Is Columbus Ghetto (Cleveland, East Cleveland, Bexley: best city, homes, find a job)

[1watertiger]

sorry about that..as i was saying our far western suburbs in lorain county are 60 miles from our far eastern suberbs in lake county. thats almost half the distance between cleveland and columbus ! all four sides of metro cleveland (east,southeast,southwest and west) are still sprawling. yes columbus is growing, but the rest of the world is not standing still.

[BelieveInCleve]

To answer the main question, Columbus is not ghetto. If you compare it to other cities it looks a lot better and has a lower crime rate then most major cities, especially ones in Ohio. Im not saying Columbus is better then Cleveland and Cincinnati, Im just saying that its less ghetto. Columbus does have bad areas but there are a lot less of those areas and there smaller than in other cities. Ive been to Columbus a lot of times and a week ago I went to Columbus drove around in some free time. I went all around Cleveland Ave, Miller Ave, Livingston, Maryland, Mount Vernon, and Joyce. Some of those areas were bad but nothing compared to a lot of places in Cleveland. I also noticed Columbus doesnt really have any completely bad areas. Columbus has more mixed income neighborhoods than Cleveland or Cincinnati.

[Buckeye 89]

Originally Posted by Cle440

To answer the main question, Columbus is not ghetto. If you compare it to other cities it looks a lot better and has a lower crime rate then most major cities, especially ones in Ohio. Im not saying Columbus is better then Cleveland and Cincinnati, Im just saying that its less ghetto. Columbus does have bad areas but there are a lot less of those areas and there smaller than in other cities. Ive been to Columbus a lot of times and a week ago I went to Columbus drove around in some free time. I went all around Cleveland Ave, Miller Ave, Livingston, Maryland, Mount Vernon, and Joyce. Some of those areas were bad but nothing compared to a lot of places in Cleveland. I also noticed Columbus doesnt really have any completely bad areas. Columbus has more mixed income neighborhoods than Cleveland or Cincinnati.

Like i said many times, Columbus is not like other cities where your going to see the full fledge ghetto. It's not gonna happen.. If you wanna see that you should have drove around in the king lincoln neighborhood.like a year ago, before they started building new condos n such..And just driving by and looking around out your window don't give you full knowledge about a neighborhood...

Maybe the thread should be re-named to...Does Columbus have alot of decay like Cleveland. Or other cities. Old broken down houses and buildings dont commit crimes..They dont kill people..They don't sell drugs...In reality Columbus aint that big and they still have a good amount of murders year by year...Columbus may look better than the nati..But last i saw Columbus had more murders then them..Im starting to sound like i glorifie crime, but thats far from the truth...it's just funny to me people think columbus is all peaches and cream

[toddsdesign]

Great thread! I am in Columbus right now typing this post. My ex (and still great friend) moved here a couple months ago; and I came here for the holidays to help here with some things, and check the city out for myself. We're both from a small town on the OH/PA border about twenty minutes northeast of Youngstown. My home is boring and dead, but really safe. Coming from there, and being from Youngstown originally, my ex feels safe and comfortable here in Columbus.

We are in Short North right now and I find it to be pretty much exactly as some of the Col residents have described in this thread. The diversity is awesome! In my opinion, the successful mix of cultures and socio-economic backgrounds is what America is supposed to be. Where I am from, and lived my entire 43 years, this still does not happen. The racial and social tension there is horrible. Here, I see the "mix" in the neighborhoods just as Streetcreed and some others have described. I have been fascinated by it since I got here Friday (and on a couple other visits in the past couple months), and when I started reading the thread I just smiled and nodded. We went to Walmart in Easton earlier today, and my ex verbally pointed out a mixed-race group of twenty-something guys that didn't even look like they would speak to each other, let alone be hanging out enjoying each other's company!

On the way there, headed up 71, and across Morse Rd., I was mentally noting the neighborhoods, etc. As we got closer, I also noticed that I was beginning to see a higher concentration of black people. The when we got there I was shocked to see the Easton shopping center that she had been telling me about, right there! We just took a quick ride through then, because we had groceries, but again I noted the diversity. Going in from Morse Rd., I noted the upscale Caddy and Lexus dealerships, then the big buck atmosphere of the shopping center, and the incredible mix of people walking and driving around in it! I have noticed that it is not a freak thing - almost everywhere I have been it seems to be just a normal Columbus thing.

