Anyone from Dayton? (Kettering, Warren, Huber Heights: crime rates, home search, neighborhood)

[ScranBarre]

In case you don't like reading my incessant rants, here's my three sentence synopsis:

Never say never when it comes time to think about urban revitalization! A city is only as successful as the residents who call it home aspire for it to be! Don't let Dayton shrivel up due to your abounding negativity when it has so much potential to offer!

[JefferyT]

^
well, yes, interesting observations from Scranton, thanks....


However, I though the purpose of these boards was to provide advice to people relocating or thinking of relocating?

It would be misleading to say that this is a growing region and there are lots of job opporutinities,to someone who is coming here cold, without a job.

If one has a job offer here, or is being recruited by a local company, or is being transferred here then I would give different advice and say this is a very affordable and pleasant place to live.

Some people might be interested in city living, others might not. I would not advise anyone to avoid the city as there is some very good housing availble in town, either in one of the historic districts ringing downtown, or in some furhter-out neighborhoods.

And for people who prefer suburban living or small town living, there is plenty of that too.

[ScranBarre]

Here's the way I look at it:


Potential new residents, college students, employers, etc. all look into not only demographics and Census trends when contemplating their decision to settle into a new city, but they also turn to avenues such as this forum to take a look deeper into the city to get a quality-of-life check from local residents. With the way most of you have expressed yourselves, I, as an outsider and urban pioneer (I hope to someday rehab older homes in urban areas to donate to needy families once my income as a Controller is high enough in the future), would put the brakes on with any plans to move my innovative ideas to Dayton and high-tail it AWAY like a bat out of hell! Even when Scranton was nominated for runner-up of "Armpit of America" by a national publication, there was an intense outcry from locals who disputed that claim. In the case of Dayton, I'm not sure there would be enough civic pride in the entire area to gather more than a couple of you to be upset if Dayton was to be awarded a similarly dubious title. That saddens me to no end! I notice that many of you treat Dayton as a separate entity from Kettering, Beavercreek, Centerville, etc. Are you not all part of Montgomery Couty? Are you not all part of the Greater Dayton Metropolitan Area, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau? When your city looks bad, the suburbs look bad too, no matter what way you slice it. If I wasn't so gung-ho on urban renewal, I'd take one look at this thread and immediately cross the entire Dayton area off of my list of potential relocation spots!

I'm not saying your gripes over crime, blight, and a scarcity of skilled job opportunities aren't indeed warranted, but if you ever want to help the city to recover, then you need to lure in outside investors who have the capital and resources available to make a positive difference for Dayton! Nobody will be interested in trying to restore Dayton to its former glory if they feel as if its own residents don't even see a shred of potential in rebirth---so many of you seem to have the mentality of "as long as I'm on my cul-de-sac in Southern Montgomery County near my beloved Wal-Mart, I'll never have to set foot in Dayton again and will be set for life!" That's a terrible perspective to have! How has Scranton begun its rebound from "Armpit" to liveable? Well, through the efforts of grass-roots organizations like Scranton Tomorrow, Rediscover Scranton, Scranton Jaycees, and from college-aged individuals such as myself and my peers "spreading the Gospel" of our areas better qualities, outside developers from New York City and New Jersey are now flooding into NEPA to purchase blighted properties in Scranton and refurbish them, seeing that there is potential in an urban comeback if the city's own residents are trying so feverishly to make this area a great place to live again. The same can happen to Dayton---why won't you all allow it to happen?

Don't "sugarcoat" Dayton's bad sides. On the same token, why can't any of you say one thing NICE about the city that might give prospective new residents, tourists, and employers the impression that the city does have potential to bounce back? Can't you all recant a pleasant experience you had seeing your local symphony play or sauntering into a coffeeshop and being surprised by its "funkyness?" Can't you tell the story of how you occasionally take Fido to Eastwood Park to play frisbee or about your enlightening trip to the Dayton Art Institute? I've been doing this on the PA forum when talking about my hometown, and now the optimism is spreading---you'll be hard-pressed to find someone with anything unflattering to say about Northeastern Pennsylvania now. Give it a shot! Post a reply to this recanting a wonderful, family-friendly experience you had in the city limits of Dayton and how it helped to renew a sense of civic pride within your hearts! I'm sure every trip that you Kettering residents make into Downtown Dayton isn't littered with random gunfire and the Bloods and Crips tagging your car, as you all make it out to sound! Dayton won't rebound until its own residents start putting faith that it can happen again. For Scranton, it was the "Restoring the Pride" campaign that helped it turn the tide. For Wilkes-Barre, the "I Believe" campaign has residents everywhere sporting buttons and putting up posters in their windows. Perhaps you all could come up with something catchy like "NOT Hatin' Dayton" to help your city along? The only thing I know for sure, as an outsider, is that MANY of you need to stop looking at only the negatives that your city has to offend you with and start rattling off some of its positives to get the ball rolling again on recovery!

[the_pines]

Grew up there half of my life as a native Daytonian. Its a hidden little treasure(im optomistic) but it needs some love and repair. It has declined overall but if it were fixed up it would be one of my favorite places to live.

If they could just knock off the rust, and fix the inner cities and public school systems. The city has a chance to have some of the best public school systems because of its smaller size and location. The city itself has an abundance of character and tradition. But stagnation and a very slow economy has hurt it even more recently. I have never seen the housing market growing as slowly as it is right now there. My dad lost his masonry company because there just arent enough buildings going up. The suburbs arent in as bad of shape and still remain fairly diverse and affordable. With the exception of slow growth to no new growth going on. The schools are much better in those areas.

