Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Iowa
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 10-05-2011, 01:02 PM
 
Location: Albuquerque, NM
1 posts, read 3,530 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

I grew up in rural IA. I moved to NM in college and stayed 15 years. Moved back for a temporary 3 year stint for Hubs. Love the education system. Hubs and I threatened legal action twice on a school system failing to properly educate my child. Moved here, and the folks bent over backward giving us what we needed and more. The health system is the same. I cannot say enough great about UI health system. Much better than UNM was. My younger one started preschool and they're awesome too (actual bachelor degrees in ECE, instead of measly GED + basic certs). I had to put us on waitlists for 1-3 years for preschool and services for my older one in NM. It was insane. There's no ghetto here, it's great. I feel so safe here! In NM, it was a free-for-all whether you got police response before you were dead from a home invasion or carjacking. You were lucky to get a report filed on the community response line for non-life-threatening calls. I didn't feel safe driving during the day in a large swath of our city. However, we left behind an amazing culture, free-spirited set of people, and a great children's museum I sorely miss. The arts were great. We had access to Santa Fe by RailRunner trains for $10 for the family for a daytrip. The city had a $79 yearly membership family pass for the Zoo, botanic gardens and aquarium. The Blank zoo just doesn't have as much and charges more. I do miss the diversity, though it had some depressing elements in the rampant poverty. Each place has it's ups or downs. Our neighborhood in NM was safe and I took the kids to the parks, children's museum and zoo all the time, between appointments and errand runs in the city. We could escape to the Sandia mountains during the summer heat. The tram was amazing. Things to do, diversity, public transit, arts, NM wins hand down. Safety, good schools in affordable districts, support services without wait lists, IA wins. NM has some good schools, but the housing is pricey. Wait lists for SLP, a couple years.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-14-2011, 01:23 PM
 
5 posts, read 8,090 times
Reputation: 10
I live in North Liberty and I don't care for the police here. I drive a blue BMW so I guess that doesn't make me the most sympathetic character on the streets. The only things I've been charged with are going 35 in a 25 (a low speed limit for the road I was on) and a "no license" charge from the same incident that occurred because I didn't switch over my out of state license fast enough. The officer showed up in court to ensure that the "no license" charge stuck. Even though those are the only charges I've received the police seem overly eager to pull me over for dui tests... I had to perform one after running a yellow light a few weeks ago. Knowing my car, one officer followed my car home yesterday, trying to see if he could catch me doing anything wrong. I just think it's uncomfortable living in a small town where the police are obviously keeping an eye out for you. With the 2 charges mentioned I may lose my license if they hand me one more ticky tack moving violation so frankly, I'm looking forward to leaving for somewhere that I'm not treated like a public menace.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-14-2011, 04:40 PM
 
Location: Charlotte
37 posts, read 75,920 times
Reputation: 36
Dont do it!! I was born and raised there and gladly left when i was 17 moved to chicago then to charlotte..
Iowa is by far the worst place to live..
Sure its okay to raise a family and if your an old woman with cats that likes to knit you'd love it..
There is absolutely nothing to do, the radio stations suck, the winters are like the artic tundra, the school systems have taken the worst dive, mexicans are now there like its little mexico taking over everything, there aren't many jobs, its dull, people lack a lot ..
Just saying.. I know this more than anyone i was born there! And believe you me not to proud of that what-so-ever! The only good things are the hawkeyes, the lack of bugs like out here in the south, other than that.. Really why leave california?!
Look into charlotte or any where but iowa!! If you ever have kids they will hate you and leave the second they get!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-14-2011, 08:32 PM
 
Location: Council Bluffs, Iowa
336 posts, read 570,481 times
Reputation: 546
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-16-2011, 08:57 PM
 
