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K. Dunn - I have plenty of time to answer because the freezing ice storm we are having today has kept me in the house. I had to chip ice away to open the mail box door. Really hope I'll grow to love the "four seasons" someday. To my knowledge, Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that is found pretty much everywhere. It comes from rocks in the ground. It accumulates in basements and the levels can exceed the standards endorsed by EPA. In California, it is never spoken of since most homes don't have basements. Here in Kentucky it seems like a big deal, although some citizens believe it to be overhyped. You will hear that it is the number 2 cause of lung cancer. How that was determined, I don't know. I bought a radon detector and my present levels are running between 5 and 7 in the finished area of our basement. I'll have a radon system installed prior using that area for an exercise room. That will cost around $1000 or so. Hope this answers your question. Enjoy Thousand Oaks, it's a beautiful place to live.
I relocated from Metro Detroit and I have to say your analysis is spot on! Everything on your list was in my head and then some. For example the traffic. It really is the timing of the lights in this town that befuddles me. Why so many poorly timed lights? I can't for the life of me figure out why lights don't flash yellow after the stores close(when coming out of Meijer at 1:00 AM you don't need to wait for a green light to make a turn!...you can wait for traffic to clear) on any main thorofare (Hurstbourne, Blakenbaker, Westport, etc...) and why you need a dedicated left hand turn light at every intersection. In Metro Detroit an area of 4-5 million people the traffic flows so much better for three reasons: The lights are sequenced so that those driving on main thorofares (odds are) will not even stop if they hit one green light they make all of the green lights (I traveled 40 miles on Telegraph Rd without coming to a complete stop before). 2) In MI when turnining left, the light flashes red, meaning treat it as a stop sign then go when it is clear, while its flashing red through traffic gets a green light. Through then gets a red light and the left hand turn gets the green(reverse of timing in Lou) this helps keep the left hand turn lane from backing up and having to wait 3 cycles and 10 minutes to make it through. In Louisville traffic can be clear as can be and you have to wait your turn like you can't judge whether or not you can make it...ridiculous and 3) The freeways have adequate lanes and on and off ramps. Why 64 and Snyder are 2 lanes is absolutely ridiculous they are both bursting at the seems. If this was Detroit they would be 4 or 5 lanes each and there would be an exit ramp off 64 at Browns Ln, Breckenridge, Watterson Tr, and Tucker Station just to name a few. Do you know how much congestion this would free up off Cannons Ln, Hurstbourne, and Blakenbaker? I'm glad to hear that Westport is getting a ramp at Watterson, this causes undue backups on Brownsboro and (New) Lagrange. Sorry to rant but I love Louisville short of the traffic idiocies.
The second thing I noticed was the ridiculous costs of car washes and oil changes in this town. The cheapest I've seen is an $8 car wash that is not all that great. I remember filling up and getting car washes for a $1, in fact prices are still that low in MI. Also, don't get me wrong there are rip off Pennzoil, jiffyLube, and Valvoline joints in Detroit, but there are twice as many independent places that will get you in and out in 10 minutes for $15, I'll chalk that one up tp being the Motor City. Just observations folks, I love this town and those who are from here don't know any different and I think that's all that Croce was pointing out...as am I.
Croce, have fun with the ice! Been keeping up with the weather forecast for where I live (western part of the state). I'm visiting in Georgia, just a little south of Macon. You know that lunar eclipse last night? We sat outside in t shirts to watch it! lol My son called around 9 or so central time and said the temp was 10! With all the snow and ice, I am very glad I have retired from the highway crew!
Croce, have fun with the ice! Been keeping up with the weather forecast for where I live (western part of the state). I'm visiting in Georgia, just a little south of Macon. You know that lunar eclipse last night? We sat outside in t shirts to watch it! lol My son called around 9 or so central time and said the temp was 10! With all the snow and ice, I am very glad I have retired from the highway crew!
LOL No fair! Glad you are having a great time in GA!
Things to know about living in Kentucky, for those planning a move here.
We moved to Louisville about five months ago. What follows are some of the things that we learned about Kentucky after moving here from the perspective of an outsider. I am sharing them on this forum for the benefit of those considering a move here.
