So if I were to move to Huntsville from the metro Atlanta area

[bunkerbuster1]

just how happy/miserable would I be?

We're Northeastern transplants who relocated to the mostly-white GA 'burbs NE of Atlanta. professional opportunities being what they are (grab 'em if you got 'em) I might be in a position to see a very serious income increase if I relocate to Huntsville.

I've never been there before, but I might be visiting soon.

I don't think I'll have a whole lot of time to make a decision once an offer is extended, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling.

Personal-politics-wise: How is it for a progressive, who's already surrounded by W-lovers in GA? My family is multiracial; we never had any issues in the South, but then I've never spent much time in AL before.

How about liveablility? one thing that's driven me nuts about the GA burbs is the inability to walk anywhere--there's tons of new construction but never enough sidewalks and bike lanes. Has the growth been any smarter in Huntsville?

Any informed opinions welcome. BTW, just because we'd been Northeasterners most of our adult lives, my wife and I come from families with roots in the Great Plains and Texas, have lived all over the place, and I'm open to different settings.

[Cattledog]

1. Don't know about Huntsville but

didn't AL vote to keep Jim Crow segregation language in
state laws last November? It was close and there was a recount as I recall.

[misanthrope]

10. Ding! Ding! Ding!...

...And we have a winner.

[southlandshari]

17. Amendment Two

Was defeated by less than one percent of the vote, and that was despite being on the same ballot as the presidential election, where Bush won by more than 20% in Alabama.

Which means thousands of Republicans voted for Bush AND voted FOR Amendment Two, which would have removed the racist language from our antiquated constitution.

Anyone who lives in Alabama and follows these political issues in detail can see a great deal of progress between the clear defeat of Amendment One (Riley's tax referendum) and the tiny, tiny margin by which Amendment Two went down.

The Alabama Christian Coalition had a lot to do with the defeat of both, but John Giles' days are numbered. And that's because of people like those Alabama DUers who choose fight the good fight and to see hope for our future. It beats the pants off pointing out all that is wrong with our state and throwing in the towel.

[Syrinx]

18. Shari is right

The only reason that the amendment lost was because of some very misleading public relations by the Christian Coalition and it's allies such as Roy Moore. They made some convoluted argument that the admendment's passage would somehow lead to higher taxes. It was nonsense of course, but they convinced enough people that the measure was narrowly defeated. To be sure, a few racists voted "NO" based on the true intent of the amendment. But it's defeat was ultimately based on the lies of the Christian Coalition, et al.

[ihaveaquestion]

2. I lived in Huntsville in the 80's

My ex and his parents still live there. His parents and I still talk and from what they tell me, sprawl is a MAJOR problem and will be for many years to come. They live in Madison, a former bedroom community of Huntsville turned major suburb. Madison used to be separated from Huntsville by 4-5 miles of cotton fields, but they're all gone and housing developments / strip malls replaced them. They wanted me to move there with my kids after the divorce, but I declined. I preferred to live in upstate NY where my commute was only 10 minutes to work and where there was still clean water and air.

IMO - Huntsville is the pits.

[bunkerbuster1]

4. If I had my druthers, it'd be upstate NY for me as well, however...

I thank you for your unvarnished opinion. So is there any "there," there, in the city proper?

Remember I'm comparing this to the sterile, very red northern 'burbs of Atlanta. I'm not expecting Huntsville to be an intellectual or environmental oasis, but I figure if it's got five colleges (which it does) it's probably going to have, f'rinstance, some kind of independent movie theater, perhaps some decent live music outlet?

We've all that in Atlanta, but frankly, Atlanta is so hell-and-gone from where we actually live we see little of it. Where we actually live and work, it's chain-store this, strip mall that, nothin but.

[ihaveaquestion]

5. Huntsville is much smaller than Atlanta

and it does have an old downtown. It wasn't much except a few old buildings with lawyers in them when I lived there. I don't imagine it's improved, but it's possible that there's a nice old neighborhood or two - I just don't know at this point.

