Need advice for Huntsville (Madison, Highland Lake: rent, unemployment, neighborhoods)

[BFab40]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

BFab40 - the more you write, the less you seem to care about 'diversity'. Was that just a throw-away line to establish your 'progressiveness'? What a joker...

It seems that you really care about shared values - homogeneity - parents who care about their child's education. There are some parents who think that because a teacher gets paid, the teacher is responsible for all learning. IMO those children are at a disadvantage, especially when compared to children whose parents read to them, teach basic math, vocabulary, etc.

Blossomwood is an established neighborhood with houses ranging from ~1200 sf to ~4000 sf, seemingly overpriced but IMO a stable good value. It is convenient to everything, with fairly good schools to boot. However, the new Blossomwood ES was built to absorb hundreds of transfer kids - which expands the racial diversity as well as the economic diversity.

Publix is great, so is Star Market - they performed a great service during the tornadoes - I'm happy to shop at both.

I see why you call yourself Reactionary...your dry quips do cause a "REACTION"... I thought that I established my definition of diversity. Whether you want to except it or not is up to you. If you classify it as homogeneity then so be it. I thought that we established that "diversity" is a generic term and can be defined many different ways.
As I told the other poster...I am not a sheltered person who is afraid of people of poor backgrounds. I grew up in a lower economic area. Its not about that for me. Its my preference and I have my reasons that I stick by. It is what it is...and your being such a "defender" does not make you any more "progressive"...just argumentative and just as closed minded as you seem to be accusing me of if you ask me.

[Reactionary]

BFab40 - words do have meanings - diversity means what it means regardless of your definition - it is certainly not generic. You prefer to raise your children in as affluent an area as you can afford. I totally support your right to do so and agree that it's a good idea. Economic factors contribute greatly to school success. However, what you are looking for is termed homogeneity - you are looking for people like you - people who are involved in their children's education. You -do- read to your children, don't you? OK, then your children have a good head start in life that many less affluent children don't have, as I'm sure you know from your own experience.

You injected race into the discussion asking about diversity. I'm guessing that you consider yourself to be a progressive / liberal.

I hope that the information I've provided has been helpful, despite any hard feelings on your part.

[OmarLittle]

BFab40 - don't be discouraged by this discussion, not everyone in Huntsville clings to their Madison County Republican Men's Club ideas, and most people on this board try to provide helpful advice free of insults, especially to newcomers.

We live in Southeast Huntsville in an area that is relatively wealthy (for Huntsville) and crime-free, but suffers from a lack of political and racial diversity. We prefer this area over Madison, however, because of the scenery (hills, vistas, open space). You also mentioned private schools...Randolph is outstanding (and a very different environment from Madison Academy).

[Reactionary]

Bless your suffering, relatively wealthy, crime-free, and scenic heart Omar - what insults have I offered the OP? I've answered every question that I could, in detail, and through query have clarified the OPs requirements for housing (affluence rather than racial diversity).

[AJBarney]

Originally Posted by OmarLittle

BFab40 - don't be discouraged by this discussion, not everyone in Huntsville clings to their Madison County Republican Men's Club ideas, and most people on this board try to provide helpful advice free of insults, especially to newcomers.

We live in Southeast Huntsville in an area that is relatively wealthy (for Huntsville) and crime-free, but suffers from a lack of political and racial diversity. We prefer this area over Madison, however, because of the scenery (hills, vistas, open space). You also mentioned private schools...Randolph is outstanding (and a very different environment from Madison Academy).

Randolph School is 94% Caucasian...guess the diversity will have to come from elsewhere....

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

BFab40 - words do have meanings - diversity means what it means regardless of your definition - it is certainly not generic. You prefer to raise your children in as affluent an area as you can afford. I totally support your right to do so and agree that it's a good idea. Economic factors contribute greatly to school success. However, what you are looking for is termed homogeneity - you are looking for people like you - people who are involved in their children's education.

OK I have not been following you two's conversation but judging from the tone, it took a nose dive here.

