Will Columbus be a dream city for my family

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by paakwame

A male nurse,married with three children age 1, 5 and 6 yrs. We want a city where we can live, raise our kids and call a dream city. We are immigrant from Africa and have been living in a different city in North-Carolina for 6yrs. We want to know if Columbus is a family friendly and good for raising kids. Also, want to find out if the city is friendly to other racial and cultural groups. If there are nurses in this forum, would you please let me know the job prospects for nurses in Columbus, and colleges that offer MSN program in the city. We are liberal, christians, and peace-loving family. Which part of the city will be favorable for us, and with good public schools for our kids. We are planning on, firstly, moving to Apartment and then buy a house later.

Uh, not to be unkind to our posters, but you already asked this identical question quite some time ago (I merged the thread you started yesterday with your earlier question).

Nothing has changed since your prior request for info...

[Tenzo]

Originally Posted by HuskerDu

My view, as a native american who grew up there, is dated only by a year and a few months. Columbus is milk-toast white bread at best, with minorities mostly brushed under the rug or displaced out into the crappy near suburbs east and north of the newly gentrified urban center.

agreed.
I posted a long thread about Columbus being so white, it hurts.

If you are white, christian, consider yourself middle class and think good Mexican food is Chipolte; COlumbus just might be right for you

[bsimonelli]

Columbus is a very family friendly city. We have many suburbs with excellent rated schools for your children.

I would recommend checking areas such as Westerville, Worthington, Gahanna, Reynoldsburg, Pickerington, Hilliard and Dublin. Being a nurse you would likely work in the NW or downtown Columbus area so any of these suburbs would be within a 15-20 minute commute to area hospitals.

Feel free to check out my neighborhood section of my webpage.

www.brittanysimonelli.revealty.com

[14thandYou]

Originally Posted by Anny

Columbus is about as far from a 'dream' city as you can get, IMHO

I love blanket statements like this--they're completely unhelpful. I don't suppose it needs to be said that whether or not someone considers a place their "dream city" is entirely dependent upon what it is they value and look for. If you're looking for New York, yeah you'll hate living in Columbus. If you're looking for an affordable city that is a great place to raise a family, then Columbus would be a good fit for you.

[14thandYou]

Originally Posted by YoMikey617

Columbus is not a real city. At best, it's like 20 poorly planned suburbs in search of a city... ...the city they're searching for was mostly torn down during the Urban Renewal Age. After you've seen one Sawmill Road, you've pretty much seen all Columbus has to offer because it all looks the same.

Completely and totally inaccurate, sorry to say. I lived in Columbus for many, many years and can say with the utmost confidence that Columbus is much, much more than Sawmill Road. The outer Columbus burbs are sterile and homogenous--but the same is true in Cincinnati, Cleveland and pretty every major U.S. city. You'll find strip malls and box stores everywhere.

But as far as seeing "everything Columbus has to offer" around Sawmill Road, well, that's utter nonsense. Just in the central city alone, you have attractive, active and well-preserved neighborhoods such as Victorian Village, German Village, Brewery District, Short North/Italian Village and Grandview. The Arena District and North Market area is a mecca for restaurants and nightlife, and even downtown itself is coming along. Venturing out a bit, places like Clintonville, Arlington, Bexley, and Beechwold have character and commercial activity in a more residential setting. Old Town East, Woodland Park and the neighborhood around Farnklin Park feature gorgeous mansions and older homes. A little farther afield, suburbs such as Worthington, Westerville and Dublin have unique character and their own vibrant commercial centers. And of course I didn't even mention the OSU campus area and surrounding neighborhoods.

Anyway, this isn't meant to be a Columbus Chamber of Commerce plug for the city of Columbus. There's certainly some negative aspects to the city as well, which I outlined in a longer post a few weeks back.

But to say that once you've seen Sawmill Rd. you've seen Columbus? That's so far off base I have to think you aren't even trying.