Grand Rapids Area -- Diversity? (Wyoming, Forest Hills: work, suburban, community)

[kbrown127]

Originally Posted by scottmi

I will NEVER pay $200k for a house. EVER.

I'd be perfectly content living in a $60,000 modular on a $20,000 piece of land somewhere.

Ridiculous what people think is "reasonable" for housing!!! Crazy!!!

Wow...it's a good thing you don't live where I do. That $200k will barely get you a 1 bed/ 1 bath condo. The one thing I miss about GR the most was the housing prices!

Anyway, I found this thread particularly interesting, as I am from GR, dutch (of course), and in an interracial marriage. My wife (from Detroit proper) and I moved out to Northern VA right after our wedding, and there are things we both miss about GR. To the people who have not had a good experience there, I'm sorry to hear that. Those people are everywhere, even here in the culturally diverse Washington DC area. My wife never had a problem with GR, but we know where the OP is coming from. It is important for us that our future children (none yet) go to school with students of many backgrounds if possible. I'm glad to hear that you have found a place you enjoy, and wish you the best! My 2 younger siblings graduated from Lowell, and while I don't know anything about the cultural makeup of the schools there they did both seem to enjoy it.

[cscarew]

My family is also racially diverse(caucasion & african american) and we love living here, we actually live in Norton Shores a suburb of Muskegon. We have great schools, plenty of outdoor things to do, THE LAKE (Michigan) is only 5 minutes away, a great mall-not super huge, but Rivertown Mall which is huge, is only 25 minutes away. My family has lived in many places throught the US, South Carolina,North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Indiana, and Phoenix, Arizona. We chose to come back to west Michigan to raise our family, because of the racial diversity of this area, and the values a smaller town offers. We also lived in Grand Rapids, for 4 yrs, 2 of our 4 sons were born there, however it doesn't compare to the quieter, less traffic, less crime that we get here in Norton Shores. If we need to go to GR we can get to downtown in about 40 minutes. Hope this helps, e me if you have more questions. Connie cscarew@hotmail.com

[~~tru~~]

If you are looking for diversity, try Kentwood schools. Having a bi-racial daughter, this has also been a huge concern of mine. Although I do not want her to deal with the problems which arise from poverty which is common in any of the city schools, I also don't want her to deal with the ignorance of the outlying areas because I dont want her growing up hating her other side (caucasion) because regardless of income levels, ignorance has continued to be prominent. The school test scores might be high, but they sure arent testing those kids on what they think about the minority population. Because the parents want so badly to shelter their children form what is in the real world, it creates a cycle of ignorance. I understand wanting to send your children to a good school, but this can also be damaging to their self-esteem when they are the minority...we're talking 1/100. Depending on your income, Forest Hills seems nice and Comstock Park might be a bit more diverse too without such a population of inner city children. I am not pleased with any of the schools including Kentwood, but have to decide upon the lesser of evils...Good Luck

[mimdpamimom]

there are alot of good areas in g.r., but economic differences are probably more important than ethnic/racial differences in regards to where you will be most comfortable living. in other words, what can/do you wish to afford? my favorite area currently is ada, on g.r. east side, but it is quite affluent. if you are going to be on the east side, i would make an effort to be in kentwood schools, regardless of what neighborhood you choose. there are many nice neighborhoods and homes in many price ranges in this district. if you're interested in montessori--stepping stones is a beautiful school.

[darkangel522]

Originally Posted by scottmi

I will NEVER pay $200k for a house. EVER.

I'd be perfectly content living in a $60,000 modular on a $20,000 piece of land somewhere.

Ridiculous what people think is "reasonable" for housing!!! Crazy!!!

Well, I'm from the Bay Area in California, so paying 200,000 sounds pretty great to me. Especially considering you probably get a front AND backyard with that house. In San Francisco, you pay three times as much, for little or no back or front yard....and you can see into your neighbors window because you're so close.

Just my two cents!

[Rewindmind]

I have followed the thread and want to add my two cents. My husband and I live in Wyoming, suburb of Grand Rapids. We have lived here 18 years as of April 1. The area has a lot to offer, cultural diversity is quite apparent here in Wyoming. My children went to school with a huge mix of different cultures. I am so glad that they did. That is a taste of the real world. We live in a working class neighborhood and I never worried about them outside playing. It is still like that now.

