Should I consider Akron? (Cleveland, Lakewood: for sale, houses, place to live)

[JohnDBaumgardner]

After reading through all of that DRAMA, I'll provide you with a simple answer. Akron would be perfectly fine for what you're seeking. There's a great, eclectic gay neighborhood located near Downtown Akron, it's known as "Highland Square" - quaint coffee shops, boutiques, and attractive housing options. There are several popular gay bars in Akron, with the largest and most popular being "The Inter-Belt Niteclub" on Howard st.

You're about a 40 minute ride away from all of the cosmopolitan, sophisticated amenities of Cleveland - University Circle, Gordon Square Arts District, Coventry Village in Cleveland Heights, and the western suburb of Lakewood - an eclectic, beautiful community that boasts more gay people per capita than San Francisco.

I think you'll find Akron to be just fine - Best of luck!

[SquareBetterThanAll]

Originally Posted by JohnDBaumgardner

After reading through all of that DRAMA, I'll provide you with a simple answer. Akron would be perfectly fine for what you're seeking. There's a great, eclectic gay neighborhood located near Downtown Akron, it's known as "Highland Square" - quaint coffee shops, boutiques, and attractive housing options. There are several popular gay bars in Akron, with the largest and most popular being "The Inter-Belt Niteclub" on Howard st.

You're about a 40 minute ride away from all of the cosmopolitan, sophisticated amenities of Cleveland - University Circle, Gordon Square Arts District, Coventry Village in Cleveland Heights, and the western suburb of Lakewood - an eclectic, beautiful community that boasts more gay people per capita than San Francisco.

I think you'll find Akron to be just fine - Best of luck!

Well said, John. Thanks for the constructive input.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by SquareBetterThanAll

You're 28 with a good line of work and no attachments. Go where you want to, experience somewhere different, there's no better time. If you want to go to Akron or Pittsburgh or Charlotte or LA go for it. Its not like you're uprooting your family. People do it all the time. So what if it's not where you want to be permanently? You have highly transferrable job skills. Sure the NE has a lot to offer. But if no one moved half of Long Island wouldn't be living in North Carolina right now. And guess what? You can move back to CT too. And I'm sure you know what my thoughts are on the value of some internet creeper's i told you so are. You'll regret it later in life if you have the desire to see other places and waste the opportunity.

Even better, you can ask to your hearts content about all the places in the world and never go to any of them. That's the great thing about the Internet.

Ask away about here or anywhere. Hope you find somewhere with potential.

What an insightful post. Had this been posted pages ago, there would be no "DRAMA" for the other posters to dig through.

[love216and313]

The west side of cleveland is actually the greatest place for gay population, events, clubs, cafe's, parades, etc. Akron also has a pride festival every year, but yes, akron is a **** hole. 1,400$ for an apt?! In akron thats like three months rent. cleveland is so much better, lots of things to do, a lot of diversity, and of course, not a ton of money chasers like the kind you are thinking of. Im from Cleveland, and I have seen money chasers everyday...people having to come up with their own hustle. Akron would be cheap for you, you could probably save a lot of money, the cost of living seems way cheaper than what you are used to. You could go to Cleveland, 35 minutes away, to have fun.... I would suggest a suburb of Akron, or Akrons highland square neighborhood, which reminds me of a smaller version of some of Clevelands neighborhoods. I currently live between akron and cleveland, so if you move out this way maybe you could contact me. Im a 31 yr old female by the way

[Townes Van Zandt]

Originally Posted by love216and313

The west side of cleveland is actually the greatest place for gay population, events, clubs, cafe's, parades, etc. Akron also has a pride festival every year, but yes, akron is a **** hole. 1,400$ for an apt?! In akron thats like three months rent. cleveland is so much better, lots of things to do, a lot of diversity, and of course, not a ton of money chasers like the kind you are thinking of. Im from Cleveland, and I have seen money chasers everyday...people having to come up with their own hustle. Akron would be cheap for you, you could probably save a lot of money, the cost of living seems way cheaper than what you are used to. You could go to Cleveland, 35 minutes away, to have fun.... I would suggest a suburb of Akron, or Akrons highland square neighborhood, which reminds me of a smaller version of some of Clevelands neighborhoods. I currently live between akron and cleveland, so if you move out this way maybe you could contact me. Im a 31 yr old female by the way

I'm not exactly the type to criticize Ohio cities, but there's something desperately ironic about a Clevelander referring to anywhere as a ****hole. When it comes to public perception, I'm not sure you can get much lower than c-town...

[SquareBetterThanAll]

Originally Posted by ksu sucks

I'm not exactly the type to criticize Ohio cities, but there's something desperately ironic about a Clevelander referring to anywhere as a ****hole. When it comes to public perception, I'm not sure you can get much lower than c-town...

