Ranking the best places to live in Mississippi (Gulfport, Biloxi: apartment, rent)

[tennreb]

My list:

1. Oxford -- it has everything: good schools, unique shopping, beautiful neighborhoods, good arts scene, low taxes, low crime, great downtown, good music scene, educated populace, great restaurants, lots of history; the downside is that property values reflect this and, as a result, it is the most expensive place to live in the state

2. Ocean Springs -- beautiful town with great neighborhoods, surrounded by water, unique shops and good restaurants (though not as many as Oxford), great schools, good arts scene, laid-back people, relatively inexpensive

3. Natchez -- suffers from more problems than the other cities on the list, but wins major points for its beautiful neighborhoods, great views, nice downtown, lots of special events, loads of history, and its laid-back people (not dominated by anti-fun religious fundamentalists like most of Mississippi); however, lots of poverty and bad public schools (good private schools, though)

4. Madison -- very nice town that seems immune to the problems the rest of the state suffers from; loses points for cookie-cutter developments, dominance of chains, and an inferior downtown (though this is changing)

5. Hattiesburg -- decent town that is bolstered by a university; still, chains dominate and cookie-cutter developments are taking over; downtown is coming back and looks promising

Of course there are other good places in Mississippi, but these are my top five.

[Tama]

Tennreb Thanks for including Hattiesburg in you list. However, I disagree a little. H'burg has many non-chain establishments and compared to some larger towns a pretty good selection. To name some I can remember-206 Front, Brownstone's, Walnut Circle Grill, The Oaks, The Bagel Shop, Old Yokel Market, and Gordon Creek Deli. All downtown. Then there are Chesterfield's. Crechale's, La Fiesta Brava, Mexican Kitchen, Sakura, Powerhouse(on campus), Crescent City Grill, the Purple Parrot, Pannino's, Leatha's, Strick's, The Front Porch, Season's, WCW's, Mack's Fish Camp, and my personal favorite, Suwanna"s Thai restaurant. If you come to H'burg I highly recomend it for a lunch. Fresh and delicious. Hard to find but near to downtown and the auto dealerships on West Pine.
Also I would not call the gated communities going up here cookie-cutter. I know cookie-cutter. They are destroying my hometown with them. McMansions all in a row, same design, no land, and looking like a Levittown. Here the homes are all unique and the landscaping is individual. The homes are beautiful. THey are not for me, mind you. But if one wants this they are not cookie-cutter.

[aiangel_writer]

Following this thread with apt interest. Our small area will see growth and we are in the process of building our town so to speak. We want to retain the integrity of the rich history and intergrate it with our growth areas. Hoping for managed growth and setting guidelines for commercial as well as residential structures.

Tell me what you guys like about small town living, the things you don't like about it.

I am hoping that when the restaurants start popping up, we can get unique ones here, like Thai food, different cultural food not coming from fast food chains, but local owners.

Hoping to hear suggestions from many of you on your likes and dislikes.

I know I remember the area down from the Courthouse in Oxford as being very flavorful, we ate in a restaurant that served cultural food and I was very impressed.

[Tama]

Aiangel_writer I would want to oppose sprawl and maintain liveablity with walkable streets, central areas for shops, services, and work. Hodge-podge placement of commercial and service sectors far removed from residences makes it necessary to get the car to do anything. I would like to walk more and ride a bike to places.
Are you familiar with this code for cities? May be worth a look for your area.

SMARTCODE - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[aiangel_writer]

Originally Posted by Tama

Aiangel_writer I would want to oppose sprawl and maintain liveablity with walkable streets, central areas for shops, services, and work. Hodge-podge placement of commercial and service sectors far removed from residences makes it necessary to get the car to do anything. I would like to walk more and ride a bike to places.
Are you familiar with this code for cities? May be worth a look for your area.

SMARTCODE - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank you for this. We are in the very early stages of our new comprehensive plan and are activily seeking areas that can be considered new pedesterian. Thanks again for this.

