Lakewood Ohio advice (school, live, shops)

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by RedSoxFanGoingWest

I've heard that the school system is not good as it is part of the Cleveland public schools.

That's absolutely not true.

[NEmommy]

Originally Posted by dcgriffon

Lakewood Ohio, ghetto?
I may be moving to the Cleveland area this summer, and whilst doing research I decided that Lakewood seemed like a good place to move.
Its close to the water, houses are reasonable, it seems kind of trendy
and looks gay friendly. I am female in a relationship with a woman and we have two kids (and two dogs).

So I was all excited that I found an area to move to when along comes my brother telling me his friend who lives in Ohio said to STAY AWAY FROM LAKEWOOD...that it is very ghetto-like.

So I would like to find out what other Ohioans think because judging by what I see online, it seems like a cool place to live.

We are looking for a place that is family oriented, has good schools, shopping, coffee shops, views, things to do, friendly people and water, water, water!

PS please be honest!

Hi there!
I have not paid attn as to how many people who live in LKWD have responded, but I do live here, and want to move. It used to be THE place to live, but now, I'm not so sure. The city is outgrowing itself. It is great if your single, want the bar scene, close to downtown, if you work there, can walk to a store, affordable housing, and so on. Maybe someone without kids would find it to be great. Lakewood is not part of CLE schools, as someone pointed out, but is not getting "good grades" lately. Yes, we have built a few new schools, but it's not helping in any way. Don't get me wrong it's not REALLY BAD, but if you want good schools for your kids, go to GreatSchools.net , and you should be able to look it all up. And as to "water,water,water", yes you will be close to lake, but the water is not the best place to cool off during the summer, as a lot of times it is not safe to swim.
I hope you find what you're looking for, here or somewhere else, and good luck to you. Let me know if you need more info.

[dweller]

I think you would be happiest in the 117th area north of Detroit Rd as pointed out above. Either the Lakewood side or the Cleveland side of W 117th would be fine. These areas have great walkability, easy access to shopping and services, and a sizeable gay population. As for being ghetto, if you drive down detroit rd, it is noticeable that the area is on a decline. You have some teenage thugs walking around including a strange brand of white trash which is very prominient in NEO who can be identified by long baggy jeans, white tennis shoes, a wife beater, really pale skin, a beard, and being very skinny. At the same time though, if you hit hte bars in Lakewood on the weekend, you will find your high maintenance blonds, gays, business people, students, etc, so Lakewood is a mix of all types, with the undesirables (wannabe thugs) increasing slowly.

[dcgriffon]

Originally Posted by NEmommy

Hi there!
I have not paid attn as to how many people who live in LKWD have responded, but I do live here, and want to move. It used to be THE place to live, but now, I'm not so sure. The city is outgrowing itself. It is great if your single, want the bar scene, close to downtown, if you work there, can walk to a store, affordable housing, and so on. Maybe someone without kids would find it to be great. Lakewood is not part of CLE schools, as someone pointed out, but is not getting "good grades" lately. Yes, we have built a few new schools, but it's not helping in any way. Don't get me wrong it's not REALLY BAD, but if you want good schools for your kids, go to GreatSchools.net , and you should be able to look it all up. And as to "water,water,water", yes you will be close to lake, but the water is not the best place to cool off during the summer, as a lot of times it is not safe to swim.
I hope you find what you're looking for, here or somewhere else, and good luck to you. Let me know if you need more info.

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I did check out that site, Greatschools.net and I found the Lakewood schools are rated higher than the schools they are attending now in Mass,
so that is encouraging.

[NEmommy]

Originally Posted by dcgriffon

Hi,

Thanks for the info. I did check out that site, Greatschools.net and I found the Lakewood schools are rated higher than the schools they are attending now in Mass,
so that is encouraging.

No problem, also, make sure you rent before you buy, if you decide on Lakewood after all. Maybe for a few months, I'm sure there are a lot of doubles for rent, since you have 2 dogs, most apartment buildings have restrictions on pets and so on. It would be best if you could visit and maybe walk around, for a weekend and see what you think. And if you're working, where will that be, Lakewood, downtown or somewhere different, you don't want to be driving a whole lot at these gas prices!!!

[freedom_fighter777]

I lived in Lakewood for 4 years and I loved it. There is so much to do. There is more crime near the W 117th area, but its not that bad.

[ottomobeale]

Lakewood is a decent budget price choice.

For near the same money as Cleveland you get usable schools and city government that looks like it is run by Albert Einstein compared to Cleveland City.

Nope not as nice as Rocky River. Not nearly as expensive either.

