West Park area?

[TheCLE]

Originally Posted by gtsurfer05

South of Puritas seemed kinda shady to me when I was out there, the projects are south of Puritas/Bellaire right? I've heard that the area south of 71 and around 130th is bad from someone that lives there.

This is the neighborhood of my youth. Unfortunetly you are correct. The Longmead area is the "ghetto" of West Park. The Bellaire Garden Projects are what you are referring to and they are technically north of Puritas ... Puritas turns into Bellaire at 130th. I used to live across the street from the projects. It's not a great place, but I've never had any major problems. Even once I moved out I would go back to get my haircut or hangout with old friends and I only got into one altercation and that was at Emory Park playing basketball. Still, I don't know if I would live there again. This goes with another thread, but it's alot like the Southside of Elyria ... But at least the Southside of Elyria you have larger homes, the homes in in the area around 130th and Bellaire are small and for the most part run down.

I'll give my overall take on West Park.

I already described the area from W. 130th and Bellaire up to Memphis (117th) above.

Then you have the area south of Puritas/Bellair along 130th. That area is pretty similiar to the above area. Not quite as bad. But it's made up of smaller, and in some cases more run down homes. Those two neighborhoods pretty much make up the "Longmead" area.

The area 130th and Rocky River Dr. on the southern edge is a little better. There are some nicer homes ... moreso on the western side of 150th.

South of Puritas on the east side Rocky River is mainly the Riverside Projects. I don't think anybody is looking to relocate there, so I won't go any further. On the opposite side of Rocky River is a blue-collar neighborhood. It's not bad. One of my best friends lives there and I nor he has ever had any problems (though vice recently busted his neighbor's house for selling drugs). Still that area is on the more "less desirable" side.

Other than that, the neighborhood is not a bad place to live if you don't mind the Cleveland public schools or plan on sending your kids to private schools. There are some apartments along Rocky River between Puritas and Lorain, but the side streets are well-kept homes. There area also some apartments on Puritas by 150th. The only other area I have some knwoledge about is the area on 140th over by John Marshall. Another friend of mine lives over there. There are a lot of doubles with mainly renters living in them. But a lot of nice, bigger homes that are owned.

The best part of the area to me is the part north of Rocky River and Lorain (Kamms Corners) as you are heading toward Lakewood and along Warren Road (150th) again heading toward Lakewood. I won't forget the suburban-type developments around Grayton and Puritas.

Overall, people like to say either West Park or Old Brooklyn are the nicest areas in Cleveland. It's pretty accurate, though I think the "bad" areas of West Park are worse than the "bad" areas of Old Brooklyn. On the flipside, I think the "good" areas of West Park are better than the "good" areas of Old Brooklyn.

[TheCLE]

Originally Posted by Cle440

Come on, Sandusky is not too bad. I used to go there all the time, and that wasnt too long ago. Its definitely nowhere near Clevelands crime rate. I mean its not suburban but its not that bad of a city.

I don't want to take this thread in a different direction, but I can't resist this one.

Cle440, you are sticking up for his neighborhood in Sandusky, while shooting down the southside of Elyria. Sounds like he lives in an area similiar to the southside with the "70 perecent rentals". But it's "Come one" to him, but at the same time "I would never buy a house on the southside."

I guess this is where I'll chime in and say to the Sandusky poster that I understand your frustration for your neighborhood. It's good to see you at least tried to make it better. I'll say that neighborhoods like those could be great if there was more people like you willing to make them better. That is what areas like southside Elyria, Lorain and Sandusky need.

P.S. I know Sandusky as a whole isn't necessarly bad. But it is more similar to Lorain than it is to Elyria. There are neighborhoods in Sandusky much worse than the southside of Elyria.

[jrod4]

I just moved from North Olmsted and must say that we really enjoyed our time there. We just wanted more land so we built in N. Ridgeville. We were very close to Great Northern (lots of restaurants and shopping) and 480 (access to everywhere, 15 min. from downtown) and even the Metroparks are two minutes away for walks with our dogs.

I never once saw any criminal activity at the apartments by us or even at the mall so those descriptions are very old and do not apply anymore. North of Lorain are some very nice houses, but we just couldnt find the right mix of sq. ft and yard so we went further west.