1. WEATHER - The weather here is awful. It’s been cold damp and raining most of the time. What’s amazing is that even though the actual temperature may be in the thirties it feels much cooler. The humidity is very high and this makes it feel colder. In other words – the weather is miserable. Mold grows all over the place and any surface that doesn’t receive direct sunlight will most likely have mold growth. This means sidewalks, the brick on your home, decks, etc. I have lived in Chicago, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles, Germany, Spain and elsewhere never seeing anything like this.
2. TAXES – Kentucky has a state income tax with a maximum rate of 6%. This is not bad, BUT what I didn’t learn prior to our move here was the Jefferson County occupational tax. If you work in Jefferson County, you must pay an additional tax. If you work and live in Jefferson County, the tax is higher. This is no small amount. Make sure you are aware of your taxes BEFORE moving here.
3. HOUSING – When you first drive around the Louisville area and into the near NE suburbs you will be impressed by the beautiful homes on large lots that are available for quite reasonable purchase prices. They are all unique and it’s rare to find two alike, even in newer subdivisions – so you are purchasing a custom home for very little money. For those moving from states that have large builders like Lennar, Centex, Toll Bros, etc. this seems wonderful – no cookie cutter houses. Here’s the problem – family builders, who may be building only a couple homes a year, build many of these homes. The floor plans, heating/cooling capacity, energy efficiency have not been proven. When you buy a home from a large builder – the design has been proven. Here, it’s a crapshoot. You may end up with an ill designed HVAC system, improper placement of vents, thermostats, poor drainage, etc. You may find too many windows, not enough, or it might be 85 degrees in the MBR and 60 degrees in the family room. Of course, you will have beautiful columns and dentil molding to admire. If there’s any problem with these homes, you really don’t have much recourse from these family builders because most have one foot on a banana peel and the other edging toward bankruptcy court.
4. RADON GAS - A lot of the homes here have a radon problem. I don’t know if this gas really causes lung cancer or not, but I’m not going to risk someone in my family getting sick years from now because I didn’t get it taken care of properly. So if you buy a house here – have it tested for radon. If it tests higher that 4 Pico curies/liter you owe it to yourself to have a radon system installed to evacuate the gas prior to it entering the basement. This turned out to be just another unanticipated expense for us.
5. ROADS/TRAFFIC - The roads are inadequate for the traffic and the transportation department has not figured out how to set signals for efficient traffic flow. The red lights at some of the intersections are the longest I have ever experienced. You could almost get your oil changed while waiting at some of these lights. The highway on and off ramps can be dangerously close to one another. This can make merging on and exiting sometimes seem like a scene from a Mad Max movie. In addition, the drivers in Kentucky are without a doubt some of the worst I have ever come across. Drivers here run red lights and tailgate incessantly. I would hazard to guess that on any given day there are more accidents in the Louisville metro area than the Los Angeles metro area – and I’m not talking per capita. My auto insurance rates skyrocketed when I changed my address to Louisville.
The highway department in Kentucky sprays salt water on the roads and spreads salt, whenever there is a forecast of snow. I was told they used sand. This was not true. For those that haven’t experienced this salt treatment, let me tell you it is very hard on your car. I have a two-year-old car that could not be told from new when I moved here. After three months in Kentucky, the aluminum wheels are beginning to pit and the engine looks like it was salvaged from Hurricane Katrina.
6. COST OF LIVING - The COL here for actual everyday purchases is high. Kroger has shockingly high food prices. Dry cleaning and car washes are outrageous compared to Southern California. Home services in general are pretty expensive. Things like lawn maintenance; painters, remodeling, etc. are much higher than I am normally accustomed. The costs for utilities are high. If you buy a large house, your LG&E tab can easily be upwards of $400 a month.
7. FRIENDLY PEOPLE – The people here do seem friendlier and in many cases a handshake sealed a deal for me. I find this refreshing and have not had any bad experiences.
8. FREEDOM – This is hard to quantify, but one example is gun ownership. In California, just purchasing and legally owning a gun is an arduous process. Here, it’s just a matter of walking into the gun store and saying, “I’ll take that one”. I also found out that it is legal to keep a loaded gun in your car as long as it’s in the glove compartment. This would be a felony in several states. No sales taxes on liquor. I have never been to a state that didn’t heavily tax booze and cigarettes. I don’t smoke, but have been collecting sales tax free bottles along the bourbon trail. Kentucky is one of the few states where you can legally own a newer slot machine. In most states it has to be 25 years old. I’m sure there are other freedoms that I will find in future months.
