Marion, Indiana...Info Please! (Fort Wayne, Huntington: 2009, crimes, houses)

[delaura18]

Hi! We are looking at a possible move to Marion...it wouldn't be until the latter part of 2009...but I am looking for anything and everything about the place! Tell me your thoughts...the good, the bad, the ugly. I heard it was struggling from one person...and then another says it is fantastic...so I come here for you help. Is it a safe place to raise small children? Are there fun things to do...is the community active? Coming from Mississippi and wondering what the insects and spiders are like in Marion...may seem silly but they are a big deal down here!! I want any tidbits anyone is willing to give me!

Thanks for your time!!

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by delaura18

Hi! We are looking at a possible move to Marion...it wouldn't be until the latter part of 2009...but I am looking for anything and everything about the place! Tell me your thoughts...the good, the bad, the ugly. I heard it was struggling from one person...and then another says it is fantastic...so I come here for you help. Is it a safe place to raise small children? Are there fun things to do...is the community active? Coming from Mississippi and wondering what the insects and spiders are like in Marion...may seem silly but they are a big deal down here!! I want any tidbits anyone is willing to give me!

Thanks for your time!!

Marion is a shell of the factory town it used to be. The RCA plant shut down a couple years ago and that hurt.

[sweetana3]

Unbelievably depressed. I talk with some friends in and around the area and so much has closed, moved away, etc. The factories are almost all gone that provided the vital support to the area. You will find a town that is struggling to keep itself viable.

I would seriously consider almost anywhere other than Marion. How about Ft. Wayne, Huntington, etc.?

[Jaxson]

The school system is on academic probation and they are in the process of reconfiguring their school buildings now due to lower population.

It is a dying town but there have been some new things happening for the community. They just opened a new state of the art YMCA that was the site of their old coliseum. Meijers is building a new plaza on the bypass just down the road from the Wal Mart that helped close all the smaller businesses. Their mayor is very proud he brought a new Sonic into town. They do have a very nice Christmas light display that draws many visitors to the park to see as well as a nice river walkway trail. I would look at other towns in the county before I would move into Marion. The county schools are much better, the towns are smaller but Gas City is comparable with more community involvement than Marion as well as cleaner. IWU is a big Christian college that is king in the city as to how things are done or not done. It could very well be the largest employer now with all the factories that have closed and another one, Dana, not far from it. They just built a new million dollar animal shelter but don't have the funds to properly run it that might give you a clue to how backwards their mayor's thinking is.

Indiana doesn't have the "bugs" some states in the south do just your normal spiders, lady bugs, flies, grasshoppers and I am sure in some parts roaches.

[MzSnapCup]

I've lived around the Marion area all my life. I definitely would NOT move into the city limits because of the schools itself; very rough. The smaller towns in the county would be your best bet; Van Buren, Sweetser, Gas City, Swayzee. Even better yet, would be Huntington, which is about half way between Marion and Fort Wayne and has a great school system.

Marion used to be filled with all types of manufacturing factories, most of which are just a memory and their buildings just a ghost of what was.

It is true about the state of the city, the mayor is former Olympic ice-skater Wayne Seybold. I can't understand the reasoning of building a brand-new, big dollar animal shelter and they couldn't even run the little bitty one.

I'd really reconsider moving into Marion. Good luck though!

[delaura18]

Ok...sounds pretty depressing so far...I understand the economy is bad...what about the crime? Is it a safe place to live? Do mothers walk with their strollers down the sidewalk with their little toddlers in tow? Do you see the picture I am trying to paint?...or do you drive where you need to go and hurry back home to lock the doors? With the factories leaving are there neighborhoods full of vacant houses? What is the community trying to do to rehabilitate? Weird about the animal shelter....from what I have been hearing that would have been the least of my worries with all the citizens losing jobs and moving out???

The college there seems to be doing pretty well...does it still have a bright future in Marion...it isn't going to shut down too is it?

Do you think Marion will make a comeback?

[Jaxson]

Originally Posted by delaura18

Ok...sounds pretty depressing so far...I understand the economy is bad...what about the crime? Is it a safe place to live? Do mothers walk with their strollers down the sidewalk with their little toddlers in tow? Do you see the picture I am trying to paint?...or do you drive where you need to go and hurry back home to lock the doors? With the factories leaving are there neighborhoods full of vacant houses? What is the community trying to do to rehabilitate? Weird about the animal shelter....from what I have been hearing that would have been the least of my worries with all the citizens losing jobs and moving out???

