Looking for good elementary or K-8 school (Denver, Aurora: neighborhood, school districts)

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by applerosie

Are there walkable suburbs? And good schools matter the most, followed by a friendly, walkable neighborhood. We're coming from NH, by the way -- not exactly a bastion of diversity, but a nice place all the same.

1.Try looking at the southern parts of Park Hill. Governor John Hickenlooper lives and his 10-year son attends public school.

2. Diversity in Colorado is a code word for Hispanics.

3. The suburbs (for the most part) are not walkable.
a. They are walkable for recreation.
b. They are not walkable for grocery shopping, etc.

4. The school systems here are huge (think 50K students). There are no small towns with their own school systems as there is in New England.

[applerosie]

A townhouse or condo would work for us, as long as it's pet friendly (one cat now, but hope to get a dog again after we get settled). Not wild about living in an apartment complex. A house, of course, would be fine as well.

[mic111]

On the topic of walkable suburbs. I've lived in Centennial and now live in Westminster. Both were walkable. In my Centennial neighborhood I could walk to a Safeway and lots of restaurants along with some stores. Those were like 5 min. away. In my walks I think I had about 5 grocery stores within striking distance. I also used to walk to work.

In my Westminster neighborhood I can walk to 3 grocery stores, lots of restaurants, a movie theater (12 screens), a Lowes (the dog loves to go there), banks, coffee shops, and a giant gym with a huge outdoor water park. We have free concerts we can walk to every Fri. in the summer. I can walk to a dog park, to a farm to buy fresh vegetables and to see long haired bison, lamas, horses and other farm animals. If I had a small child I could walk them to a Montessori school about 400 yrds away. The elementary school is one I often stroll by. The high school also. Not sure where the middle school is. When my car needs worked on I drop it at the local shop and walk home. Adjacent to my neighborhood is a fishing lake that I can walk around. Love to see the fish jumping at dawn and dusk. We often see very interesting birds and often coyotes. Sometimes I see my neighbors walking to these places, sometimes groups of kids riding their bikes. It is very safe and newer infrastructure. Just look around at the local stores where your looking to buy. You can walk to them. With a long walk I can get to the library. It is more of a biking distance but I have gotten there on foot. Don't overlook the suburbs when your thinking about walkable.

[AceShopper]

Originally Posted by mic111

In my Westminster neighborhood I can walk to 3 grocery stores, lots of restaurants, a movie theater (12 screens), a Lowes (the dog loves to go there), banks, coffee shops, and a giant gym with a huge outdoor water park. We have free concerts we can walk to every Fri. in the summer. I can walk to a dog park, to a farm to buy fresh vegetables and to see long haired bison, lamas, horses and other farm animals. If I had a small child I could walk them to a Montessori school about 400 yrds away. The elementary school is one I often stroll by. The high school also. Not sure where the middle school is. When my car needs worked on I drop it at the local shop and walk home. Adjacent to my neighborhood is a fishing lake that I can walk around. Love to see the fish jumping at dawn and dusk. We often see very interesting birds and often coyotes. Sometimes I see my neighbors walking to these places, sometimes groups of kids riding their bikes. It is very safe and newer infrastructure. Just look around at the local stores where your looking to buy. You can walk to them. With a long walk I can get to the library. It is more of a biking distance but I have gotten there on foot. Don't overlook the suburbs when your thinking about walkable.

Sounds interesting - Can you give a nearest cross street by you ? I would love to check out the area !

[applerosie]

mic111 --

Westminster sounds lovely but also looks too far for me? I need tips on how to search for rentals in Centennial. Does Craigslist label homes in this area as Aurora? If so, how do I locate the best neighborhoods when looking online -- I know some parts of Aurora aren't considered to be very good, while others may be very nice. Where in Centennial did you live?

[mic111]

Originally Posted by AceShopper

Sounds interesting - Can you give a nearest cross street by you ? I would love to check out the area !

Sure!

