Why is Jax better?

I am from the Northeast and will be moving to the South in the summer. Our first choice is Jacksonville(st john%26#39;s county), but I am trying to make sure this a good move. I%26#39;ve considered Austin, but the air quality is not good for kids(asthma), because of dirty air. I also looking at San Antonio which has cleaner air and VERY affordable houses, the drawback is no ocean and palm trees compared to Jax. I am looking for opinions on why Jacksonville would be better. Nightlife, quality of life, education, network engineering jobs, any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

In other words, if you had sell me Jacksonville, what would you say?

Why is Jax better?

Well, it%26#39;s so subjective, Arlene. I am biased because I love Jacksonville. We are rather laid back, we have lots of trees and even a few hills, unlike the flat landscape of South Florida (not that that%26#39;s bad).

Nightlife - We have a world-class symphony orchestra conducted by Italian Conductor Fabio Macchetti. They are fabulous. We have several art galleries, art openings, gala charity events, concerts at either our Concert Venues or the Alltel Stadium if it%26#39;s a biggie. We have ballet, Broadway traveling shows, several local theatre groups.

We are close to the World Golf Village (if you%26#39;re into that!) and every year we host the PGA Tournament Player%26#39;s Championship at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra. We also host the Bausch and Lomb Tennis Tournament. And then we have the Jaguars if you%26#39;re into football. Someone said all of our sports were college-based; in actuality, we have very few college sports based here in Jacksonville. We do have a baseball stadium for the Jacksonville Suns baseball team.

As far as quality of life; it depends on what you like. I personally like our International Airport because we love to travel! You can go to the beach almost year-round, water-sports abound since we have the beautiful St. John%26#39;s River. We%26#39;re careful with right whales and Manatees. We are within minutes of St. Augustine and Amelia Island; both great for day trips to see the sights, shop or dine.

Kids? We have the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History. (MOSH). Our Jacksonville Zoo won a national award last year for the top national exhibit. Our Cummer Art Gallery hosts several events for children. We are also home to Fort Caroline; a civil war fort that you can visit, and we%26#39;re close to Fort Matanzas in St. Augustine and Fort Clinch in Fernandina area - the kids might enjoy the forts, especially Fort Clinch.

Schools - some good, some not so good. Excellent magnet program. Test scores have improved dramatically over the last 5 years.

Dining - we don%26#39;t have gourmet restaurants on every corner, but there are some extremely good ones. One can get just about anything here (dining in our out) and we have several International markets, Asian markets, Filipino markets, and Hispanic markets if you get the urge to go International in your cooking for dinner.

As far as network Engineering, we are home to several fortune 500 companies including AOL, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Aetna Insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield, American Express and many, many others.

Healthcare - we have several hospitals that have been nationally recognized, we are home to one of only three Mayo Clinics and we just broke ground for a new Mayo Hospital.

Jacksonville is not for everyone. It%26#39;s not fast-paced like many places in the Northeast, but contrary to some opinions, we are not overrun by pickup trucks and Baptists don%26#39;t rule the city. Actually, most of our top political movers and shakers are not %26#39;Southern Baptist%26#39; like some would have you believe. They haven%26#39;t done their homework.

Maybe this will help. I can just tell you that I love it here, my husband (who is from Jersey) loves it here, and we wouldn%26#39;t want to be anywhere else...but that%26#39;s just us!