possible relocation (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport: apartments, income, violent crime)

[bfarnum]

hi,my family is considering relocating and i was wondering if anyone could provide some info about dubuque county.i would like to know things such as the crime rates and if the schools are any good(we have a 13 year old son).i'm from new hampshire so the winter weather shouldn't be a problem but what are the summer months like?thanks in advance for any responses.

[SpeedyAZ]

hi,my family is considering relocating and i was wondering if anyone could provide some info about dubuque county.i would like to know things such as the crime rates and if the schools are any good(we have a 13 year old son).i'm from new hampshire so the winter weather shouldn't be a problem but what are the summer months like?thanks in advance for any responses.

Dubuque is beautiful, a very culturally and ethnically diverse area. The river runs right through it and there's plently of areas to see. The weather is humid in the summer/ cold in the winter. Crime isn't bad compared to other areas, it's actually quite low. I used to frequent Dubuque when I was growing up and I don't think it has changed much.

[chrisfromiowa]

Hi...Dubuque is a nice town...My dad grew up there and loved it I guess...only bad thing about Dubuque is that its kind of a racist town for some reason...in the past there has been some KKK activity but that was back before i was born(90-91)..so if you arent white, some people might be asses but there ARE other people besides white too...and it would be a nice place to raise a family.....Davenport is nice for the most part...There are several cities around Des Moines that are nice and some parts of Des Moines its self are nice...but basically half of DSM is ghetto and half is not...lol...Cedar Rapids is a nice area too...Do some checking on this site, and see what you like...I live in Centerville, Ia, and its kinda small(6000 people) but its a nice place to live...im a sophomore in HS and its not bad i guess...you can usually find something to do...lol

[Tifosi24]

Originally Posted by chrisfromiowa

Hi...Dubuque is a nice town...My dad grew up there and loved it I guess...only bad thing about Dubuque is that its kind of a racist town for some reason...in the past there has been some KKK activity but that was back before i was born(90-91)..so if you arent white, some people might be asses but there ARE other people besides white too...and it would be a nice place to raise a family.....Davenport is nice for the most part...There are several cities around Des Moines that are nice and some parts of Des Moines its self are nice...but basically half of DSM is ghetto and half is not...lol...Cedar Rapids is a nice area too...Do some checking on this site, and see what you like...I live in Centerville, Ia, and its kinda small(6000 people) but its a nice place to live...im a sophomore in HS and its not bad i guess...you can usually find something to do...lol

As was mentioned in another thread, there is no Klan activity in Dubuque and the only amount of Klan activity was from all accounts microscopic. It is a somewhat closed community at times, but someone who is engaged to a Dubuquer I have never had any problem with people in the community. I lived in Des Moines until I was 20, and I can tell you that no where near half of Des Moines is ghetto. It has its bad parts, like any larger city, but people get into the habit of lumping entire parts of a town in wth the bad parts. At the end of the day, there are very few places in Iowa that are a bad place to raise a family.

[rmyers412]

Let's see. Schools were top notch when I was there in the early 80s. Check out the shot tower, the cable car(still running, don't know), Eagle Point Park, the Mississipi River runs through it. I wouldn't buy downtown. Don't know if they fixed the issue but it used to flood. Thus the reason for the really high curbs. It's an older town with a lot of old money. I disagree with cultural diversity statement in other post. It is 98% Catholic and very white community. There is Jefferson and Washington for junior high schools. I went to Jeff. Hempstead is the high school of choice, IMHO. The only mall in the area is Kennedy Mall, and it is a sort of run down 80s type mall. There is a new power strip center just on the edge of town with a little shopping in it. Or you can go to Coralville, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City for shopping. Hope this helps! I would be happy to chat about Iowa sometime if you want to. Let me know!

[rmyers412]

The activity I know of was back in the late 70s. And it was documented. Cross burnings on front lawns, etc. Most of it was harmless. However, for the most part Dubuque is a great place to raise a family. Very little poverty and I can't think of an area that I would consider bad. The Drake area in Des Moines is pretty bad. Otherwise I would agree about Des Moines. I have lived all over Iowa and I can't think of a city or town in Iowa I wouldn't raise my family in and feel more comfortable than I do almost anywhere in the Dallas area.

[Chicago60614]

Originally Posted by SpeedyAZ

Dubuque is beautiful, a very culturally and ethnically diverse area. The river runs right through it and there's plently of areas to see. The weather is humid in the summer/ cold in the winter. Crime isn't bad compared to other areas, it's actually quite low. I used to frequent Dubuque when I was growing up and I don't think it has changed much.

I don't know about ethnically diverse - not saying its a BAD thing, but actually Dubuque is the "whitest" metro area in the whole country. The metro area is 98.8% white according to census statistics.

I heard they're done a lot to clean up the riverfront though, and crime isn't a problem in Dubuque. The area is very hilly and has some wonderful views and forests/parks in the area.

I personally like Coralville a lot. North of the interststate is growing quite rapidly, and is very wooded because of the river/coralville lake right nearby.

I would also have to agree that NOWHERE near half of Des Moines is ghetto. There are areas on the north and east side - but a vast majority of the city is quite nice. There have only been 3 homicides last I heard in this metro area of 500,000 for 2006.

[jeffs]

for the person who said half des moines is ghetto, theyve obviously never been to davenport. Now thats ghetto. D port is in the top 20 every year in violent crime rate. Its full of gangbangers that came down from chicago, and is full of low income apartments. There are some nice neighborhoods, but make one wrong turn and it gets ghetto real quick.

[rmyers412]

I would also have to agree that NOWHERE near half of Des Moines is ghetto. There are areas on the north and east side - but a vast majority of the city is quite nice. There have only been 3 homicides last I heard in this metro area of 500,000 for 2006.[/quote]

Actually when you review America's Worst Cities for Crime on Sperling's Best and Worst Places for medium size metro areas (population 200,000-500,000) Des Moines ranks #43. Larceny is very high compared to other cities of its size. So was auto theft. Parts of the north side, parts of the south side, parts of the east side are not good.

[rmyers412]

Davenport is actually listed three places better than Des Moines for Worst places for crime. See my other post for details to find the info.