Whats wrong with Grand Prairie? (Houston, Dallas: crime, new home, neighborhoods)

[newtxman]

I am hearing very negative things about it..Please explain? The good and the bad?

[MrsCajun]

I have lived in Grand Prairie for about 10 years. I'm in the northern, older part of town north of I30, rather than the upscale part south of I20.

What's wrong with Grand Prairie depends on the part of Grand Prairie you are talking about. In general, the schools beyond elementary levels can be spotty. Some are good, some barely adequate. So, if you have kids, choose your part of town carefully. There are also issues with foundations of homes, but that's pretty common in this entire region.

In the north, the biggest issue is lack of retail, but that's easy to overcome because we're close to south Grand Prairie and Arlington. Another issue in north GP is the traffic construction. With 161 being built, many of the local roads are under contruction. Someday that will end and all our commutes will be so much the happier for it.

In the south, the issue is mainly extremely fast growth and lots of McMansions. This means stores are often crowded, schools are expanding and new schools, shops, and homes are always under construction.

Now, what's right about GP? Well, the older nieghborhoods are getting organized. In the poorest areas, some of the homes are being remodeled, bricked in, or replaced with new homes. In the middle income areas, there's been a big return to "community spirit". Block parties, ice cream socials and the like are making a comback. It's fantastic to know my neighbors!

City services are fantastic. I emailed the transportation department about a pothole around 4pm and before 8am the next day, the hole was neatly filled. There's a new Senior Center, new Police Headquarters, and a new minor league ball park under way. The 25th elementary school is being named and many of the older schools are getting facelifts.

Grand Prairie is trying to become the bedroom of the metroplex by offering affordable, comfortable homes in nice cozy neighborhoods and plenty of family friendly activities. We even have a nice dog park now.

Don't let opinions formed 10 or even just 5 years ago keep you from taking a look at Grand Prairie. It's really becoming a nice little city to live in.

[jekutz]

I grew up in GP and at the time it was a great city. GPHS was a great high school and sadly it has seen decline over the years but lots due to attendance issues and drop out rates. I even stayed a year after college to teach on the northern side of town. The city has gone through decline over the years but with the booming tax base on the south side out near the lake they are really starting to make some improvements to the city as a whole. The city has put in lots of new parks, working hard to improve roads and infrastructure. I absolutely love the area out by Joe Pool, but could do without the traffic out that way. My brother lives just half a mile from the lake and it's nice to go out on the boat on the weekends. As with any big city you have your nicer and not so nice parts of town. We lived in central GP growing up and although the area has some cheaper housing you still see lots of people who pride keeping up their lawns and kids out playing. We also had a HUGE backyard with big trees which is something you don't see as often up in northern dallas where we are now. It all depends on what you are looking for, but there are still nice places to be found there and in all honesty if it wasn't a long haul to work for my husband we would have seriously looked out there. I think GP has a ways to go but they are working really hard to improve their image and it shows.

[txwayback]

Still?

I grew up in northwest Grand Prairie in the '70s. Politically, sociologically basically GP is the city that time forgot (even back then). (They're probably also still dry.)

There's a reason you're not going to find a lot of retail north of I-30. It consists only of two topographies: flood plain, and hilltops saturated with single-family homes (and a partial neighborhood of '60s-era homes lying in much of that flood plain north of the creek). My grade school was erected on top of 15' concrete piers.

Lots of mature oak and pecan trees--many more when I was growing up. Big yards. The great thing about the lowlands there is that they will never be developed. Some of the same fields where we pastured our horses 30 years ago are still there today. The hills unfortunately have all been housed up.

At the other end, they put up South Grand Prairie High around 1971 with a really great partial Cor-ten steel facade and a fully equipped planetarium. What was up with that?

[fratermus]

Originally Posted by newtxman

I am hearing very negative things about it..Please explain? The good and the bad?

Haters will say it smells bad (driving on 30 from Dallas) and is full of auto junkyards.

My sister lives in a nice house in GP just north of 30, and we looked in GP when shopping for our first home.

[Arcane]

There are some pretty old neighborhoods in GP. I have some family in the northeast area, and it just seemed really old since I was a kid. That's probably a big reason.

But there's some nice areas spread around north and south. It looks like they are trying to update the city at least along the highways. Haven't been thru the downtown area it in quite some time. I used to wonder how GP would be with minimal infrastructure/development, like scrap away the old buildings and roads. I know there's some beautiful little areas.

[kaykay]

Obviously, it's difficult to generalize all areas, so don't flame me here. But I have heard from at least some posts (or thought I had) that Grand Prairie had some significant crime issues in some areas. You could check city-data for stats, I suppose.

[Texas Mack]

From my experiences (I'm from the Houston area), Grand Prairie and Arlington seem similar to Pasadena and Baytown near Houston in that their roots are blue collar with most of the older homes reflecting a working class existence. However, as the cities' boundaries expanded, they've started to incorporate newer areas on the fringe. Indeed, there areas that have seen better days but there are also areas that follow some of the same patterns as the new growth municipalities in Allen, Frisco, McKinney, etc.

Schools, as was mentioned earlier in the thread, can be spotty in certain areas so you'll have to keep an eye out for that.

[jekutz]

Texas Mack,

We lived in Houston for ten years after leaving GP and I think both of those towns are lots like GP good comparison for those who know a little about Houston.

[mancia22]

Hello All,

My husband and I just purchased a home in Grand Prairie and prior to visiting I was a little weary due to some of the comments made about this area. We are in the zipcode 75052 and we really liked the area. There are a lot of new developments on the side of Grand Prairie we are on. I am aware that the top schools may not be present but they are in good standing. My husband and I were born and raised in New York City and we know what "bad" looks like and we did not see that here. Our home is in a nice neighborhood, and there are lots of shops around the area. We like the "busyiness" of the area. An added benefit is that it is in the middle of Dallas and Ft. Worth, so my husband and I could work in either place. Is there something we missed?

My husband and I just purchased a Meritage Home out on the south end of GP and we love it. Once we arrived there we couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. We weren't there for very long but I will be sure to visit the areas mentioned at some point in time.

[Moderator note: this is two posts that have been merged and edited for context]