Question About Chattanooga (Knoxville, East Brainerd, Red Bank: fit in, sale, crime)

[chett]

Me and my wife currently live in Mobile, AL. And we were thinking of moving to Chattanooga. We definately do no want to live in Chattanooga, but instead one of the outlining cities. The main reasons we wanted to get out of Mobile, was to get a fresh start, prettier scenery, closer to family, less populated city. Mobile is very overcrowed and traffic is horrible. I read some of the cons for Chattanooga were:

Crawal spaces under houses -(not a big deal to me)
Housing overpriced - (not in my opinion)
Too many private schools - overshadows the public schools ?????????????
Poor Public School educators ?????????????????
Lot of "old money" families - creating clicks (don't care)
Crime is high - higher than mobile ?????????????
Stereotype outsiders - (I'm from mobile, don't really have a city accent)
Unfair job market ????????????????

How many people agree with these cons? Were these statements just a select few individuals who had bad experience?

I don't really agree with the housing being overpriced, compared to Mobile anyways. We have a lot of private school here in mobile, that do overshadow the public schools in sports, but we still have good educators in the public schools. Mobile also has a lot of "old money" families, but the city is so big that it doesn't really matter.

I'm a (public) school teacher here in Mobile, what are the best Public School in the Chattanooga area?

[RiverView]

Here's my .02

Crawl Spaces - had to be the silliest comment I've heard.

Housing Overpriced - in the North Chattanooga area yes but then again people pay for location X 3. You can get a deal in most areas of
Chattanooga and even in North Chatt not much is selling right now.

Too Many Private Schools - How many are too many. Chattanooga has a long history of private schools from religious to independent. I've heard that at least 20% of the kids in Chattanooga go to private schools. I and my wife did and my kids do as well.

Poor Public Schools - If you do the research this is correct and the reason for the private schools. However, there are some great public schools in Chattanooga

Old Money - Yep, tons. Affected my live... no.

Crime Is High - This one I have trouble with. I just don't see it but I don't hang around the parts of town that have this rep.

Sterotype Outsiders - I just don't see that. But others say they do.

Unfair Job Market - I don't see that either but others are convinced that is the case.

There are some excellent public schools in the Nooga:

Signal Mountain
Lookout Mountain
North River Museum Magnet
CSLA
CSAS
Westview

hope this helps

[chett]

Thanks Riverview that was very helpful,

Another question? How is the traffic in Chattanooga? Is it anything comparable to Birmingham or Mobile or Nashville? Are there any particular months that the city gets more congested with tourism than others?

In the summer, things get real congested at the Gulf.


What areas of Hamilton County are considered "established", if you know what I mean? Is it just downtown Chattanooga? South Chattanooga?

[jkmewright]

Traffic? Compared to larger cities, the traffic here is a joke which is a good thing. We do have some issues though as we are a hub city for Atlanta, Nashville and Knoxville so if there is a wreck on the interstate you can bet that our major thoroughfares are totally jammed up. The upside is that there are lots of minor roads that are very handy when that happens. I have noticed that my evening travels are becoming busier than in the past few years but I zip downtown every morning with no troubles. Tourism traffic does not seem to affect us outside of the holiday season but you will notice a change in traffic when school lets out lol.

Established areas? We have Hixson, Red Bank, St Elmo, Northshore (North Chattanooga), Ooltewah, Soddy Daisy, Sale Creek, the mountains, Lookout Valley, Harrison Bay...

[RiverView]

Originally Posted by chett

Thanks Riverview that was very helpful,

Another question? How is the traffic in Chattanooga? Is it anything comparable to Birmingham or Mobile or Nashville? Are there any particular months that the city gets more congested with tourism than others?

In the summer, things get real congested at the Gulf.


What areas of Hamilton County are considered "established", if you know what I mean? Is it just downtown Chattanooga? South Chattanooga?

Yer welcome.....

Traffic compated to:

B'ham - Heck No!
Mobile - (I don't know but I doubt it)
Nashville - We are not even in the same league

Traffic here just isn't that bad compared to major cities. I live on Signal Mtn and even in the morning rush can be to downtown in 20 minutes. It's funny what you get used to because to me that 20 minutes is not acceptable. Used to take me 5 minutes when I lived in North Chattanooga. Of course if you don't work downtown then the drive time to there doesn't matter.

The city is more congested during school season. And (IMHO) Christmas time around Hamilton Place Mall (I avoid it like the plague).

