Not nearly the hellhole I expected (Cincinnati, Dayton: 2010, houses, job market)

[rlacross]

I was pleased to hear about your positive experience. I am originally from the Florida Gulf Coast and am very nervous about transferring from San Antonio to Wright-Patt. I interested in the historical areas, but would like to learn more about the demographics. Is it young couples with children, or elderly who can't afford home improvements, etc? I have an elemetary age child and would like to know of a historical neighborhood with a good school system. I have never lived in a city and am nervous about "inner city" problems. Any enlightenment would be appreciated. Thanks

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by prairiestate

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

"Dayton, not nearly the hellhole you expect"

It certainly beats "It's Great'n Dayton".

[wrightflyer]

Originally Posted by rlacross

I was pleased to hear about your positive experience. I am originally from the Florida Gulf Coast and am very nervous about transferring from San Antonio to Wright-Patt. I interested in the historical areas, but would like to learn more about the demographics. Is it young couples with children, or elderly who can't afford home improvements, etc? I have an elemetary age child and would like to know of a historical neighborhood with a good school system. I have never lived in a city and am nervous about "inner city" problems. Any enlightenment would be appreciated. Thanks

There are numerous people here in the Dayton area and its suburbs that come from placeses outside of Dayton due to Wright Patterson, one of those places being the Florida Gulf Coast.

As for demographics on historical places in Dayton and surrounding communities, I can't help you. My best bit of advice is to look on Wikipedia at the cities and districts in which you are interested. Their census information is usually accurate, but keep in mind that it is dated from the last census (2000). Things have changed in the last 9 years.

Private catholic schools or a montessori school would be your best bet if you live in a historical district within Dayton Public School Limits. Keep in mind that school districts are by city and township here rather than county or regions. Suburbs with older/historic feels with excellent to efficent schools, as indicated by the state of Ohio school district report cards, include Oakwood, Centerville around Far Hills Ave. and Franklin St., Germantown close to its "downtown", and Miamisburg near Central and Main.

As for "inner city" problems, the only place you would come across those if living in one of Dayton's historic districts is if you sent your child to a Dayton public school. Living in any of the other places I mentioned are far outside the reaches of any "inner city" problems as their school districts are seperate from the city of Dayton's school district.

Hopefully you will be able to find something to your liking. Good luck with the move and thanks for considering Dayton's historic areas!

[rlacross]

Wow, so many great responses! Thank you so much. You have given me a lot of areas to consider. It really helps me out~~Much appreciated.

[rlacross]

Wow, what a small world! My husband is stationed at the school at Brooks, do you work there as well? He is in Public Health section,.

[gma221]

Haven't checked this board in awhile - lots of new replies! Coincidentally, I'm originally from San Antonio. I moved to Dayton from NYC (where I went to college), but I was born and raised in SA. Good to know I'm not alone here in Dayton. About the demographics of St. Anne's Hill - according to the neighborhood website (St. Anne's Hill Historic District), 40% of the residents are between 25-44 and 36% are under 24, which suggests lots of families with children. As for the schools around here, I'm afraid I can't be of much help, since we don't have children. We live down the street from Stivers High School, which I've heard is very good, but it's arts-focused. Aside from that, I know virtually nothing about Dayton's schools - but I CAN say that the high school in Oakwood on Far Hills Ave. is the nicest-looking school I've ever seen! As I said in my original post, I love the historic feel of downtown as well as the convenience of living here. If I had school-aged children, though, I might prefer Oakwood. It IS a gorgeous neighborhood!

[Beavercreek33]

Originally Posted by rlacross

Wow, so many great responses! Thank you so much. You have given me a lot of areas to consider. It really helps me out~~Much appreciated.

Glad you could get some help.

[prfcttimeofday]

Originally Posted by 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.

You're probably going to fall in love with Oakwood. It sounds like everything you want, and it has one of the best school districts in the state. That's where I would suggest you look first.

Also, to those from San Antonio who have high school aged kids that might have been in an excellent band program at schools like Winston Churchill HS or Ronald Reagan HS. . .you're probably gonna want to get your kids in the Centerville School District. If they were in Reagan or Churchill, they'll probably already know about Centerville, since all 3 compete on a national level with each other at BOA

[Crew Chief]

Originally Posted by rlacross

Wow, so many great responses! Thank you so much. You have given me a lot of areas to consider. It really helps me out~~Much appreciated.

Welcome to The Dayton area, rlacross!!! For all the expert help we're giving you, you must bring us some real SA fajitas!!!

[Wilmingtonguy]

I'm going to have to take the opposite side of some of the posters here. As someone who grew up in San Antonio and moved to Ohio (near Dayton) 15 years ago, I have a lot of insight to the area, and here are some things to chew on:

1)Wright Patt is awesome. You'll love it.
2)There is something very rare that you find in San Antonio. It's a huge city with hardly any suburbs (i.e. areas like Converse, Live Oak, and Alamo Heights). Ohio's cities are the complete opposite. They're relatively small cities surrounded by gigantic areas of suburbs. When I drive down to Cincinnati, I spend more time going through the suburbs than I do driving through Cinci proper. So keep that in mind while doing research.
3)Dayton (proper) *IS* pretty horrible honestly. Dayton has some great places (like Oregon District, and much of the downtown proper is nice) but most of it is *not* somewhere I'd like to live. The murder rate is 4 times that of San Antonio... which is saying a lot considering some of the problems SA has (Dayton murder rate: 28/162,789 - SA murder rate: 85/1,212,789).
4)There are some suburbs that are incredible. Kettering, Fairborn, and Beavercreek come to mind. Since you'll be on W-P, you'll most likely go to Beavercreek plenty. Just don't go to Riverside, Huber Heights, or... heck... anywhere north or west of Downtown. It doesn't take long to figure out where not to go in this town.
5)Unemployment is rampant here. Currently it's around 13%. While that obviously has little effect on a job at Wright-Patt, it shows the status of Dayton... which isn't that good in terms of the big picture. And it's only going to get worse. I live in Wilmington, a town which used to be home to Airborne/DHL until DHL broke all their promises and left, creating 10,000 unemployed people. Many of those people were bussed in from Dayton. The point being that Dayton unemployment isn't going to improve anytime soon. For comparison... San Antonio just recently hit 6%. The math isn't very flattering.
6)Pollution. Most research anyone does on pollution levels shows that Dayton is the most polluted city of it's size in the entire nation.

That being said... there's plenty to