9. NO LINES – This is great. No lines at the DMV, no lines at the urgent care, no lines in many stores. I love it.
10. SAFETY – I think it is quite safe in most areas. This is evidenced by the fact that most doors are glass and there are no double cylinder dead bolts. So anyone can walk through the front door with just a hammer and 2 seconds time. You also don’t see too many of those community mailboxes that are found in many subdivisions in other states. So far no one has stolen any mail to my knowledge. It’s nice to go out to my old fashion mailbox and put up the flag.
Hope this short list gives you something to think about. I’ll probably stay here for a few more years and then move to a warmer climate. The weather was my biggest surprise. I really did think it would be more temperate and sunshine more often. Good luck all.
A few points:
1. You picked the absolute worst five months to live not only in Louisville but anywhere near the Great Lakes. Overall, the weather in Louisville is good, not great.
If you think this Winter has been cold, I implore you not to move one longitudinal degree north for any reason. It gets much much worse.
The real issue with Louisville regarding the environment is allergies and air quality. This place is the absolute lowest plane of Hell for allergy suffers and asthmatics. We're in a valley and particulates and pollen and all of that other funky junk gets trapped. I've met people who have to leave town during allergy season. The air quality is not terrible (like L.A. for instance) but not great either. Local officials scrapped VET (Vehicle Emissions Testing) some years back and so you have a lot of junkers kicking nastiness into the valley air. Yuck.
2. I'll let my aunt in Costa Mesa who pays more property taxes in one month than my wife and I do all year know we have a SoCal transplant bitching about the taxes here. Or maybe some of our friends in Philly or New York.
The real problem with taxation in Louisville is that 40 cents of every state tax dollar collected in Louisville goes down the rathole that is the State of Kentucky.
3. If residents of Indiana were prohibited from crossing the Ohio River, traffic in Louisville would be just fine. Hoosiers drive even slower over in Indiana, if you can believe it.
General pointers: Avoid Spaghetti Junction, Shelbyville and Hurstborne and I-264 East all the way up to I-71 like the plague around 5 pm, 4 on Fridays.
OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT, you haven't lived in Louisville during DERBY!
Boy, are you in for a treat. You can do what I and my wife do for the two weeks preceding Derby: stock up on essentials and prepare to walk or bike everywhere. Or you can do what smart people do: leave town and rent your house to some tourist for 2K a week.
The greatest thing about Louisville transportation-wise? You can almost always get to the airport in 20 minutes.
6. Kroger SUCKS. If Food Lion is still in business then Kroger is tied for the worst supermarket in America with Food Lion, Winn Dixie, and Kash-n-Karry. Go to Costco, Whole Foods and Aldi, and pray Publix makes it north from Nashville.
7. The people in Louisville are a lot friendlier than most places in the US, you're right. Unless you happen to be a college basketball fan who roots for a team other than UK or U of L. Then you're marked for death.
8. Yes: low taxes on guns, booze and cigs. That's how we control population here in Kentucky. That's also why we don't fund our schools properly or our libraries and why our health care costs are astronomical.
All seriousness aside, Kentucky produces almost as much tobacco as marijuana, so taxing that would be dangerous politically (tobacco I mean) and booze, well ... this is the bourbon capital of Planet Earth. God bless.
10. The vast majority of crime in Metro Louisville occurs west of I-65. Not politically correct to say, but true. But overall, even in the West and South ends, Louisville is safe compared with other American cities. Good thing you can pack a gun, eh?
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,462,489 times
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Louisville's air quality will get much better when Rubbertown's largest factory closes and takes 30% of the city's emissions with it. It is supposed to be closed by March
Louisville's air quality will get much better when Rubbertown's largest factory closes and takes 30% of the city's emissions with it. It is supposed to be closed by March
1. You picked the absolute worst five months to live not only in Louisville but anywhere near the Great Lakes. Overall, the weather in Louisville is good, not great.
If you think this Winter has been cold, I implore you not to move one longitudinal degree north for any reason. It gets much much worse.
The real issue with Louisville regarding the environment is allergies and air quality. This place is the absolute lowest plane of Hell for allergy suffers and asthmatics. We're in a valley and particulates and pollen and all of that other funky junk gets trapped. I've met people who have to leave town during allergy season. The air quality is not terrible (like L.A. for instance) but not great either. Local officials scrapped VET (Vehicle Emissions Testing) some years back and so you have a lot of junkers kicking nastiness into the valley air. Yuck.
