Interracial acceptance? (Cleveland, Lorain, Lakewood: renters, crime rate, house prices)

[citybythebay]

Originally Posted by Clev228

I don't believe one whole area of the west side is anti-blacks. Lakewood is diverse. I would stay away from Parma by hear-say. I've worked there and never received any problems. But I don't know what its like to live there. To me it depends where and how you grew up. I know the east side better but I do appreciate the west side too. You have to go there and spend time to actually know how a city is, that is my advice.

Unfortunately, you are correct about Parma, which is predominately an all 'white' suburb.

I lived there from 1990-2005 and sadly quite a few "racially" motivated things happened during that time.
Parma definitely has a negative history on the topic.


**I hope there comes a day where people of any 'color' will be able to live peacefully wherever they want.**

[PAM220]

Thank you Murples. I reside in Cleveland Heights, and it is very diverse, not "ghetto". Interraical families are more than welcome here. There are tons of whites married to blacks, asians, jews, I've also seen some couples that looked like they were from the Middle East also. The neighbors are very quiet, people keep there homes looking good, lawns cut. It took me a while to get use to where I am at now due to me living in cleveland all of my life. The schools are okay, I have no problems, I won't say they are as good as Beachwood, Solon, Twinsburg, but your child will receive decent learning. The sales prices here range from $120,000-$700,000 depending on which area you move into. I've been here 4 years now, and I am happy to live here.

[WHISPERGIRL]

People can reside wherever they want this is "AMERICA" so in response to the woman's question, i think anywhere your heart desires is acceptable in the cleveland ohio area or it's suburbs...just check out the crime,schools,healthcare,transit,police&fire and shopping...other than that NO ONE will advise me of what area I can live or NOT!!!!

[glenbrow]

I don't know how close you might want to be to Cleveland, but I would definitely look at Yellow Springs. It's a pretty small town, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in this state, with the possible exception of Columbus, Cincinnati, or Cleveland. Yellow Springs has fantastic schools, a very liberal and accepting nature, and there is so much art, music, and community going on here, you would never know you were in such a small town. You can walk everywhere safely, there are great shops and restaurants. It's the home of Antioch College and is constantly compared to progressive cities like Portland, Oregon (on a much smaller scale, of course!). It's a bit of a haven for non-mainstream types: artists, musicians, intellectuals, gay couples, etc. Interracial couples and families abound. Definitely check it out! Just google for all kinds of links to village info. Especially check out: Yellow Springs News Online, Yellow Springs, Ohio Chamber of Commerce | Yellow Springs Events | Visitor Information | Business&Member Information, Antioch College.

[Dakota-Reed]

We are African-American and relocating to Cleveland from Virginia. I grew up in Northern, VA (25 miles from Washington, DC which is very diverse) and moved about an 1.5 hours southwest to Mechanicsville, VA (my husband's hometown), which is slowly changing, but there is still a lot of racisim here. My son experienced it first hand at school and in our subdivision.

I have spent the past couple of weeks looking at homes and reading about the various neighborhoods in Cleveland. I am in love with the homes in Shaker Heights, but the taxes are so expensive. I was told that the west side is more accessible to the city. I also like the homes in Westlake and Cleveland Heights. We are looking for a home in the price range of $200,000 to $450,000. We want an area that is diverse, safe, with good schools and close to amenities (shopping, dining etc.). Can this be found in Cleveland?

[SoCalClevelander]

I have to say that Cleveland is still a very racially divided city. Blacks on one side of town, whites on the other side, and never the two shall meet.

I never really realized how bad it was (since I am white), until I moved to Southern California, which is much much more diverse--and despite the reputation for interracial gang shootings, there is far less racial tension. Long Beach (the city I live in now) is the most diverse city in the nation, with large populations of Cambodians, Vietnamese, Mexicans, blacks, whites, gays and lesbians etc. For the most part, people live and let live, unless you are gang-involved. I have friends from all races here--which I have to say, didnt happen in Cleveland since things were so divided you rarely met people from other races socially. I work in South Central Los Angeles, where I do social work with at-risk teens--including gang-bangers--and I dont feel particularly unsafe there. I can't say that for East Cleveland. In South LA, I have met many wonderful hard-working families who have treated me very well. But in Cleveland, I used to literally feel the hostility from African Americans at times--and I know they experienced it from whites.

This would be anything from attitudes in a restaurant to redlining. Whites dont want blacks to live in Parma. Blacks dont want whites coming into East Cleveland. Euclid is "going downhill" due to "urban youth" coming to the mall. I heard that last one so many times in the 90's when I lived in Euclid. It was pretty ugly. If I were an interracial couple, I dont think Cleveland would be high on my list of places to live. I think Clevelanders as a whole have a little work to do on learning to be accepting.

