Moving to Indianapolis, advice about where to live. (Fishers, Carmel: low crime, school districts)
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North, south, west sides are the best. Stay away from east side unless you go out towards greenfield.
I'd rather live east in Hancock County over Hendricks County if you're talking about the doughnut counties. And I'd also rather live in neighborhoods like Irvington, Woodruff Place, and the area near the Superbowl Legacy project over the west side of the city. At least the east side is being invested in; the west side is just continuing a steady decline.
To answer the question, Carmel is somewhat more expensive and has slightly better schools than Fishers. It also has much more character and less traffic. Those are really the only differences.
...the west side is just continuing a steady decline.
Some areas west aren't totally lost just yet. The area just over the river from IUPUI has seen some investment in terms of cheap run down home rehab to rent to IUPUI students. Nothing major right now, but growing. The Indiana Ave. and W. 16th St. will be nice. The new student housing at 1200 Indiana Ave. and Tech 16 (?) project at the old Bush Stadium will definitely change that area. I already predict that the triangle area bordered by Milburn St., W. 16th St., and Indiana Ave. will undergo a transformation. Watch for home values to go up. Not sure if it will become another Fall Creek Place, but I could see home values increasing somewhat.
Even close to downtown, the small neighborhood bordered by Fall Creek to the west, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. to the east, 16th St. to the north, and 10th St. to the south will change as well. Now that the section 8 apartment complex has closed and will undergo rehab, combined with the new "The Avenue" complex being built, this small neighborhood (Ransom Place I think) will definitely change.
If I had the money and was an investor looking for cheap homes to rent to students or young professionals starting out, I would be looking at these areas.
It would be nice to see some real work being done to the area just west of downtown. 16 Tech is still legally downtown as the northern border is 16th street and the western border is the belt rail line on the other side of the White River. Once 16 Tech is in the phases of adding businesses, and Helix Park, the prime gentrification spot could very well be on the near West Side. The housing stock there though is pretty mediocre though so I really don't know how much they could actually do and pass it off as something truly viable unlike the near East Side where there is good housing stock that's just in need of some TLC (think Cottage Home, Holy Cross, Woodruff). Downtown itself is almost tapped out in terms of housing although they are still building thousands of units but with a occupancy rate of 95.7% currently, it's technically full in Realtor terms.
The biggest tie-in though will be IUPUI which has a lot going on right now but will pick up steam once the old Wishard is torn down once the new one opens in 2013. I'm including a link to their 30 year master plan, http://masterplan.indiana.edu/iupui/...aster_Plan.pdf. Looks like a nice aggressive plan that could totally transform downtown with the addition of 16 Tech and better connectivity with IVY Tech main campus.
As for the OP's question about public schools. Carmel and Fishers are clearly the best in the metro. They have tried to copy themselves after the Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley school districts in the Kansas City metro are. And having been born and raised in KC I can say that they are rather poor facsimile's of those schools. Unfortunately Hoosier voters and the state government treat public education like some kind of punchline. School administrators try, but they get zero support.
We live in Greenwood, which is supposed to have better than average schools. We send our kids to private school. We love the school, our church and our group of friends. Almost all of them are transplants like us. Native Hoosiers are for the most part cordial, but don't fully accept outsiders. At least in the suburbs and rural areas. Which is common in other states as well. But you can't argue with the cost of living and overall low crime rate.
Unfortunately Hoosier voters and the state government treat public education like some kind of punchline. School administrators try, but they get zero support.
Native Hoosiers are for the most part cordial, but don't fully accept outsiders. At least in the suburbs and rural areas.
1. Several districts in the metro area have voted in favor of tax increases to support the schools in the past two years.
2. I know several "outsiders" (myself included) who have moved here and thrived. In fact, many of the posters in this forum are not native Hoosiers.
As for the OP's question about public schools. Carmel and Fishers are clearly the best in the metro. They have tried to copy themselves after the Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley school districts in the Kansas City metro are. And having been born and raised in KC I can say that they are rather poor facsimile's of those schools. Unfortunately Hoosier voters and the state government treat public education like some kind of punchline. School administrators try, but they get zero support.
