Cleburne, TX (Fort Worth, Arlington, North Richland Hills: crime rates, theater, school district)

[Journey507]

My husband got a job in Cleburne, TX.
I'm a stay-at-home mom. We are looking around the Ft. Worth area but we don't know how bad the traffic is. We live in a suburb just south of Miami.
We have a 4 year old that is in special education for developmental delays so I am concerned about good schools; although it is possible that by kindergarten she will be caught up and in "typical" classes but I still want her to go to a good one.
I am looking to embrace a new culture.. I have lived in the "south;" KY and Savannah, GA. I would love somewhere very similar to Savannah. Are there charming "walking" towns with diverse culture and mix of liberal and conservative like that? Culture like kid-friendly festivals, art shows, Shakespeare or Symphony in the park type of things?
Looking on meetup.com it looks like Crowley and Burlson are family-oriented but North Richland Hills seems nice too; it is hard not being there to see for myself.
We are a Cuban-American family and I get bored easily. I don't want to live somewhere too sleepy and not accepting of other cultures. Ideally I want to love in the most diverse area there is. Religion doesn't bother me at all as long as people are not constantly trying to recruit me to their church. I was actually thinking about checking out a Universalist Unitarian.
Anyway... I guess I have no straight forward question.... just concerned about moving and what area will be best for my family. Any help?

[loves2read]

look at a map--Cleburn is not a suburb of FTW it is a town--started out as farming/ranching area--it is close to an hour from North Richland Hills--
if your husband is working in Cleburn you need to live there--or as close to it as you can
Granbury has nice historical downtown--fort worth has shakespeare in the park and lots of other theater/music features as well as other towns like Bedford, Arlington in the area...
but Cleburn is not that easy a drive--and gas is expensive

[MarguriteHenry]

I agree with loves2read, move to Cleburne. I grew up in Granbury and no way would I want to drive from Granbury to Cleburne daily or from DFW to Cleburne.

Cleburne has a water park, a lake, a historic town square and is near enough to Fort Worth that you can go to the museums, big malls etc every couple of weeks to enjoy without having to live in it and deal with the traffic on a day to day basis.

more info on the schools can be found here Cleburne Independent School District - Cleburne, TX

[wishihadahouse]

I was wondering. I heard Cleburne,TX has horrible crime rates and gets earthquakes is that true? thanks so much!

[Ketabcha]

There have been a series of quakes in Cleburne over the last year or so. Very minor shakes.

[sndayschld]

Lived in Cleburne for 4 years and never had one thing crime related happen to me and I live in the "other side of the tracks". As far as the quakes, I keep hearing about them but never felt one. I moved to Cleburne for the same reason and now that I'm out of the oilfield I'm having a hard time making my way out of this city, I love it.

[jimboburnsy]

I lived in Weatherford and worked all around Ft. Worth for a number of years. Commuting in that part of Texas can be completely miserable. 171 through Cleburne is an important artery for the surrounding communities and oilfield traffic and it tends to suffer from some pretty nasty back-ups at certain times of day. You may think that being away from the metroplex would alleviate traffic to a degree, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

My first thought was that the Aledo schools would be attractive, but your husband will be looking at a 45-60 minute commute on a light traffic day. I probably wouldn't get any farther than Burleson, but that's just me.

Also, I'm afraid that it will be difficult to find a proxy of Savannah's culture south of I-20 (or north, for that matter).

[GrapevineTxOnline]

Originally Posted by jimboburnsy

I lived in Weatherford and worked all around Ft. Worth for a number of years. Commuting in that part of Texas can be completely miserable. 171 through Cleburne is an important artery for the surrounding communities and oilfield traffic and it tends to suffer from some pretty nasty back-ups at certain times of day. You may think that being away from the metroplex would alleviate traffic to a degree, but this doesn't seem to be the case.

My first thought was that the Aledo schools would be attractive, but your husband will be looking at a 45-60 minute commute on a light traffic day. I probably wouldn't get any farther than Burleson, but that's just me.

Also, I'm afraid that it will be difficult to find a proxy of Savannah's culture south of I-20 (or north, for that matter).

This is a great post.

Unfortunately, for your husband to work in Cleburne you pretty much get to choose between Cleburne and Burleson.

I like both, but have close family that lives in Cleburne so I'm probably a little biased.

I assume that Burleson may be a little more culturally friendly, but like any place both towns will have their share of friendly folks.

[GrapevineTxOnline]

Originally Posted by wishihadahouse

I was wondering. I heard Cleburne,TX has horrible crime rates and gets earthquakes is that true? thanks so much!

I've never heard of Cleburne having a horrible crime rate. I'm not saying it may not be true, but this would be the first I've heard of it.

[hondagirl_94]

I have lived in Cleburne all my 26 years, I love it here. I have a son who is in the 3rd grade and our school has been awesome, and I would stay as close to Cleburne as possible in your move, due to traffic reasons, The crime rate, I dont think is bad at all, you will always have your typical teenage stuff, and little things but nothing to far bad.. The earthquakes, yes we have had some not in the past few months, I live near the lake and where most of the shocks were felt, they were little, very scary considering we had no clue what they were.. but on the up side it is a very great place to live..