The city has lost its soul ......Sydney

[TheDaBoss]

sydney is the place that i go to only, when you have friends who have never been to straya….spend 10 minutes in syd...show them bridge.......opera house...

then u go see the real "straya" aka jervis bay

 

[goldcoast_tiger]

I moved out of Sydneyin 1980, and apart from the football have never regretted it, the problem here is that the GC has changed so much since then, that I do miss how it was when I moved here, it’s just like a big city now and has all the problems of such a city.

I mainly wanted to get my kids out of Sydney and that worked out well, I would really love to move down to one of the Northern NSW
Beach towns, but will probably stay here because Of the family.
I’ve been back to Sydney a few times, when I couldn’t talk my way out of it, but like it best when I’m on the way out of it.

 

[innsaneink]

Not many supporters

 

[jirskyr]

I live in Sydney and I like it just fine. Been to many other cities around the world and am always happy to get back home.

There's a reason 5 million people live here and pay stupid money for houses, and it's not because it's boring or a hole.

But everyone's entitled to their opinion, and the more people that leave, the better the traffic.

 

[jirskyr]

Also the article… 1 academic and 179 responses to that academic. Very sound survey.

 

[steve-o]

For me, the solution to the violence was not to introduce lock out laws, it was to keep public transport open so that the partygoers could get home. The large majority of the violence was on the streets (vs in the venues), because often it was the drunken idiots that had been kicked out of venues and couldn’t get in anywhere else. There option was either to pay a ludicrous amount for a cab home, or wait around till 5am for the trains to start running again. There would be a night rider bus that you could catch but that only came once an hour and was horrendously slow. So they’re on the streets, can’t get in anywhere, can’t go home… that’s just asking for trouble.

As for Sydney... I recently moved to Canada on a two year work visa, and part of that reason was to get away from
Sydney. My girlfriend and I were trying to save for a deposit but were getting nowhere. In the end, decided it wasn’t worth paying overs for anything in the inflated Sydney market, so moved to Toronto and will probably look to settle in the US (gf is American). You can say what you like about the US, but the housing is a lot more affordable over there... bar a few cities like NYC and San Fran

 

[steve-o]

I live in Sydney and I like it just fine. Been to many other cities around the world and am always happy to get back home.

There's a reason 5 million people live here and pay stupid money for houses, and it's not because it's boring or a hole.

But everyone's entitled to their opinion, and the more people that leave, the better the traffic.

I feel like there’s a bit of a feedback loop going on in terms of why people live in Sydney. The majority live there to work… Sydney is where the jobs are. So then employers base themselves in Sydney to have access to the biggest workforce. The NSW government needs to find ways to incentive companies to base themselves elsewhere.
The other big reason people choose to live where they do, particularly immigrants, is to be close to family as they need that support network. So if we can encourage families to move to country areas, there will be a snowball effect as friends and family follow.
Sure, there’s people in Sydney that live near the beautiful beaches, waterways, parks etc.. but a lot of Sydney isn’t all that pretty. The main reasons for the burgeoning population are socio-economic ones.

 

[steve-o]

One more note… in my experience, the traffic in Sydney is nothing compared to other cities in the world. So if you don’t want to live somewhere with bad traffic, you’re pretty much limiting yourself to rural living. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the frustration of sitting in a log jam... I’m a big believer in living close to work. You save so much time by limiting your commute. If that means living in a smaller or less desirable location, so be it.

 

[hank37w]

Pretty lucky to have 5 acres in south west Sydney, so have the best of both worlds when it comes to being close to facilities as well as living pretty much in a bush setting.
Work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off at Port Hedland in Western Australia, so about all I see of the city is the airport every couple of weeks. Don't have any plans of getting out of Sydney any time soon.

 

[jirskyr]

One more note… in my experience, the traffic in Sydney is nothing compared to other cities in the world. So if you don’t want to live somewhere with bad traffic, you’re pretty much limiting yourself to rural living. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the frustration of sitting in a log jam... I’m a big believer in living close to work. You save so much time by limiting your commute. If that means living in a smaller or less desirable location, so be it.

Totally agree with that. People who complain bitterly about Sydney traffic haven't visited or paid attention to any other large city in the world.

Melbourne and Brisbane traffic is the same, Melbourne especially as it has the same sort of size and distribution. Auckland can be horrendous; don't even start on places like Beijing or Seoul. Anywhere with a significant harbour or river going through the city always has issues because bridges are congestion points, which is exactly Sydney's primary issue - we only have 4 crossings for the Harbour/Parramatta River (5 if you include the H Tunnel as separate to the H Bridge).

I'm curious, you said you were struggling to save for Sydney, and I understand Toronto is just as bad, perhaps worse, with Vancouver also being v. popular. Where in US? I've been all over and I have work opportunities there, I just wouldn't want to raise my kids there.

 

[Strider]

It's really sad. When Brisbane has more going on in culture and soul than Sydney, something is very, very wrong :'( Breaks my heart. Its a place to work, thats about all.

 

[Abraham]

The government may as well start telling people what time they have to be tucked into bed. Unnecessary regulations always have the same outcome … they slowly strangle and kill their target.

As for Sydney itself, would leave for a few hundred acres in the bush in a heartbeat if i was able to. But have a wife and bunch of young kids to raise, so i wont be leaving the big smoke for a long long time.

 

[Spartan117]

As for Sydney itself, would leave for a few hundred acres in the bush in a heartbeat if i was able to. But have a wife and bunch of young kids to raise, so i wont be leaving the big smoke for a long long time.