I am paying such close attention because I am seriously considering moving here myelf and this is my opportunity to check things out. I am really impressed with what I have seen so far. We came back via Cleveland Ave., because she wanted to show me the other side of the coin, and compared to the mental state we have visiting her family in Youngstown - it was relatively peaceful. Even with the high murder rate, I have never had a problem in Youngstown but each time you go there you know what's possible and are always paying attention to make sure you don't "walk" into something. She grew up there and is more cautious about going back than I am, but didn't feel threatened at all showing me a slightly rougher side of Columbus.

Sorry to be so long-winded, I just wanted to paint the picture why I think the words of the natives here are right on. Overall, this seems to be a relatively safe, positive, and growing city. My real goal, and the reason I joined this forum, was to move to LA but I am really thinking about stopping here for a while first; and maybe keeping some roots planted here even when I do move on.

For the record: I am a black male. I grew up in a predominantly white, blue-collar (steel mills), area. I am comfortable with either race and in either atmosphere ("suburbia" or "ghetto"). Accordingly I have a curious mix of personal preferences. I love almost all type of music (with the exception of country, bluegrass, etc) but listen to R&B and Hip Hop more than the others. You can play David Sanborn, Parliament, Journey, 3-6 Mafia, and Maroon 5, back-to-back and I won't miss a beat. Given my choice I would prefer to live daily in what most of my race would call a "white" culture, but can't imagine not enjoying regular doses of what some of my chosen peers would call "ghetto" from time to time. Columbus makes sense to me...

[BelieveInCleve]

Columbus has a reputation of being a nicer suburban like city with not much crime. When I was growing up people would talk about Columbus like it was least ghetto of Ohios cities and compare it to Cleveland like comparing Denver to Detroit or something like that. It was just recently that I heard anyone even mention that Columbus was bad and it had crime so this is new to me. I know people from Columbus in the more ghetto neighborhoods (Cleveland Ave., Livingston, near east) and all those people said Columbus was really nothing ghettowise and they were scared to go to Cleveland. Some people actually said they were tired of how boring it was there and how it was so safe and nothing ever happened to they had to come visit around Cleveland.

In reality its not that much different than that. Columbus crime is average or even below average compared to most major cities that are about its size. It does have crime and murders and gangs but all cities do. Columbus does not have any really bad areas and still has a lot of good areas in the city limits. Columbus is not all peaches and creme but its a lot closer to it than a lot of cities its size.

[LancasterNative]

Originally Posted by Cle440

Some people actually said they were tired of how boring it was there and how it was so safe and nothing ever happened to they had to come visit around Cleveland.

Cle, you just put your finger on something that really boggles my mind—and it speaks to what I find so astonishing about much of this thread. And that is...

There are people out there who find safety and/or the relative absence of crime to be...boring?!?! What the heck?

Do they sit around saying "This sucks. There haven't been enough shootings, convenience store robberies, home break-ins, or rapes around here. I'm bored! Let's go visit Cleveland..."?!

I don't get it!

[toddsdesign]

Originally Posted by LancasterNative

...Do they sit around saying "This sucks. There haven't been enough shootings, convenience store robberies, home break-ins, or rapes around here. I'm bored! Let's go visit Cleveland...

I don't think so. From my experience it's the culture they seek, not the violence itself. There are those who thrive on crime and violence, but for many of the basically honest people who live in high-crime areas it's more about being in a certain culture daily. Unfortunately, crime and violence are the unwanted side-effects. Like one of those commercials that shout the praises of the latest wonder drug, but then follow with, "using so-and-so can cause upset stomach, headaches, strokes, heart attacks, and death in certain people, please consult your physician before..."

While I prefer to live in peace and quiet on a daily basis, I actually have an appreciation for the good things in some cultures that also unfortunately are plagued with crime and violence. It is kind of a pins-and-needles feeling being there, and I guess that is also a rush in itself for thrillseekers, like myself. That's not my reason for being there though - just another side effect. The reason is to enjoy the company of the people there.

[LancasterNative]

↑↑↑ Thanks Todd. That's actually a great analysis & explanation. I was LOL at your likening it to pharmaceutical ads

[happymee]

YES YES YES....it is ghetto i lived here my whole life and am trying to get the hell outa here...my mom lived off Cleveland ave for over 20 yrs. came home one night pulled in her driveway and was robbed at gunpoint and the house behind her's a family of 4 was murdered, the mom and her 3 babies... this is the norm for this city..home invasions, store owners being killed for 100 bucks, young kids being shot walking down the street i can go on forever...and i have lived on all sides of town it's not safe nowhere...give me quiet and boring anytime...

[complexsimplicity]

When I was in Columbus a while ago, someone mentioned German Village or Gemantown. I forget the name. Is that one of the bad neighborhoods?

Also I heard that the Puerto Rican festival is starting to die down a little because it is getting to wild and fights are always breaking out, is that true also.