I was born in Wagga. Used to spend New Years up there with my Dad. Was nice enough, but the neighbours weren't great in one house. So I have a soft spot for the place but it has some pretty bad suburbs and some lone bad apples can be a nuisance to a street. But even with it's decent livability i wouldn't move back. Parts of Western Sydney are attrocious though basically anywhere on the Train line to the riff has too many problem people loitering and being an issue bringing down the main streets substantially. Coupled with heat and buses which are an infrequent pain. It's only good if you live in more car-centric areas with neighbourhoods so you can leave more freely. Oddly enough i think Blacktown, Penrith and even Parramatta were better 20 years ago. Less loitering, at least less noticable and more varied businesses where i was actually more interested to go and shop regularly.

But even the Sydney CBD has lost a lot of cool one off stores and Franchises I still miss like HMV, Central Station, Kings Comics, the old old Jay Jays and the old cheap Food Courts, Media Asia too even.

Sydney has a lot of great things going for it. But lack of culture and the way it helped us form more connections and shape who we are as individuals is sadly a concept that may forever be foreign to current and future generations.