Relo to Newark,OH

[holly1234]

Hello everyone,
I am considering moving to the Newark area, but have also heard that Heath is a good place to live. How close are they? is all the shopping areas in newark and heath or one or the other, and which has more people and activity for a young mother to do stuff and craft shop? Do most people drive over to Columbus to do shopping??
Any info about the area would be a great help.
Holly

[Smoker]

Originally Posted by paintballer1708

I believe after the Ben Roethlisberger incident, Pennsylvania now makes everyone wear helments.

An amendment was passed June 30, 2006, that basically said everyone had to wear a helmet... unless they wore safety glasses.

[BigVill]

Newark, Heath, and Granville are all connected. You wouldn't even know you were leaving Newark and going into Heath if not for the sign that tells you. I believe the mall is on 30th street. Granville is very expensive, but if you can afford it, it really has an old fashioned small town feel. It only takes about 30 minutes to get to the eastern part of Columbus, so many people who live in Newark work and shop in Columbus.

There is a strong high school football tradition here. Newark High, and Newark Catholic are two of the better programs in the state.

[tasha43055]

I have lived here all my life. I hate it. There is no jobs and good luck finding a house for that price. HUD houses are not to bad. I live in the east end and it isn't so bad. I also lived in the south end. BAD! All areas are getting bad. Young kids are out killing and robbing. I had my car broken into and that never happened before. The reason I have not left is because my family is here. I had two friends get killed by teenagers and I also knew the people who killed them. Houses are getting broken into. There is nothing to do here either. Good luck.

[Bowie]

I grew up in Newark and Heath and still have family in the area, so I pay attention to local trends. I have seen many changes since leaving which trouble me greatly.

The Newark area has significant drug and delinquency problems. The meth epidemic hit Newark and Heath hard, leading to significant increases in property crimes and assaults, as addicts resort to theft to fund their habit.

In the last 2 decades, many children were born there to single mothers with less than or just barely a high school education. Those kids now inhabit the public school system. Many of them have behavioral problems and a parent (or parents) living near the poverty line.

There was a significant brain drain in the community starting in the 90s, as the largest employers (USAF, Kaiser, Owens-Corning Tech Center, Rockwell) scaled back their work forces or moved out of the area. The loss of so many white-collar jobs/families has not been a healthy change.

These are trends which could be reversed in future years, but until I see more signs of positive change in the area, I won't ever move back.

[Traveler87]

Originally Posted by Bowie

I grew up in Newark and Heath and still have family in the area, so I pay attention to local trends. I have seen many changes since leaving which trouble me greatly.

The Newark area has significant drug and delinquency problems. The meth epidemic hit Newark and Heath hard, leading to significant increases in property crimes and assaults, as addicts resort to theft to fund their habit.

In the last 2 decades, many children were born there to single mothers with less than or just barely a high school education. Those kids now inhabit the public school system. Many of them have behavioral problems and a parent (or parents) living near the poverty line.

There was a significant brain drain in the community starting in the 90s, as the largest employers (USAF, Kaiser, Owens-Corning Tech Center, Rockwell) scaled back their work forces or moved out of the area. The loss of so many white-collar jobs/families has not been a healthy change.

These are trends which could be reversed in future years, but until I see more signs of positive change in the area, I won't ever move back.

Interesting because Newark, Heath and Granville showed drastic increases in their populations. Saw a large influx of people from New York, PA and Florida move in. Heath for instance saw an increase of over 4,000 since 1990. These areas have great school systems, growing school systems, and are close to some large fortune 500 companies, meaning lots of employers nearby.

I am not saying you are wrong, but according to the facts/statistics they say otherwise. If you want I can post them.

[Bowie]

Originally Posted by Traveler87

Interesting because Newark, Heath and Granville showed drastic increases in their populations. Saw a large influx of people from New York, PA and Florida move in. Heath for instance saw an increase of over 4,000 since 1990. These areas have great school systems, growing school systems, and are close to some large fortune 500 companies, meaning lots of employers nearby.

