Renting apartments in Port Lavaca (Austin, Victoria: apartment complexes, to rent, movers)
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I will be moving to the Port Lavaca/Victoria area to work at Calhoun airport. I have read posts on Port Lavaca and Victoria and it appears that the best place to rent apartments in Victoria is the Northern area of Victoria, preferably north of Navarro Str.
I have found apartments to rent in Port Lavaca - none of them appear to have any pictures or info like the apartments in Victoria.
Can anyone recommend apartment complexes in Port Lavaca? Are there any areas that should be avoided due to high crime, noise, etc?
Here are some complexes I found: Oakglen, Regency, Village, Lighthouse, Bordeaux, Sea Breeze.
I was a long-time resident of Victoria before moving to Corpus and I loved it there. Victoria is big enough to have everything you might need or want, and at the same time is small enough that you can get anywhere in town in 20 minutes or less. Victoria was said to have more millionaires per capita than any other city in Texas, so there has been room for excellence in Victoria that didn't exist elsewhere. A short history of Victoria can be found here: City of Victoria
Victoria has a decent school system if you are a family man but if it were me I'd want my kids in the VISD (north side of town) rather than the Moody district, (south side)
Port Lavaca, OTOH is pretty small compared to Victoria, mostly a fishing/farming/ranching town. The last time I was down there the biggest deal in town was a new Wal-Mart opening. This was several years ago but I doubt much has changed. Certainly you should look over the available apartments in Port Lavaca but I'm pretty sure you'd be happier in Victoria if you can see your way clear to deal with the commute.
I am from the DFW area. I have done some browsing for apartments in the north Victoria area and there are a lot more choices than Port Lavaca, in addition to the other amenities offered by a larger city.
I'm just wondering about traffic - looks like a 30 mile commute to Calhoun airport. Do you know if I would have to deal with traffic jams? I don't want to assume there is no rush hour because of the smaller sizes of the cities (compared to DFW). Thanks again!
Port Lavaca, OTOH is pretty small compared to Victoria, mostly a fishing/farming/ranching town.
I agree with all the positive things you say about Victoria, I think it is a vibrant and interesting community. Port Lavaca is however not all that much of a fishing/farming/ranching town. That is kind of misleading. Most of the community works at the Alcoa plant across the bay, as well as several other similar plants in the area.
Port Lavaca is a quiet place, very family oriented. Its great if you enjoy fishing or water sports. A couple of our best friends kept their sailboat at the municipal docks in Port Lavaca, we often spent weekends on it with them and met a real nice community of people when we visited there. We never encountered any crime or noise there, and the marina rarely experienced any crime even though the boats were largely unattended during the week.
Helopilot, you can go into Googlemaps Street view and look at most any location at least from the street, and move up and down the street. Here is a link to a street view of the marina from the park next door. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Port+L...162.65,,0,5.93
Take a look at the neighborhoods around the apartments in google maps, you can tell a lot about the area by its appearance.
I'm sure Victoria must have a rush hour, its almost always pretty busy when we pass through in the middle of the day. For three years we kept our sailboat at Rockport, but live in Austin so we often drove down through Victoria on the way.
The only noise I ever remember noticing at Port Lavaca was when the shrimp boats fired up early in the morning, they have a separate harbor North of the peninsula next to municipal docks. They are kinda noisy but it only lasts for a short time until they head out into the bay.
Yeah, but... I know, I hate "but", but just to be clear. Not that many folks are employed at Alcoa any more, it's now a fairly automated plant. It is one of only 3 Alcoa processing plants remaining in the Gulf Coast region and has a bad history of being a big polluter. Until recently, and it may still be in effect, there was a ban on taking finfish within a few miles of Point Comfort because of the high mercury levels found in fish within the waters there. Alcoa operations at Point Comfort were curtailed greatly until they cleaned up their act. It may have recovered some of it's former glory but not that much, I think.
Port Lavaca shows a population of about 10,000, by Texas standards that's a pretty small town, Point Comfort shows a total population of only 1,100. The Alcoa plant only employs about 500 people, and has never employed more than 550, not all of them live in Point Comfort.
I'm not saying Port Lavaca is a bad place to live, just that there are better options in the near area.
Yeah, but... I know, I hate "but", but just to be clear. Not that many folks are employed at Alcoa any more, it's now a fairly automated plant. It is one of only 3 Alcoa processing plants remaining in the Gulf Coast region and has a bad history of being a big polluter. Until recently, and it may still be in effect, there was a ban on taking finfish within a few miles of Point Comfort because of the high mercury levels found in fish within the waters there. Alcoa operations at Point Comfort were curtailed greatly until they cleaned up their act. It may have recovered some of it's former glory but not that much, I think.