But many minorities are still centralized in public school systems that have not faired well. I think in all fairness the efforts should be to raise the standards of the public school system to that of surrounding areas or better. That would help spur new renovation in the downtown and surrounding areas. Given its size I dont see why it cant rebound. For such a small city it used to have alot to offer.

The main thing is that the economy has stagnated in many areas as Ohio is trying to switch over to high tech. That will take sometime for the people to be educated enough to take on the newer jobs. The school system have detoriorated, and inner city crime has not gotten any better. As someone else mentioned, it would take the people of Dayton working together in very large numbers to turn things around. My heart could not be happier if I lived to see that happen.

As of right now, I would not recommend it to anyone unless they wanted to try and help make a change and revitalize the area. The schools are not where they need to be at. The inner city has lots of projects and very poverished areas that perpetuate crime. The economy is in a very sluggish transition period. Healthcare is also another issue that comes to mind. In south Dayton those things are not as much of a problem.

I hope it helps.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by the_pines

Grew up there half of my life as a native Daytonian. Its a hidden little treasure but it needs some love. It has declined overall but if it were fixed up it would be one of my favorite places to live without a doubt.

Thank You! See y'all! Was THAT so difficult? Isn't it nice to balance the negativity with just a tad of inspiration?

[Planit]

I find it quite entertaining that you claim to be a city planner but you appear to know nothing about Planning, Paintballer. The Greene is located within the City of Beavercreek. If you were to speak to anyone concerning The Greene you would have spoken to Planners, Council Members, or the City Manager of Beavercreek. Ms. Mclin has nothing to do with the Greene and many officials in Dayton opposed the Greene because they felt it would attract people away from Downtown Dayton and the Dayton Mall. Dayton does have its problems with crime, businesses going under, etc. but i strongly believe its on the up and up. Most of the suburbs around Dayton are great. Housing is a bit expensive, but the place to be if you want growth is definitely Beavercreek. The schools are amazing and there is no income tax. The property taxes are a bit high, but if you consider the combination of property tax and income tax in other areas then you are getting a good deal considering the area you would be living in. Very close to the universities, malls, WPAFB. Great place to live

[wader]

I've been working in Dayton for about 5 years now, and I do not see any improvemnet happening in the city at all. I don't work in an office either, I am outside everyday, all over the city. I have 2 words for anyone who is thinking about coming to Dayton: Delphi Bankruptcy. They were probably the largest employer in town and soon they too will be gone, and will probably take alot more jobs with them in terms of the companies that subcontracted, which are very numerous. I think Dayton has a long and illustrious history of industry, innovation and learning, but I can't see things getting better there for a long, long time. There is no money in brownfield redevelopment, and until there is Dayton will fester.

[JefferyT]

Im not sure how much Delphi has to do with the other industries in town. This will mean tough times for factory work, but there are other sectors of the economy that are stable and somewhat growing, related to infotech and defense, and if one gets a job offer here, this would be a good place to relocate to, still, I think.

[hinderd]

Originally Posted by namx

Again, another uninformative and misleading post from you, paintballer. Please do not delete my post just because you're a moderator. The Greene is not an outlet mall. Have you even been there? It is an upscale outside shopping mall that is modeled after Easton Towne Center (in Columbus). All stores have street fronts. It is located in Beavercreek, right at the border of Beavercreek and Kettering. It is not minutes from Downtown Dayton unless you mean 20 minutes away. And trust me, growth in that area is not Dayton growth. It is Beavercreek growth.

Anyone else here from the Dayton area, please confirm what I am posting.

Hey Namx

You are absolutely right ... this will only draw business AWAY from Dayton, particularly the downtown.

I'm from Kettering, about 1.5 miles from that carbuncle of capitalistic crapulence. I realize all the potential benefits this brings to the area but no one gives a damn about what's lost. 72 acres used to provide a lot of space for now displaced wildlife. And don't get me started on the irony of what they chose to call the place .. just see the attached Google Earth image.
All of that is GONE! I can't wait til they update the satellite photo so we see the Before/After.

I accidentally turned into "The Greene" Friday night and was lucky to escape with my life. Once you get in, there's almost no getting out.

The truly disturbing thought is that these strip(mine) malls are everywhere. No wonder we're seeing coyotes in Kettering and they want to start bow-hunting deer in Oakwood. They're all being chased out of Beavercreek.

Doesn't anyone else out there find this troublesome? (And meanwhile, I'll continue to be a hypocrite by shopping at other malls and *shudder* Wal-Mart).

[Giesela]

Another potential relocater to WPAFB. Wow. I thought moving from Omaha to Dayton would get me closer to what I'm used to, small town southern MI. I had no idea the Dayton area was in the same boat as much of MI (state with highest unemployment for last few years) and had such large problem areas. Yikes. Omaha is a very very nice town with the most polite people I've ever met. After reading here I'd reconsider moving but enjoying work is very important to me and since a major reorg I hate my job. WPAFB offers something more enjoyable I hope. I find I don't fit into suburbs too well so I'd prefer a rural lifestyle. Here I'm rural 13 miles from base. Sound like I'm going to have to commute quite a ways everyday to find that when I relocate. Also - I've seen the word "redneck" mentioned here. Someone told me Springfield is "white trash". I guess Dayton is far south enough that this comes up? Is it something to be concerned with? And what's with the North side vs. South side thing? Further explanation?
So far I have not found what I'm looking for on real estate websites in my price range.
Can someone give me an idea of commutes to the base from some of the outlying towns? Are there commutes that are harder for the same distance traveled than others? Am I limited to the east side?
Thanks much,
Giesela
P.S. Personality wise I guess I'm sort of middle of the road pseudo intellectual with some old hippie leanings?