I am not saying you are wrong, but according to the facts/statistics they say otherwise. If you want I can post them.

I don't doubt that the general population has increased, and I didn't say that it hadn't.

There is more retail and housing in the area than there used to be, which are indicators that the population is growing. But it doesn't appear that new employers are bringing in the numbers of technical careers that the old ones left with. Many of the new employers seem to be in the areas of distribution, logistics and services - a lot of unskilled labor without well-defined career paths and opportunities for advancement.

The comments earlier in the thread about the abundance of HUD housing speak to my point about about the higher number of people living at or below the poverty line in the area.

[slp1]

Although I have not lived in Newark since '97 when I graduated from college and was married, my family and I go back to visit several times a year as my mother still lives in the area.

My parents bought their home on the North side, Sherwood Downs neighborhod in the mid-70s and my mother still owns the home. Many of the people in the neighborhood are still there from when I lived there as a kid. However, although it is a fantastic neighborhood, crime has increased. Growing up, it was mostly kid pranks, toilet papering, corning, etc. Was back for the holidays two years ago and our car was broken into while it was parked and locked in my mother's driveway.

My dad eventually bought a house in the Londondale area. It was really nice and quiet but I can tell you that compared to Sherwood Downs, neighbors kept to themselves more in Londondale. He was effected by the "brain-drain" that was mentioned in the late 80s and relocated out of state. I do not know much about the neighborhood now although it seems to still be upper middle class.

Yes, there is a mall but it seems to have suffered some through the economy but the north side seems to be pushing along. Now that we have lived in Central VA, the crime in Newark seems simple. I knew the druggies in school and they are the same now. We just knew where to go and where not to go. I don't walk at night in my current town or street but would in the north end of Newark.

We have discussed moving back and commuting to Columbus, but as they say, you can't ever go back and find it the way it was. My mother will never leave until she is forced to. To her, it is home, big enough for convenience, small enough to have a large circle of friends for life. I wouldn't mind that size of city now and would to have that as my own but for me and my family, we need good jobs and benefits. Most of the people who are moving in are using the city as a "sleeper community" and commute to Columbus. If gas goes as high as we have been hearing, we won't be able to afford the commute, even if we live rent free in my mother's home.

[JefffromOhio]

Newark is really bad.

After living in the area for a number of years, Newark really is one town to avoid at all costs, especially if you have kids in school. Newark's school system is now so bad that out of 611 districts in Ohio, Newark High School has the fifth (5th) highest number of dropouts. This means its dropout rate is higher then 99.18% of all of Ohio's schools districts. The High School is also very violent, just like a big city. So far this year, there have been five kids caught with knives at school and this doesn't include all of the fights on this campus.

The city is broke: it cannot plow its streets in the winter and it cannot patch or pave its roads.

The city is located downwind from Columbus and the numerous power plants west of Columbus. This causes its air to be very polluted, especially with particulate matter (PM2.5) year around.

The average income is very low and the State of Ohio rates it as a "Labor Surplus" area which simply means high unemployment levels.

Newark is a city that is deteriorating very, very quickly. Read the Newark Advocate newspaper or do some simple research on the internet to see exactly what I mean.

On the other hand, Granville and Heath are great cities to call home and both of them border Newark.

[tasha43055]

Newark is a dump. I have lived here so long and i have seen a lot of dealers coming and going. Teenagers are people now! Newark is not growing contrary to what some people are saying. Granville is nice but it cost way to much money and now even the nice areas are getting robbed. Heath has the best schools and Newark has one of the worst. There is no jobs in Newark and Heath has some but they pay nothing. Jobs for 16 year olds.

Originally Posted by Traveler87

Interesting because Newark, Heath and Granville showed drastic increases in their populations. Saw a large influx of people from New York, PA and Florida move in. Heath for instance saw an increase of over 4,000 since 1990. These areas have great school systems, growing school systems, and are close to some large fortune 500 companies, meaning lots of employers nearby.

I am not saying you are wrong, but according to the facts/statistics they say otherwise. If you want I can post them.