What Can You Tell Me about Solon

[gouldnm]

Originally Posted by TBideon

Good schools and a fairly prosperous commercial sector - but it's somewhat a sterile suburb. By diversity do you mean people of different ethnicities, sexual orientations, religions, etc, because it has that in spades.

Yes, that is exactly what I mean. My problem with suburbs in general is that they tend to be homogenous, but I like the idea of a suburb that has the kind of diversity that you normally only see in cities.


One thing you should know about me:


I am from a 100% Russian-Jewish ethnic background (hence, my preference for the East Side), while my husband is British/German/Scottish/Scandinavian and comes from an Ohio farming family with a father who worked in a steel mill (in other words, a "typical" Ohioan!).


I have four Latino nieces and nephews (through adoption), a brother-in-law who is half-Arab and half-Irish and was born in Belize, as well as an Afro-Carribean cousin (through intermarriage). I also have a half-brother who was raised as a German Lutheran, who only recently found out about his Jewish ethnicity (and his connection to me) through a gene test on ancestry.com.


Try to imagine what our family gatherings are like and you will understand why diversity is so important to me.

To me living in a homogenous suburb, even with people from my own ethnic background, is my idea of hell!

[gouldnm]

Originally Posted by WRnative

So, in retirement, you don't want to live conveniently close to Cleveland's cultural amenities in University Circle, nor to downtown? You don't value good mass transit connections?

Originally Posted by WRnative

I'm racking my brain for small towns in Greater Cleveland with significant diversity, I can think of only Oberlin and Painesville. You might enjoy Oberlin. It has new construction downtown, a nice public square, a college town vibe, and perhaps the best cultural amenities of any small town in the U.S. I'm not overly familiar with the town, but I doubt it has much new construction. And Oberlin has celebrated diversity for well over 150 years.

I don't need to live right next door to the cultural amenities unless I were to take advantage of them on a daily basis. But I'm guessing that I'd only be using them on a weekly basis, in which case Solon should be close enough. Public transportation is a nice-to-have but not essential. We haven't noticed any difficulties driving/parking in Cleveland, especially after dealing with places like D.C. and Chicago.


I haven't ruled out the downtown, however, so the information is still appreciated.

The other places might be too far out from the city for me. As a retired person, I'm not sure I'd really want to live in a college town. But thanks for the suggestions.

I'll definitely check out all the information that you've provided in some of your other posts. You are like a walking Encyclopedia for Cleveland, and it is very much appreciated!