[Nolan05]

50+ hours is really not enough time to judge any place, especially if most is done by reading what people write. I agree and have given the same advice that you have to go there for a while and just blend in to see what a place is like. We have 3 kids under the age of 13 and would not live anywhere else, and we have tried. The weather is perfect; the parks are, well I have not seen any this nice; the schools are what you as a parent make them out to be----if you are involved with your kids then all is good, if not then ...well you have read about the other end; crime is crime-it is everywhere and you can not get away from it but Henderson police are awesome and do respond quickly...I have been approached in a parking lot in Henderson, Ft Lauderdale, Denver, and many cities everywhere we go-so not a concern unless you are one to fold like a card and run scared; (just people down on thier luck like everywhere)...also there is smut everywhere as we came from Ohio and there were signs all over about adult book stores and places called the Lions Den with sexy women on the sign...I agree with Sarah that you do not want to be talked into moving somewhere so if you do not like very nice parks for kids, many athletic teams to participate on, AWESOME weather, nice people like these on this thread, being able to drive 5 minutes in any direction and getting to almost any kind of store you want, to be able to go and watch dyn and sarah in the parking lot push each other around, pay 1.99 for breakfast and 4.99 for a lunch buffet and just actually feel better waking up everyday looking at mountains and sun with the backdrop of the world famous strip then you may want to move to Podunk Idaho..

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

My wife and I try to get our shopping done in one fell swoop, once a week. I have never had a "shopping day" that didn't involve saying no to a parking-lot panhandler. (We shop all over the place. It's ubiquitous.)

They're also at the off ramps of nearly every highway exit.

But that's a symptom of the pandemic poverty that plagues our nation. Not a problem specific to Las Vegas. I'd say it's a little worse in Las Vegas because this town tends to attract a lot of down-and-outs. (And a small percentage of otherwise "normal" people develop gambling addictions and lose everything -- including their sanity.)

Based on what I've read on this thread, the LAST thing I'd do is advise OP to "jump in and enjoy it." My guess is that a guard-gated community in Boca Raton or Aventura would be the way to go.

You are speaking of the far east side. I have not run into a parking lot beggar since about 6 months ago when a lovely young chick in a Terrible's gas station hit me up for five bucks for gas to get to work. She was driving a two or three year old Honda. I gave her a business card with the five but she did not return it so I was taken. Asked the Admiral who suggests it happens a couple of times a year in her almost daily visits.

I would suspect we see a ramp beggar every few days. But certainly not on every ramp every day. Note that we do a two or three hundred miles a week almost all on the far west side.

[dynimagelv]

25 or so years ago I drove into The Big Apple one day....[they the worm hole tnnel from Gnu Jusey]

They have offramp panhandling down to a science....armed with a spray bottle and a wad of towels they offer to clean yor windshild...if you say yes and give em a couple bucks it gets cleaned....if you say no....it only gets a spray...from another bottle with very thin motor oil in it

[thinkingaboutmoving11]

Thank you for all of the feedback- I really appreciate you all taking time out of your day to respond.

[happyhunting]

Las Vegas is not like other major metropolitan areas that have traditional suburbs surrounding a central downtown core. It is all one big area. Now you can interpret that to mean that it is all one big city or that it is all suburbs and no city, but either way, you can't equate it to how most metropolitan areas are structured.

I agree with this. Although I agree with Olecapt too, in that it is very similar to Los Angeles, Phoenix and other southwest cities. It's much different than those back east, midwest, south and PNW, I find there is more sprawl, lots of gated communities, that's par for the course in in the southwest.

pay 1.99 for breakfast and 4.99 for a lunch buffet and just actually feel better waking up everyday looking at mountains and sun with the backdrop of the world famous strip then you may want to move to Podunk Idaho..

Most everyone in town has THEIR local pub, be it PTs, Steiner's, Copper Keg etc........MINE was Village Pub. Bar food is so expensive in Seattle and I miss the cheap 4.99 breakfast. Steak and eggs, 5.99. I miss the food and the people there. The cook and waitresses new what we wanted when we walked in, didn't have to even order. We became really close them and a few patrons. Haven't found that here yet

[SouthernSarah]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

My wife and I try to get our shopping done in one fell swoop, once a week. I have never had a "shopping day" that didn't involve saying no to a parking-lot panhandler. (We shop all over the place. It's ubiquitous.)

They're also at the off ramps of nearly every highway exit.

But that's a symptom of the pandemic poverty that plagues our nation. Not a problem specific to Las Vegas. I'd say it's a little worse in Las Vegas because this town tends to attract a lot of down-and-outs. (And a small percentage of otherwise "normal" people develop gambling addictions and lose everything -- including their sanity.)

Based on what I've read on this thread, the LAST thing I'd do is advise OP to "jump in and enjoy it." My guess is that a guard-gated community in Boca Raton or Aventura would be the way to go.

Yeah. I agree. I finally suggested she not move to Henderson.

If I felt like I was hearing nothing but negative about a location and I had two other choices that were "high on my list", I would not waste more time trying to be "convinced" that I should move to the one I felt nervous about.
Life comes at you fast. Move where you feel comfortable.
(happily crossing another potential competitor for the MGM Progressive slot off my list..... evil cackle!)

[SouthernSarah]

Originally Posted by CottageCheese

The principal drawback to Henderson/Las Vegas, from a raising kids standpoint, is that drug use is VERY high everywhere among teens.

Please trust me when I tell you, drug use among teens is VERY high EVERYWHERE now. Small towns, large cities, suburbs, it doesn't matter. Drugs are everywhere.... truly they are. Las Vegas doesn't have the market cornered there.
I have no doubt that every single high school in America, without exception, has a a group of students into drugs. Each teen has to decide individually whether or not to use them.

[SouthernSarah]

Originally Posted by Nolan05

to be able to go and watch dyn and sarah in the parking lot push each other around,

Just stopping by to correct your small typo.

Originally Posted by Nolan05

to be able to go and watch sarah push dyn down and make him cry like a baby in the parking lot

there ya go

[dynimagelv]

Originally Posted by SouthernSarah

Just stopping by to correct your small typo.




there ya go

and ta think I used to think you were the hottest new chic in town :P

[Buzz123]

Two observations. In Manhattan, near Rockefeller Center, in freezing January, I was amazed at all the homeless people sleeping on the grates that have steam coming out of them. (Where the he** does that steam come from anyway?) Walking around at night we practically tripped over them in the dark.

And I stayed in a Motel 6 one time just off Hollywood Blvd, and it was the same thing except it doesn't get down to freezing there.

As far as homeless here, I don't think we have any more than any other city this size, but if you were going to live on the street, wouldn't you want to be in a warm climate? This has nothing to do with it, but I've heard social workers say that most of the street people want to live that way, and not to give them money.

As far as drugs, it's an epidemic everywhere on the planet. Back in the 80's I thought it would be a good thing for my son to spend a summer in my home town and absorb some small town values. At the time I left there, anyone using drugs would have been an outcast. But, guess where he learned about smoking grass?

With out further explanation I'll just add that we have the cult of psychiatry to thank for the drug problem throughout the world.