Chile Forum

Popular wisdom and boosterism for Santiasco took another drubbing in the latest "Quality of Living" polls under the worldwide Mercer survey which was published recently.

Unsurprisingly, Auckland came in third, just behind Zurich in second place and Vienna at the top of the list.

Within the Americas, Px' former digs - Vancouver -- given the top place for the Western hemisphere, justifiably beating second-place Ottawa.

No Chilean cities made even honourable mention, either as liveable or as safe, when considered on the Mercer criteria for world-wide ratings. Even Chicago and Boston are considered to have higher quality of life than Santiasco. Now that is frightening. I think Santiasco comes in around 90th place in terms of quality of living, and its quality of life has degraded to the point that Cape Town, Miami, and Athens come up smelling better.

Santiasco didn't even come close to the top in rated quality of life in the Letrinamerica region, where the standards are low and the bar is high. It was deservedly beaten by Pointe-à-Pitre, San Juan PR, Montevideo (Uruguay), and Buenos Aires.

This year the Mercer study has a separate category for personal safety, in the Caribbean/Central/South America region, Santiasco was still out of the top spots, beaten by Nassau, San Juan, PR, Montevideo, Panama City, etc. On a world-wide scale, even Chicago, Glasgow, Miami, Los Angeles, and Lisbon rank better in personal safety over Santiasco, under Mercer's rating system. Go figure. Your opinions will certainly differ from those of Mercer.

Mercer criteria for quality of life have an eye on expat integration (that is, for new arrivals, rather than those who have lived in a city and adjusted to its conditions):

1) Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement, etc)
2) Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services, etc)
3) Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom, etc)
4) Health and sanitation (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution, etc)
5) Schools and education (standard and availability of international schools, etc)
6) Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion, etc)
7) Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure, etc)
Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars, etc)
9) Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services, etc)
10) Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

viper wrote:The World’s Best Retirement Havens

<LINK REMOVED>

(1) That's a blog. Sample article: Why You Should Invest in This “Miracle from God” and includes statements such as "Although the quake destroyed one-third of Chile’s schools..."

and (2) you just started off with your first violation of the Terms of Service.

Link please for the survey. This should be a fun debate with my family in Zurich and San Juan.

momof3 wrote:Link please for the survey. This should be a fun debate with my family in Zurich and San Juan.

The newbie site is more fun because it's... soooooo bad... I am reading another article from the now-banned site that says "Santiago’s Cost of Living: Less Than $1,000 a Month"

That should be a clue.

Summary of the Mercer data in a Kiwi site here, can also check with original Mercer site though they only reveal the first 50 since they sell their products.

http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=40714

I cant help but lough every time those surveys place Vancouver as top 1 in Americas. Being from Vancouver I can definitely tell you that it is a load of poo. Average house costs 900K to buy (a shack), public transportation is almost non existent there is only 1 highway in the whole country (called highway one) and it is a two lane beater, people have to lock garbage (garbage!!!) with chains and locks so it doesnt get stolen, downtown is overun with junkies and the whole economy revolves around growing weed (75% of the economy). This survey is a politically motivated sharade.

Some of this isn't logical; i.e., regarding safety - I lived in and /or frequently visited L.A., Chicago, Miami, Nassau and San Juan and am very familiar with the perceived and actual criminal element and it's pretty bad.
I'll have to explore the Mercer website a little more - who they survey, and what - if any - agenda the company may have. I used to craft surveys for a major corporation and am familiar with the psych aspect of the questions, wording, audience, etc.
It's odd that I posted a link to worldwide crime stats a few months ago, showing Chile as one of the safest countries year after year, but was told that it didn't really mean anything.
Regarding quality of life - I lived in Canada also and it was a great experience overall. But you can see where it's headed, just at a little slower pace.

zaebis wrote:I cant help but lough ....

I was going to lough, but this is a family forum.

zaebis wrote: people have to lock garbage (garbage!!!) with chains and locks so it doesnt get stolen

When I lived in Kits I never had a problem with having my garbage stolen. Though I hear there are garbage thieves working out of Coquitlam, and they're a clever lot.

zaebis wrote: , public transportation is almost non existent there is only 1 highway in the whole country (called highway one) and it is a two lane beater

If there were only one highway, we would just call it The Highway, since there would be no Highway Two, eh?

Here is a foto of Highway One, that old beater two-lane. I was in town for Canada Day this year. We use the decimal system for counting lanes there.




But you're essentially right. Everyone in Vancouver lives in an igloo, smokes cigars, and eats bear-meat.

#72, I'll take it. I am not sure how it happened, but I'll take it.

Nothing ever happens in Zurich or Ottawa! Maybe there shld. be an "urban uprising excitement" rating? In Santiasco you're liable to come across a street protest and get tear-gassed. It is exciting. They'd finish quite high in that poll.

zaebis wrote:I cant help but lough every time those surveys place Vancouver as top 1 in Americas. Being from Vancouver I can definitely tell you that it is a load of poo. Average house costs 900K to buy (a shack), public transportation is almost non existent there is only 1 highway in the whole country (called highway one) and it is a two lane beater, people have to lock garbage (garbage!!!) with chains and locks so it doesnt get stolen, downtown is overun with junkies and the whole economy revolves around growing weed (75% of the economy). This survey is a politically motivated sharade.

Zaebis it's Vancouver not the bridge and tunnel peoples’ republics that are rated. Try housing in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Paris, New York or London and tell me Vancouver is expensive, and if you want to live the burb life of a single family dwelling, live in Surrey its much cheaper, but don’t complain about the traffic if your job is in Vancouver, we keep freeways out of our city.

Many people from the Lower Mainland say they are from Vancouver, I’m from Vancouver in summer.

nwdiver wrote:
Zaebis it's Vancouver not the bridge ...

If by that you mean Lions Gate, even it has 3 lanes....

nwdiver wrote: Many people from the Lower Mainland say they are from Vancouver, ..

So if Px used to live in Kits, he's not Vancouver? Well, fine...

patagoniax wrote:

nwdiver wrote:
Zaebis it's Vancouver not the bridge ...

If by that you mean Lions Gate, even it has 3 lanes....

nwdiver wrote: Many people from the Lower Mainland say they are from Vancouver, ..

So if Px used to live in Kits, he's not Vancouver? Well, fine...

Kits is the centre of Vancouver, it’s the Surrey, Mission and Delta types that say they are from Vancouver when they travel that I'm down on and if someone complains about traffic they normally are from out of Vancouver and have to travel into the city to work or play. Vancouver has no freeways, all roads when they enter Vancouver become surface road (it’s the only city of its size in North America without freeways, and we like it that way). The only freeway in Vancouver was tunnelled by the Feds as they agreed to 25 years ago and that was the Trans Canada highway that was referenced above, which make me think they are not from Vancouver but The Great Vancouver Area.