2393 - Childfree city?

LIARS!! LIARS!!!
Okay, I'll have to admit that my little corner of Madison is blessedly almost completly child free. I've managed to arrange my life in such a way that I am exposed to as few children, breeders and breeder pleasers as possible. By working with mostly gay men, volunteering with people whose passions are free speech and radio, and by hanging out with folks whose main pleasures in life are good, live music and creating or drinking some amazing adult beverages I've managed to only have a couple friends with children. Since they're PNB, I rarely see their children unless I go to their homes at times when the kids are awake.

Madison has a wide variety of public music fests in parks all over the city, a farmer's market every sunmmer day in some part of town, and alot of opportunities to ride your bike, walk or jog without worries of having too much interaction with traffic. We have one of the highest per capita rates of people to resturants and basically you could eat out every day for a year without going to the same place twice, or ever having to step foot in a corporate resturant. We also host the Great Taste of the Midwest beer festival...mmmm beeeeer. To top it off, we've got a great tradition of decadance (tailgating) and activisim (rioting). Oh yeah, and if you don't like the weather on tuesday, don't worry it'll probably be completely different on wednesday.

HOWEVER since we were voted the best place for families to live about 5-7 years ago, our city in general has been overrun with particularly annoying "attachment" parents. They bring their kids everywhere, Concerts on the Square, Art Fair, Farmer's Market (yes it's one of the best in the country, except for the fact that for every two people there's at least one hugeass stroller), public festivals, beer fests, bars...everyfuckingwhere. Our "wonderful" mayor recently got reelected on the platform that he ended smoking in bars (adult drinking establishments) so that it would be more healthy for families to hang out there...because of course they don't have any options whatsoever for places to hang out.

I do think this is a great place to live, we just need some more childfree people here!

A place that is not in this list that might be good for CF living: Portland, Maine. In fact, just about anywhere in Maine might be good. The state government there has been complaining about how so many young people are leaving to raise families elsewhere. And this is a problem HOW?

We've been wanting to move there for ages now, and this just makes us want to do it even more.

So, we don't live in Portland, but we do drive up there and hang out a lot. We're taking a vacation there at the end of this month. I'd be lying to you if I said that I have NEVER seen a stroller in the Old Port area...we do see some, but they're not all over the fucking place. And I suspect that most of these breeders are tourists, anyway.

However, most of the famblees who vacation in Maine go to other places, beach towns with kiddie things to do. I'd probably stay away from Old Orchard Beach, and York Beach has gotten a lot more breederific over the years.

But whatever you do, stay the fuck out of Ogunquit! They got s big write up in "Down East" magazine about how famblee-friendly it is, and you can guess what happened after that!

We don't want to live IN the city of Portland, because we want something with more land around it. But we'd be happy to live near enough to it where we can go and hang out there more than we do now. They have lots of restaurants and brewpubs, and Portland is also the host of the 100% CF Maine Brewers Festival on the first Saturday of November. We're going this year...have ordered the tickets and booked a hotel room.

We do see breeders with attached loaves trying to get into this event every year, but they are very firmly turned away. No one under 21 means NO ONE UNDER 21, dammit! But I know that other beer fests do allow kids. If Portland was really that breederific, they'd have changed the rule about their beer fest a long time ago. There probably just wasn't enough mooing and lowing about it. Most of us LIKE it the way it is!

Even the Sea Dogs minor league baseball park, where we go a lot, is not as brat-infested as others we go to. Yes, there are kids there, but most of them actually behave properly.

Restaurants and bars in Maine are all smoke-free, but in Portland, at least, we've not been bothered by brats in bars. We do see a few strollers at places like Gritty McDuff's, but those famblees tend not to sit in the bar area.

There are many brewpubs and restaurants in Portland, and some don't even have brat menus. Our favorite is a place called Fore Street, no brat menu at all, and the entrees are mostly in the $20-30 range...pricey for a kids' meal. There are no chicken nuggets or burgers or hot dogs...there is pizza though, but it's probably not the Domino's crap that most kids are used to. It's cooked in their wood-burning oven, and as a result, the crust is thin and crispy. And they use all sorts of *strange* ingredients that most sprogs wouldn't like...such as different types of cheeses, fresh herbs, and the like.

We have been going there for ages now, and we have seen kids there...but always well-behaved older ones. Only ONCE did we see a loaf there...I was surprised that the place even had a high chair to put it in. I suspect that might have been the only high chair, though. And at least the loaf was quiet.

I know we can't live in a completely CF city right now, but, grading on the curve, Portland, Maine is a good place to go!

