Yours Thoughts On Ashtabula (Geneva, Geneva-on-the-Lake: for sale, amusement park, house)

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by jam40jeff

I like most small Ohio towns, but I definitely find Jefferson to feel more like a dump. Chardon would be much nicer if it wasn't invaded by the suburbanites.

LOL. If you think Jefferson looks like a dump then you should see the rest of Ashtabula County! I actually consider Jefferson to be one of the better towns there. While there is not much to Jefferson, I think it is a decent town for what it is.

[Beavercreek33]

Isn't Conneaut in Ashtabula County?

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by Beavercreek33

Isn't Conneaut in Ashtabula County?

Yes, it's where I grew up!

Conneaut is pretty depressed these days, but I think it would have some potential if there was ever a boost in the local economy (that is a big if). The older neighborhoods there are still intact and it has a nice lakefront, but it's not the town it was when I was a kid. Great place to grow up though.

[jam40jeff]

Sorry to say, because I wish Conneaut wasn't the way it is, but it's in very bad shape. They had a neat little old football stadium right in the middle of town (Memorial Stadium) where the h/s football team played. It was just how games used to be. You felt part of the community when you went there and parked on a street a few blocks away and walked through the neighborhood to getg to the field, rather than parking the same distance away and walkijng through massive parking lots and pointless grassy "buffer zones" that never get used to get to the field. Unfortunately, the field needed major repairs and they didn't have the money, so now Conneaut High School doesn't even have a football team anymore.

[BJC]

I grew up in Ashtabula, and have very found memories of growing up there. It was safe, could ride my bike all over the place and not be afraid, my parents had good jobs, health care as I recall was good, shopping at Carlisle’s in downtown, all the clerks knew my name, and I could get anything (with in reason) and just say put it on my Mom’s bill. They knew who she was, and we were never in the paper. We were/are just regular folk.

We do not have much family left in the area, and we only travel to Bula about 1 time every 3 yrs or so. It is comforting and sad at the same time to go “home”.

Things have changed since I graduated in 1976 and I know the area is depressed, but is it really ALL that bad???

[Southern_Belle1]

I am black, and might be moving to the area for work. Is this a racist place??? I am from the south, but I am trying to avoid the "crazy rednecks"...lol. I am used to living around civilized country white people...not the lower class crazies.

[iCan]

Originally Posted by Southern_Belle1

I am black, and might be moving to the area for work. Is this a racist place??? I am from the south, but I am trying to avoid the "crazy rednecks"...lol. I am used to living around civilized country white people...not the lower class crazies.

I strolled upon this thread "google surfing" and registered to assist in answering you question and giving my general opinion.
I am black (african-american if you prefer) also, and I don't feel you will experience any more "racist" activity than you would in any other town. I do hope you are moving there with employment already secured. Last I saw, unemployment was rather high.
I agree with the majority of those who have posted here. The city of Ashtabula is in terrible terrible shape, but the surrounding small towns have held onto that country charm. I grew up in Andover and lived in Ashtabula city after graduating. After a few years I got a chance to do some traveling, suddenly discovered what real living was about and promptly moved away. Due to my ex-wife reluctance to never move away, (in part to her "mafia-ish" family brainwashing) I had to return to 'bula to rescue my only daughter from a life of misery after graduating high school. I know for a fact if I wouldn't have put forth the effort, she would have no desire to go to college or even graduate. With a new school age teen getting pregnant every month, and like someone else said, the schools treating students as just a number, Ashtabula can be a trap for young adults who have nothing to aspire for. While it was a bumpy road, I can breath a sigh of relief now. She graduated, now finishing up her first year at Ohio State University, and she's child-free! Worthy recognition given the fact that she's the first to even FINISH high school for every generation prior on her mom's side! Just to know how the city used to be and to ride around town now and see all the boarded up buildings, run down houses, and general gloomy atmosphere is so depressing. I really was looking for Ashtabula to make a comeback...or at least an attempt at it. Especially after the almost-national media attention it received when someone put up a trashtabula.com website (gone now). The harbor area is such a nice part of town with so much history, its a shame it can't be the start of renewing the city as a whole. With Dillard's leaving the shopping center (do they still call it a mall?) and whatever ODOT is running through town tearing down houses leaving rubble in its wake, I have lost all hope for my once beloved city. Boy, this economic downturn that we reluctantly call a recession couldn't have come at a worse time for Ashtabula. If our courageous President ever wanted to seal the deal on this stimulus bill and win the hearts of Americans to the current health care debate, he'd do a live town hall meeting from 'bula. With dear daughter off to school now, I don't know if I will have a reason to ever return there. If I do, I hope it's under more appealing aspects.

P.S. By the way Belle, Ashtabula does have a hometown celebrity. Jarrod Bunch, who went on to play pro football
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrod_Bunch
and doing well as an Hollywood actor
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0120349
Congratulations to him and here's hope he'll return home and run for mayor.

[ryanek9freak]

I am a native of Colorado Springs, however my mother and all her family were born and raised in Ashtabula, and still live there, mostly in the Harbor and swede town ( those of you who live there know what I'm talking about). When I was 8, my mother and father got divorced, and my mom packed up me, my brother and sister, and forced us to all move to Ashtabula, cause she had no family to help her in Colorado.

I understand WHY she did what she did, but I don't think she realized what Ashtabula had become in the 15 years she didn't live there. She had left in 1977. (BTW, I'm 29 years old now) ANyways, it was probably not the best place to raise children, because there are so few opportunnities for children, that all they have to do is get in trouble, use drugs and have sex at a very young age. I know, I was a vicitim of it. I was in trouble with the police alot, and I had a kid when I was 18. And it was all a product of the environment. SOmehow it's viewed as ok because everyone else does it. My brother too, and my sister? She really got the short end of the stick. She got addicted to meth (the main gross domestic product of the city), and has 3 different kids from 3 different guys, all losers, and she only has custody of one of them.

Most of what everyone is saying is 100% true. Take it from someone who grew up there for 20 torterous years. I didn't want to leave Colorado, and wish I never had. Ashtabula is a disgusting run down rat hole of its former self, and will never be the same. It brings tears to my eyes to hear my poor grandmother tell me stories about how great of a city it used to be, how everyone was proud to live there, how the entire west side was the NICE neighborhood. Now it's a gross eyesore filled with houses that should be condemned.

I finally woke up one day and decided I just couldn't take it anymore. I was gettting laid off from every $10 job I could find over and over. Town is so small that everyone knows your business, and I mean EVERYONE. That's the only thing I miss though, the tight knit Italian community, and the Sons Of Italy. So, about 2 years ago, I just packed up all my stuff, and got the hell out of dodge, and I couldn't be happier. I live in a beautiful place, there are good paying jobs coming out of the woodwork, and the quality of life is a 10,000% improvement.
I just can't figure what's keeping people in Bula. There is literally NOTHING there for anyone.
Ashtabula ohio will never be my Coffin.

[ZnGuy]

Ashtabula I think is the poorest county per capita in the state. Looks like a nasty area to live. I actually think Youngstown is a step up. Nearby Geneva on the Lake was an interesting and fun area to go to during the summer but I believe the park closed last year.

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by ZnGuy

Ashtabula I think is the poorest county per capita in the state. Looks like a nasty area to live. I actually think Youngstown is a step up. Nearby Geneva on the Lake was an interesting and fun area to go to during the summer but I believe the park closed last year.

Ashtabula is poor, but there are counties in southern Ohio that are poorer. Geneva-on-the-Lake is one place in Ashtabula County that has improved in recent years, and the park there is certainly still open.