We live in Greenwood, which is supposed to have better than average schools. We send our kids to private school. We love the school, our church and our group of friends. Almost all of them are transplants like us. Native Hoosiers are for the most part cordial, but don't fully accept outsiders. At least in the suburbs and rural areas. Which is common in other states as well. But you can't argue with the cost of living and overall low crime rate.
Top to bottom, Carmel and Fishers probably are the best but when I think of best schools, I think of the International School on Michigan Rd. IPS despite being the worst district in state also have some of the best individual school which makes sense as they actually have more immediate access to learning tools than anyone else, but I digress.
As for the OP's question about public schools. Carmel and Fishers are clearly the best in the metro. They have tried to copy themselves after the Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley school districts in the Kansas City metro are. And having been born and raised in KC I can say that they are rather poor facsimile's of those schools. Unfortunately Hoosier voters and the state government treat public education like some kind of punchline. School administrators try, but they get zero support.
We live in Greenwood, which is supposed to have better than average schools. We send our kids to private school. We love the school, our church and our group of friends. Almost all of them are transplants like us. Native Hoosiers are for the most part cordial, but don't fully accept outsiders. At least in the suburbs and rural areas. Which is common in other states as well. But you can't argue with the cost of living and overall low crime rate.
Being a native of Connecticut I gained more acceptance from the people of the Indianapolis region when I lived there in 1993-1994 than I ever have anywhere in the Kansas City area.
I did see some bias directed towards the newcomers from Kentucky and Tennessee at times when I lived there and I still read about it happening today. Probably because so many people from those states have been moving into central Indiana for at least a couple of decades and probably longer.
I'd say the best school systems in the area are Zionsville, Carmel, and Fishers. Traffic from Fishers is crazy busy (northeast corner), and Carmel straight north you'll have to drive local all the way down Meridian.
Zionsville and parts of Carmel in the northwest may be your best bet as the commute will be easy down I-65. Traffic sometimes can be congested on I-65, but compared to other metro areas it's a cakewalk, plus there's plenty of off ramps to go local if there's a traffic jam.
Greenwood is a nice area but commuting south of downtown in the evening is a major hassle compared to going north.
I worked on IUPUI's campus and lived in the Pike area of town (northwest corner of Indy within the 465 beltline). If I had to move back now and worked downtown, I'd be looking to move in the Brownsburg, Zionsville, and west Carmel areas.
Moving to Indianapolis within the next thirty days :o)
Hello All
I am moving to Indianapolis within the next thirty days, I want to live in Broad Ripple Village. I am single, no children, I want to live near a "young crowd,"I want to commute to downtown for work and play without using the highways.... but is the area safe especially since it is located in the Indianapolis city limits??? I normally live in the suburbs of all the major cities I have lived in: Detroit, Dallas, Atlanta, and Phoenix....but I want to live near the action! From what I can see, Broad Ripple Village is an older area of town, and I used Google Maps to get a feel for the area, but the satellite pictures scare me! I need your advice on the area. If not Broad Ripple Village, are there any other areas/cities that would meet my needs )
...I want to live in Broad Ripple Village. .... but is the area safe especially since it is located in the Indianapolis city limits???
Actually, Broad Ripple is one of the few areas where you are more likely to see total strangers become victims of violent crime. I don't know if crime in the village area has increased or decreased over the years. When I lived there in 2001/2002, there were some kids robbed at gun point on the Monon trail closer to Kessler Blvd.. The entire metro area has an issue with vehicle break-ins, so never leave anything you don't want to lose in your car, including your trunk. If you have a "system" which pumps out loud music, you would be better off selling it. If you carry around an iPad, a fancy cell phone, laptop, etc., never leave them, or anything related to them in plain view in the car (including docking stations). My friend stayed over one night and had his car broken into while it was parked on a street across from the Kroger.
The report of robberies has seemed to increase, but in almost all the cases, it is folks who have been out drinking and very late at night. Of course if you want to hit the bar/club scene nightly, you could be at a higher risk. There was a homicide back in 2007, person caught and convicted. There are rapes that occur every year, some where the people know each other (date rape) and others where a complete stranger will rape or sexually assault a person. You have to use caution not to be drugged. Here is a news article about Broad Ripple crime:
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