Tell me more about Lakeville... (Boston, New Bedford: middle-class, rental, day cares)

[AandD]

Do the schools offer before/after school care?
Are there day cares in the area?
What type of kids sports are available?
Are the people as stand-offish as the majority of the area, or is it a more open area?
Is it considered a wealthy area, or middle-class?
Are newcomers to the area something in the realm of the norm, or will a new family moving to the area cause a big stir?
Weekend activities?
Is there public transportation into Providence or should I plan to drive every day?
Will the roads be less traveled and therefore more treacherous in snow conditions?

[lrfox]

This is one I think I can help you with. As you know, Lakeville is part of the Freetown-Lakeville School System. There is before and after school care at all age levels at each school for a nominal fee (don't know the exact figure). There are many daycares in the area. There are some in Lakeville, but there are also some just accross town lines in places like Middleborough, Taunton, Freetown and Berkely (note: Mass towns typically cover a smaller geograghic area due to the fact they were incorporated when the automobile didn't exist... the result is that it's very common and easy for people to conduct daily business in surrounding towns).

The sports programs are generally pretty good in Lakeville. They have a good youth baseball program starting at T-Ball and going upward, as well as soccer (for ALL levels) basketball, football, lacrosse, etc.... hockey teams are located in surrounding towns.

Having grown up and gone to school with Lakeville people, I would say they're pretty friendly. As with anywhere in New England, as long as you're involved in the community, schools, and sports, you'll quickly make friends. Lakeville is considered middle class given its location on the fringes of the Boston area. However, with and average household income of $72,000 it would probably be considered by most of the country to be upper middle class. With the extension of the commuter rail from Boston to Lakeville, it quickly grew from a blue-collar community to a white collar one (unlike Freetown which still maintains a large blue-collar population); though many who haven't been to the town in years may call it "hick." The setup of the community is mostly suburban... there are some large open tracks of land, cranberry bogs (Ocean Spray's world headquarters is located on the Middleboro-Lakeville line), and many golf courses, but most of the residential areas are pretty suburban in set-up. The town is centered around two large lakes (Long Pond and Asawamsett Pond, the latter being a resevoir) and they offer some pretty scenery and recreation.

The community has around 9,000 residents and given it's location on a Boston commuter rail line, moving to the area will cause very little stir. The biggest adjustment, as with anywhere, would be the kids joining the new schools... new students are always a novelty and since you're coming from Texas, the other students will have LOTS of questions for your kids. The community is used to people moving in and out, so you shouldn't feel alienated at all.

The roads can vary in the snow depending on which ones you're using. The numbered routes (79, 18, 105, 140, 495, etc) get taken care of pretty well as they're heavily traveled. Some of the primary non-numbered roads do too (particularly Howland, Freetown St., etc which are main roads that connect the schools to the town). The secondary roads and back streets tend to get attention after the main roads and as a result they can get tricky at times.

As far as the commute to Providence, I would plan on driving every day. There is no public transit aside from the local bus in neighboring cities like Taunton and New Bedford and the commuter rail to Boston that I know of. If it does exist, it certainly doesn't have a large commuter base and would probably extend your commute time greatly. The bulk of the ride is an easy one (a bunch of different ways to do it, but mostly either ending up on I-195 of MA-44) and you'll only encounter a little traffic during certain hours of the day right in Providence (or if Road Construction is taking place). If you plan on arriving to work before nine, you'll probably avoid the bulk of the traffic, but the afternoon commute can be slower if you leave around 5. Even the worst traffic subsides right after you leave the Providence city limits (along I-195 and 44 anyway; taking I-95 north towards Boston is a different story)

[AandD]

When I did google maps, it said the ride to the VA hospital in RI would be about 50 minutes. That seems awfully far away. Is that accurate? My work hours are 8 to 4:30, but I'm sure I will end up working later than 4:30 on many occasions.

[lrfox]

^Usually I don't doubt those estimates, but I don't think that's accurate at all. Lakeville is absolutely on the fringes of the 30 minutes you requested for a commute time, but not by an additional 20 minutes. Given normal traffic during business hours, I'd say that you'll do that trip in 35-40 minutes door to door. It doesn't take nearly an hour to go from even the furthest corner of Lakeville to Providence. If you're going to look in Lakeville, I'd suggest looking for homes in close proximity to routes 140 or 495 (both significant highways that run through town) to shorten the commute as much as possible. Getting to the highways from the interior parts of town can take a few minutes and add 5-10 onto your total commute time. It shouldn't be hard to find houses close (within 5 minutes) to onramps and it wouldn't hurt your chances of finding a reasonbly priced home in a nice neighborhood. For a starting point, I'd suggest looking at homes just off of route 18 (bedford st.) and off of routes 79 (Rhode Island Rd.) and 105 (Main St.) as they would put you closest to the highways.

As far as getting out after 4:30, don't let my comments about traffic scare you, Providence doesn't get all that congested, but it does slow a bit during the morning and evening commutes. It's nothing like Rush Hour traffic in Boston, New York, Philly, Baltimore, Washington or any of the other larger North East cities.

[leorah]

Traffic on 495 and 95 can be slow during peak hours, particularly during bad weather. This website can give you some idea of road conditions on the major highways in the area. Providence Traffic Report | Traffic Information | Road Conditions RI:: Traffic.com.

The site also offers estimated drive times incorporating known delays and road conditions. For the purposes of your estimate you can use the address of the public library, which is 4 Precinct St. Lakeville MA as your starting address. If you check this site during your planned commute times you'll get an idea of what your drive will be like if you move to Lakeville.

[CaseyB]

We used to have a poster on this forum, surfingatwork, who lived in Lakeville and seemed to really like it. I think she has since moved, but you could search some of her earlier posts for information about the town.

[AandD]

Originally Posted by leorah

Traffic on 495 and 95 can be slow during peak hours, particularly during bad weather. This website can give you some idea of road conditions on the major highways in the area. Providence Traffic Report | Traffic Information | Road Conditions RI:: Traffic.com.

The site also offers estimated drive times incorporating known delays and road conditions. For the purposes of your estimate you can use the address of the public library, which is 4 Precinct St. Lakeville MA as your starting address. If you check this site during your planned commute times you'll get an idea of what your drive will be like if you move to Lakeville.

Ohhhh! Ahhhhh! That site is a GEM! I'm probably sooo dating myself when I say... I LOVE the internet! LOL.

Thanks so much. I will waste so much time at work today on that traffic.com...

[AandD]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

We used to have a poster on this forum, surfingatwork, who lived in Lakeville and seemed to really like it. I think she has since moved, but you could search some of her earlier posts for information about the town.

Thanks! I've searched on lakeville as a keyword, but will try her posts.

[AandD]

Well, according to Traffic.com, the commute was indeed 50 minutes. I don't think that is doable. If I drop the kids off at 7AM I would be pushing it to make it to work by 8AM.

That stinks. I had already found a cute rental on the water, too.

I'm bummed. Off to look at other towns.

[kaioak36]

There are a lot of nicer towns out there than Lakeville. It would not be a good investment compared to other South Shore towns (i.e. Canton, Hingham, Easton, Hanover, Duxbury, Norwell, Cohasset and Scituate.)