The area has many movie houses, shopping centers, downtown is a fifteen minute drive and has The VanAndel arena, DeVos, DeltaPlex and many other entertainment opportunities. The area is really rich with entertainment; top name entertainers. We also have some top colleges in the area: Western, U of M, Calvin, Aquinas, Davenport, Kendal School of Art. We are rich in academic excellence.

My husband has now retired and we are moving out of state..probably south...where some of our friends already live.

We just put our house on the market this week and I hope we don't have too much of a problem selling(market is soft) but our neighborhood is great!!

We have different races, ethnic cultures and different sexual orientations as our neighbors. If anyone is interested in our house, I will gladly accept a message.

BTW, my kids went to Kentwood schools before we moved into Wyoming--both have now graduated from Godwin Heights. Godwin schools have tax $$ from the General Motors plant and the academics they received was much better then Kentwood.

I couldn't wait to get my kids away from Kentwood..too many gangs there.
Just my two cents from a current resident in Wyoming, Michigan (working class people here).

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by darkangel522

Well, I'm from the Bay Area in California, so paying 200,000 sounds pretty great to me. Especially considering you probably get a front AND backyard with that house. In San Francisco, you pay three times as much, for little or no back or front yard....and you can see into your neighbors window because you're so close.

Just my two cents!

My sister and her husband just bought a house just to the North of grand Rapids. Brand new, she picked the colors and finish level for the trim, sitting on 3 acres of wooded high, dry land in a nice area. Total cost was just under 124,000. Can't beat that at all. Plus they love the Grand Rapids area and how diverse it can be, while still maintaining the smaller "feel".

[Nickc121]

Originally Posted by magellan

Like Chelle D, I'm more familiar with the NE side. I would definitely try East Grand Rapids or Forest Hills for good schools and virtually no crime. Although Forest Hills is not as diverse as EGR, Grand Rapids or Kentwood, there are a lot of transplants here with a growing number of ethnicities. There is also an excellent Spanish Immersion program at Ada Vista Elementary in the FH district that attracts a lot of diverse families. You might be able to get your 8 year old in for next Fall before they get filled up (?)

Grand Rapids city is fairly diverse. You can go back to the main page of city-data and find specific demographic information:

Michigan Bigger Cities (over 6000 residents) - Real Estate, Housing, Schools, Residents, Crime, Pollution, Demographics and More

Hope that helps!

Yeah if you want diversity you're going to want to stay away from forest hills!

[magellan]

Originally Posted by Nickc121

Yeah if you want diversity you're going to want to stay away from forest hills!

The "diversity" in Forest Hills is different than diversity in the inner city. I live in FH's and there are A LOT of Middle Eastern and Asian families. My daughter's best friend is Muslim, and I would estimate of her class of about 30 kids, 30 - 40% are "non-white" (but only a few African American kids).

So I would say you can't necessarily lay down a blanket statement like that.

and kbrown, you're exactly right. To assign a "crime stat" to an entire city like Chicago, Washington D.C. or GR is downright silly. Within every city, there are good areas and bad areas. There are areas in Cedar Rapids, IA that are probably as dangerous as Baghdad, and there are areas of Detroit that are as nice and as safe as any suburb.

[Nickc121]

Originally Posted by magellan

The "diversity" in Forest Hills is different than diversity in the inner city. I live in FH's and there are A LOT of Middle Eastern and Asian families. My daughter's best friend is Muslim, and I would estimate of her class of about 30 kids, 30 - 40% are "non-white" (but only a few African American kids).

So I would say you can't necessarily lay down a blanket statement like that.

and kbrown, you're exactly right. To assign a "crime stat" to an entire city like Chicago, Washington D.C. or GR is downright silly. Within every city, there are good areas and bad areas. There are areas in Cedar Rapids, IA that are probably as dangerous as Baghdad, and there are areas of Detroit that are as nice and as safe as any suburb.

You are certainly not going to find much economic diversity