BELLEVUE - What is it like? (Omaha, Papillion: for sale, apartments, city hall)

[Breana Abigail]

Hello, I am considering a move to Bellevue. I would like some current local residents to provide information on what the city is like and how your life is in Bellevue. Please, positive responses only and try to be as sincere as possible. I will be moving with my 3 year old. Things I look forward to hearing about is: schools, weather, people, quality of life, atmosphere/vibe, churches, job salaries, good experiences, general opinions about crime (I do not want this to become the main focal point of our discussion), etc. If you can think of anything else you would like to add share, I do appreciate hearing about it. Thank you all so much for your replies!!

[FNF]

Originally Posted by Breana Abigail

Hello, I am considering a move to Bellevue. I would like some current local residents to provide information on what the city is like and how your life is in Bellevue. Please, positive responses only and try to be as sincere as possible. I will be moving with my 3 year old. Things I look forward to hearing about is: schools, weather, people, quality of life, atmosphere/vibe, churches, job salaries, good experiences, general opinions about crime (I do not want this to become the main focal point of our discussion), etc. If you can think of anything else you would like to add share, I do appreciate hearing about it. Thank you all so much for your replies!!

Overall, Bellevue is a very nice place to live. There are a few seedy areas, but they are minimal. I've lived here for 3 years, and my wife has been in the city her entire life. The weather is typical Nebraska weather...if you don't like it, wait 3 days! Overall, though, it's generally easy to deal with. Winter varies in length and severity--can start sometime in October and last until April, but that's pushing it. The last few years, that I can recall, have been pretty tame.

Bellevue is the oldest city in Nebraska, and is also home to Offutt Air Force Base and STRATCOM, so, there is a large military presence in the area.

If you are looking for a lot of 'super exciting' things, you might have to venture up to Omaha.

What particular parts of Bellevue are you looking at?

[Go Ne]

Omaha is the Dominant city in the area, so you would most likely get a job there. What is your profession? And may I ask why you are moving here from Angola?

[Dave1215]

Not a bad little area... its in Sarpy County and of the five towns in Sarpy it is the largest; however, its probably the one that has done the worst job with economic development so its looking a little tired while the others are refreshed...

When in the area also look at Papillion... its the town directly west of Bellevue on Highway 370.... those two will give you a good variety of quality of life, housing options, schools, shopping, jobs, etc...

[Baldeagle79]

Bellevue is a nice town. There are some very nice neighborhoods, and crime isn't much of an issue (it's in any town, of course, but Bellevue is a nice place). I lived there for 4 years, and sincerely hated to leave, but I took another job out in Colorado after leaving Offutt. I still have a house for rent on the market (if you're interested) Fenced in corner lot near Offutt AFB/Schools, Split Level with Upgrade but there are TONS of other homes, apartments, good prices on homes for sale, etc. It's not a bad move.

[andre181]

I grew up in Bellevue my entire life. Crime is not an issue. Very good economically.

The public schools are the best in the state. There are two public high schools, Bellevue West, which has the best test scores in Nebraksa, and Bellevue East, which has the second best test scores. I went to Bellevue East!

Bellevue is a 10-15 minute drive from Downtown Omaha. Omaha is the largest city in Nebraksa, with about 600,000 people. Bellevue is about 50,000. Bellevue is the 3rd largest city in Nebraksa. There is an Air Force Base in Bellevue, so there is a lot of diversity. No matter your race, you will be accepted!

As far as churches, there are plenty christian churches of all denominations. There is a new Jehovah's Witness temple. I do not know of any Mosques or Synagogues in Bellevue, but there are a few of each in Omaha.

Salary is probably going to be slightly higher than anywhere else in the state, but that depends on what you do.

Housing is plentiful, and not terribly expensive. You can get a decent two bedroom apartment for anywhere from $400-800 per month, depending on what part of town you are looking at.

Lots of places to shop in the area.

Overall, Bellevue is a great place to raise a family! Its got kind of a small town feel, but has everything a big city has.

[Dave1215]

Here are two other forums specific to Bellevue.

