moving to chattanooga (East Ridge, East Brainerd, Signal Mountain: relocate, health insurance, travel)

[southgirl]

My husband may be getting a job out there. Everthing I'm reading online is not so good. We have tree small children and would like to live close to his work. What are some safe family areas?

[TriDad]

what's not so good about Chattanooga? Is someone writing bad stuff?

[Grizzlybear34]

Originally Posted by TriDad

what's not so good about Chattanooga? Is someone writing bad stuff?

Hold Tridad back, them's fightin' words!

[southgirl]

I have never been there. So I have no clue. Now I know ever place had a few bad part. When I get online I really got a little scared because of all the crime out there. Now I know not to take all that to heart. I just want to know were a good area is to raise my children and still be close to my husbands work in the area code 37416. All I want to to get more education on were I am moving to.

[u4icmusic]

I am moving there in a few months, and found several very nice areas to live in. Like any mid-sized city, Chattanooga has it's share of drugs, poverty and crime. You should make a trip there first, like I did, to look at neighborhoods and talk to the residents. You may even want to rent for a while, like Tridad did, before buying a house to make sure you are in the right area. Personally, if you have kids, you should check out Signal Mountain, Hixson, Ooltewah and East Brainerd areas. Avoid Highland Park, St. Elmo and downtown. Parts of East Ridge are also really nice. You can search the internet for crime statistics and demographics to see what suits your needs the best.

[HECDEB]

I have lived in Chattnooga for 9 months, moved from CT. It's a nice place, but we don't plan on staying here more than 2 years. This town has a huge devide between the rich and middle class. The public school system is in great need of administrative and physical repair. It seems that the many private schools in this area get more attention; I have come to realize that most of those who work in the public school system send their kids to the private schools, and they have no intention of fixing the public school system...except how they can demand more money to pay for their childern private education. Since moving down here, we have seen more car accidents then up north....the teaching of young drivers by the DMV does not exist. Health Insurance coverage is horrible.....I am still trying to compare it to other local employers.....but have yet to be impressed. The city does not care about the enviroment.....just research recycling, and the TN river in Chattanooga. About the river....I am still trying to understand how drinking water comes from a river which is heavily used by boats and has factories dumping into it....supposedly it's within safety limits....go figure. Considering the price of gas....the city does not have much family orineted places to go too. One would have to travel to Atlanta to enjoy it's many attractions....to bad public transportation (train) does not exist in this region. So unless your wealthy.....I would not recommend Chattanooga as a place to relocate with Kids.

[Mary77]

HECDEB-

What about Soddy Daisy? Would you say that Soddy Daisy is far enough away from Chattanooga to be different? How about the schools there?

[HECDEB]

Originally Posted by Mary77

HECDEB-

What about Soddy Daisy? Would you say that Soddy Daisy is far enough away from Chattanooga to be different? How about the schools there?

I hear good things about Soddy Daisy......but if you work in chattanooga you'll have to deal with the traffic and the cost of Gas.

[TriDad]

how about work in Soddy and live in Soddy? they have companies that hire people there.

I haven't heard bad things about S-D schools

[jkmewright]

Where to start with your post Hecdeb...

Schools - I agree with you about the schools, kinda. The school closest to my home has advanced a child into the 4th grade who cannot read. That's amazing to me BUT we also have a school in our district that another child attends. The homework she brings home for the 4th grade takes my whole department to do and we're not idiots by far. My point is that we DO have some awesome public schools here and some bad ones too. Yes, we need some major changes and a total revamp in some areas but I can't say that private schools are our only option if you live in Hamilton County. That's simply not true and NO most of HCDE employees do not send their own children to private schools. Some do, some don't, not most. We spend a HUGE amount of money to run our schools and yes some of that is superfluous that I can say for sure.

Insurance - My health insurance is great. Really. It has always been so, no matter where I worked. I am a typical middle class eight to five worker so I don't have some special upgraded package either.

Pollution - In 1969 Chattanooga was voted the dirtiest city in the country! We had some major problems. Remember that this city was basically an industrial and transportation hub. Smoke stacks belching into the sky and fog so thick you could not see. What did we know back then? Not much except keep the people employed whether they can breathe or not. Things have changed immensely. Do a google search of Chattanooga and pollution. You will see our history. It's not perfect but it's good. We don't have trains but we do have Carta and the largest fleet of electric buses in the WORLD! We've come a long way baby.

Recycling - You called it right there. We have a pitiful recycling program BUT we do have one. I would like to see more changes there and hopefully it will happen.

Family attractions - I don't know what you consider FUN for your family but I know that this city has so much to offer that we have a hard time deciding what to do. Skateparks, riverfront, walking bridge, Raccoon Mtn, Lkt Mtn, ChooChoo, outdoor movies... You get the point. Get out there and check it out.

Maybe as a short term resident you have not witnessed the amazing changes in Chattanooga in order to appreciate the metamorphosis it has undergone. It's not great, that much is true BUT it is good. Good enough for me