Being a Seattle resident, I can attest that the city is *NOT* a childfree heaven. Not even close.

Some neighborhoods do have decreased brat/breeder populations, such as Capitol Hill. The problem is that other areas, like the U-district (University of Washington) and the burbs are infested with breeders and brats like fleas on a feral dog. The U-district is the worst for the Hipmoo and Hipduhd scum and their trendily-named cumstains. Capitol Hill attracts the Alternabreeders and the Crunchy Granola Breeder (CG types who are probably, in toto, even worse than the Yuplarvascum that infect the U-district.

The East side (Bellevue, Redmond) and West Seattle have become breeder hellholes to avoid.

Downtown areas like First Hill are still pretty safe, except that the breeders and their hellspawn feel it necessary to inflict the city with their presence like locusts on a wheat field.

I haven't been to San Fran, but I'm told it's similar to Vancouver - and I adore Vancouver. I never saw any sprogs anywhere, except at the Aquarium.

Whatever you do, one place to avoid is Ocean City, New Jersey! I used to go there as a child, and it was a mix of seniors and families with well-behaved kids like myself. But it has become a total Breeder Paradise since. I swear, you can't even go to a restaurant for dinner unless you're a party of 12. Brats everywhere! I miss the old days.

I hate when they advertise these "childfree cities." It's like giving away a big secret. Then before you know it, all the breeders just hafta' move there to spoil everyone's peace and quiet. Just out of spite. Before long, there is kindercrap, special rules, and moo parking all over the place just for the chyldrun.

Medusa, I am from San Francisco. Beautiful place but is full of breeders and their spoiled sproggen just like anywhere else. Marin County -- just outside of SF -- is the worst as the breeders have more $$$ which means the kids are bigger assholes.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, keep it coming! Looks like Yahoo has mislead us once again. I mean if San Francisco isn't safe, where is?!

The lady and I are planning our 2008 vacation, and I recommended Maine. We're moving closer and closer to finalizing Cocoa Beach, which I certainly don't mind (I was there in December 03/January 04), but given the positive review of Portland above, I may have to push for Maine again!

you could always come to the UK, ok it may be more expensive, but apparently we are the most child unfriendly place


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/08/nholiday108.xml

Holidays in Britain are expensive, seedy and far from family-friendly, according to a survey of parents.

Have your say: Where can you holiday cheaply in Britain?
Hotels and days out are seen as a rip-off, and the country is viewed as "anti-child" and even unsafe. That is the apparent experience of the majority of families who choose Britain as a holiday destination, according to a survey of 2,000 parents commissioned by Mother & Baby magazine and Mothercare.

Gordon Brown may believe Britain is the "best place in the world to have a holiday" but thousands beg to differ.

They may want to reduce their carbon footprint by staying at home, but they say they are being fleeced by hotels, holiday camps, B&Bs and family days out in Britain. Six out of 10 parents say Britain is not family-friendly and more than half go further, branding Britain "anti-child".

When out and about with young children, two thirds say it is dirty and unsafe. More than one in 10 say it is plain "seedy".

The majority of mothers and fathers liked the idea of a traditional seaside holiday in Britain, not least because they could avoid the airport chaos, the lugging of the buggy and other paraphernalia across borders, and the stress that generally goes with taking a child on a lengthy journey.

But three quarters who chose a domestic holiday said most hotels in Britain did not cater for families with young children and only 12 per cent of parents with teenagers thought a British holiday hotel was good value for money

In general, 74 per cent of parents thought British hotels saw babies and young children as a nuisance, and more than half thought that other guests found children annoying.

Other gripes included overcharging by beach car parks, the "nuggets and chips" style of children's food, small rooms and the lack of baby listening services. A fifth also found their welcome "hostile

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JMatties, I am from Florida, but now I live in Oakland, CA. I work in San Francisco. I would say The City (SF proper) is OK. There are some parents here, but it just seems that the number is lower. The areas/cities that surround SF are pretty breederific. It seems to be that breeders need homes for their sprogs to run around and yell their heads off. Homes are not affordable in SF. The median price last I checked was more than $600,000.

I live in NE Ohio - aka "Breeder Heaven" where the childfree are viewed with pity, suspicion or derision. It's not unusual to see families in my area with 4 kids when 2 used to be the norm. I've been learning in the past year to structure my life somewhat like Feh's. I try to avoid the breeders as much as possible - except for my 2 SIL's who each have 4 kids apiece and the 3rd SIL has 2. That can get a little tricky.