Hmmm. Good first hand observations. I'd pretty much heard the opposite--that IC is a lousy place to live but that's probably from people like myself that think Ames is Mecca.
Not at all. I'm from Iowa City, too. (Proud graduate of City High.) I absolutely love the city, and I love living there. It's a really great place to raise a family; very comparable to Ames except in size. Odd though it may be, I'd really like to end up there if/when I'm starting a family.
It's got a lot of things that Ames doesn't, which is partly due to geography. Iowa City is one anchor of the "Technology Corridor" (which runs up to Cedar Rapids) and gets a lot of high-tech development, which spurs residential and commercial development. Cedar Rapids is generally treated as a more industrial city. Ames doesn't get nearly as much of that type of development because we're so close to Des Moines. Any company that thinks about moving here just figures "well why not go 30 minutes south instead?" I think Ames' growth in general is slower because of the proximity to Des Moines.
Honestly? I think Ames and Iowa City could become almost identical. Ames is on the exact same development track that Iowa City was; Ames is just not as far down that road. Iowa State continues to attract and create its own high-tech, and when that reaches critical mass in the university community, we will start attracting and retaining outside development.
avery_larry said:
IC population 62,000
Ames population 51,000
Well, Iowa City
proper is 62,000. The whole metro (Iowa City, Coralville, University Heights, North Liberty) is just over 100,000 people- that's a fair bit larger than Ames.
AirWalke is right- Coral Ridge Mall is responsible for an incredible amount of growth over the last 6 or 7 years. North Liberty is exploding, and real estate prices in the whole area keep going up, even while the rest of the state and country is in a decline.
All of this said, I still like Ames really well. There are plenty of times when I enjoy the fact that Campustown is the sole dominion of the college students; we don't have to worry about every last thing being family-friendly. Moving from Iowa City to Ames (which seems like a small town in comparison) was a big change, but I really enjoy the atmosphere here. It's a nice community, and you feel at home; like you belong here. My feelings are summed up best when I realized over Thanksgiving that no matter which city I'm in, I'm still a little homesick...