[tennreb]

Originally Posted by Tama

Tennreb Thanks for including Hattiesburg in you list. However, I disagree a little. H'burg has many non-chain establishments and compared to some larger towns a pretty good selection. To name some I can remember-206 Front, Brownstone's, Walnut Circle Grill, The Oaks, The Bagel Shop, Old Yokel Market, and Gordon Creek Deli. All downtown. Then there are Chesterfield's. Crechale's, La Fiesta Brava, Mexican Kitchen, Sakura, Powerhouse(on campus), Crescent City Grill, the Purple Parrot, Pannino's, Leatha's, Strick's, The Front Porch, Season's, WCW's, Mack's Fish Camp, and my personal favorite, Suwanna"s Thai restaurant. If you come to H'burg I highly recomend it for a lunch. Fresh and delicious. Hard to find but near to downtown and the auto dealerships on West Pine.
Also I would not call the gated communities going up here cookie-cutter. I know cookie-cutter. They are destroying my hometown with them. McMansions all in a row, same design, no land, and looking like a Levittown. Here the homes are all unique and the landscaping is individual. The homes are beautiful. THey are not for me, mind you. But if one wants this they are not cookie-cutter.

That's great that Hattiesburg is growing more local places. Last time I was there I ate at local steakhouse on Hwy 49 towards the coast, and it was great. Very Mississippi. However, gated communities are not good the the community, especially in a low crime place like Mississippi where there only purpose is to serve as a status symbol. They divide up towns into insular pockets of residences, instead of creating a community that flows. How is child supposed to ride his bike to school? Single-entry subdivisions have a similar effect, but gated communities are worse.

[Tama]

tennreb--I totally agree wih you about the insular gated communities. I just can't imagine living like that myself. I guess the reason is the pockets of development grow up whereever the land becomes available. Since there is no central community it causes this pattern. Hattiesburg proper really has almost no space left to add to its existing neighborhoods and the outlying areas oppose annexation which would make a more liveable growth pattern doable. The whole area is is need of some planning and some cooperaton but there is too much animosity about schools for that to happen.

[Faerie88]

Does anyone have recommendations for nice areas in southern Mississippi? I am looking for a neighborhood that I can walk my dog, but still have relatively cheap rent. I also do not like the "cookie cutter" neighborhoods, prefer a place that has older homes, and privacy. Am I searching for the impossible? I am trying to get to the area of Gulfport, is there anything like this around that area?

[tennreb]

Originally Posted by Faerie88

Does anyone have recommendations for nice areas in southern Mississippi? I am looking for a neighborhood that I can walk my dog, but still have relatively cheap rent. I also do not like the "cookie cutter" neighborhoods, prefer a place that has older homes, and privacy. Am I searching for the impossible? I am trying to get to the area of Gulfport, is there anything like this around that area?

There are plenty of coastal towns that are like that. Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Pass Christian, and some of the other coastal towns have older areas near the coast that are great places to walk a dog. The coast is very inexpensive compared to other coastal towns, though it has gotten more expensive since Katrina. I can't comment on rent prices now, but before Katrina, you could get a decent one bedroom apartment in an older, walkable section of town, for about $500-700. Ocean Springs is the most expensive town there, but its the nicest.

[Faerie88]

Thanks, I have heard a lot of good things about Ocean Springs, and mostly good about Gulfport. I hope to be there soon so I can get a hands on opinion!

Originally Posted by tennreb

There are plenty of coastal towns that are like that. Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Pass Christian, and some of the other coastal towns have older areas near the coast that are great places to walk a dog. The coast is very inexpensive compared to other coastal towns, though it has gotten more expensive since Katrina. I can't comment on rent prices now, but before Katrina, you could get a decent one bedroom apartment in an older, walkable section of town, for about $500-700. Ocean Springs is the most expensive town there, but its the nicest.