Port Lavaca shows a population of about 10,000, by Texas standards that's a pretty small town, Point Comfort shows a total population of only 1,100. The Alcoa plant only employs about 500 people, and has never employed more than 550, not all of them live in Point Comfort.
I'm not saying Port Lavaca is a bad place to live, just that there are better options in the near area.
I understand what you are saying about Victoria and I don't disagree with you. I did not know that Alcoa had reduced operations that much. My main point again is that, if the data is up to date, Port Lavaca is not all that much of a fishing/farming/ranching town. Since fishing/farming/ranching numbers don't even make the lists of most common occupations their numbers must be pretty small.
Most common occupations for Males:
Other production occupations including supervisors (11%)
Metal workers and plastic workers (7%)
Electrical equipment mechanics and other installation, maintenance, and repair occupations including supervisors (6%)
Laborers and material movers, hand (5%)
Engineers (4%)
Construction laborers (4%)
Carpenters (4%)
Most common occupations for females:
Preschool, kindergarten, elementary and middle school teachers (8%)
Secretaries and administrative assistants (7%)
Cooks and food preparation workers (7%)
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations (5%)
Other office and administrative support workers including supervisors (5%)
I noticed in the crime data on that page that the crime rate in Port Lavaca increased significantly in 2010, it almost doubled, so it was almost as high as Victoria. I wonder if that was related to the layoffs at Alcoa? Prior to that the crime rate was very low. I could not find any more recent data on it.
I guess you think I'm kinda dumb, but by your accounting of occupations, (and I assume they are correct), it shows 41.5% are employed in the occupational areas you list. Since that means 58.5% are not listed, the remaining part of the work force in Port Lavaca, (I'm guessing), are engaged in some form of farming/fishing/ranching.
Hell,,, I dunno, maybe they are all on welfare and food stamps. Could be possible.
I guess you think I'm kinda dumb, but by your accounting of occupations, (and I assume they are correct), it shows 41.5% are employed in the occupational areas you list. Since that means 58.5% are not listed, the remaining part of the work force in Port Lavaca, (I'm guessing), are engaged in some form of farming/fishing/ranching.
Port Lavaca is still pretty much a fishing/farming/ranching kinda place. Not a bad place to live, but for someone from DFW, it might be kind of slow.
No, I don't think you are kinda dumb at all. Don't take this so personally. But I don't see how your conclusion could be correct, because if it were, wouldn't fishing/farming/ranching be the most common industries? Wouldn't they have percentages higher then those that are listed? The data comes from the City-Data page I linked to, I'm not making them up.
I agree life there could be pretty slow, some people like that. It depends on what he is looking for. Since he wanted quiet and low crime, it might suit him just fine.
I found this video about the Port Lavaca Alcoa problem, it seems it indicates that was 1980-2000. The clean up was prior to 2000. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQz6fSlls5E
This website says the bay has been cleaned up:
Quote:
http://gulffishing.com/092_Untapped_Lavaca.html
Things changed in 1994 when a portion of Lavaca Bay became a Superfund site. Over $110 million in extensive cleanup efforts and restoration put life back into the bay for future anglers. Along with 11 acres of oyster reefs and over 70 acres of marsh furnished, more than 700 acres of prairie became permanently preserved. Bill Balboa is no stranger to Lavaca Bay after being the area's TPWD biologist for more than 11 years. According to Balboa, the cleanup efforts and renovations were successful. "The mercury is now contained to a very small area adjacent to Alcoa." In the small area surrounding Alcoa, the taking of finfish and crabs is still banned. Health warning signs warn boaters on the perimeter of the contaminated area. Cox Bay, Keller Bay, and the rest of Lavaca Bay are free of restrictions and open to fishing and the possession of fish. Balboa is confident that Lavaca Bay is healthy and duly supports growing numbers of speckled trout and redfish. "It is doing as well as it ever has. The Lavaca River provides plenty of the essential freshwater that we all know coastal bays need."
Last edited by CptnRn; 03-21-2012 at 05:46 PM..
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But I don't see how your conclusion could be correct, because if it were, wouldn't fishing/farming/ranching be the most common industries? Wouldn't they have percentages higher then those that are listed? The data comes from the City-Data page I linked to, I'm not making them up.
