Chattanooga "A great place to live" ???? (Cleveland, Signal Mountain: apartments, how much)

[Delihut]

New to list & living north of Charlotte, NC. Interesting in hearing about trendy, but affordable smaller (1500 sqft or less) homes near downtown Chatt. Would that be Riverview or North Chatt area?? Or older neighborhoods that are well kept/quiet. Is it true that Chattanooga runs a fleet of electric buses that are *free*?? If so, (or even if not) what nice areas are along the busline near downtown? We are also interested in the organic/health foods and the whole grocery conversation is pretty dismal. Okay, waht is the arts scene like? Theatre? Public library system? We both have library degrees & have done other jobs in higher education.
Thanks & really appreciate any info --

[Troop]

CAN YOU SEND ME ANY INFO. ON POLK COUNTY? SURROUNDING AREAS, REALTORS ANYTHING OF USE//HELP.....or....LEAD ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION....? SOUNDS LIKE THIS MIGHT BE WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR...... APPRECIATE YOUR HELP IN THIS IN ANYTHING YOU CAN DO... LORD BLESS....

[caneschick]

Troop,
Ive been looking into land in Polk County with little success. Not much listed on the web. I found two developments near the entrance to the National Forest. One is called Big Frog, the other is Ocoee Mountain Club. Both are asking approx. $39,000 to $59,000 for less than an acre. Any info on these properties or Polk County land for sale would be greatly appreciated.

Caneschick

[SPLIT]

Free electric CARTA buses on main street as they are MADE here in Chatt. Use as promotion, less pollution. Inside North terminal near baseball stadium. South point is Chattanooga Choo Choo, convention, Holiday Inn, Train car -hotel center/ gardens.
Polk co link for chamber is WWW.ocoeetn.org . 800 633-7655 mostly only the river for white water and summer rental ,outfitters. Not much town housing there yet. Building lots around S.E. part of state about $20k range. Mtn top Brow acreage will be more, but large supply at this time............[IMG][/IMG]

[jkmewright]

Originally Posted by Delihut

New to list & living north of Charlotte, NC. Interesting in hearing about trendy, but affordable smaller (1500 sqft or less) homes near downtown Chatt. Would that be Riverview or North Chatt area?? Or older neighborhoods that are well kept/quiet. Is it true that Chattanooga runs a fleet of electric buses that are *free*?? If so, (or even if not) what nice areas are along the busline near downtown? We are also interested in the organic/health foods and the whole grocery conversation is pretty dismal. Okay, waht is the arts scene like? Theatre? Public library system? We both have library degrees & have done other jobs in higher education.
Thanks & really appreciate any info --

I don't know what you consider affordable but North Chatt/Riverview/North shore is just what you are looking for. I personally could not afford to live there and the area is BOOMING so prices are going up as we speak. It's a great great area so if you get a chance to live there, go for it. There is an organic grocery store there that I love to shop in called Greenlife. Expensive when compared to the chains but the food there is wonderful. There are free electric buses but those are just small shuttles downtown. The busline runs just about all over town but they are not free. We have a huge library downtown that is amazing. The Hunter art museum is also on the riverfront across from north chatt area. We do have lots of independent shows and close enough to Atlanta to check out the arts there as well. We also have UT Chattanooga so lots of events to be found.

[Troller]

drfranklin,

I don't know what type of physician you are, but we are potentially relocating to Chattanooga with three young kids and would love your opinion regarding the medical/pediatric care. We're coming from the northeast with GREAT schools and what we think is quality medical care.

Troller

[acc77]

Dr. franklin,split,all of you,great information! thank you.Looking for more info about polk county and the less expensive lots,thank again for your help.

[drfranklin]

Dear Troller,

I'm a Family Medicine physician practicing in the Chattanooga area. My family and I moved here about a year ago from South Carolina. We are still amazed at the amount of activities (especially for children) in the area for a city this size.

Chattanooga has excellent medical facilities. It has three main hospitals: Parkridge, Memorial, and Erlanger. There is also T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital (part/adjacent to Erlanger). Erlanger is a large teaching institution with many residents.

Pediatric care is very good in the area. Please PM me if need a specific pediatrician or FP recommendation.

Schools in the area (Hamilton county) are a different story. As SPLIT (and others) have stated, public schools are hit and miss. The best public schools in the area IMHO are on Signal Mountain and perhaps in the Ooltewah area. As you may know, there will be two new Middle/High combined schools in the Signal Mountian and Ooltewah areas. There are over 40 (!) private schools in Hamilton county area. Most are excellent, a few are nationally renowned (McCallie and GPS). Those best private schools are incredibly expensive. I have two young daughters (and another son on the way). We plan to move to Signal Mountain and send the kids to public school (save the private school money for their college eduation). I foresee real estate to become somewhat "pricey" once the new Signal Mountain Middle/High School is completed (2008). Also, some folks live just across the border in Georgia where schools are known to be better (especially elementary/ intermediate) - however, you must pay the GA state income tax

If you (or others) have any other questions, please let me know.

drfranklin

[callsnap]

As a Girls Preparatory School (GPS) graduate I have to echo drfranklin’s sentiments. I'm claiming McCallie as well since they had an active exchange program between the two when I attended. These are wonderful learning institutions. They do offer FINANCIAL AID. They go as far as to offer full scholarships. Please don’t rule them out based on cost alone. I’m headed home for an alumni fundraiser in April. Both schools have an impressive and extensive alumni network. An anecdote: When I was in business school, I obtained my first summer internship at the corporate HQ of a Fortune 100 company in Chicago through a McCallie grad who was 10 years my senior. He didn't know me at all, but he knew I went to GPS. He told me it was all he needed to know to secure me an interview. That’s the type of network you’d expect at the college level.

I had friends in public schools that turned out to be responsible contributors to society as well. There are some great public schools in Chattanooga. I simply couldn’t resist a plug for my alma mater.

[pioti]

callsnap- Do these schools take kids with minor learning disabilities or do they only take the best and brightest. With all the entrance/admission requirements it seems you aleady haveto be in the upper crust to be admitted.