2. I'll let my aunt in Costa Mesa who pays more property taxes in one month than my wife and I do all year know we have a SoCal transplant bitching about the taxes here. Or maybe some of our friends in Philly or New York.
The real problem with taxation in Louisville is that 40 cents of every state tax dollar collected in Louisville goes down the rathole that is the State of Kentucky.
some of us actually love this state
3. If residents of Indiana were prohibited from crossing the Ohio River, traffic in Louisville would be just fine. Hoosiers drive even slower over in Indiana, if you can believe it.
It would be Un-Kentuckian to not agree lol Just kidding!
General pointers: Avoid Spaghetti Junction, Shelbyville and Hurstborne and I-264 East all the way up to I-71 like the plague around 5 pm, 4 on Fridays.
OH AND I ALMOST FORGOT, you haven't lived in Louisville during DERBY!
Boy, are you in for a treat. You can do what I and my wife do for the two weeks preceding Derby: stock up on essentials and prepare to walk or bike everywhere. Or you can do what smart people do: leave town and rent your house to some tourist for 2K a week.
The greatest thing about Louisville transportation-wise? You can almost always get to the airport in 20 minutes.
6. Kroger SUCKS. If Food Lion is still in business then Kroger is tied for the worst supermarket in America with Food Lion, Winn Dixie, and Kash-n-Karry. Go to Costco, Whole Foods and Aldi, and pray Publix makes it north from Nashville. I like Kroger and miss Winn Dixie. I do like Aldi's though.
7. The people in Louisville are a lot friendlier than most places in the US, you're right. Unless you happen to be a college basketball fan who roots for a team other than UK or U of L. Then you're marked for death.
Not true
8. Yes: low taxes on guns, booze and cigs. That's how we control population here in Kentucky. That's also why we don't fund our schools properly or our libraries and why our health care costs are astronomical.
All seriousness aside, Kentucky produces almost as much tobacco as marijuana, so taxing that would be dangerous politically (tobacco I mean) and booze, well ... this is the bourbon capital of Planet Earth. God bless.
10. The vast majority of crime in Metro Louisville occurs west of I-65. Not politically correct to say, but true. But overall, even in the West and South ends, Louisville is safe compared with other American cities. Good thing you can pack a gun, eh?
Are you from here originally? You seem to have alot of hate for this state. I have, by the way, lived in the South End almost my entire life and have yet to have anything worse than a camcorder stolen and that was well over 10 years ago. I also had a TV stolen while living the the Highlands for a year. Things happen everywhere. Most of the crime occurs in the west end of town, not the South.
Croce... the weather in the other 3 seasons are enjoyable. Winters here depress me some... due to the lack of sunlight. I moved here 5 yrs ago from TX and I was used to 320+ days of sunlight. That is the only drawback about the weather here.
I live off of Hurstbourne and the traffic can get real annoying. I just think its crazy to have such a busy street with only 2 lanes for each direction. Plus the traffic lights need to be synced. It can really make me mad in the mornings on the way to work.... I seem to get stuck at every light.
Those are really the only 2 things I don't like about Louisville. The people are friendly, the restaurant selection is great, and the scenery is breathtaking!
By-the-way... I think it's funny how people here are concerned about what high school you went to (if you grew up here.) I guess thats a round-about way of asking what part of town you lived in and how much money your family had?? Anyway... I hope you begin to see the pros of Louisville. Hopefully spring will be a MUCH better experience for you!
nice list, The thing you should know about the weather is that the temp averages at about 40 degrees in the winter time. We've been haveing an unusually cold winter IMO. Wait until mid march, It will be different. Thats when it starts warming up and the trees become green.
The traffic is HORRIBLE! they should be fixxing that starting in the next couple of years. The Ohio river bridges project will begin by building a new bridge to connect the 2 !-265s over the ohio river. Then, they will fix the Kennedy interchange putting a new 6 lane northbound bridge and making the current one a 6 lane southbound. But by that time Louisville's population will have grown and more will need to be done. like a lightrail.
For the fredom part... welcome to Kentucky. Tobacco is one of Kentuckys main crops so I doubt they will tax it too high.
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