Southern Madrona and central area? (Seattle, Lakewood: rent, crime, houses)

[valthenya]

Kid friendly areas? family friendly? how's the neighborhood? how about the elementary schools in this area?

TIA
Mary

[valthenya]

no one? what about beacon, georgetown, rainier valley?

[Inkpoe]

Southern Madrona, Central and Rainier Valley-- generally would say by pass to newbs. They're one of those areas where they do have nice parts, and some real bad/ugly parts. So unless you're already here and able to deeply and personally investigate each street the house would be located, go ahead and look elsewhere.

Beacon Hill is a huge neighborhood. I like it, lots of old housing stock, funky, lots of diversity, very affordable, supposedly very "family friendly"-- there was a thread here not too long ago about this because an article did list Beacon Hill as being #1 for "Seattle's most family friendly neighborhood" and posters here (including me) did have an issue with that because there are other neighborhoods that would better qualify (since those areas did have better schools). Schools in Beacon Hill are ok, but like a lot of SPS schools, do have a very enthusiastic PTA.

I like Georgetown, but personally for a family? I do not like. Bit too industrial overall and too much traffic congestion nearby... it's also low valley too, so all that smoggy air isn't going anywhere else. I notice it tends to be bit warmer there as well. You might like it on the other hand. You're almost in a very centralized area, DT and beaches not too far off.

[benleis]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

Southern Madrona, Central and Rainier Valley-- generally would say by pass to newbs. They're one of those areas where they do have nice parts, and some real bad/ugly parts. So unless you're already here and able to deeply and personally investigate each street the house would be located, go ahead and look elsewhere.

Beacon Hill is a huge neighborhood. I like it, lots of old housing stock, funky, lots of diversity, very affordable, supposedly very "family friendly"-- there was a thread here not too long ago about this because an article did list Beacon Hill as being #1 for "Seattle's most family friendly neighborhood" and posters here (including me) did have an issue with that because there are other neighborhoods that would better qualify (since those areas did have better schools). Schools in Beacon Hill are ok, but like a lot of SPS schools, do have a very enthusiastic PTA.

I like Georgetown, but personally for a family? I do not like. Bit too industrial overall and too much traffic congestion nearby... it's also low valley too, so all that smoggy air isn't going anywhere else. I notice it tends to be bit warmer there as well. You might like it on the other hand. You're almost in a very centralized area, DT and beaches not too far off.

I have no real information but it wouldn't shock me if the level of pollutants in the Georgetown area was much higher than other parts of the city due to the longstanding industry that has been there. If any place was going to have high levels of lead etc. this would be one of them.

Since you mentioned Southern Madrona orginally, I'd say the Leschi neighborhood directly to the south of it would be preferable to me for a family because the public school has been heading on a better trajectory recently. There's beautiful housing stock in Madrona/Leschi if you like old houses especially as you get higher up the ridge and closer to the lake.

Ben

[valthenya]

Thanks schools are def important!! inkpoe what are the other family friendly neighborhoods you would suggest?

thanks for answering

[eskercurve]

One thing to keep in mind is that lately there's been gang and general hoodlum activity going on in the Rainier Valley and near Beacon Hill. Just the other day a father got killed by a stray bullet shot by some kid who got into an argument with another kid. Also, a crowd actually got in the way of cops trying to respond to a woman who got shot in the same area.

Basically, avoid Rainier Valley if you are new to the area. As mentioned earlier, there's areas that are nice, and areas that aren't. Seems to be getting worse too.

If schools are important basically north seattle is where the best are - and consequently the most expensive housing. VERY expensive housing. Supply and demand coupled with high income earners.

[Ira500]

The father who got hit by a stray bullet was in the Central District at Martin Luther King and East Cherry, not the Rainier Valley. Not that the Rainier Valley is a great place to raise kids. Parts of the Central District are much better than others, for example some parts of the Central District send their kids to Stevens Elementary(good schhol), while others go to Madrona Elementary(not so good)...But Madrona is kid friendly. It's just that a fair number of the Madona kids don't go to the Madrona school. They'll get into one of the public options programs like TOPS, or go to St. Therese. I lived in Leschi when my kids were school aged, with the kids going to public alternative/option schools, as Leschi school was awful at that time.
Anyway, the northern end of the Central District is preferable to the southern end. Madrona has a very pleasant retail core and is a nice community, but folks trying to sell or rent out houses have this bad habit of calling things what they're not. Like calling something at Martin Luther King and East Cherry "Madrona", when it's close, but no cigar.

[valthenya]

i'm sure i'm becoming irritating. but what about columbia city?

[Ira500]

You are not becoming irritating. Columbia City is nice, an island of niceness with less nice immediately north and south. It's a hip, cool, classic Seattle neighborhood. It has some big pluses. Fun things to walk to. Not too far from the light rail. Near the amazing Seward Park. Nearby good pizza. A fantastic bakery.The areas east of Columbia City, like Lakewood/Seward Park are quite nice. The negatives? The neighborhoods nearby are a little higher crime, and, although crime happens everywhere, if it happens to you it's a big deal. There's a good school in Columbia City, Orca K-8, but there are also really bad schools nearby ( Hawthorne), so you have to make sure you don't move into a home which is assigned to a bad school.

[valthenya]

*sigh* seattle seems to be a bit more complicated than phoenix... phoenix is pretty much north=good south= bad unless you go way south which is good