Moving To NH, what city, town should I pick???

[FTL_Ian]

I do love politics, hence thinking Concord might be for me, but Keene keeps popping in my mind, it just has something special.

A good strategy is to first move somewhere central (Concord, Manch, or a 'burb like Bow or Pembroke) and spend 6 months or so renting & exploring. Then make your semi-permanent move after you've had a chance to visit all the places. That's what we did

Good strategy.  I got lucky.  I chose Keene and bought a house without ever visiting NH.  As I've seen more and more of NH, Keene just gets better and better.  Downtown Portsmouth is awful in comparison to Keene, for instance.

[money dollars]

Downtown Portsmouth is awful in comparison to Keene, for instance.

Depends what "features" are important to you.

Keene is pretty good if you don't have much of a reason to leave Keene, and plan on staying there most of the time.

[lastlady]

I am 7596 FSP.

Congrats!!!!!!!!

I guess a lot depends on where/what you want to do for a job and on what kind of 'activism' you are planning on doing.
If you don't have a car then I think:
Keene,
Manchester
Nashua
Concord
Portsmouth

You would have to work pretty close to where you live as well if you don't have a car.

Agreed on this issue.  Manchester has lots of jobs at walkable distances, but rents are slightly higher and our public transportation system is kinda hit-or-miss.

I've heard Nashua's good for rents and getting around without a car, but there are some sections of town I'd suggest tu estudies espanol. 

Concord's good if you want fast access to the state house and such.

What kind of employment will you be seeking here?  What are your interests (besides Liberty) - would you like a local theatre, park, baseball stadium, mall, nightclubs?  Different NH towns and cities obviously have different offerings.

I'm biased towards Manchester, but I've lived here 13 years...   And our Republican mayor (who I helped get elected) is libertarian-friendly, which makes me happy.



-Avens

Very good question. What are my interests besides Liberty? Well I have a need for a beautiful environment. I love what a city has to offer. But I also love and adore nature and coming from Los Angeles will enjoy breathing fresh air. I like cafes, bookstores, organic food makerts, parks, museums, art galleries, live music, strong community which of course brings me to New Hampshire to begin with.

As far as employement I will have the luxuary of not thinking about that right away, as I plan on taking a year to do activism full time, but my work experience is in entertainment and communications. We will see how I redesign this for my new home.

Thanks again for your comments they are VERY helpful.

[Avens O'Brien]

Manchester supposedly has this nightlife thing, but I haven't yet seen it.

(Though to be fair, this probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm almost always asleep at the wrong times to see nightlife...)

Wednesday thru Saturday - there's definite night life all along Elm St and just off of it.

Though all the good places I know are very gay.



-Avens

[Avens O'Brien]

I am 7596 FSP.

Congrats!!!!!!!!

I guess a lot depends on where/what you want to do for a job and on what kind of 'activism' you are planning on doing.
If you don't have a car then I think:
Keene,
Manchester
Nashua
Concord
Portsmouth

You would have to work pretty close to where you live as well if you don't have a car.

Agreed on this issue.  Manchester has lots of jobs at walkable distances, but rents are slightly higher and our public transportation system is kinda hit-or-miss.

I've heard Nashua's good for rents and getting around without a car, but there are some sections of town I'd suggest tu estudies espanol. 

Concord's good if you want fast access to the state house and such.

What kind of employment will you be seeking here?  What are your interests (besides Liberty) - would you like a local theatre, park, baseball stadium, mall, nightclubs?  Different NH towns and cities obviously have different offerings.

I'm biased towards Manchester, but I've lived here 13 years...   And our Republican mayor (who I helped get elected) is libertarian-friendly, which makes me happy.



-Avens

Very good question. What are my interests besides Liberty? Well I have a need for a beautiful environment. I love what a city has to offer. But I also love and adore nature and coming from Los Angeles will enjoy breathing fresh air. I like cafes, bookstores, organic food makerts, parks, museums, art galleries, live music, strong community which of course brings me to New Hampshire to begin with.

As far as employement I will have the luxuary of not thinking about that right away, as I plan on taking a year to do activism full time, but my work experience is in entertainment and communications. We will see how I redesign this for my new home.

Thanks again for your comments they are VERY helpful.