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
2,401 posts, read 4,328,012 times
Reputation: 1464
Quote:
Originally Posted by quixotic22 View Post
Dont do it!! I was born and raised there and gladly left when i was 17 moved to chicago then to charlotte..
Iowa is by far the worst place to live..
Sure its okay to raise a family and if your an old woman with cats that likes to knit you'd love it..
There is absolutely nothing to do, the radio stations suck, the winters are like the artic tundra, the school systems have taken the worst dive, mexicans are now there like its little mexico taking over everything, there aren't many jobs, its dull, people lack a lot ..
Just saying.. I know this more than anyone i was born there! And believe you me not to proud of that what-so-ever! The only good things are the hawkeyes, the lack of bugs like out here in the south, other than that.. Really why leave california?!
Look into charlotte or any where but iowa!! If you ever have kids they will hate you and leave the second they get!

troll alert!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-16-2011, 09:39 PM
 
1,911 posts, read 3,736,270 times
Reputation: 928
He does bring up an interesting point regarding the Mexican population.

The state wants to grow, and the Mexican population has added more to Iowa's growth than any other group, including those from surrounding states.

The paradox lies within the fact that many in the state don't want them, but still want the state's population to grow. If it wasn't for the recent Mexican/Central American population, Iowa may have very well seen a decline in population numbers.

There was an 84% growth in the Hispanic population in Iowa from 2000 to 2010, accounting for more than half of the state's growth in this time period.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...a-census_N.htm
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-16-2011, 10:06 PM
 
Location: Tippecanoe County, Indiana
26,375 posts, read 46,246,933 times
Reputation: 19455
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonnieJonez View Post
He does bring up an interesting point regarding the Mexican population.

The state wants to grow, and the Mexican population has added more to Iowa's growth than any other group, including those from surrounding states.

The paradox lies within the fact that many in the state don't want them, but still want the state's population to grow. If it wasn't for the recent Mexican/Central American population, Iowa may have very well seen a decline in population numbers.

There was an 84% growth in the Hispanic population in Iowa from 2000 to 2010, accounting for more than half of the state's growth in this time period.

Iowa population shifts from rural to urban - USATODAY.com
Also, the out-migration of younger highly educated whites away from Iowa- particularly the smaller cities and rural counties is much higher than many other states. This extreme out-migration without a corresponding loss of employment results in spot labor shortages. Therefore, I really am not surprised in the rapid increase in diversity.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-16-2011, 11:23 PM
 
1,911 posts, read 3,736,270 times
Reputation: 928
The out-migration is heavily exaggerated. A lot of smaller cities/rural younger people from Iowa, will move to Des Moines, especially if they went to college in Iowa.

Even people from eastern Iowa, closer to Chicago, northern Iowa, closer to Minneapolis, western Iowa, closer to Omaha or Kansas City, will generally move to Des Moines over the larger nearby cities.

A lot of younger people from Iowa for some reason do move to Colorado and Arizona. Yet, the out-migration is not as powerful as you'd think. A large percent of those from Des Moines, generally don't leave either, if they do, they move at most 2 or 3 years then move back. DMjuice does articles on these people all the time...they moved to LA or NY, the back to Iowa, and are amazed to be back. It's probably feigned.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-21-2011, 09:32 AM
 
3 posts, read 8,177 times
Reputation: 10
hate everything about Iowa grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-11-2011, 11:37 AM
 
3 posts, read 7,018 times
Reputation: 10
I hate I came to Iowa since I been here I have been so stress,I have gotten on pills to help with my depression.Some of the things that go on in this state is so sad and we don't have no one to stand up for us.I cry every day wishing that a change will happen. But soon I will be leaveing and hope to this day I'll never return.I am a single Mother came here to give my children a better life.Instead they took my child away from me and put him behide bars.My child did a year in the jail then they put him in a half way house. My child ran from the center and I don't know what happen to make him do some thing like that.My depression has gotten worst Because I don't know where my child is.Know one came to me to help me now that my child is missing.But they leave me with litter support no hope or nothing. Right now today I don't know if my child dead or alive. I cry day in and day out wishing that some thing could be done to support me.But they don't care about how I feel or what i feel.I wish u the best of luck to whom ever trying to live in Iowa.I'm going back home soon. My God bless u
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Iowa

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top