Soon to be new to Cincinnati (Madeira, Wyoming: middle-class, section 8, transplants)
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We are looking to move to the suburbs of the city. We have yet to visit but I have found two areas that have peaked my interest. Which has the better school system between Batavia & West Clermont. We are married couple with 3 kids. The oldest will attend high school while the two youngest are still in daycare . I would like to buy a new single family home and I have been looking at neighborhoods by Drees Homes. One last thing. How are race relations out there? I am Black and my wife is mixed but appears white to most. Depending on where we go, we feel tension from both races. I look forward to reading the responses this post will generate.
My opinion is if you keep closer in to the city suburbs where the mix already exists the racial climate will be more suitable. That's not to say say Batavia, etc. are intolerant, just less accustomed to a racial mix. I hope your experiences in Cincinnati are rewarding and fulfilling.
^ I agree with kjbrill. I'm actually headed in the opposite direction of you within the next 18 months, probably Silver Spring or NoVa.
I can't fully answer your question since I do not have kids but I head out to Clermont County occasionally, so I do have some experience with the area.
Speaking as a Panamanian/Black male, more than likely you will not incur any problems out there despite what some people may tell you. While there is virtually no diversity anywhere in Clermont County , I doubt you will feel any tension. As long as you don't look like a rapper hosting an episode of MTV Cribs, you should be ok.
With that being said, you might receive the occasional "what are you doing here look" when you're out and about, but I don't really consider that racial tension.
IMO, race relations are okay here; not too bad but definitely not great either. It's a lot different from what I was accustomed to in CT, but overall not bad. It's hard to say if the race relations in the Cincy area will be an improvement over the Baltimore area because I've heard some negative things about that area as well.
Anyway, if you do decide to move here, I hope you and your family have a fun and enjoyable experience.
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Of the two, your better bet is West Clermont. It's a larger school system, so there inherently is a wider mix of students and residents; and, contrary to popular belief, not everyone who lives out there is a stereotypical flaming redneck.
When some "P & G'ers" died in a commuter-plane crash back around 1995, the surviving families successfully filed suit against the airline for operating flights in known bad weather. The widow of one of the deceased, already well housed in the city, decided to invest her share of the award in Wyoming real estate. Both she and her husband were AA, and the excellence of Wyoming's public education system offered an attractive alternative to keeping their children in private schools. (FYI, Wyoming Ohio existed before the state of the same name. It's an inner-ring suburb to the north of Cincinnati.) The house she selected was on a previously "lily White" block of unmistakably upper-middle-class dwellings. What was the negative fallout from a Black single mother's moving onto that street with her offspring? Zero. She happened to relocate a few doors down from my own parents, and all my dad had to say about it was that he'd held her husband in high esteem as a colleague.
The collective zeitgeist of Wyoming has evidently evolved in the same way that my folks, raised in the Jim Crow South, have. During my upbringing, the "colored section" of town was strictly demarcated. Other than a few scattered "pioneer" families, no Black people resided beyond the invisible boundary until the '80s. Even today, households "of color" (Hispanic and Asian also) are only infrequently found - but nobody bats an eye if one settles along their street. This is a significant attitude shift from not all that long ago. When fair-housing laws grew teeth toward the end of the '60s, some panic selling went on in neighborhoods abutting the "colored section." One block transitioned from all-White to Black-majority in the space of about three years. Yet in 2010, that same block has shifted back to sheltering mostly Caucasians. "People just don't worry about it that much any more," quoth my mother.
In Hartwell, the section of Cincinnati just south of Wyoming, people don't seem to be worrying about it that much any more either. From about 1950 on, that community was heavily peopled by Appalachians drawn to the city by well-paying jobs in manufacturing. It had its own tiny "colored section," and although many if not most of the paler citizens weren't hard-core racists there was a code of street justice in effect. Black folks who "didn't belong" on a given block soon found that out. 'tain't so today. While Whites still comprise a majority of the population in Hartwell, the percentage has shrunk. Now the sight of "people of color" on its streets and playgrounds is literally an everyday occurrence. BUT...there's no nervous wholesale real estate dealing happening. On the contrary - many of the gorgeous Victorian houses in parts of the neighborhood are being restored by eager buyers who know a sweet investment when they see one. Broken up into apartments to accommodate the Appalachian influx 30-60 years ago, these fixer-upper homes are being transformed back into the single-family showplaces they began life as. In the more modest portions of Hartwell, the streets remain free of litter and are bordered by immaculately-kept properties. Anyone can amble about the entire community safely and hang their hat any place they choose.
The burning question, then, is whether or not that same evolution can be extrapolated eastward. I'd answer with a qualified"yes." Both Wyoming and Hartwell are increasing their diversity without rancor largely because the class structure isn't affected. Tenants and buyers in either locale aren't being subsidized - in other words, no Section 8 in Wyoming and not much in Hartwell. What presents a threat to most White people (I dare say) is the prospect of households of any complexion on welfare sharing their neighborhood. Any newly developed community is likely to draw transplants from outside the area - the TO being a case in point. The investors are also likely to be well educated and therefore no strangers to "integrated" school and work settings. Camaraderie around occupying homes never previously lived in, in a location also new to many, should prevail over any racial hangups. The operative word, however, is "should."
Best o' luck to ye!
Thank you all for your input. I understand the various valid points. With that said, I feel that no matter where we end up we will be among so to be friends and therefor just fine. I look forward to our move. Anyone care to chime in on the Walton-Verona school district?
Consider Mariemont. I'd say that Mariemont and Wyoming are probably the two most desirable suburbs in Cincinnati. They also both come with top notch school systems.
Of course, I always recommend that people consider living in the city; Cincinnati has some great neighborhoods. However, in doing so, you may want to consider private schools.
My opinion? The farther you live from the city, the less of Cincinnati you actually get to know. Also, from a work opportunity standpoint, it's good to be centralized.
We are looking to move to the suburbs of the city. We have yet to visit but I have found two areas that have peaked my interest. Which has the better school system between Batavia & West Clermont. We are married couple with 3 kids. The oldest will attend high school while the two youngest are still in daycare . I would like to buy a new single family home and I have been looking at neighborhoods by Drees Homes. One last thing. How are race relations out there? I am Black and my wife is mixed but appears white to most. Depending on where we go, we feel tension from both races. I look forward to reading the responses this post will generate.
Dude, there are so many cool areas in Cincy that have homes built from the 1870s to the 1930's that living in a McMansion is almost a sin. Find something real. The workmanship that built those homes is something the new crap doesn't have.
Cincy is sitting on America's second San Francisco with all the awesome architecture wasting away in Over the Rhine. If all of Cincy were polished, it would give any city in America a run for its money.
As with any urban area, the closer you get to the urban core, the less anyone cares about what you are or what you do. Cincy has some hip upscale neighborhoods.
Speaking as a White guy, if we don't hear any Hip-Hop or see any spinners or otherwise get scared, we're cool. Still, Cincy is not known for being friendly to Blacks. I had a smart Black Doctor who got pulled over for DWB in Madeira. He got hot; the cop apologized, and he was on his way.
Anderson is a much better choice than Batavia. Although the city continues to spread out in all directions in terms of populated areas at a steady pace, Batavia is definitely not the best choice. Anderson Township would be a great choice, I know many people who live out there including the Fire Chief of the Union County FD and they all love it. You should consider looking at subdivisions along Little Dry Run Road.
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. I would like to buy a new single family home and I have been looking at neighborhoods by Drees Homes. One last thing. How are race relations out there? I am Black and my wife is mixed but appears white to most. Depending on where we go, we feel tension from both races. I look forward to reading the responses this post will generate.
