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Thanks for all the geographical information. The only point of reference so far is Flint (where my fiance accepted a position). My field is in healthcare and/or academia so I figure the best option for me to find a job is around East Lansing, AA, or Detroit. There is a position I am looking at in Saginaw but taking something there pretty much isolates us (too big of a change from NYC); Another thread has given me some helpful information about the Saginaw-Flint areas.
chiroptera: Planning stage still but ideally I think AA (or closeby) will provide me with some job opportunities (especially with Ypsilanti closeby), with Detroit, and East Lansing to follow. I basically need populated places with a university, hospital, or community mental health clinics and it appears that these cities have them.
With our level of ignorance about the cities, it appears closer to AA than Flint is better, and I assume would make the traffic less since my fiance would communite to Flint (and avoid rush hour). I think we expect an hour commute for her. Are the roads generally clear between AA and Flint?
Thanks for all the geographical information. The only point of reference so far is Flint (where my fiance accepted a position). My field is in healthcare and/or academia so I figure the best option for me to find a job is around East Lansing, AA, or Detroit. There is a position I am looking at in Saginaw but taking something there pretty much isolates us (too big of a change from NYC); Another thread has given me some helpful information about the Saginaw-Flint areas.
chiroptera: Planning stage still but ideally I think AA (or closeby) will provide me with some job opportunities (especially with Ypsilanti closeby), with Detroit, and East Lansing to follow. I basically need populated places with a university, hospital, or community mental health clinics and it appears that these cities have them.
With our level of ignorance about the cities, it appears closer to AA than Flint is better, and I assume would make the traffic less since my fiance would communite to Flint (and avoid rush hour). I think we expect an hour commute for her. Are the roads generally clear between AA and Flint?
A good living choice with easy access on US 23 to both Flint and Ann Arbor would be Fenton. About 20 miles south of Flint and an easy 40 minute drive to A2. It's a nice little community with both an older downtown (aka Dibbleville) and a newer shopping corridor. Rents would probably be quite a bit less than around Ann Arbor, too. I have friends who are renting a very nice older home for $900 a month.
Flint has several colleges/universities (University of Michigan - Flint, Baker College, Mott Community College, and Kettering University [formerly General Motors Institute), and three large hospitals (Hurley Medical Center, McLaren Flint, and Genesys Regional Medical Center). You might not have to look far if you are looking for work in academia / health care.
I live in Flint, and while I have never had problems in my neighborhood, I would probably recommend living in Grand Blanc or Davison. The downtown area of Flint is probably one of the most safest areas, as University of Michigan - Flint is located right on the main drag and they have their own police force which can supplement the city police downtown.
Flint has several colleges/universities (University of Michigan - Flint, Baker College, Mott Community College, and Kettering University [formerly General Motors Institute), and three large hospitals (Hurley Medical Center, McLaren Flint, and Genesys Regional Medical Center). You might not have to look far if you are looking for work in academia / health care.
I live in Flint, and while I have never had problems in my neighborhood, I would probably recommend living in Grand Blanc or Davison. The downtown area of Flint is probably one of the most safest areas, as University of Michigan - Flint is located right on the main drag and they have their own police force which can supplement the city police downtown.
I was thinking the same thing about the Flint area. Hurley has a Level I trauma center, with an amazing NICU. I know for a fact they are hiring about 60 nurses. (Not sure about other areas.) Genesys is in Grand Blanc, and it is huge.
If you live in Davison, you can get to the outskirts of Detroit (Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills, etc...) in less than 45 minutes. If you live in Fenton, you can get to Ann Arbor in less than 45 minutes, and the outskirts of Detroit (Novi) in about that as well.
I'm personally not a fan of Grand Blanc for many, many reasons. Feel free to PM me if you would like information on that
However, if you choose to try and find work in AA, as long as you stay north of Brighton, your wife will have no traffic in her commute to Flint. 23 doesn't get congested until it meets 96 in Brighton. Of course, there isn't much between Fenton and Brighton but farmland.
Flint doesn't exist. Everyone was murdered. Not one person survives and goes through life there.
Seriously though, the only reason Flint makes those "most dangerous city" lists is because the population is 102,000. Most lists only include cities over 100,000 people. The rest is the law of math - understand that and save some worry/angst.
If a town has 4 people and 1 is killed - the murder ratio is 25% and it would be the "most dangerous". Similarily, crime statistics on cities that have low populations will skew their results higher and cause them to be labeled "most crime ridded, most depressed, most negative adjective du jour."
Does Flint have rough areas. Absolutely. Does Flint have areas to be avoided. Sure. Is there run down/abandonded homes in area. Yes.
But there are plenty of family friendly/All American towns nearby/neighborhoods - and that shouldn't deter you from moving. Especially if you're homeschooling.
This isn't true at all. Lansing has a similar sized population as Flint and isn't anywhere near Flint in terms of crime rates. So clearly something is going on up there.
I would say avoid Flint. My girlfriend got a teaching job up there this past year (started in August 2012) and she is going to quit and look elsewhere after the school year ends. One of the other new teachers that was hired with her is also quitting after only be there this year as well. This is despite the fact that it's really hard to find a teaching job in Michigan... but it's just an awful area, she hates going there. The school has like no funding because everyone is so poor that there are just no taxes to go into the schools. They just cancel school on random days to try to save money by not having to pay for buses or teachers. lol
The city center is awful too. It's like 2 blocks and has about 4 restaurants and 2-3 bars and that's about all it. There is a decent farmer's market a few blocks away, but then the rest of the city is basically abandoned buildings and run down houses.