[costello_musicman]

Originally Posted by Dakota-Reed

We are African-American and relocating to Cleveland from Virginia. I grew up in Northern, VA (25 miles from Washington, DC which is very diverse) and moved about an 1.5 hours southwest to Mechanicsville, VA (my husband's hometown), which is slowly changing, but there is still a lot of racisim here. My son experienced it first hand at school and in our subdivision.

I have spent the past couple of weeks looking at homes and reading about the various neighborhoods in Cleveland. I am in love with the homes in Shaker Heights, but the taxes are so expensive. I was told that the west side is more accessible to the city. I also like the homes in Westlake and Cleveland Heights. We are looking for a home in the price range of $200,000 to $450,000. We want an area that is diverse, safe, with good schools and close to amenities (shopping, dining etc.). Can this be found in Cleveland?

You would be fine in shaker--gorgeous areas and good schools. Demographically, the breakdown is about 60% White and 30% Black--not too "diverse," I know. I see CH and Westlake as a slight step down with what you're looking for with many of the Shaker neighborhoods.

FYI The most culturally diverse area in Northeast Ohio would be Lakewood. "Diverse" since it primarily has the largest immigrant populations from all parts of the world (recently mostly Middle Eastern and Eastern European). I read in the local paper two years ago that the student body in the high school spoke over 30 languages as their first language.

[WeSoHood]

Originally Posted by cheesehead911

Definately stay on the east side, with the exception of Berea all of the western suburbs are predominatley white and are known to be unwelcoming for people of color and I'm sure I a bi-racial family would be just as unwelcome.

Anywhere on the eastside, you would find welcoming I live in Oakwood in Ryan homes Meadows development and their are a couple mixed families with in the development so you might want to check them out too.

You're talking out your ass to be completely honest. Western suburbs unwelcoming for people of color? You have got to be kidding. Blatant hypocrisy.

For the original poster. Don't listen to uneducated fools like the one above posting their blatantly retarded jargon. There are many diverse areas on the west side and as a minority, I've never had ANY problems. I have many other black, puerto rican, etc friends. That post I quoted shows the ignorance of some people. He probably doesn't even know how diverse a lot of west side communities are. From Ohio City, Tremont, Lakewood, Elyria, Berea, Lorain, etc all are very diverse and off. Even the more white communities have high eastern european, middle east, asian, and hispanic numbers. Even cities like Rocky River, Westlake are more diverse then their numbers... both have very high immigration rates relatively speaking.

I've walked around Rocky River high school and have heard multiple languages - not uncommon at all. But you will still get your arrogant east sider who thinks the west side is racist, LOL.

Cheesehead911 above, was well.. very rude.


and btw - I don't really consider parma the west side. To me, that area should be considered "South Side" considering it takes me quicker to drive from Lakewood to Cleveland Heights than Parma a lot of the times.

[WeSoHood]

Originally Posted by cheesehead911

I had family memebers who grewup in North Olmstead they were 100% black and faced lots of racial discrimination at school. Its good that your friends had no issues but if you talk to most people, the west side is not the place for minorities.

Now you're probably making stuff up. Do you know that there are areas of the west side with high black populations? You probably don't because you aren't educated YET you think are on top of your game. The West Side communities are some of the most open and friendly areas of Cleveland.

[tribecavsbrowns]

I would recommend Lakewood, Shaker Heights, South Euclid, and lastly Cleveland Heights or University Heights. The latter two share a school district and I would only send a kid to those schools if he or she was really academically or athletically gifted. The regular student body of the school is almost as bad as a Cleveland city school, but the AP classes, gifted program, etc. are good, a couple families have told me. The other three school districts (Lkwd, Shaker, and South Euclid-Lyndhurst) suffer from the same syndrome, but not nearly to the level that CH-UH does.

To the people who want to bash the whole west side because it's too white for them -- it's not 1980 anymore. Lakewood (along with Mayfield Heights) is the area's magnet for immigrants and there are a lot of multiracial families living there, too. Lakewood schools are 5.9 percent multiracial today, compared to 4.1 for CH-UH, 4.4 for Shaker, and 4.5 for SE-L. Lots of blacks are moving into Lakewood with mixed results so far, but I'm hoping the fact that the city has already welcomed large Palestinian and Albanian communities without much problem will ease the transition.

To the original poster, Lakewood is different from the eastside suburbs in that it has much less of an East Coast feel. It's more of a midwestern Chicago/Milwaukee type feel. I see that you're from DC, and if you happen to be a Five Guys fan, they're opening a space smack in the center of Lakewood.