First is a specific group of citizens that are monitoring "city hall" and trying to influence, make change and it their minds raise accountability. Not sure who is behind the forum, but it does give some insight into the political and financial issues that Bellevue is working through.
http://www.bellevuenewsblog.com/

Second is a group of volunteer firemen who talk about their concerns with the city taking over the fire department. An old battle in the town that has come to the forefront in the last year when the City took over some billing functions from the organization and also when the City hired a full-time Fire Chief for the first time.
http://rescuebellevue.org/

Both links are biased, but does give you some unique insight into the town without hanging out at the local coffee shop with the old retired guys.

[sinkfloridasink]

I grew up in Bellevue. I'm not really that fond of it, so I guess I'll be breaking the "good responses only" rule, but I am being sincere and giving my opinion.

The weather is good, depending on what you're looking for. Expect four seasons - the summers are hot and the winters are snowy. Personally, I miss this, as I've moved to Virginia where it's pretty boring month-to-month (and everyone freaks out when a quarter of inch of snow hits the ground). None of the weather is what I would consider "extreme", just what you'd expect out of any given season.

The people are okay. They are all inherently nice, but I found a lot of people aren't very tolerant of "alternative" forms of thought (for example, me being an atheist put off an insane amount of people, despite me being nice otherwise). A lot of people embody small-town thought, which I can guess can either be good or bad for you.

Quality of life was okay. As a teenager I found it to be boring as hell (it's easy to say "go to Omaha" when you have a means of getting out there...) and as such, did a lot of things I probably wouldn't have in a more interesting place (drugs, drinking, etc) which a lot of highschool kids do as well. Omaha isn't even particularly vibrant for younger people in my opinion, besides the unique Old Market area it is mostly sprawly neighborhoods, which isn't too different from being in Bellevue.

Atmosphere/vibe: feels like a suburb of a not very happening city in the midwest. Which, like I said, could be bad or good depending on what you're going for.

Obviously I don't know much about churches, but my father attended one in Omaha when we lived there that he really liked. I feel like it was called Vineyard, or something along those lines?

I didn't work full-time when I was there, but I got the impression that the job market in the area (Bellevue/Papillion/Omaha) was really good. I had a very easy time getting a job as a teenager, as well. Regardless, it's better than the economic hellhole of Richmond, VA...

Crime is a non-issue there. The kids all use drugs, sometimes they go out and egg houses, knock over mailboxes, etc. Normal teenager stuff. You'll never get robbed or get your house broken into or anything. Just bored kids hanging out.

The schools are both good and bad. Academically, they are very, very good. Your kid will be extremely well prepared for college if they attend Bellevue Public Schools. On the other hand, socially, they will learn nothing. I spent my first two years of highschool at Bellevue West, which is very wealthy. I spent the last two at an inner-city school in Virginia, where I don't think I learned anything at all. But I did gain some social perspectives and realized what I was and what everyone around me in NE was: spoiled rich kids with no appreciation of people with actual struggles. We thought getting high was "cool" when some people are born into drug-riddled families and suffer from it for the rest of their lives...or everyone talks about gang prevention in Belleuve, but when the first day of class I watch a gang jump a kid in the bathroom and slam his head into a sink, I got a reality check. I learned a great deal about the world my last two years of highschool, and none of it was in the books.

That kinda sums up the problem with Bellevue for me; I feel like everyone learns everything they are "supposed" to, but they don't really learn anything. And they are things that a parent can't teach a child - they are things the kids have to experience. No one gets a good life experience there.

However, all the kids there can solve Physics problems a hell of a lot faster than I can, so I guess it just boils down to what's important to you.

[sinkfloridasink]

Oh, I will also say: drugs are a problem for kids there. Everyone smokes weed, most dabble in coke at some point, some get lost in meth. It's sad.

Its weird, because I would expect that I would have more drugs around me living in Richmond, VA which has a much higher crime rate...but it isn't the case. I think the problem is in big cities, you have to wander into housing projects to get most drugs. In Bellevue, I could just go next door to my buddy's three-story house. They are much easier to get (and oddly enough, from what I've found at least, of higher quality).

You aren't gonna walk down the street and see drug-dealing thugs on the corner, as it is behind the scenes. But they are definitely there. The kids have money, so the drugs are plentiful.