Interested In Moving To Madison -- Looking For Advice (Marshfield: apartment, rent)

[SD83]

Hi folks! I'm looking at moving to Madison, but I want to hear some input from people who live there, or have lived there in the past. I currently live 154 miles north in Marshfield.

I've done just a small bit of browsing around to try and get a vibe of how the city is. I've only been there a handful of times myself, never for an extended amount of time. I've been pretty positive about this whole thing, but reading some stuff on this message board have me second quessing. I just don't want to walk into a trap. I want to be responsible and informed before making the jump.

I'm used to a slower pace of living, but I have lived near metro areas (Des Moines -- if you consider that metro), so I am accustomed to speeding it up a bit. What concerns me is what I hear about gangs roaming the malls. Des Moines certainly had its seedier parts, but I absolutely must feel safe in an area where I would be potentially living. I don't want to fear stepping outside my door each day. Is this hoodlum thing a misconception, or a legitimate concern?

I'm also having a hard time deciding on how I should go about this, if I indeed go through with it. Is it easier to get a job first, or to get an apartment first? It seems like I can't get a job without having a Madison residence. Alternatively, it seems like I can't get a Madison residence without having a job, or at least some sort of income. For jobs, I'm looking for the bare minimum.

Also, I don't want to come off the wrong way, but I have a few medical problems. There is a certain, ahem, medicine, out there that helps my medical situation, but it is federally illegal. I've read plenty about Madison's Ordinance 23.20, but I don't want to move down thinking I would be safe from the law only to end up in jail the next day. I wish I could be more upfront about this subject, but like I mentioned, I don't want to come off the wrong way. I am *NOT* looking for a "good time" or a free ride. I just want to be able to use my medicine without fear of prosecution.

I probably have a good deal of other questions, but I don't want to flood the board with these initial inquries. Any insight and input is greatly appreciated!



If that's too much to read, my summary goes:

--What is the safety level of Madison? What is the presence and prevalence of gangs?
--Do I get a job or an apartment first? One seems impossible without the other. How easy/difficult is it to find either?
--Ordinance 23.20, is it too good to be true? I feel silly for asking this. Please don't read this the wrong way.
--One other extra question, which is the better part of town, East or West?

Thanks again!

[7G9C4J2]

To answer your questions in order:

Madison in general is a very safe city. There are patches where you need to be wary, and you don't want to walk around downtown late at night falling-down drunk, but I have never felt uneasy living here. I have never seen "gangs" in the malls (though I don't often go to malls). Certainly there are a lot of young people in the malls, but they're not gangs.

It may be easier than you'd think to find an apartment. There's about a 20% vacancy rate in a lot of areas, because of the (rapidly deflating) housing boom of a couple of years ago. You may have to do some hunting, but I don't think you'll have any real difficulty. Several posters on this board have mentioned that job-hunting itself is far likelier to be successful if you're already here, which is probably true. Check out the Tenant Resource Center at Tenant Resource Center for more info on renting in Madison.

On the job topic, Madison's unemployment rate is under 2%, and with the big holiday selling season coming up, a lot of employers are adding staff. If you're not working in Madison, it's because you don't want to.

I can't comment on your question about ordinance 23.20, although I know many people who utilize the same medication that you do (though not all for medicinal purposes). I don't personally know of anyone who got hassled about it, but that would be a very small sampling of the population.

The east side/west side question was discussed pretty extensively a few weeks back in another thread, and your best bet is to go to http://www.city-data.com/forum/wisco...west-side.html and read it in its entirety.

One other comment, or caution, perhaps. You mention that you're looking for "the bare minimum" in a job, and I should stress that Madison is NOT a cheap place to live. Rent rates in this city are much higher than is true in most other areas of the state, and other costs are higher as well. Wages in general are higher here, but a $10/hour job here is not going to get you nearly as much in terms of standard of living as would be true elsewhere.

Good luck!

[SD83]

Thank you for your input -- it is greatly appreciated!

The link you provided about the East vs. West debate was very helpful and very insightful. I did read it in its entirety, and it was exactly the sort of stuff I was looking for. Your comments about the job market gave me better confidence and were reassuring. I realize that the bare minimum isn't going to get me too much, but I've always been the sort to live on the lean.

It seems like moving first would be the best idea -- which was my biggest question going into this. I now see why I haven't heard back from any employers yet, probably due to my non-Madison residence. Thank you for clearing this up!

Any further comments from Madison-area residents or those who have lived there in the past, I would be extremely thankful for!

[Drover]

Gangs roaming the malls. That's funny.

[tchemgrrl]

Drover, that made me laugh too. I've never heard of it; I thought the whole point of going to the mall is that it's a constructed environment and private property so the security guards can throw out any "undesirables".

SD83, Madison is really quite a safe city for its size--the city data stats list Madison as well below average in terms of crime. People complain about areas of the south side, but it's still nothing at all compared to some cities. I don't *think* there's any significant gang activity. If there were I'd assume that it'd get mentioned on the news and I haven't ever heard about it, though once in a great while they mention when Chicago gang members happen to run into each other in town. There are a fair number of... I'm not sure if they have a particular name for themselves, but nomadic street kids. They tend to come north in the summer and south in the winter, usually in their early 20's, and you see a lot of them in college towns. Not usually dangerous, but they panhandle a lot on State Street and I never entirely trust their dogs.

There seem to be a good number of "bare minimum" types of jobs in town, although one of the troubles of those types of jobs is that students and recent graduates taking a few months' breather often get hired first. I've met cab drivers with their master's degrees, for example. But at the same time that leads to a fairly high turnover rate. For that reason I'd recommend *not* coming to look for a job in late May or June, because you'd be competing with the thousands of kids looking for a summer job.

Not sure about the ordinance, I'm a hopeless square.

BookWorm linked to a recent discussion of East V. West which sounds like it was helpful. If you're looking for info on a particular neighborhood we might be able to help, too. Good luck!

[SD83]

Quick note on the "gangs" thing -- I only got that perception from checking out some other threads at the Madison.com forum. I think the people who were saying that were exaggerating, to say the least. I didn't believe it myself, but I had to check to make sure.

Thanks to those who helped clear this misconception up. No thanks to Drover for your needless comment.

Any further insights are greatly appreciated!

[Drover]

I'm sorry you found my comment "needless." The point was to drive home that what you've heard is, to say the least, off-base. Evidently it made an impact.

[SD83]

My mistake then -- It wasn't so much the comment that I found "needless", rather the condescending tone in which it was issued with. Bottom line is that I'm much grateful and thankful for any input, so I thank you as well.

Though the East Towne Mall did appear to have a few unsavory characters, the West Towne Mall was very exquisite and extravagant, right up my alley. Whoever gave me the gangs idea was indeed off-base.

Keep 'er rolling if anyone has anything further to add!

[Drover]

Didn't mean to be condescending either. I said "that's funny" because, well, I actually thought it was funny.

[Chelito23]

I think that malls everywhere around the country tend to be a congregation point for all kinds of people, so of course you will find undesireables in the malls in Madison, as you would anywhere else. It isn't a major issues though, since most people there are just shopping or hanging out, and keep to themselves...but there are usually incidents where cars are broken into throughout the year in the parking lots from what I have heard in the news.