I didn't see much point in pointing that out. They said they live in the suburbs between Akron and Cleveland so I can only assume they haven't traversed much of Cleveland to have drawn that conclusion. Cleveland is larger and therefore has more extremes on both end of the spectrum. That being said when Akron stops being able to paint lane lines leaving a driver in most neighborhoods to guess if the street is two lanes or four or whatever people feel like making it at that point in time, then they can start talking saying Akron is a ****hole in comparison to Cleveland. Don't get me wrong, though, Cleveland also has some fantastic neighborhoods as well.

For better or worse, when you compare Akron to most any of its similar company in the area - Youngstown, Canton, Lorain, Elyria, Warren... or carry it out to other similar sized rust belt cities that aren't a state capital i.e. Dayton, etc. Akron looks really damn good. Not so sure that makes for a great case on the national level but for what it is and how it could be I think Akron has done considerably better than like company. Even neighborhoods that I would consider to be in bad shape don't compare to the utter decimation you see in parts of other cities.

[bob223]

Originally Posted by SquareBetterThanAll

Sorry, Cleveland-Akron-Lorain CMSA is what I was referring to. But yes each city here has their own MSA. And people hold pretty strongly to individual identity. But ultimately you can drive 60 miles north south on 77 or about the same east west on 90 and it is more or less continuous.

I really don't think you'll find much of a difference other than the lack of a state capital.

As for jobs the region is right around the national average on unemployment

If you drive 60 miles north from Akron you'd better have A LOT of air in your tires.Because you'll be in the lake heading for Canada.(Ohio's a border state)
No state capitol?
They closed Columbus?

[bob223]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Well lets see. Two people making 65k = 130k household. So yeah, statistically on a national scale where the average per capita income is $42k, that's upper middle class.

For Connecticut, where the per capita income is the highest in the nation, you're working class. For Ohio, where the per capita income is lower than the national average, you're top dog in the neighborhood.

Old posts,I know.
But.
I hate to break it to you,but in NE Ohio,where some auto manufacturing still exists,many of us dirty,uneducated,"working class" nobodies are a bit higher in the food chain than you seem to think.
When the money for college wasn't there,some of us learned trades.Blue collars really don't cause a rash like some people believe.
And personally,as a class A Tool & Die Maker I left 65k/yr behind LONG ago.
Interestingly,we don't tend to "look down our noses" at those who don't "earn",but to put it in words that many from the coasts would understand,at 65k you wouldn't be on my side of the tracks in many of the smaller 'burbs in the area.
In Summit,you could get by in Fairlawn.Probably not in Hudson.Definitely not in Bath.(There's this 1 guy there who never went to college at all but he's doing alright,I guess.But Lebron's been known to put in a lot of overtime)
Up north in Cuyahoga,Seven Hills would be a stretch at that income.In Brahtenal you'll need an extra job.
Just a few examples of why using those averages without knowing anything tangible about the area may not give you the most accurate picture.
To be honest,you can live in Cleveland with it's 50-some% graduation rate,or E Cleveland which is about half that,or even in what many now refer to as CrAkron and be that "top dog".But in quite a few of the places where people actually want to live,let's just say we'd never expect you to host the BBQ.We wouldn't want to stress your man-purse.

[uvulus1]

I know it's an old thread, but maybe someone will find this useful: I've lived in downtown Akron for about 5 years, and have done business there for about 12. As far as I can tell, Akron is quite a bit less homophobic than many other cities of it's size. I'm straight, but I have gay neighbors, have had gay coworkers, and have observed a fairly open-minded culture around town. There's a very popular gay club which also attracts plenty of straight clientele a few blocks north of my home, and a very gay-friendly commercial area a few miles to the west. There seems to be very little conflict on this issue. There are always some who have a problem with the orientation thing, but they tend to keep it to themselves, and from what I've seen, Akron is far less concerned with that sort of thing than Cleveland and most other midwest cities are. As for First Energy, I personally dislike them, as they have repeatedly screwed up record keeping and billing on my accounts, and they put the kibosh on Akron's free public wifi project, but I have also heard that they are a good company to work for. Finally, while Akron sure has it's problems, it's not half the ****hole Cleveland is. It can smell pretty bad in the summer b/c the sewer system is messed up, but there seems to be less violence and misery in all of Akron than in 1/4 of Cleveland. I don't know the stats, but the worst neighborhood in Akron is a walk in the park compared to many Cleveland suburbs. Also, the lake effect doesn't blast Akron the way it does Cleveland in the winter. We get snow, but it's usually about half what Cleveland has to deal with, and temps are often 10 degrees warmer. Just be warned, the water/sewer bills are brutal, thanks to EPA mandates. If you are a decent, enlightened person, we look forward to having you here. Good luck, wherever you decide to go.

[bob223]

Akron seems less "homophobic" to you?
You lived a couple miles from the largest gay bar in Summit county,and Highland Square,the commercial area you mentioned is the single "gay-friendly" retail area in the county.
If someone is satisfied never going more than 5 miles from their rental,it may be a great place to live.
If your horizons are the least bit broader,you're going to hate it.