Humans by nature want to buy in the best neighborhood for themselves and their family that they can afford. I don't care if you are black, white, or purple. If you have any good sense at all, you'll want your children to receive good education and have a better shot at the good life than you did when you were at their age.

There's no such thing as homegeneity. Even twin will have separate personality. Just because most people look like the same color/ race does not mean that they are "homogeneous".

You injected race into the discussion asking about diversity. I'm guessing that you consider yourself to be a progressive / liberal.

Diversity is not just about race, ethnicity, and gender. Diversity is about a wide range of spectrum including, liberal vs. conservative, big city vs. rural, introvert vs extrovert, designer fashion vs walmart rack, and anything else in between.

So by my definition, just because a neighborhood is 100% white does not mean it is "not" diverse. 100% bubba who only marry to their kins is not-diverse (as an extreme example).

Take food for example, life would be pretty boring if all you eat is catfish & corn bread every single day. Thank goodness that we have here in Huntsville, within reasonable driving distance, a variety of regional & international food/ restaurants available.

Huntsville is not a big area. It is silly to argue which neighborhood is more "diverse" than others. IF you feel your neighborhood does not offer enough diversity, get in the car and drive for 15~20min. You will find the diversity you want.

[Reactionary]

HB2HSV = "I have not been following you two's conversation"

OK. I don't know how you judge "the tone". If you were to reread the conversation I think that you would find that I made many of the same points you made. Allow me to summarize:

OP asked about "diverse community" followed by "people of Asian and African-American decent" and "diversity means different colors, races, and backgrounds" - which established that the OP is concerned about racial diversity. IMO racial diversity is a useless metric requiring not only twisted thinking but a touch of racial identity / divisiveness.

Regardless, I provided racial demographics for the schools the OP asked about - if racial diversity is going to be used in decision-making, then racial data should be helpful (you all know me well enough to know that I like to be helpful).

Taking a cue from the OP's interest in "an affluent area", I surfaced the question of economic diversity. I noted that Bob Jones and Grissom are the best schools in the area, while noting that both have too many asians compared to state or national populations (remember the mental gymnastics). In addition, the OP commented about liking a "metropolitan" setting - to which I suggested Blossomwood - which is about as close as HSV gets, plus it feeds into a racially diverse, economically diverse, good school.

The OP then clarifies: "I do not want my kids to be exposed to too much economic diversity when it comes to school. I would rather them go to school with kids with a similar Middle Class lifestyle."

You and I and the OP know that there is dissonance in her requirements.

In order to answer the OP's requirement for not "too much economic diversity" I suggested reviewing free lunch percentages at each school (which would provide data about the relative affluence of each school). That is a valid process to gain objective publicly available data to meet the OPs requirements.

After reading more messages from the OP, I commented that diversity didn't really seem to be a requirement and that it was a "throw-away line". Yes, it was a poke. I got reps for writing it.

That was my point, with which you seem to agree: "It is silly to argue which neighborhood is more "diverse" than others."

Keep in mind that while making that point, I did answer every question the OP asked with the best information I have and my best opinion.

[AJBarney]

HB2HSV, I agree with many/most of your points. What I can't figure out is why you aren't addressing them to the OP (who is suffering from some dissonance as Reactionary says) instead of Reactionary. The OP is the proper target of your information.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by AJBarney

HB2HSV, I agree with many/most of your points. What I can't figure out is why you aren't addressing them to the OP (who is suffering from some dissonance as Reactionary says) instead of Reactionary. The OP is the proper target of your information.

Mostly likely because of my ADD I just pick up where the last post in the thread left off.

Sorry, Reactionary - I didn't mean to be critical. I am glad that you explained it well.

[Reactionary]

HB2HSV - we go back too far to be cross with each other...

BFab40 - as Omar said, don't be discouraged by the discussion. If you like debate, you'll find it, occasionally where you don't expect. If you like answers and honest opinion about the area, you'll find that as well...