The lake is McKay Lake.
https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-...ed=0CAgQ8gEwAA

The main shopping area is Orchard Town Center. Although I mostly grocery shop at the King Soopers in the Shops at Quail Creek which is just south of the lake.
The Orchard Town Center :: 14697 Delaware Street, Suite 850, Westminster, CO. 80023 :: 303-450-8600

The elementary is Meridian in McKay.
Meridian Elementary

[mic111]

Originally Posted by applerosie

mic111 --

Westminster sounds lovely but also looks too far for me? I need tips on how to search for rentals in Centennial. Does Craigslist label homes in this area as Aurora? If so, how do I locate the best neighborhoods when looking online -- I know some parts of Aurora aren't considered to be very good, while others may be very nice. Where in Centennial did you live?

Sorry, didn't meant to disrupt your thread. Westminster is too far for you. My point was to not overlook the suburbs when talking about walkable. Those in the older areas, particularly with old streetcar infrastructure sometimes think they are the only ones that can walk anywhere.

I lived near Arapahoe and Quebec in a little older (1970's) neighborhood called Heritage Place. It has a top rated elementary (Heritage Elementary) which was down the street from my house and I often walked to the Safeway across the street on Arapahoe. There was also a post office, pizza place, stores and other restaurants I went to in that complex. On Sunday mornings I would walk up to Orchard to get breakfast at a great breakfast restaurant. There is now a light rail station right there so the home values have really shot up because it is walkable to the light rail. I could also walk to Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre for concerts. And at the time they had a fireworks display I could see from the house. It is now called the Comfort Dental Amphitheatre.
Comfort Dental Amphitheatre | Latest Events and Tickets

[applerosie]

Originally Posted by mic111

Sorry, didn't meant to disrupt your thread. Westminster is too far for you. My point was to not overlook the suburbs when talking about walkable. Those in the older areas, particularly with old streetcar infrastructure sometimes think they are the only ones that can walk anywhere.

I lived near Arapahoe and Quebec in a little older (1970's) neighborhood called Heritage Place. It has a top rated elementary (Heritage Elementary) which was down the street from my house and I often walked to the Safeway across the street on Arapahoe. There was also a post office, pizza place, stores and other restaurants I went to in that complex. On Sunday mornings I would walk up to Orchard to get breakfast at a great breakfast restaurant. There is now a light rail station right there so the home values have really shot up because it is walkable to the light rail. I could also walk to Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre for concerts. And at the time they had a fireworks display I could see from the house. It is now called the Comfort Dental Amphitheatre.
Comfort Dental Amphitheatre | Latest Events and Tickets

Not a problem -- I really appreciate the help! What about my other question -- is it possible to search for rentals in Centennial, or are they labeled as Aurora? Very confusing.

[mic111]

Centennial is a real city, on paper. Where I used to live was originally unincorporated Arapahoe county with an Englewood mailing address (which was very odd because it wasn't even physically close to the real city of Englewood). When Centennial was created I think it picked up mailing addresses from Littleton, Aurora, and Englewood - which like my house may have not even been close to or in those cities.

Greenwood Village at the time was trying to annex our neighborhood and others to pickup the tax base along the I-25 corridor so Centennial was created as a response to try and keep taxes low. I know that this likely makes no sense to someone looking at it but it is the explanation of why you can't figure out the city boundaries and folks may be calling properties right next to each other as being in different cities. It really depends on what they think their mailing address is, what it used to be, and what city they might really live in.

Centennial, Colorado - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Dorthy]

Originally Posted by applerosie

Not a problem -- I really appreciate the help! What about my other question -- is it possible to search for rentals in Centennial, or are they labeled as Aurora? Very confusing.

If you like the description that was given of Westminster, you will like the "Streets of Southglenn" which is in Centennial at the intersection of Arapahoe/University. You can use Padmapper to search for rentals. There are some townhomes in your price range right next to this shopping area. The schools for this area should also be good.

For those who say the suburbs are not walkable. My walk score is 78 and I live in Old Englewood. I can walk to two grocery stores, several parks, a library, restaurants, coffee shops, a bowling alley, retail, post office, fitness centers, a pool, a rec center, several live music venues, etc. I can also walk to the light rail station and to the bus stop which takes me directly downtown. A short bike ride will take me to a large movie theatre as well as Target or more "hip" areas such as Platte Park and Washington Park.