A cheerleader for your city/area?

[shootingstar]

Would you feel like a natural cheerleader, promoter, ambassador for the city/town/area that you live in? And what highlights would you trumpet about your area?

I'm beginning to wonder what I got myself into..since I answered a questionnaire that suggested this in the process of "getting to know" the respondent (ie. me).

[Biciclista]

you talk about what YOU like about your city.
I love SEattle, it is international and has lots of great restaurants. It has better weather than most of the country, and beautiful scenery .

[lph]

Would you feel like a natural cheerleader, promoter, ambassador for the city/town/area that you live in?

Absolutely. We live in a low-status area on the east side of town, far from the rural area I grew up in on the west side. This side of the valley has a bad rep in the media, and I love pointing out to people how wrong it is. We have acres of woods, ski trails, lakes, bike trails, climbing crags, well kept bike lanes into the centre. We also get to actually live with and get to know people of different nationalities and different cultures, instead of just reading about them in the paper...

[malkin]

We haven't got any fleas.

[nuliajuk]

I don't really love the city I'm living in now. It would have to improve quite a bit before I became a cheerleader for it.

[NbyNW]

I'm just getting to know my new community, but so far I like it and I think it would be easy to promote. It has lots of history so it's pretty much self-promoting.

SS, I would bet the question that is largely about trying to gauge locals' perceptions about the place. They aren't necessarily fishing for a commitment.

[lovelygamer]

We haven't got any fleas.

I wish I could say that.

[shootingstar]

And the size of the place is not key. I was raised in a southern Ontario city that started off under 30,000. Now it and another twin city right beside it (always was there) it's probably around 400,000 people. I could and did enthusiastically talk about the area with many suggestions what to see and do.

I think it's the local culture /ambience of our area (Calgary) that makes it tougher. Today I found out why the local tourism organization didn't seem as active: most of the money had been poured into primarily 1 annual event ...a 10-day event that celebrates cowboy culture, rodeo sports, etc. Supposedly that will change soon.

The City was founded as a railway stop (which now Canadian's passenger rail line no longer goes through our city, just the freight train), also as major western outpost for now as we know for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to tame the wild West...and known as a stopping point for whiskey traders, drunks and prostitutes. The cowboys used to drop by to join in the fun, do business (well, the cattle had to be shipped somewhere..)

Canada is like the U.S., there are some major regional differences ---in terms of history, politics and culture. And one doesn't really know it until one lives these different regions for a few years.

After living in also Toronto and Vancouver, there are times I think I need to chill out..and just shake my head. I have a friend who just bought a place here and is now having cold feet ...she has been living in Toronto for almost 25 years and loves it. But raised/grew up in Calgary with her family still here. Personally I think it's really the Rocky Mountain area that is the natural draw for her.

[Owlie]

I don't know. The area I'm living in is okay--it's not a huge city, but it IS within an hour's drive of two of the larger cities in the state, so if there's anything you can't get here, it's not too far away. There are also miles and miles of bike trails and a very nice park system. (I will really miss this when I move.) There's also some interesting history in the area.

The city/town I live in, however, is not exactly the sort of place I want to live. The downtown is nice-ish, but it's a fairly conservative area, and is mostly made up of retirees and renters (huge military presence here), with the consequence that no one really wants to invest in the community.