[onehandle]

3. Don't know about Huntsville in particular....

...but tolerance for diversity-wise, Alabama is the pits. My company has projects all over the world including here in Atlanta, Alabama and worldwide. You would not believe the racist, anti-progressive issues that our HR department have to deal with in Alabama.

Atlanta is the pits and is nothing more than a corporate shell, but at least there are progressives here in the city. I feel for you out in the red, red 'burbs.

[Gayla]

6. I live about 35 minutes from Huntsville..

In Guntersville, Lake Guntersville and the Tennessee River.
I commuted for years, and it is not a bad drive.

Huntsville is a pretty good smaller big city...lots of restaurants,
lots of music, culturally diverse and active. Lots of professional "immigrants", so it's a pretty progressive city.

The Madison County Democratic Club/Rocket City Democrats is
WONDERFUL! Very, very active..

Sure, we've got rednecks in Alabama, but we've also got lots of good Democrats. 75% of the state and local elected officials are Democrats.

[bunkerbuster1]

7. Well, there's a bit of good news, thanks!

I had heard that Huntsville's areospace industry has attracted a lot of folks from all over the US and beyond. It will be interesting to see, should this opportunity pan out.

I don't suppose, with all those colleges around, it'd be asking too much for a local music scene? Pleeze? Pretty pleeeze? (that's what I've missed the most about the Northeast--there's plenty going on, but it's all a long drive to downtown 'lanta, so I never hear it.)

[bamademo]

9. There's a very good music scene here. Lot's of great Blues Bands.

One of my favorites

http://www.microwavedave.com/

[bunkerbuster1]

14. while indie rock's more my taste, blues is always swell.

thanks for the tip.

[misanthrope]

12. Huntsville's aerospace is a Catch-22...

...Those people are normally better educated. However, they also tend to have associations with the military and engineering, two groups of folks who (solely from my experience) tend to be more conservative.

[misanthrope]

11. And how conservative...

...are all those "Democrats" you speak of, compared to Democrats nationally?

George Wallace was a Democrat, too. Heck, we were run by nothing but Democrats for most of the last century.

[BamaLefty]

16. Yes, but...

George Wallace was not a racist at heart. He was a politician.

My grandad was a staunch segregationist during his time in the AL House of Representatives. Does he truly believe in white superiority? Of course not. He considers his stance on civil rights to be the worst thing he ever did while in office. He is a great man and he has said he will regret it until the day he dies.

He's a liberal alright. He sported a "Veterans for Kerry" sticker on his truck this past Fall. Great man.

[bamademo]

8. I lived in Huntsville most of my life

I really like it. There are W lovers here but also a lot of progressives. I moved from Huntsville to Atlanta back in the 70's and then moved back to Huntsville. Atlanta is too big now in my opinion. There are a lot of gorgeous places around here to hike, fish and boat as well as good restaurants. If you move to the downtown, Monte Sano, 5 points area you'll be happy. People here are very friendly and it's a very diverse community. There are a lot of transplanted Northerners and a large international community. Feel free to ask me about good places to live in the area. Cost of living is extremely cheap and we're 2 hours from Birmingham and Nashville and about 3 hours from Atlanta. 6 hours away is the beach.

5 minutes walking distance from me.

http://www.landtrust-hsv.org/monte_sano_preserve.htm

[bunkerbuster1]

13. The more I'm hearin'...

the more I'm likin'. I've not been summoned to meet in person with the folks who are interested in me yet, but if I do, I'm really looking forward to getting to know this part of the world... even if I don't wind up moving there.

Thanks to all who've replied so far!

[MelissaB]

15. I live in Florence, and

we drive an hour and a half so that my son can play hockey in Huntsville and Decatur. So...there are a lot of Yankee transplants in Hsv. My husband is from New York and he and my son love hockey, and this is the closest for us. I've heard Huntsville is the hockey capital of the South.

Lots of luck!!