I also know a lot of people in Brookpark and this city sounds ideal for the original poster. great communities, lots of parks, and pretty good schools

And my limited experience of West Park has been of the area around Puritas which wasnt the best area, but it sounds like there are nicer parts of the city

Good luck

[rugercaptain]

Originally Posted by TheCLE

I don't want to take this thread in a different direction, but I can't resist this one.

Cle440, you are sticking up for his neighborhood in Sandusky, while shooting down the southside of Elyria. Sounds like he lives in an area similiar to the southside with the "70 perecent rentals". But it's "Come one" to him, but at the same time "I would never buy a house on the southside."

I guess this is where I'll chime in and say to the Sandusky poster that I understand your frustration for your neighborhood. It's good to see you at least tried to make it better. I'll say that neighborhoods like those could be great if there was more people like you willing to make them better. That is what areas like southside Elyria, Lorain and Sandusky need.

P.S. I know Sandusky as a whole isn't necessarly bad. But it is more similar to Lorain than it is to Elyria. There are neighborhoods in Sandusky much worse than the southside of Elyria.

Actually, it's "her" neighborhood. I know the screen name throws people. Anyway, some out-of-towners may think Sandusky extends to all of the commercial and higher-dollar residential areas on Rt. 250, East Perkins Ave. (Hoty developments) and areas near the Plum Brook Country Club. That's Perkins Township. Sandusky consists of mostly older housing (lots of pre-WWII structures that have been converted to two-and-three family dwellings), old vacant factories, a ghost town for a downtown, one gated high-dollar residential community on the east side, and yes, Cedar Point.

Run-down neighborhoods and Section 8 housing abound. The City has its share of high-profile drug busts, more murders than should occur in a town of 27,000, and a slashing of City services that includes significant cuts in police, fire, street services and housing inspections. McJobs predominate as it's a touristy place in the summer. A lot of tourists stay in the hotels on Rt. 250, go to Cedar Point, eat at the chain restaurants, and never really see Sandusky. It's blighted and it's sad. Combine that with the recent scandal in the City's Housing Department regarding the improper distribution of Federal funds targeted for low-income housing rehabs and one can easily see the City circling the drain. All of the fancy condo developments in the world won't bring it back. Sad. I'm sorry to be leaving my hometown, but I have to get out before I'm trapped.

[Cle440]

Originally Posted by TheCLE

I don't want to take this thread in a different direction, but I can't resist this one.

Cle440, you are sticking up for his neighborhood in Sandusky, while shooting down the southside of Elyria. Sounds like he lives in an area similiar to the southside with the "70 perecent rentals". But it's "Come one" to him, but at the same time "I would never buy a house on the southside."

I guess this is where I'll chime in and say to the Sandusky poster that I understand your frustration for your neighborhood. It's good to see you at least tried to make it better. I'll say that neighborhoods like those could be great if there was more people like you willing to make them better. That is what areas like southside Elyria, Lorain and Sandusky need.

P.S. I know Sandusky as a whole isn't necessarly bad. But it is more similar to Lorain than it is to Elyria. There are neighborhoods in Sandusky much worse than the southside of Elyria.

I understand what you are trying to say, but Im saying it as someone who spent a good part of my childhood on the southside of Elyria and I have seen all the things that happen down there. I also spent part of my childhood in Lorain and I visited Cleveland, and also Sandusky more than a few times.

I will agree with you that Sandusky is more like Lorain than Elyria. Lorain and Sandusky for the most part are more run down, they are also port cities on a lake. As far as decay Sandusky is much worse than Elyria as a whole, but I cant find any areas in Sandusky that are worse crime-wise than the Southside of Elyria. The bad areas in Sandusky and Lorain are more industrial areas than the Southside. South Elyria is mostly residential with some corner stores, but even though it doesnt look really bad, its a lot worse than it looks. If you check the Elyria Police website, the Southside is one of the smallest areas but has the most crime incidents of any area in Elyria. The rest of Elyria for the most part is nice though, especially the East, SE, and Northside.

[The original Gcube]

Cleveland schools are declining fast and were not well to start with, the homes in cleveland are best in west park but the berea schools are outstanding. that covers berea brookpark and middleburge ht.s the Metroparks are great, thats a park that surrounds the city. great trails to bike walk and run. emergency service in cleveland sucks. stay to the burbs west park may be better than rest of cleveland but its still cleveland. any west suburb is good, I heard avon schools were not good but never got ther to see for myself.