Why do you live in Dayton? (or it's suburbs) (Cincinnati: renting, houses)

[willabee]

Would you please direct message me so I can get involved?

[215GUY]

Im orginally from Philly came to Dayton for college,after school i moved to Chicago for a few years.Seen a posting for a job in Green County and thought what the hell, Dayton was not that bad, it was hard leaving Chicago.But i am happy i came back,traffic is a brees, it's cheap, and Kettering schools are great.I don't no if i am gone stay in Dayton or not, i may go back to Pa, or i might go to Seattle, my brother been trying to get me to come out there for years.But for the near future im staying put.

[Billy from Dayton]

@willabee - no need for dm as I can give you some links here to get you started.

updayton. - more for the younger 20 & 30-somethings in the city/region, this is an advocacy group working on organizing young people and making sure elected officials know exactly what young people want in their city. While it is a regional group, most of the focus has naturally been on the urban core since a strong & vibrant downtown is what most young people wish for.

Downtown Dayton Partnership - Greater Downtown Dayton Plan - while over 200 volunteers have been hammering out plans in several areas over the past few months based on the first round of public input sessions (housing, active living/river development, green development, placemaking, complete streets/bicycle friendly ranking, arts, streetcars, etc.), those initial plan drafts will be open for public review and input starting this Saturday (check the link for info). While everybody will have a chance for final input and priority making, the real work will be in implementation so there will be MANY opportunities to volunteer in any of the several sub-committees. This is bigger than anything ever to happen in Dayton in the past several decades.

Garden Station | Facebook - some of the most dedicated and welcoming people I know have completely transformed a former vacant/overgrown city lot between the OD and Cannery into an amazing public arts garden. They are always looking for volunteers and it is a great way to meet people, get involved and work in dirt (among other things)!

FilmDayton - Fostering the growth of our regional film industry and audience. - if you want to get involved in a very strong film-making community here in Dayton (including WSU's excellent film school) then this is a great group to check out.

Miami Valley Grown - Connecting local producers with local consumers - a brand new group dedicated to connecting people with local growers/farmers/producers and advocating the benefits of buying local.

These are just a few - we're working on getting a more comprehensive list on DaytonMostMetro.com.

[willabee]

Thanks!

[Crew Chief]

That's OK, Billy...I didn't leave anything in FL I want to go back for (other than a short vacation in the Winter...) This is actually our "retirement" home! We're staying here; our next move will probably be to the retirement home down the street!

We lived all over the world, courtesy of the USAF. Could've ended up anywhere in the world (we seriously considered retiring in Germany briefly after I retired.) We really knew nothing about Dayton ( or Ohio, for that matter...) I only spent one overnight at Wright-Patt when I was on active duty!

I went to work for a large trucking company after leaving the military. I roamed the countryside while we tried to figure out which side of the Atlantic we wanted to end up on. We have friends that retired from Wright-Patt and stayed here and I spent my time out of the truck with them frequently while my wife was teaching in Germany. Worked out pretty well, but that's another post...

What brought us to settle for the Dayton area? Low cost of living, lots more real estate for the money than other places we'd lived or were considering as a retirement home. Certainly proximity to Wright-Patt figured into our decision, but we've probably been on base less than a half-dozen times since we arrived. And for jobs, we figured that we should be able to find two decent jobs SOMEWHERE around here. (Even if we had to relocate to Cincinnati or Columbus)

Truthfully, I'm more of a "city" person while wife loves the suburban thing. When she got a job out here, we decided to live close to her job; I commute thru downtown Dayton so that we can live here.

But that's not all bad; I have to say the panorama of Dayton never gets old! I have believed, from the day we arrived, that Dayton will once again rise to her former glory (maybe it sounds corny, but so what...)

I while away the hours behind the wheel at work about living in some loft downtown and shopping at the Dorothy Lane Market that will someday build there. Hey, why not...

[lived here forever]

I was born and raised in the same neighborhood I live in now. My grandkids are the fifth generation to live here. I haven't traveled much, but I don't think i'd like to live anywhere else (unless it's on top of a mountain in TN).
My son and his family moved to Florida three times, and came back all lthree times, this time to stay. They loved it down there, but felt the need to "be home".
We have it all here: historical areas, a growing downtown, friendly neighbors, and many entities. We're close to places for recreation, and big city shopping. When we would visit in FL, all there was to do was go to the beach.
We're here to stay.

[willabee]

Originally Posted by lived here forever

My grandkids are the fifth generation to live here.

Not quite the same, but my son was born here three years ago at Miami Valley. He's a native...lol..guess he's second generation?....

[Daytonnatian]

Sorry to swing by late.....

Anyways, yeah, I love it around here. However, I don't really have the international (or inter-state) perspective since I've only lived in Middletown besides the north 'burbs where I'm at now. As a kid, I spent a lot of time looking out the car window at Dayton, and I think that's is one of the main reasons I fell in love with the city, along with the fact that my family owned a business within its borders. Still, as I have continued to explore the city more, I just continue to fall in love with it all over again.

I'm a sixth generation resident myself, so I guess that I am defitely one of the "natives" to the area. The weird thing is, though, (and thus explains my posting name), is that I still really feel like I have roots in the entire Dayton metro area plus the rest of Butler-Warren counties, and even a little Cincy nowadays. I know all the weird quirks, the people, the goings-on, and I love it. Still, out of the whole region, Dayton is my favorite spot, and I am looking forward to moving there myself someday (hopefully soon )

[willabee]

Originally Posted by Daytonnatian

The weird thing is, though, (and thus explains my posting name), is that I still really feel like I have roots in the entire Dayton metro area plus the rest of Butler-Warren counties, and even a little Cincy nowadays.

I like the way you think.

Coming from the east coast the whole mid-west urban/suburb stark division is still foreign to me. Meaning, having all these separate cities in the Dayton metro area is still something I struggle with.

In Virginia, cities are entities that are separate from counties. While there are suburbs in the sense that communities exist outside of large cities, the communities aren't in opposition to each other quite like it seems in the Dayton area. I mean to me, other than street signs and other markers, I have trouble telling when I have crossed into Kettering or Trotwood for that matter. (ya I know south/north opposites but you get my point.) Yet, I have met folks from Kettering who WILL not claim Dayton at all, even though their very communities existence is forever tied to Dayton. (Not slamming Kettering - the person just happened to be from there)

All this to say I think Dayton and surrounding communities would improve things for everyone to continue working together to a greater degree. Even merge and annex. Obviously, we need leadership to change it's ways, or just leadership change in Dayton for this to be palatable to some of the better managed suburbs in the Dayton metro area.

I ramble on...lol...

[Crew Chief]

Originally Posted by willabee

This brings up a good point concerning Dayton's suburbs. Many of them, I.E. Miamisburg, Germantown, Troy, etc, have very cool downtown areas. Cool meaning they are old style architecture with a cozy, yet urban feel to them. You even catch a slight flavor of this in Oakwood, although Oakwood definitely has a "mall" feel to it's business district on Far Hills. I digress.

Willabee, I love living in Washington Twp. but, honestly, there are a LOT more attractive town centers than that mess at the intersection of SRs 48 & 725 in Centerville...YUCK! I'd put Tipp City's downtown as my favorite. And so many others are a close second. And I'm sure I'll discover more as I have time to explore more of the Dayton area.