please put city & state!

also how do you pronounce biddeford?

How about New York City? You could make it take place on the edge of the city, so that it is urban and the other side is rural.

You could fly to Shannon and do the west, Kerry and Cork first for a first visit, I would suggest you fly into Dublin or Belfast and explore the east coast and if you have time then move west or further south.
Starting from Belfast go to:-
Antrim Coast Road, Glens and Giants Causeway. Carrickfergus castle, Belfast city which has great clubs and pubs.

Head south to Dublin and enroute visit:-
Newgrange (Bru na Boinne), battle site of the Boyne, Malahide Castle,

Dublin – full of history from viking times to the founding of the Republic.
Then from Dublin do Co. Wicklow: Powerscourt House, Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough.

If you have the time and inclination after all that, you can head west or south or even north again and take in other parts. All depends on what you want to do and see, what your interests are, what time of year you are going to be there and how much time you have.

Have a look at these various websites for ideas.

Where is the best place for me to go (a friend mentioned Nottingham or Manchester), and how might I reasonably get to talk to these people without risk to my personal safety? I am not out to expose or chastise them but just to find out about life in these circles as someone of their own age.

Thanks for all sensible answers.

Choose your favourite city ….

1. LONDON
a) Muslim Boys [Stockwell Crew, the South Man Syndicate and Poverty Driven Children (PDC)] – Brixton, Peckham, Lambeth, and Streatham

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article305781.ece

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-11361923-details/Fears+over+gang+war/article.do

b) Press Road Crew – Chalkhill, Neasden

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-7158980-details/Gang+named+and+shamed+/article.do;jsessionid=v8VcFwXFnhmvKTH3jVWhksN4jJLNhJ0x7k9l2jZJ4ndr1tJ6zD5G!948659138!-1407319225!7001!-1

c) Shadwell Massive – Stepney

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-527954-details/Laughing+gang+jailed+for+DLR+killing/article.do

d) Younger Woolwich Boyz – south east London

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23386359-details/Just%20a%20click%20away:%20Armed%20gangs%20recruiting%20via%20You%20Tube/article.do

e) North London Somalis (NLS) – Tottenham and Wood Green
f) Centric Boys – Camden

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/whereilive/tottenham/display.var.1202140.0.gang_stabbed_teen_to_death.php

g) Peckham Boys – Peckham, Walworth and Camberwell

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1252012,00.html

h) Cartel Crew – Brixton
i) Lock City Crew – Harlesden
j) Much Love Crew – Harlesden
k) Spanglers – north-east London
l) Fireblade – north-east London
m) Kinglands Crew – Hackney
n) Hackney Posse – Hackney
o) Ghetto Boys – Lewisham
p) Younger Peckham Boys – Peckham
q) Bombers – Hackney
r) Tottenham Boys – Tottenham
s) Kurdish Bulldogs – Wood Green
t) A Team – north London
u) Southall Sikhs [formerly the Holy Smokes and Tooti Nung]

2. MANCHESTER
a) Salford Lads
b) Cheetham Hillbillies
c) Gooch Close Gang – Moss Side
d) Longsight Crew
e) Pitt Bull Crew
f) Doddington
g) Young Longsight Soldiers

3. LEEDS
a) Yout’
b) Chapeltown Purse Dippers

4. NOTTINGHAM
a) Meadows Posse
b) St Ann’s Crew
c) Radford Road Posse

5. NEWCASTLE AND THE NORTH-EAST
a) Warden Law Gang – Sunderland
b) BOSS – the Boys of South Shields
c) Youth of South Shields
d) Stockton Wrecking Crew
e) Gremlins

6. BIRMINGHAM
a) Johnson Crew
b) Burger Bar Boys

7. BRISTOL
a) Aggi crew
b) Hype Cru
c) Mountain View Posse
d) Back to Back gang

Make stuff (jewelery is popular) to sell and trade for necessity. Be willing to do hard work for minimal pay or just for transport.

___

Edit: Just thought Id add that my and my wife’s long term plan is fixing our credit so we can get a farm loan. It is a great way to get away from certain aspects of the world.

- Modern Day
-Urban setting (Nothing rural or farmlike)
-Action Setup

If you don’t have an idea please just visit my Y!360 profile so I can get hits and while you are there maybe you could comment.

Thanks Y! Answers Community.
There is a link to this question in the "blast" of my Y!360 page which you can easily access through my Y!Answers profile. Please, I really need help with this, it is a big project.
It doesn’t have to be completley in the city. I just want a lot of it to be based in the city. Maybe something about con-artists. Hmmm… Thank you for the ideas you guys. I still need more though.
I like thesqyd’s idea about choosing between work and friends. But, can anyone expand on this a little more for me. Details, details, details.

It seems odd to me that you just want to write a story without knowing what you want to write about. If you want to write, write what you want. If you don’t have an angle to write about, try something else, man. My idea for a story may not be worth writing about to you, and visa versa.
Write what you know and what interests you.

I was inspired to write my paper by a Reuters News investigative series on poverty in places like Youngstown, Ohio.

http://blogs.reuters.com/route-to-recovery/tag/youngstown/

People in poverty in rural China can live off of subsistence farming and fishing. People in the urban areas of the US who are poor must rely on charity, a small amount of government help and often, to crime.

Already there is a fight between the states, and our urban and rural communities, over our water supply. Already human population is taking up land that our wildlife have a right to and killing the animals that have no more places to move.

To say, "Save open space," and not say "Stop immigration," is ridiculous to say the least.

This isn’t just aimed at the Hispanics who are sneaking across our southern border by the thousands (often obtaining false identification papers), but all immigration. However, it is high time for Mexicans to start having Mexican dreams instead of coming up here and turning American dreams into nightmares.
Mexico guards its southern border but allows illegal aliens (the proper terminology, not undocumented workers) out by the thousands. President Vicente Fox seems to think that America should open our southern border and allow his charges to become America’s responsibility.

They are for me. Why? Because I see a hatred that has nothing to do with anything I ever did. I see them demanding "their" rights but no others. I see "kill the Gringo", I see no respect for anything but personal gain. When I read about unconsious women at the scene of an accident being raped, people hacked up with a machete, pit bull fights, blatent disregard for laws and life, it disturbs me. When 8 out of 10 most wanted in your city are from Mexico or South America and you have the Latin Kings and the M18 or whatever doing unbelievable things in your town….you are worried. When you can’t order a hamburger or get a job because you don’t speak Spanish in America……it’s a concern. When, as a parent, you can’t take a stand for what you beleive for fear of what will happen to your child at school…it’s scarey. When you can’t sleep at night for music blaring, or fear to tell them to cut the volume at 3AM, it’s just not America anymore. When they can march by the thousands in the street and we let them, but violence breaks loose and you can’t oppose them without violence….there’s a problem. And there is a problem.