Lorain is a Joke (Cleveland, Cincinnati: townhouses, living, zoning)

[WeSoHood]

That part of Lorain isn't bad. Lorain covers a lot of land.

[drb85650]

Understood. But to read the threads here, you would be hard pressed to believe anything but the absolute worst about the entire place.

[WeSoHood]

Originally Posted by drb85650

Understood. But to read the threads here, you would be hard pressed to believe anything but the absolute worst about the entire place.

That is true. There are some nice areas of Lorain. Although, they are dying because the school system is lacking therefor families aren't really moving into the area.

[prncssjoanne]

Lorain is falling apart, yes... And I think the city officials and the police department could be doing a better job of things... But in my honest opinion, Elyria's worse... No matter where you go, all you run into is drugs and drama... I pretty much grew up in Elyria and moved to Lorain in 2007... Crime in Lorain is really up there... I guarantee if a house is empty, the pipes are probably gone because the crackheads steal them... If you leave to go somewhere, hopefully you have dogs (like rottweilers or pitt bulls), or someone's going to end up breaking into your house. The water company is a joke because they tell you they're going to come out and turn on your water, but they take a week or more to do it...

[1watertiger]

drb85650,, im glad you enjoyed N.E.Ohio !!! tell all your friends about what a great city we have and visit again soon.

[BelieveInCleve]

Lorain is a lot worse than Elyria. I grew up in both Lorain and Elyria (Westside/Central Lorain, and Southside Elyria), and Lorain is without a doubt worse. Dont get me wrong, the southside of Elyria is no joke, drugs/crime down there are through the roof. Now that you mention it I just went down there today, Im estimating about 1/4 of the houses down there are empty or abandoned/boarded up, rundown with overgrown vegetation cracked sidewalks and garbage all over the place. And dont get me started on Wilkes, South Park, and The Village (and all the others). A couple months back that girl got killed, a bullet in the head from an AK-47, of course it was at Gas USA...The southside is, was, and probably always will be really bad.

But overall Lorain is much worse. With Elyria you have the whole Northside thats really nice, and the Eastside which for the most part is still really nice. The Westside is kind of in the middle, good and bad. In Lorain the only nice parts are: Eastside near the lake, right on the lake, SW side, and far SE side in South Lorain. The bad is: Pretty much the whole area of Central (North and South), the Westside, South Lorain, and Eastside away from the lake. Not to mention Lorain looks 10X worse than Elyria. I looked up the crime before and posted it for Lorain but got Elyrias too. I estimated both the cities city-data crime index: Lorain-780, Elyria-500. So Lorains a good amount worse in crime.

To DRB85650, like I said before, its good to see you had an enjoyable stay here in NE Ohio. But on the other topic, from your post I can see you didnt go through the bad areas though. The only part you mentioned near bad areas is st. Joseph, thats very close to some of the roughest areas in the city, though St.Joseph and a few surrounding blocks are the nicest in that area, they try to keep Broadway nice just as most cities do for the main streets.

[prncssjoanne]

Even Broadway's getting pretty rundown anymore... The rest of the streets are so full of potholes, it's amazing anyone still has tires.

[NewToCA]

Just from a historical perspective, I used to go to Lorain quite a bit when I lived east of the city in the late 1970's, and it was considered a depressed and run down city back then.

Just want to add that it isn't like the city was a shining light 30 years ago, so the challenges have been around for quite awhile.

[BelieveInCleve]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

Just from a historical perspective, I used to go to Lorain quite a bit when I lived east of the city in the late 1970's, and it was considered a depressed and run down city back then.

Just want to add that it isn't like the city was a shining light 30 years ago, so the challenges have been around for quite awhile.

I agree.

But then again Ive heard the opposite also. I heard Lorain was a pretty nice place (for the most part) from the 20s-70s (estimated) then it started getting bad. Im assuming because there was still a lot of jobs and the ghettos were contained to small areas, which could make it seem like a nice place. But at the same time, Ive heard people try to convince me Cleveland was a GREAT place to live in the 70s, now I wasnt alive then but I hear the opposite. Cleveland was murder capital in the 70s, the riots just got over and were still going, forced busing started which KILLED the city, anybody with money left the city in record numbers, the mafia was huge and nearly ran the whole city, and worst of all the jobs were leaving FAST. Im not the smartest man in the world but that doesnt sound great to me at all.

[drb85650]

Originally Posted by 1watertiger

drb85650,, im glad you enjoyed N.E.Ohio !!! tell all your friends about what a great city we have and visit again soon.

thanks, we have been since returning. It is our desire to move to the Cleveland area within the next year. Our son is even considering investing in a few homes there. Arizona is wonderful in some ways, but it's not home.
I recognize we didn't see all of Lorain and only ventured slightly into East Cleveland. but like south and west Phoenix, all cities have the "bad" sides. Phoenix seems unique in that good and bad neighborhoods are mixed for the most part, public housing across from exclusive enclaves. Only far north Scottsdale and parts of Fountain Hills escape this predicament. And they have their share of crime too.