Not nearly the hellhole I expected (Cincinnati, Dayton: home, unemployment, transfer)

[prairiestate]

Call me crazy, but I think that would be a great slogan for their welcome signs.

"Dayton, not nearly the hellhole you expect"

[Ohioan58]

Dayton is a tough place to earn a decent middle class living, unless you are in exactly the right position. That (crappy economy) at the core is what is the matter with Dayton.

One positive side effect of Dayton being in most ways a socially hostile area is that you tend to make very tight friendships around here once trust is established. I think that instinctively people who have been here know that they really need to hang with types that they can safely extend trust to in order to not be insulted, taken advantage of, or damaged somehow.

So I have found very strong (and fairly impenetrable) social cliques in the Dayton area in the workplace and socially. If you're outside a clique, people inside usually need to be shown some reason to admit you.

IE, living in a historic area in-town is a type of clique - it signifies a certain professional status and it shows that you want to make a commitment to an area. So that can open the clique doors.

Dayton is not wide open socially. People are gunshy here about being open with strangers.

[Beavercreek33]

Originally Posted by gma221

Sorry for the late reply, and thank you for the welcome. We considered some of the downtown lofts, but we ended up renting a turn-of-the-century Victorian house. It's a lot more space than we need, but I fell in love with the house the instant I saw it. My mom is an antiques dealer, so I'm a sucker for anything old-timey. Plus, the rent is actually cheaper than some of the apartments we looked at.

Either way, a great choice! I live in suburbian crap lol.

Anyway, no matter what people say, Dayton is a very livable area, and the people are all very nice. I have been all over the country, and have ran into some rude people. On March 23rd I went to Northern New Jersey (Newark) and also went to New York City of course being in the area. I couldn't get over how rude the people were, and the trash everywhere. Newark first off looks like a bomb was dropped on the city, and literally it looks like somebody dumped their trash on every square inch of Jersey. And when I was in Little Italy in southern Manhattan, a taxi cut across two lanes to pick up some customers, and in the process cut off a guy in a white van, after laying on the horn for a good five seconds, the man in the white van pulled over by the taxi and threw his drink all over it. Crazy!

Every place has its problems, no one place is perfect. And I have a good job in Dayton, and a nice house and car, and its a cheap place to live. I have a lot to do in the area, and if I need more I head to Cincinnati or Columbus. My girlfriend is excited and must go to the new Ikea almost every weekend down in Cincinnati. Its here, don't let people make you think otherwise.

[rlacross]

I am in the exact same boat= relocating to Wright-Patterson from San Antonio, Texas. I LOVE historical areas as well but I need also good schools as I have an elementary age child. We are in our late 30's and don't mind doing some fixing up on a great house.

[Beavercreek33]

Please check out Beavercreek. We are rated one of the top 100 places to live, and it has a great school system. There are actually a lot of great school systems in the area, you just have to figure out which one fits you best.

City of Beavercreek

Beavercreek City School District

[wrightflyer]

^^If you are looking for a more historical area, I recommend checking out Oakwood. It not an official historic district, but parts of it are a 1920's street car suburb. The rest was built prior to WWII. It is a beautiful community with excellent and wonderful schools. Hopefully you'll be able to find something to your liking!

http://www.ci.oakwood.oh.us/

[JefferyT]

I am in the exact same boat= relocating to Wright-Patterson from San Antonio, Texas. I LOVE historical areas as well but I need also good schools as I have an elementary age child. We are in our late 30's and don't mind doing some fixing up on a great house.

The city of Dayton would be good except you wuld have to send your kid to a private school since the city public system is pretty bad.

The Dayton area has a wealth of country towns and villages, some of which have become suburban, where you can buy older homes and fix them up. Tipp City would be a good example, perhaps Yellow Springs (which is fairly expensive). Miami County, which is just north of the base, might be an option: Troy and St Paris. People do commute to the base from these places. Brookville and Germantown, too (esp Germantown as it has an excellent collection of older things), but they are more distant.

Germantown Pix


A suburb that has some areas of bungalows, four-squares, and mock tudor cottages would be parts of Kettering. Particularly the Southern Hills area (which is really nice), and the neighborhood east of Shroyer and north of Dorothy Lane.
Souuthern Heights pix (with some history at the start)

[oktoflgrl]

We're PCSing to Wright Patterson next June. We're coming from San Antonio, TX. I'm looking forward to it!

[Crew Chief]

Originally Posted by oktoflgrl

We're PCSing to Wright Patterson next June. We're coming from San Antonio, TX. I'm looking forward to it!

Welcome! Maybe we can band together and convince Dayton to put a Riverwalk along the Great Miami River downtown... Seriously, I think you guys will like it here; I loved S.A. and I like it here, too!

[JefferyT]

^
Gosh, the Riverwalk! Nothing like it anywhere in the US.

But, believe it or not, there was a plan to build a riverwalk-type thing in Dayton, and it was inspired by San Antonio, too. This was back in the 1970s. Read about it here:

Riverdesign Dayton