As stated above. Signal Mountain, North Chattanooga, Hixson, East Brainerd, etc. Just depends on where you plan to focus your life.

I hear you about the Gulf. I had considered moving there. We have a place in Seacrest Beach which is the "quite" part of the Gulf and after spending some prime time there during prime time we decided to stay put. Plus I like the change in seasons.

Hope this helps.

[gsn77]

I second everything RiverView said. I live in North Chattanooga, so I have a 8-10 minute drive. I still moan about it when traffic slows down to a "stand still" (read 15 to 20 miles per hour) for a mile or so.

Never been to Mobile, but I do travel to Nashville for business pretty frequently. Rush hour in Chattanooga is about like midday in Nashville. The only time that Chattanooga traffic looks like Nashville rush hour is if a tractor trailer overturns and blocks the interstate. And then the the interstate is the only thing standing still. There are state highways paralelling each of the interstates, though, so if traffic does slow down, I just hop off and cruise on until I'm past the wreck.

[RiverView]

Originally Posted by gsn77

I second everything RiverView said. I live in North Chattanooga, so I have a 8-10 minute drive. I still moan about it when traffic slows down to a "stand still" (read 15 to 20 miles per hour) for a mile or so.

Never been to Mobile, but I do travel to Nashville for business pretty frequently. Rush hour in Chattanooga is about like midday in Nashville. The only time that Chattanooga traffic looks like Nashville rush hour is if a tractor trailer overturns and blocks the interstate. And then the the interstate is the only thing standing still. There are state highways paralelling each of the interstates, though, so if traffic does slow down, I just hop off and cruise on until I'm past the wreck.

Kindred spirits

[pioti]

Just went through a lot of your questions as we moved here in 2007. This is what I found-
- Signal Mt was my first destination. self contained community which is appealing and had the best test scores in the public school system. I visited with the school principals/special ed teachers as my son requires some additional assistance (Asperger's). Both schools put me off as they seemed not accepting nor knowledgeable (have I tried drugs for my son was asked by 1 principal). It was even suggested that I try elsewhere. Gut feeling was good test scores because of the educated base but if you do not fit in or threaten the status quo it would be difficult to get the assistance required. People overall were nice and think about walden as less restrictions, lower taxes and same schools.
- Really liked North Shore- older community but was not impressed with the public schools there. CCA is a magnet school there which I have heard only good and GPS and Baylor are there. Could not get kids admitted mid year as we moved in Dec. I might have made a mistake of not giving it more consideration as I understand the schools are up and coming and we like the sidewalks, older homes and arty farty feel to the community.
- we decided on East Brainard based on Westview Elementary School. Also the new Middle/High school is being built there. Unfortunately you need a car to get around. Minimal sidewalks. It is close to Hamilton Mall and the shopping around it which I scoffed at first. It has been convenient though.
- The traffic in Chattanooga is not bad. Seems everything is no more than 30 minutes from anywhere else.

[chr1stys]

I'm a public school teacher in the Chattanooga area and, like any school system, there are good schools and better schools.
Generally the schools with the best reputations are those in the less urban zones. Soddy Daisy and Ooltewah schools have excellent reputations.
I have lived in the Chattanooga area all of my life and I couldn't imagine wanting to live any where else!

[su3y]

Originally Posted by gsn77

I second everything RiverView said. I live in North Chattanooga, so I have a 8-10 minute drive. I still moan about it when traffic slows down to a "stand still" (read 15 to 20 miles per hour) for a mile or so.

Never been to Mobile, but I do travel to Nashville for business pretty frequently. Rush hour in Chattanooga is about like midday in Nashville. The only time that Chattanooga traffic looks like Nashville rush hour is if a tractor trailer overturns and blocks the interstate. And then the the interstate is the only thing standing still. There are state highways paralelling each of the interstates, though, so if traffic does slow down, I just hop off and cruise on until I'm past the wreck.

So a 'standstill' is 15-20 miles per hour? Try driving in NJ rush hour where a 'stand still' is just that....you literally can shut your car off & sit there! Someone said houses down there are overpriced? Hey man try moving to South Jersey & try to buy a house. I priced some last month in teh Soddy Daisy/Hixson areas & I will be able to buy 2 houses in TN with what I will get for the 1 I am going to sell in NJ. I am 1 jersey girl who can not wait to move to the Chattanooga area which will be in 3-4 months.