 

And seriously everyone, I love Florence, it is a great place to work, live and play.

 

Admittedly I painted Florence with a broad brush. I'm sure there are many decent folks living there. I even have a sister that lives there and she probably wouldn't be too thrilled if she thought that I was running it down.

 

For reasons regarding my independence and living alone, it's more practical that I'd live in the city where the resources are at my finger tips if by chance for example my wheels were in the shop. If need be I don't have to walk very far to a store.

 

With that said, I certainly couldn't paint Covington out to be some sort of paradise as it has its downsides that have me forever pondering and reconsidering where else might suit me better than where I am. Having grown up here, I suppose that with the downsides or not, I'm used to it enough to live with it and consider it adequate enough to call it my comfort zone.

 

The city also stimulates me visually with classic architecture, and its proximity to the river, along with providing a particular pulse, attractions, and activities that if I'm dying of boredom there's enough options to pacify me that an endless sea of strip malls just couldn't provide.

@B-Ball-fan, hilarious post on the negative aspects on Florence, particularly your characterization of the suburbs. It isn't quite as bad as you make it out to be but there is some truth to what you say.

 

I personally wouldn't opt for Covington if I lived in Florence and were trying to upgrade my location. As you point out, Florence is picking up its share of "udesireables" that resemble the kind found in... Covington.

 

The best thing about Florence is that you can drive in three directions and within 15 minutes you'll be in the country. Other pluses are that if you want to go to the big city, Cinci is near with all it has to offer by way of sports, museums, theater, art, night life, and restaurants. And just about any consumer good a person could want is within 10 minutes of Main Street Florence. Actually, the best thing is that a lot of good people I know live there.

 

However, I do know it is developing more of an unsavory presence. I once heard the number of police calls made per year in Florence and it was staggering--a huge number that was second only to Covington.

 

The description you gave of how your perception of Florence has changed over time gave me a good laugh. Thanks. And peace.

I'm risking my life every day coming to work here in Ashland just to save lives. :no::no::no:

 

It got too scary for @spindoc, and he bailed on @Ram and me.

spindoc took the easy way out. He's not as tough as we are.

Ram should be careful down there in the Raceland/Worthington area too with the recent news of how much pot has been flown into that area lol.

That's only because it's the "Ashland/Boyd County" Airport. Not even in Ashland and Ashland is making Worthington dangerous.

 

But, for the record, Ram doesn't live in Raceland/Worthington, he lives in an undisclosed elevated properly fortified location where he can defend himself from the people of this dangerous area.