What's So Great About Louisville? A Whole Bunch of Stuff

I lived in Louisville for nine years and may live there again. Compared to Chicago, where I live now, Louisville has an excellent quality-of-life to cost-of-living ratio. No, it doesn't have everything Chicago has, but it's a lot cheaper. Plus, the bourbon is plentiful and winter is shorter by about four weeks.

I love Louisville.

I'm not alone. Louisville.com, a boostering web site, has compiled a list of the city's recent accomplishments. They range from being named one of CNNMoney’s 2014 breakout cities, in part for the music and food truck scenes, to being placed among the top 20 American cities with 'economic momentum,' based on GDP growth, job growth, median household income growth, and unemployment, according to NewGeography.

AARP says Louisville is one of the top 10 best low-cost U.S. cities in which to retire.

The article doesn't mention how, in July and August, a thermal inversion produces high temperatures, high humidity, and pollution like Los Angeles. My doctor in Louisville called seasonal allergies "the price we pay for living in the Ohio Valley."

But now I'm just being picky.

Louisville has a lot going for it, especially among the city's younger citizens. Among the ruling elite there is still an irritating tendency to talk big but think small, as I mused about (too obliquely for some) a few days ago.