[loonyrich]

We are thinking about moving to the Jonesboro area and are looking for good solid feedback about Jonesboro. We would like to have info on the medical facilities, shopping, housing and recreation. The kids are grown so schools dont matter. We could care less that it is a dry county. We dont care if they like gays or blacks or yankees. We want to know about the quality of life there. Preferrably from someone who lives there. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Pearlbob]

I lived in Jonesboro for years, and cried in happiness the day I left. It's really a bad town. There is absolutely nothing to do there. Nothing. No culture, no museums, no art, nothing. No good restaurants because the county is dry and half the poeple there enjoy eating catfish and fries anyway, there's no way a real diverse restaurant could stay open there. No shopping. There is one old "mall" that had like, a Gap, a Payless, and some other low end stores that you'd find anywhere and online. They are to be opening up a new mall, but last I was there they didn't have anything built except the new Target halfway done. There's plenty of housing, as the city is basically all pretty safe. There is one main hospital, and another women's facility out by the highway.

I think the QOL there is horrible, my opinion. I go back for about 2 hours and realize "oh yes, this is why I hated life here." I guess if you don't care about doing things, just want to sit at home and use the grill and hang out at neighbor's houses, it's okay. But if you like to go out on the weekends, eat in a nice restaurant, do anything mildly "nice", forget about it.

It's about 45 min from Memphis, which is about all it has going for it.

[Richard Grippo]

I have lived in Jonesboro almost 12 years now. I moved down from Pennsylvania. Please do not pay much attention to the previous post because most of it is not true. The poster must not have gotten out much because Jonesboro has a museum at Arkansas State University (the largest university museum in the state). An art gallery and one of the mid-South's finest concert halls recently opened at ASU. There are currently 17 eating establishments that serve alcohol. Jonesboro has a multitude of local and regional eateries and numerous chain restaurants, such as Outback, Chili's, Ruby Tuesday's, etc. Jonesboro has numerous parks, including Craighead Forest Park containing a 600 acre lake, camping, swimming, mountain bike trails, ATV trails, horsback trails and of course, hiking trails. Jonesboro has Division I athletics, the states best soccer facility and is home to the US record pole vaulter (who trains at one of the countries best facilities in Jonesboro). The new mall is open and covers almost 1 million square feet, which compares favorably to the Mall of America, the US's largest mall at 2.5 million square feet. It includes stores like Victoria's Secret and Dillards, hardly low end stores.

St. Bernards Medical Center is a 400 bed facility that serves 23 counties in Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri. It has Centers of Exellence in cancer care, heart care, elderly care and psychiatric care.

The quality of life in Jonesboro is quite high if you like Southern living (yes, they do like catfish and BBQ, but they are hardly the only thing to eat) and it comes cheap. Jonesboro was recently rated as one of the 5 most inexpensive places to live in the United States. Housing is incredibly cheap compared to the northeast or far west.

Jonesboro is not for people who are so sluggardly or brain-wasted that they need to be continually entertained by someone else. It is for people who know how to go out and entertain themselves.

[magrack]

Originally Posted by Richard Grippo

......

Jonesboro is not for people who are so sluggardly or brain-wasted that they need to be continually entertained by someone else. It is for people who know how to go out and entertain themselves.

Well said.

I never understand why some folks complain about what a place isn't rather than enjoy what it is.

[Pearlbob]

These are opinions, right? She asked for opinions, these are my opinions.

It's a tiny little town. Outback? Ruby Tuesdays? These are the best options to be listed for dining there? That says a lot.

I grew up in cities that were much more cultured, without the persistent racism that I found in Jonesboro. It was a shock and very sad to me when I moved there.

[loonyrich]

Thank you Richard and Magrack. That was exactly what I wanted to know. Moderator cut: personal - off topic How is the fishing in the area and since there is farmland closeby how are the mosquitos.

[magrack]

Originally Posted by Pearlbob

These are opinions, right? She asked for opinions, these are my opinions.

It's a tiny little town. Outback? Ruby Tuesdays? These are the best options to be listed for dining there? That says a lot.

I grew up in cities that were much more cultured, without the persistent racism that I found in Jonesboro. It was a shock and very sad to me when I moved there.

Of course you're entitled to your opinions, but sometimes facts re-enforce the validity of your opinions. Many posters come here hoping for or expecting enough information to help them determine if the area is right for them.

Had you said, "there are a hundred restaurants in J-Boro, but none of them are any good" I might not have said anything, but you posted "there's no way a real diverse restaurant could stay open there"

from: http://www.restaurantlistings.com/re...jonesboro.html

Top Cuisine Searches
American (26)
Bar & Grill (3)
Bistro (2)
Breakfast (2)
Cafe (4)
Chicken (4)
Chinese (9)
Deli (3)
Hamburgers (15)
Ice Cream Parlor (4)
Italian (5)
Mexican (10)
Pizza (23)
Sandwich (13)
Seafood (4)
Soul Food (6)
Steak Houses (11)
Thai (1)

Looks like there's a few "diverse" eateries to me.

Define culture.

Like it or not, there is "culture" there...it may not be culture that appeals to you, but small town Southern lifestyle is a very distinct type of American culture.

It's not for everybody.

[Pearlbob]

Arby's? Barnhill? Captain D's? that's not diverse.

Again, I had never in my life heard the n-word before I moved there. Once there, I heard it all the time. That's not cool to me. That was my main problem, the rampant ignorance.

If that type of thing appeals to you, or if you just don't care, go for it. I couldn't willingly live in a place like that and send my kids to schools like that.

[magrack]

I'm not necessarily talking about the chains...Taco Bell is not Mexican food, and China Buffet is certainly not what I would consider great Chinese cuisine, but Tamolly's Mexican Restaurant isn't bad and you might want to try Fazoli's for Italian.

The point is, there are a hundred restaurants in Jonesboro, not all are chains, and if you insist on holding the chains up as an example of the "only" dining establishments, you'll invalidate your argument.

I find it hard to believe that you never heard the n word before you moved to Jonesboro.

Racism, bigotry and prejudice is everywhere in this country. It's not limited to any single group or locale and it cuts both ways.

I've only been back in AR a few months, and I haven't heard the n word once. Granted, I don't live in Jonesboro, so I can't speak with any authority on what "is" is in Jonesboro, but I do know that every state or country I lived in in my 60 years there were examples of people disliking others because of skin color, religious background, ethnic origin, place of birth, educational background. number of tatoos, type of car driven and other such nonsense, so I would think it exists in Jonesboro too.

The people of mainland Japan called the people of Okinawa (a prefecture of Japan) "hairy cousins" and called anyone (without regard to national origin) without an epicanthal fold "goat eyes". Koreans used to kill children of mixed parentage, and Christianity is outlawed in Saudi Arabia.

Northerners and Southerners sometimes mistrust each other and Californians are often disliked by many people in the other Western states.

People have a tendency to dislike or be suspicious of anyone who is not like themselves.

I don't have the answers; I'm not sure there is one.

I think if the population of the world were all the same color and spoke a common language without any accent or regional dialects, there would be something to cause some to look at others differently. Length of toenails, maybe.

I'm prejudiced too.

I detest welfare cheats ( because they take from those who truly need it) and intolerant people.

Come to think of it, I hate crappy drivers too.

[loonyrich]

Moderator cut: personal - off topic So, once again, hows the fishing thereabouts and are the mosquitos bad ? And the old lady wants to know if there are any buffet eateries ?