Is Cleveland Heights A Good Place to Live? (Canton: foreclosures, public schools)

[Steve36]

Originally Posted by micsoloist

My wife and I are strongly considering a condo in Cleveland Heights. We want safety and artsy and eclectic and fun. Is this a good area?

Cleveland Heights is a pretty big city with very disparate neighborhoods so your question is impossible to answer without more detail regarding where the condo is.

The part of CH that really fits your stated desires would be the area extending from Little Italy eastward to Coventry staying south of Mayfield Rd and as far south as North Park rd. to include the Cedar-Fair area.

Obviously, you didn't ask for financial advice but I'd really run the numbers before buying a condo in CH. The combination of high taxes, condo fees, other assessments not included in the monthly fees (can be huge if the building is old) and low housing costs with stagnant or declining values doesn't make CH a great market for condos.

Also, a word of warning: when it comes to issues of crime and schools there are a lot of people here in CH who emulate the three wise monkeys My opinions are contrary to those that have been expressed here but instead of telling you how average to crappy the schools are and how unsafe some areas of the city are I'll just encourage you to do the research on your own before you buy. There are lots of good things about the city, we would be here if there weren't, but CH has both its good and bad.

Steve

[Steve36]

Originally Posted by freedom_fighter777

It is a very liberal city. Also the cops there are known for violating peoples civil rights.

If only that was meant to be sarcastic it would have been perfect

[melonheadjujube]

In a word: yes. Yes! Yes, yes, yes.

Cleveland Heights is a great place to live.

Cain Park is a treasure. There is every housing option imaginable, from apartments to condos, from bungalows to mansions. The school system has much to offer, my two kids did well there. It is the school district of choice for the arts. Members of the Cleveland Orchestra send there kids to Heights schools, fwiw. I'll second CALarrick's comments re: outer-burb bias.

[melonheadjujube]

One more thing, since someone implied that Cedar and Lee is dangerous: Cedar-Lee has great restaurants as well as the Cedar-Lee movie theater, a foreign/indie movie house. I lived there for years. It is safe.

Now, Cedar-Lee is where the high school is located, and there have been some incidents involving students at the end of the school day, but it is generally amongst themselves and I would say the city has gotten more effective in handling this.

[Krouse0807]

I have my own quick questions about CH. My husband and I are very new to the area and we are renting a home in CH, in the Forest Hill neighborhood. The neighborhood is quiet and seems very nice. We do not have kids and will probably move before we have to worry about school issues, so my questions is about the Forest Hill neighborhood. Any opinions? Thoughts? I can take the good and the bad... thanks!

[Steve36]

Originally Posted by melonheadjujube

I'll second CALarrick's comments re: outer-burb bias.

That's very odd. I don't see the outer-burb bias you speak of. Considering that the Cleveland metro area has a population of 2.25 million while the city proper's population makes up only 425K of that, it should be expected that many of the discusions here focus on the suburbs. If anything, I've seen a bias toward the inner ring suburbs (Lakewood, CH, Shaker) and the trendy city neighborhoods (Tremont, OC, LI, 4th) which I attribute to the fact that our most active posters live in these areas.
Can you provide examples of the outer burb bias you see?

[shakeababy]

Great, fabulous neighborhoods. If you're still in the young-professional sages of your lives, this is a great choice. When you have kids older than 6 years, you might want to re-assess your housing, or pay for pvt. edumacation :-)

[Tstorm8211]

For a city/suburb of its size (50k+), CH is a fairly safe city. Don't take my word for it, check Cleveland Magazine or local crime records. I live north of Mayfield and in the summer I frequently see families walking at night with no concern for their safety. I think saying that anything north of Mayfield is not safe is a overly broad generalization. In fact, the sole murder to occur in the city 2 years ago occured "south" of Mayfield when a police office was killed by a mentally deranged man. Someone said visiting Cain park during events is safe and I'd agree with that 100%. Going there at night, when there's no events isn't dangerous, but I'd be cautious. Yes, the property taxes are OUTRAGEOUS! However, it goes, in part, to pay for CH's great city services which includes our draconian police force which keeps the city reasonable safe. CH schools are not bad. However, they could be improved.

[lisa12230]

Originally Posted by techsavey

I don't think you need to avoid Cain Park (as long as there is an event going on) Otherwise- yeah leave it alone. I grew up in C.H. If you are buying the condo because you want to be near Coventry, then like a privious poster said- stay south of Mayfield. If your buying it for the schools... RUN! Lyndhurst, Beachwood or Mayfield Hts are much bestter choices. Also for safety in general. Remember that you can always go visit there.

totally agree

[scotty2987]

Cleveland Heights has a lot of cool places. I grew up near Roxboro and I went to Heights. Yes, the schools have their problems, BUT I got a fantastic education. People bash the CH-UH schools and they have no idea how they actually are. Don't run from the schools; you might find they're actually pretty good. They have the same educational opportunities as the other districts.