Flint really does live up to the hype of being "the worst city in America" IMO. I mean, Detroit gets a bad rap for various things, but it at least has a bunch of redeeming features (nice suburbs, pro sports, Greektown, etc.) - I've spent a lot of time this past year up in Flint and I have yet to see a single redeeming feature at all. It really is as bad as everyone says, possibly worse (if that's possible).
*Like, when she first got hired she had to go in and do a background check. I took the day off and drove up with her on like a Tuesday afternoon or something. We go into the government office and the place is packed - on a Tuesday afternoon. She kept getting asked who her "case officer" was, and had to keep explaining she was just there to get a quick background check - because they just assume everyone there is to collect welfare or on probation or whatever having a "case officer" means (since that was what just about everyone else WAS there for). lol I feel like that doesn't happen in most normal cities.
Last edited by JoulesMSU; 04-08-2013 at 05:59 PM..
Joules, out of curiousity, what district is she teaching in? Flint, Beecher, Westwood Heights, etc... are terrible. That doesn't make the whole metro area bad. But, if you only know these areas, I can see where it wouldn't put Flint in a very positive light.
The school has like no funding because everyone is so poor that there are just no taxes to go into the schools. They just cancel school on random days to try to save money by not having to pay for buses or teachers. lol
This isn't true at all. Lansing has a similar sized population as Flint and isn't anywhere near Flint in terms of crime rates. So clearly something is going on up there.
I would say avoid Flint. My girlfriend got a teaching job up there this past year (started in August 2012) and she is going to quit and look elsewhere after the school year ends. One of the other new teachers that was hired with her is also quitting after only be there this year as well. This is despite the fact that it's really hard to find a teaching job in Michigan... but it's just an awful area, she hates going there. The school has like no funding because everyone is so poor that there are just no taxes to go into the schools. They just cancel school on random days to try to save money by not having to pay for buses or teachers. lol
The city center is awful too. It's like 2 blocks and has about 4 restaurants and 2-3 bars and that's about all it. There is a decent farmer's market a few blocks away, but then the rest of the city is basically abandoned buildings and run down houses.
Flint really does live up to the hype of being "the worst city in America" IMO. I mean, Detroit gets a bad rap for various things, but it at least has a bunch of redeeming features (nice suburbs, pro sports, Greektown, etc.) - I've spent a lot of time this past year up in Flint and I have yet to see a single redeeming feature at all. It really is as bad as everyone says, possibly worse (if that's possible).
*Like, when she first got hired she had to go in and do a background check. I took the day off and drove up with her on like a Tuesday afternoon or something. We go into the government office and the place is packed - on a Tuesday afternoon. She kept getting asked who her "case officer" was, and had to keep explaining she was just there to get a quick background check - because they just assume everyone there is to collect welfare or on probation or whatever having a "case officer" means (since that was what just about everyone else WAS there for). lol I feel like that doesn't happen in most normal cities.
I think anyone reading this thread would do better to get opinions and info from people who actually live and work in or near Flint. Also comparing Flint and Lansing is silly. Lansing was never an industrial manufacturing city at anywhere near the level of Flint so the demographics and histories have historically taken very different trajectories.
In the last year I've had to get two background checks (for two different volunteer jobs.) For both I had to go to that very same downtown office.
Both times I was in and out in about five minutes, no joke. Hand over ID, wait five minutes for their computer to spit out the fact that I was neither a convicted felon or on the sex offender registry, thank you m'am, done. And nobody uttered the words "case officer" that I can recall.
Look, nobody here is pretending that Flint is some sort of hip urban mecca. It's not. You will notice that people whom live in or near Flint have dissuaded the OPs from buying a home anywhere in the city. It's mostly horrible but there are plenty of positives and opinions from people who drive here once or twice are not really that useful.
But it is a city inhabited and surrounded by thousands of people that travel through, live in, use, work in and even enjoy what Flint has to offer. It's not like Lansing is that great either.
Okay, I live in this Hell hole. DO NOT TAKE ADVICE FROM ANYONE WHO LIVES IN THE SUBURBS. This place has A LOT of people who are originally from here, who moved to grand Blanc, Fenton, Davison, ETC, who have a nostalgic view of this place. Plenty people will advise you that Flint is okay, like the poster above me, but notice, this is the opinion of a person who merely works here, or drives through here. Even the local hospital had to put extra security and fence around our parking lot due to the severe number of armed robberies in the parking lots.
Do not be fooled. There is no longer a "Good" part of Flint. I have lived here for 36 of my 38 years. This place is filled to the brim with poverty, failed schools, blight, crime, murder, decay, etc... This place will depress you. No night club is safe. They have closed them ALL down at one point or another for violence and shooting.
I am being serious, go to any news site, or the local library, there has been a fight or shooting at nearly every club, bar or watering hole in the city.
The insurance costs are sky high here due to all the break ins. There where over 3000 fires set here in the last 4 years, after they laid off the fire department.
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