Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > San Antonio
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-17-2012, 08:03 AM
 
4,307 posts, read 9,556,254 times
Reputation: 1858

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by teenwolf80 View Post
Southtown is the cultural center/main strip of two historic neighborhoods just south of downtown, King William and Lavaca.

The picture below shows the boundaries of both neighborhoods together and Southtown is the solid area.

http://i.imgur.com/Exvsd.png
Southtown is actually the whole area. KW and Lavaca are part of Southtown. The solid area = main business strip. Only KWA doesn't like to be included in Southtown....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-17-2012, 08:08 AM
 
225 posts, read 597,458 times
Reputation: 123
That's very cool. Nothing there for rent in my price range right now, but I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2012, 08:10 AM
 
41 posts, read 113,901 times
Reputation: 55
Southtown is not a good area for kids to live in. The schools are sub-par and private school is out of the question unless you want to fork over another "rent" payment in tuition. I would stay out of SAISD all together. Just my opinion.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2012, 08:16 AM
 
4,307 posts, read 9,556,254 times
Reputation: 1858
Quote:
Originally Posted by luckyirish676 View Post
Southtown is not a good area for kids to live in. The schools are sub-par and private school is out of the question unless you want to fork over another "rent" payment in tuition. I would stay out of SAISD all together. Just my opinion.

Do you live in Southtown?

Our local public elementary (K-8) is excellent and a model for other schools. Many people from out of the area vie for a position at the school. It is SAISD and is an inner city school, but it also draws from an area of highly educated families who have made significant impacts on the school which benefit all students. It's main recognition is for its dual language immersion program, but it also has a great arts program and we're building the outdoor science program now.


Lots and lots and lots of kids here! We have a group, King William Area Kids, with near monthly events for families, with the aim that most are local/free/walking distance. Occasionally bigger ones like a camping trip.

While you are entitled to your opinion, be aware that many incredible families live here, and I honestly would not want to raise my kids anywhere else. The community here for kids is above and beyond any I've experienced elsewhere. The area is not for everyone (it'd be hard to find an affordable 4 bedroom 2500SF house here, for example), but the misconception that it's not suitable for families really can not be ignored.

Last edited by Chaka; 02-17-2012 at 08:25 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2012, 08:26 AM
 
501 posts, read 949,208 times
Reputation: 481
Southtown is the cultural center/main strip of two historic neighborhoods just south of downtown, King William and Lavaca.

The picture below shows the boundaries of both neighborhoods together and Southtown is the solid area.

http://i.imgur.com/Exvsd.png

King William is more expensive than Lavaca but there are new affordable housing options in both neighborhoods but they're mostly lofts, loft apartments or condos. There's also a few new loft/apartment buildings just south of Southtown in an area called SoFlo.

However, Windcrest is a very nice option with a very short commute to Rackspace, plus Windcrest is known for its Christmas lights competition/showcase every year.

After that, I'd suggest Schertz or Cibolo and Universial City is an option too.

There's also a fairly large and nice mix-use development planned for just south of the Rackspace HQ.

(Article on development: Windcrest site near Rackspace is in developer?s sights - San Antonio Business Journal)


Moderator cut: see comment

Last edited by BstYet2Be; 02-17-2012 at 08:36 AM.. Reason: Send DM - do not post in forum
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2012, 08:28 AM
 
501 posts, read 949,208 times
Reputation: 481
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaka View Post
Southtown is actually the whole area. KW and Lavaca are part of Southtown. The solid area = main business strip. Only KWA doesn't like to be included in Southtown....
I see what you're saying, but even the Southtown people consider just a small area of both neighborhoods as "Southtown" versus both neighborhoods. I do too believe it'd be better to just call both areas "Southtown" but as Southtown becomes its own little "district", I don't see that happening. imo
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2012, 08:38 AM
 
4,307 posts, read 9,556,254 times
Reputation: 1858
Quote:
Originally Posted by teenwolf80 View Post
I see what you're saying, but even the Southtown people consider just a small area of both neighborhoods as "Southtown" versus both neighborhoods. I do too believe it'd be better to just call both areas "Southtown" but as Southtown becomes its own little "district", I don't see that happening. imo

No, only the KWA which represents a very few people, and some misguided person in a city office who couldn't be bothered to figure out the real southtown, limit Southtown to the business strip. For as long as I've lived here, the whole area has been Southtown. And apart from those few KWA folks, everyone who lives in Southtown refers to Southtown as the whole area, not just the business strip.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2012, 08:42 AM
 
41 posts, read 113,901 times
Reputation: 55
I considered moving to either Southtown or over by the Southwest School of Art. We are military and I am originally from San Antonio. Culturally and classwise, King William, Southtown, and much of Downtown have become increasingly metro,educated, and affluent. Lots of great lofts and historical structures. I also know many of the school in SAISD have moved towards improving, creating charters, and specializing their campuses. That being said elementary school is very different from Middle and High School rankings. I see Bonham has achieved TEA Recognized status which is commendable as well, but it seems to be the exception and not the rule in that disctrict.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2012, 08:56 AM
 
4,307 posts, read 9,556,254 times
Reputation: 1858
Quote:
Originally Posted by luckyirish676 View Post
I considered moving to either Southtown or over by the Southwest School of Art. We are military and I am originally from San Antonio. Culturally and classwise, King William, Southtown, and much of Downtown have become increasingly metro,educated, and affluent. Lots of great lofts and historical structures. I also know many of the school in SAISD have moved towards improving, creating charters, and specializing their campuses. That being said elementary school is very different from Middle and High School rankings. I see Bonham has achieved TEA Recognized status which is commendable as well, but it seems to be the exception and not the rule in that disctrict.
You are right. It is the exception, but as Bonham is the school which serves Southtown, it makes sense to consider Bonham's quality alone, not all of SAISD. Bonham is now K-8.

The High School is not quite there yet. However, those same parents who have turned Bonham around have kids getting older and are now turning their sights to the high school (and still working on improving 6-8 at Bonham).

The argument that "Southtown isn't for kids" is not a reasonable one. You can argue lots of things about why the area may not appeal (old houses, mixed income, trains), but that it is not family friendly is simply false. We've considered moving elsewhere (outside San Antonio) and one thing holding us back is the community - finding a true village like we have here is very difficult.

Now all that said, didn't the OP say they homeschool?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-17-2012, 09:32 AM
 
225 posts, read 597,458 times
Reputation: 123
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaka View Post
Now all that said, didn't the OP say they homeschool?
Yes, my husband homeschools our kids.

I suppose it's wise to consider the schools anyway, in case we decide to put the kids in public schools in the future.

That said, the community feel you describe sounds AWESOME. I would love to find that wherever we move to SA! One of the hardest things about moving to Houston 4 years ago was finding families to hang out with (I have no idea why, seems like a lot of people were raised here and already have their circle of friends full).

Thanks for all the info, teenwolf. That development looks interesting. I'm also going to consider Windcrest (I know the surrounding area is not considered great, but Windcrest proper seems to be considered relatively safe).

I appreciate all the conversation, very informative.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > San Antonio
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top