Manchester's a pretty city for the most part, especially along any of the edges - The Bedford line, the Goffstown line, the Hooksett line, the Litchfield/Londonderry line.  If you want easy bikable access to downtown but some prettyness, you're gonna want to go southwest side of Manchester.

I vote Concord for cafes, bookstores and possibly organic stuff (I don't know organic places that well), but Manchester's got parks, museums, art galleries and live music. 

Strong community - go Keene.

Concord's got the pretty and the political and the closeness going for it.

Keene's wicked pretty, and I believe it's got a little of everything, but I defer those comments to people who actually live there.

-Avens

[Jitgos]

I'm torn between Concord and Keene. At Porcfest I plan to take all the tours and that should help me figure it all out. I like the political lobbying of Concord like Denis talks about and the media and activism of Keene like Ian talks about. What I think at the moment is tipping me toward Keene is the political (free Keene) movement that is starting. So I can get the political and everything else together. Plus, Concord is only about an hour away.

[FTL_Ian]

I'm torn between Concord and Keene. At Porcfest I plan to take all the tours and that should help me figure it all out. I like the political lobbying of Concord like Denis talks about and the media and activism of Keene like Ian talks about. What I think at the moment is tipping me toward Keene is the political (free Keene) movement that is starting. So I can get the political and everything else together. Plus, Concord is only about an hour away.

Free Keene is already getting very interesting...  we have six candidates who are running for city council.  I plan on having more by election time.  We're about to link up with Keene Citizens for Fiscally Responsible Govt. - another new group with nearly 1000 Keene people on their email list.

Mark will be launching a weekly TV show here soon.

Too much to list!

[FTL_Ian]

Whenever I go to Concord I get disgusted by all the government buildings there.  They are everywhere!  Yuck.   

[d_goddard]

Whenever I go to Concord I get disgusted by all the government buildings there.

Oh for heavens' sake. What do you think all those university buildings are in Keene, private?

[MaineShark]

Whenever I go to Concord I get disgusted by all the government buildings there.  They are everywhere!  Yuck.   

Constant reminders to keep up the fight!

Joe

[FTL_Ian]

Whenever I go to Concord I get disgusted by all the government buildings there.

Oh for heavens' sake. What do you think all those university buildings are in Keene, private?

They are at least partially competitive.  Plus there aren't huge signs out on the side of the road like in Concord:  "GOVERNMENT METROPLEX SUPERCENTER" or whatever that gianormous complex is across from the huge National Guard building in Concord.

[powerchuter]

I do love politics, hence thinking Concord might be for me, but Keene keeps popping in my mind, it just has something special.

A good strategy is to first move somewhere central (Concord, Manch, or a 'burb like Bow or Pembroke) and spend 6 months or so renting & exploring. Then make your semi-permanent move after you've had a chance to visit all the places. That's what we did

Proximity to Boston: Nashua. 

No... if it's proximity to Boston you want, go to Derry. Much closer than Keene, due to it being a straight shot on I-93.
Plus, they had a taxpayer's revolt there
http://www.freestateblogs.net/node/517

Well, she's been to Kevin's place in Pembroke and also to Allenstown already...lol.

[error]

Manchester supposedly has this nightlife thing, but I haven't yet seen it.

(Though to be fair, this probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm almost always asleep at the wrong times to see nightlife...)

Wednesday thru Saturday - there's definite night life all along Elm St and just off of it.

Though all the good places I know are very gay.

That could be a problem. I'm not very gay at all.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I do love politics, hence thinking Concord might be for me, but Keene keeps popping in my mind, it just has something special.

A good strategy is to first move somewhere central (Concord, Manch, or a 'burb like Bow or Pembroke) and spend 6 months or so renting & exploring. Then make your semi-permanent move after you've had a chance to visit all the places. That's what we did

Good strategy.  I got lucky.  I chose Keene and bought a house without ever visiting NH.  As I've seen more and more of NH, Keene just gets better and better.  Downtown Portsmouth is awful in comparison to Keene, for instance.

Keene is a very nice inland large town.  Portsmouth is a really nice Port City, far more beautiful with it's water scenes, parks, brick sidewalks and colonial buildings.  If you don't share Ian's disdain for tradition, you'll love it.

[error]

I don't hate tradition.

I hate blind adherence to tradition for its own sake.