[Eol]

I have been in Lakewood for about 2 years now (moved from Milwaukee) and if you are familiar with Milwaukee, you can best describe Lakewood as West Allis / Green Field / Green Dale and not the east side (literal east side, Shorewood, River West, or Bay View) ... or as somebody else stated here, a traditional working class white inner ring suburb of a rust belt city. I completely concur with renting first as I made the mistake of diving right in and buying. I ended up with a house I love on block I like in an area where I don't worry about locking my doors yet not breaking the bank. The problem is I also overpaid (not to bad, maybe 10K to 15K; I have seen worse even in Lakewood) and not sure I will be able to sell in three to five years at break even for what I paid (ja I bought right before the market crashed) and an overwhelming urge to leave Ohio period. Also with white flight picking up (even in my two years I have seen more and more ghetto moving in; parent might not be but their kids are) and the massive increase in whiggers (white thugs to be more PC) I def would have not bought in Lakewood had I rented first; def would have either headed further west to Bay Village or far far east out to Chagrin Falls. While I am not an old timer by any means, I just don't see Lakewood as a place to live in 10 years and I see it going the way of Euclid or Parma (dying now as we speak) .. I am sure folk will disagree with me who have lived here their whole life but they have emotional attachments to it (or they will say I just don't understand Lakewood and its cycles).

That being said, there are good things about Lakewood and its def better than the majority of Cleveland. The schools are being rebuilt and remodeled, high priced condo's (for Cleveland) are being put up (brings in more money and *better* (defined as less section 8, less criminal prone people with jobs)), you see rental properties being converted to single family homes, and depending on the block you have nice solid Mayberry like neighborhoods that are family friendly and everybody knows everybody. You can also walk anywhere and the Lakewood City park is a nice place for families; never felt unsafe anywhere I have been .. even in the crappy areas near 117 and Madison (or farther South).

If you are going to move here and buy (I got lucky though knowing what I know now AND if I decided to buy in Lakewood I would have moved father west / north) my advice is:

Move as far west and north as you can; general boundaries being you want to stay north of the railroad tracks (between Detroit and Clifton / Hwy 2) and as far away from 117 as you can get. Note here though than even near 117th all the way to Edgewater park anything on Lake Drive or north is good (and not cheap). There are also some nice neighborhoods just south of I-90 near the Rocky River Valley (get off at McKinley and head west).

While I am on the pulpit, avoid Rocky River. You have near the same community / amenities / issues in Rocky River as you do Lakewood but your house will be 50K to 100K more. People always give me the line "well we moved to Rocky River because of amazing schools" and don't buy that line of ****. Rocky River has some great public schools but Lakewood has even better private schools and six years of private school (7 through 12) is a lot less than 50K to 100K (the price you are paying for those public schools) .. save yourself some money and just move to Lakewood and use private (public is pretty good at the K-6 level) schools.

PS: One thing to note (and this doesn't bother me) is Lakewood has a growing Arab population. Only reason I know this is because (besides seeing them at the park all the time) couple cops and teacher I know doing nothing but complain about them. Just something to be aware of.

EDIT: Speaking of crime, it is really not that bad compared to the rest of Cleveland or any other major city. Lakewood (and Cleveland period) is the first major city I have lived in (and I have lived in Chicago, Milwaukee, Nashville, Charleston, Stuttgart, and El Paso) that I have never once been victimized (e.g. car stolen / broken into / house burgled / mugged) and rarely do I feel threatened (and when I do its mainly for no reason, just the gut instinct of seeing a group of young whiggers / blacks walking down the street ... you know logically they aren't really gang bangers; they just dress that way but you never know when they will have that suburban kid need to prove themselves more ghetto than the ghetto really is .. ja I grew up in the punk days and I remember trying to out punk the punks because I was a suburban punk .... kids do stupid ****, its not racial or cultural but that stupid **** can get you or others hurt or killed)

[BelieveInCleve]

Whoever said Lakewood is ghetto is very wrong. For the most part the city is very nice, not top-notch like a lot of the outer suburbs, but its nice for an urban area. Its not part of Cleveland, or part of the Cleveland schools either, Lakewood has a seperate school system. There are very small areas of Lakewood that have a good amount of crime, but they are hardly "ghetto areas", there is no area that bad in Lakewood.

[ohiodan]

Originally Posted by RedSoxFanGoingWest

Rocky River is a great place. My wife and I lived there for 2 years prior to moving to CO. The housing is affordable in comparison to other areas in the country. The school system (so I've heard) is wondeful as well. It still has that close proximity to the city of Cleveland as well.

I never thought Lakewood was as bad as people thought. I've heard that the school system is not good as it is part of the Cleveland public schools. Lakewood definitely offers more of a 'city' feel when compared to Rocky River.

Lakewood City Schools are managed by an independent school board and funded by property taxes assessed by the City of Lakewood. This model is true for the vast majority of suburbs in Cleveland and most of Ohio. Cleveland City Schools have nothing to do with Lakewood City Schools, nor any other part of its governmental structure. I think RedSoxFanGoingWest may have misunderstood how school systems in the state of Ohio work. I lived in Ohio for 30 years, so feel free to ask more questions if you have any. Thanks.