Relocating to Birmingham (Pelham, Southside: high school, to live in, moving to)

[DaddyJ]

Move to Cullman... for $200k you can get a double wide and 40 acres and have money left over.

[wnbs]

Look into the Birmingham suburbs in Shelby County, which is the fastes growing county in Alabama. There is a lot of growth in Calera, AL which is a 30 minute drive on I-65 to downtown. There are numerous new neighborhood going up and we have good shopping too. Check out Waterford sub-division in Calera which has a huge swimming pool, a stocked lake for fishing, tennis court, tot playground and clubhouse. Also, check out Timberline sub-division which has a nice golf course and clubhouse.

[DaddyJ]

Out just 15 minutes from I-65 & I-59 is the western area which has not had the development that the south and east borders of Birmingham have. You can get an extremely nice NEW house and some acreage for the price in the Vestavia & Homewood areas. There's definitely a very good & nice Church of Christ in Adamsville which is friendly and is not "all white". It is a fine church and is open to all people. The area fluctuates in culture & status. Relatively low crime rate and reasonably close to anything you want with several parks and walking tracks. Mostly working class but also a good mix of professional people.

[sally.white]

thank you Daddy J, What about drugs, racial tension and gangs in the over the mountain schools?

[DaddyJ]

For the most part, in even the "slightly" more affluent neighborhoods you will find very little, if any racial tensions. That is something you find mostly in older established communities where you have several families that have lived in the same neighborhood for 20-30 years. In more transient housing and recently built communities racial tension is hardly ever seen or noticed. Drugs, that is pretty much ubiquitous although it is less of a problem in the affluent neighborhood as they can better afford it with fewer hassels and frequently it is hidden or prescrition. Street drugs and cocaine are there but it's nothing like Hollywood. If you do not involve yourself with it and by your actions and lifestyle you let it be known that you do not use or condone the use of drugs then people will pretty much never flaunt them in front of you. I've been well exposed to many groups and classes of people and know alot of people who use drugs. However, I've never seen cocain, methamphetamine, and other than marijuana I can't really think of any street drugs that I've seen and knew what they were. Yet, I've been told by people that they went to parties where drugs were passed around like hors'duvres (sp?). Drugs are around. You don't have to use them and it is very possible to avoid them with little problem. I've seen alot more drugs in Atlanta, Mobile, Panama City and several other towns. It is much more prevalent in low income black communities than anywhere else in or around Birmingham. I doubt seriously you will even hear about gangs in "over the mountain" schools. That's mostly a low income thing too. I feel that most of the problems such as these are among inner city male teens trying to establish an identity for themselves.

[sally.white]

Wow, Daddy J,
You are way off! Drugs and gangs are hidden in every community.
I'live in community with homes up in the millions and that stuff happens everywhere..Don't be fooled by that inner city kids yang yang,

[DaddyJ]

Sally... you missed something... ubiquitous....
As for gangs... they'e around but nothing at all like inner city. Too, what used to be just a bunch of kids hanging out together is now called a "gang".

[sally.white]

yea, yea, I understood you..ubiquitous..But you said less in those communities..

[nalabama]

It appears that DaddyJ means only that it is less visible and results in less drug-related crime in the more affluent communities. Right or wrong, DaddyJ?

[DaddyJ]

Pretty much...but by far drugs and crime are far more concentrated in the "projects" and low income areas where alot of people are crowded close together. The more affluent neighborhoods do not even compare to this eventhough the drugs are definitely there. Their gangs are more like boy scouts compared to the inner city teens. I'm not experienced with a large concentration of hispanics but have been told there's some hispanic gangs in their more concentrated communities.