Im the Same Abe,

I love my suburb, My home and my community though the commute an the cost hurt especially in light of the fact we choose to have the Mrs at home raising the 5 kids.

Even riding the motorbike isn't as fun as it should be due to traffic.

Still. Sydney is a beautiful town

 

[happy_tiger]

As for Sydney itself, would leave for a few hundred acres in the bush in a heartbeat if i was able to. But have a wife and bunch of young kids to raise, so i wont be leaving the big smoke for a long long time.

Im the Same Abe,

I love my suburb, My home and my community though the commute an the cost hurt especially in light of the fact we choose to have the Mrs at home raising the 5 kids.

Even riding the motorbike isn't as fun as it should be due to traffic.

Still. Sydney is a beautiful town

It ceased being a town a long , long ,long time ago Spartan

Not sure it is a beautiful place ….it is surrounded by beautiful waterways and beaches ...whether the city itself is beautiful

Don't worry , I live in Gladstone , about as beautiful as a woman with a beard and tool belt

 

[NT_Tiger]

Ive lived out bush in the NT most of my life with the nearest neighbours a couple of hundred meters away. Same situation now here in North Qld. I used to go to Sydney to visit mates as a kid and enjoyed it. I travelled through there by train a few months ago on the way to the Judo nationals in Bomaderry with my son. Theres no way I could live there.

 

[kiwitiger]

One of the great cities of the world. Seriously love the place. When you live there you forget about how great it is. But it maybe the best city in the world.
Also the place of my favourite dad joke…take the kids to south Sydney and say this is where they invented the toothbrush...anywhere else it would be the teethbrush.

 

[upthetigers]

It's overcrowded and full of dickheads I can't wait to get out of this hellhole. Unfortunately there is no obvious place to relocate to. Melbourne seems like it's full of snobs and Brisbane is boring.

 

[steve-o]

One more note… in my experience, the traffic in Sydney is nothing compared to other cities in the world. So if you don’t want to live somewhere with bad traffic, you’re pretty much limiting yourself to rural living. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the frustration of sitting in a log jam... I’m a big believer in living close to work. You save so much time by limiting your commute. If that means living in a smaller or less desirable location, so be it.

Totally agree with that. People who complain bitterly about Sydney traffic haven't visited or paid attention to any other large city in the world.

Melbourne and Brisbane traffic is the same, Melbourne especially as it has the same sort of size and distribution. Auckland can be horrendous; don't even start on places like Beijing or Seoul. Anywhere with a significant harbour or river going through the city always has issues because bridges are congestion points, which is exactly Sydney's primary issue - we only have 4 crossings for the Harbour/Parramatta River (5 if you include the H Tunnel as separate to the H Bridge).

I'm curious, you said you were struggling to save for Sydney, and I understand Toronto is just as bad, perhaps worse, with Vancouver also being v. popular. Where in US? I've been all over and I have work opportunities there, I just wouldn't want to raise my kids there.

Yeah Toronto is just as expensive, but our thought process was at least we're seeing a different part of the world. Essentially we felt we were in a bit of a rut in Sydney… we wanted to spread our wings and do something different, so decided on Toronto as it was the best chance for me to get work, and close to my partner's family on the east coast of the US.
After my two year work visa is up, we'll probably end up in New Jersey / greater New York area, at least for the medium term. The company I work for has it's corporate office and a number of other operating companies in NJ, so they've always got a lot of job opportunities there. Long term, I'd love to end up further south where the weather is a bit warmer.

 

[jirskyr]

One more note… in my experience, the traffic in Sydney is nothing compared to other cities in the world. So if you don’t want to live somewhere with bad traffic, you’re pretty much limiting yourself to rural living. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the frustration of sitting in a log jam... I’m a big believer in living close to work. You save so much time by limiting your commute. If that means living in a smaller or less desirable location, so be it.

Totally agree with that. People who complain bitterly about Sydney traffic haven't visited or paid attention to any other large city in the world.

Melbourne and Brisbane traffic is the same, Melbourne especially as it has the same sort of size and distribution. Auckland can be horrendous; don't even start on places like Beijing or Seoul. Anywhere with a significant harbour or river going through the city always has issues because bridges are congestion points, which is exactly Sydney's primary issue - we only have 4 crossings for the Harbour/Parramatta River (5 if you include the H Tunnel as separate to the H Bridge).

I'm curious, you said you were struggling to save for Sydney, and I understand Toronto is just as bad, perhaps worse, with Vancouver also being v. popular. Where in US? I've been all over and I have work opportunities there, I just wouldn't want to raise my kids there.

Yeah Toronto is just as expensive, but our thought process was at least we're seeing a different part of the world. Essentially we felt we were in a bit of a rut in Sydney… we wanted to spread our wings and do something different, so decided on Toronto as it was the best chance for me to get work, and close to my partner's family on the east coast of the US.
After my two year work visa is up, we'll probably end up in New Jersey / greater New York area, at least for the medium term. The company I work for has it's corporate office and a number of other operating companies in NJ, so they've always got a lot of job opportunities there. Long term, I'd love to end up further south where the weather is a bit warmer.

Well good luck! I've always considered Toronto be "Sydney of North America" because the vibe of the city was so similar, and Canadians IMO are much more like Aussies than Americans.

Living in Trump, who is a convicted Rapist and Felon's America… eek. I've heard Portland is great.

 

[yeti]

Left Sydney many years ago and have rarely been back. Great place to see - in the rear view mirror.
Some good memories, however. Met my wife there (blind date) - I reckon she is still blind!
Great times at Leichhardt Oval. My first kid born there.
But - happy to be outta there!