Quote:
Originally Posted by anm
PA Pride, I do not share your sentiment. For a while I thought I would pass on this and not reply ... but then I thought - why not? This is how Moscow looks above the ground at the exact location of the station, pics by proger (more here)
And if you tell me that not all Moscow looks like this... well within historical center it actually does, and even if you are not fan of commiblocks... I can tell you one thing - there is no abandoned property in the city anywhere (I am talking about megapolice comparable in size to NYC, London and Paris), no bad neighbourhoods, no bad schools.
The worst of commiblocks are being knocked down and replaced like this
a thread on this by Worg is here
Other than that... I agree - it is not all shiny marble outside. |
moscow definitely has less variation between "good" and "bad" neighborhoods, thanks to soviet housing allocation, which spread people around such that everywhere was pretty much the same. that said, kutuzovskiy prospekt and rublyevskoye shosse (in the west) have always been prestigious areas to live, and from what i understand, the southeast has always been considered the worst area - due, i'm told, to wind patterns that blow factory smoke nw-se. this is probably less of a problem these days, given that the mayor has decreed that all heavy industry has to leave the central city, but i wouldn't be surprised if the stigma remains and is reinforced by the current real estate market.
and while there might not be truly bad neighborhoods, most places i went late at night there seemed to be a remarkably large number of young drunken men, roaming around looking for trouble. veshnyakovskaya ulitsa (SE), particularly.
when i first visited moscow, in 1993, it indeed looked pretty bad. i lived for a while in chertanovo (south) and it looked quite dystopian (which was ultra cool as far as i was concerned). however, when i visited again this spring, it's just about unrecognizably better. there are still quality of life issues - the air is terribly polluted, drivers are super-agressive and pedestrians are given virtually no consideration. so in some ways things have improved greatly, but other things seemed to have grown a bit worse.
in the late 90's i lived outside of moscow, in the odintsovo region. it was truly a disaster. heating and hot water - in the winter - were little more than a rumor, and as late as 1997, just to call moscow, i had to place an order with the operator, who would call back with the connection in 20 minutes or so. this spring i visited and things seem to be far better even out there. streets are more or less paved, *everyone* seems to have a car and mobile phone, etc.
so, in conclusion, i'd say that moscow and central russia have improved greatly, though there's still room for improvement.
but yes, the center of the city is looking pretty great.
as long as you avoid the garden ring.
on the other hand, who am i to criticize? consider these mere opinions.
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