The college there seems to be doing pretty well...does it still have a bright future in Marion...it isn't going to shut down too is it?

Do you think Marion will make a comeback?

I never see mother's pushing strollers down any sidewalks other than on the walkway down by the river. It has it's crimes just like any other place I am not afraid driving through Marion for fear of being shot at if that is what you mean. There are many, many empty houses in all neighborhoods but the city big shots are trying to make a "new" Marion by catering to IWU. Their newest housing development was geared towards employees at IWU being first to pick out lots, named University something or another. The city has closed off then given streets to IWU because they are outgrowing their property, but mostly because IWU walls itself off from the rest of Marion actually. They are breaking ground building more student housing for 400 more students so I don't think they are closing up anytime soon. Their new splash park is towards IWU's end of town but in a very rough neighborhood. The new Meijers going in is right beside the new IWU housing gaited self contained community. The center of town has not been taken care of for years and instead of putting money into it and drawing people back downtown they are expanding eastward towards I69 and have torn down many historic homes and businesses under Mayor Seybold's watch. Essentially the mayor is building all new away from where the bones of Marion are. He has proven he doesn't care what the citizens want he bullies ahead with his ideas. Never thinks them out and always short of money to fully implement any of them. I just scratch my head wondering why the citizens re-elected such an incompetent person.

From everything I have read, heard or know about Marion I wouldn't move there period. Maybe MzSnapCup can give you a link to a local forum if they have one or give you more insight since they live there?

Sorry to be a doomer but I would rather know what I am getting into than to walk in blindly you know?

[Racelady88]

I am closing on a house in Marion later this morning. The part of town I am buying in most assuredly does have mothers pushing strollers down the sidewalks. Like any town there are better areas than others. The house I am buying does not even have locks on the windows, so since 1924 people have felt safe enough in my neighborhood to have windows that can be pushed open from the outside.

I am not paying very much for the house. All it needs is some paint and a good cleaning. I may or may not replace the kitchen floor. Point is, I won't need to find a job that pays $15+/hr just to survive here.

I love it here. My best friend lives here and I have been coming up to visit for years and I finally got tired of the struggle of trying to pay $2K/month just to get by in FL.

I suspect that attitude is a major factor in feeling like a place is nice or not, as well as the specifics of the place you are coming from. Folks here have directed you towards Huntington which I looked at and hated.

Have you been here?

[Jaxson]

Racelady88 I am glad you are happy with your move to Marion but I went googling and found Forbes has Marion as number 8 in their top ten most vulnerable towns in the USA. Out of all the towns in America to even make that list would be shameful for any town really.

America's Most And Least Vulnerable Towns - Forbes.com

In this article if you click "In Depth: America's Most Vulnerable Towns" it will show you the top 10.

I also have family and friends that live there and they are all trying desperately to sell so they can move out of Marion. Even with the false hope of Veriana bringing hundreds of $41 per hour jobs (that didn't happen they gave 10 jobs and none to locals I believe) and the new plastics packaging producer TriEnda announcing today they were moving into the old RCA factory bringing up to 350 jobs by 2012 it is not enough to bounce Marion back up. Marion is also in the top portion of the highest welfare counties in the state.

Most people come here to CD to get local facts of areas they are interested in moving to and I am so glad you are happy with Marion. But families moving want to know about schools (again they are on academic STATE probation x 2+ years), parks, entertainment as well as affordable clean safe housing. I am not trying to step on your toes/post please don't think that.

[MzSnapCup]

No, attitude has nothing to do with it. I've lived in or around Marion all my life (and worked there). The only thing keeping Marion going right now is IWU and General Motors, and you know what shape GM is right now. I also attended Marion High School. It's a rough school. If it was the only choice for my children I would just home school them. Even the local newspaper has reported on the violence in MHS.

Here's some local links...
Marion Chronicle Tribune
Local Forum

I'm sure you could find a nice part of Marion that you could push a stroller but it is what it is. Again, it's not attitude that I tell you these things. I still consider the Marion area as "Home" but I sure wouldn't move back there; or more importantly- I sure wouldn't move my children into that city.