Moving to work in Brookpark-Airport area (Cleveland, Elyria: mortgage, new home, neighborhood)

[schmigr]

Thanks for all the great info on these threads. Although one should be able to glean most of what they need from these posts, I thought I'd go ahead and start a thread based on our particular case.

Our family may be moving to the Cleveland area early this year. I would work at NASA Glenn in the Brookpark-Airport area. With three kids, schools are the most important factor in selecting a place to live. We've done a lot of research so far, and the Westlake, Bay Village, Strongsville and Avon Lake areas appear to be best. However when you look at national statistics and polls, a few of the east side schools, namely Solon and Chagrin Falls, place much higher.

My main question is, what kind of commute could one expect living in Solon or even Chagrin Falls and working in Brookpark?

Also, is the quality of the best east side school districts that muuch better than those on the west side?

Thanks for the help!

[MABCle]

The commute time from solon is about 23 miles and according to Mapquest in good traffic it will take about 28 minutes by car. This is with good traffic. In another thread I mentioned I-480 (The most direct route between the Aiport area and Solon) is Cleveland's busiest interstate. It gets backed up alot during rush hours especially around the I-77, I-480 interchange. So it could take almost an hour on certain days depending on traffic.

Solon does have strong schools, but so does Strongsville. I don't believe there is that much of a disparity between the school districts.

[schmigr]

Thanks. I assume that the commute time would be even worse when it snows.

[schmigr]

Although we're only considering public schools right now, we are curious about the private schools in the Cleveland area. Seems like there are a lot of good parochial schools, but we don't know much about the secular ones. There appeared to be a few on the east side in the Chagrin Falls area. Are there any on the west side that have an empahsis on college prep?

Thanks again!

[soylentboy]

For everyone out there, you are no more than 30 minutes away from anywehre in the Greater Cleveland Area. A traffic jam here is 15 minutes. Yes the weather can get bad but we're prepared for it.

Some private schools on the West Side: Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville, Church of the Open door in Elyria, various Catholic shcools like St. Edwards, St. Ignatious and Padua. Magnificat for girls. Holy Name....

I think the East side Schools are great but I think The Medina and Strongsville systems are great and to the West, Avon.

[schmigr]

Thanks again.

It sounds like Westlake and Bay Village are similar in terms of properties and schools. Is there a big difference between these areas and Avon Lake? Admittedly, Avon Lake is farther from Brookpark, but it may have other advantages that I'm not aware of.

[soylentboy]

I might be wrong but I think that if you were able to afford the housing, Westlake and Bay would take a slight edge over Avon Lake at least in reputation.

[bella1977]

Avon Lake is older and more established (and smaller) It's neighbor to the south, Avon, is a rapidly growing community. There's lot of new shopping and houses being built in Avon.

I grew up in the Westlake/North Olmsted area, and it's still a nice area (although N. Olmsted is going through a lot of changes...not necessarily for the best)

Westlake and Bay Village are both very different communities. Bay Village has an older housing stock. Westlake has tons of new homes and some older farm-type houses. I think their school districts are comparable.

Honestly, if i had the opportunity to move back, I would choose Rocky River or even the WestPark neighborhood of Cleveland to live in. Both communities would offer an easy commute into Brookpark (cut through the valley and over Rocky River Drive or Brookpark Road), and offer some great, older housing choices. Rocky River is obviously more posh and has great schools. WestPark is more established blue collar, but a closely-knit community. I attended a private girls high school in WestPark (St. Joseph Academy) and have always loved the neighborhood.

Good luck with your choices!

[Pinipeanut]

My step dad works at NASA, and to be honest with you, you are going to want to stay on the east side. There is no way that you are going to want to make that commute everyday. This is Cleveland, we get horrible weather! And people just cant learn how to drive around here. We live in the Westpark area of Cleveland, Irish community, which is really cute, but you dont want the cleveland school system! You are good with the choices that you have picked out! The closest cities to NASA are Brookpark, right on the other side of the airport, Fairview, right on the other side of the valley, and North Olmsted which is right down the street. Strongsville is very nice and doesnt have the snobby attitude that the others do.

[HeyKoolAid]

If you are looking for good schools and want to work at NASA, I would NOT move to the West Park area of Cleveland. I just left there and moved to Strongsville. Although the commute from West Park to NASA would be very short, Cleveland schools are among the worst you can find. There are good private schools in Cleveland, but you can find good public schools most places on the West side of Cleveland. My mortgage was $850 a month. To send my 2 kids to private school in Cleveland would cost almost $600 a month. I just moved to a better city and put the money into my new, larger mortgage.

That being said, it would help if we knew what price range you had in mind for your house. Do you want a newer or older house?

There are great suburbs on the East side, but it would take a long time to get to NASA and I personally wouldn't even consider it. Depends on how long you wish to live in your car.

Hope we can help.