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Old 04-19-2015, 03:03 PM
 
Location: Baltimore
18 posts, read 30,329 times
Reputation: 16

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Hi there.
My wife and I have decided that it is time to move to a more family friendly place to raise our 2 kids. We have lived in NY, MA, and currently live in MD (All very liberal places). We are pretty liberal ourselves, (I ask parents if they keep guns in the house if my daughter is going over for a sleepover). We are both decently educated and make a decent living, but are really tired of the winter weather (We are both originally from Africa so we love our sun). We spent last week traversing Florida looking at places we would love to live and Lakeland was such a small magnificent town, that we both immediately fell in love with. I took the kids to the Explorers children's museum and they loved it and my wife loved the Lakeland Regional Medical Center where she would potentially be working. We even enjoyed a drive around a couple of the lakes.

The question and concern though, is that we did not see too many black people there. In the 3 days we were there (We stayed at the Terrace Hotel), we maybe saw not more than 10 black people in total including the chefs at the hotel. But we saw a good number of Asians (Indians, Pakistanis) mostly. While we are not looking for Baltimore City or Detroit, we thought there would be a reasonable number. Or did we just not look in the right places?

Other than that, our other questions are:

1. What would be the best places to live in to raise two children? (5 YO Girl and 3 YO Boy)

2. What are the best elementary schools? (Public and Private)

3. Are there any services for a child with autism? (Private speech therapists, music therapists, etc other than those in the school system).

4. Are the private schools predominantly christian schools?

5. Since we are looking to rent in year 1 and buy after that, what would be the best way to get in touch with landlords? (Should we use a realtor?)

6. What would the commute like to University of South Florida?
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Old 04-19-2015, 04:57 PM
 
369 posts, read 840,023 times
Reputation: 197
Sounds like Temple Terrace is where you should look based on what you stated.
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Old 04-19-2015, 06:08 PM
KPB
 
1,517 posts, read 1,505,224 times
Reputation: 1314
I moved to north Lakeland from Tampa almost a year ago and I like it a lot. I think the area you drove around which I'm just guessing was Lake Hollingsworth and Lake Morton which are both really nice, more expensive areas. After living here almost a year I think the black/white ratio is no different than Tampa. I also think your family would be welcomed here. I don't have kids but my sister has her 2nd grade daughter at Lakeland Christian. The drive to USF is mostly all interstate and would be around 30 min. I think Lakeland would be a nice place to raise kids.
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Old 04-19-2015, 06:36 PM
 
17,454 posts, read 38,833,992 times
Reputation: 24072
We lived in Lakeland for two years. It is a wonderful, beautiful small town with a lot to offer, and it is fairly diverse, especially in the areas near downtown. I think the area where many Africans live is around the Dixieland neighborhood south of downtown and west of Florida Ave. I'm sure there are other neighborhoods as well. Anywhere in the south downtown area is a nice place to live, we lived near Lake Hollingsworth but in a more modest neighborhood.

Can't help with schools, but I do know Lakeland has some decent schools. Lakeland also has a lot of wonderful public parks, more than most cities in Florida. One thing I want to add, is that I always noticed that people seemed extremely happy and friendly there - much more so than Tampa, or where I live now (Sarasota)

Good luck, and I hope this helps!
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Old 04-19-2015, 08:45 PM
 
Location: finally where I am meant to be
213 posts, read 657,103 times
Reputation: 186
Quote:
Originally Posted by temanzi View Post
Hi there.
My wife and I have decided that it is time to move to a more family friendly place to raise our 2 kids. We have lived in NY, MA, and currently live in MD (All very liberal places). We are pretty liberal ourselves, (I ask parents if they keep guns in the house if my daughter is going over for a sleepover). We are both decently educated and make a decent living, but are really tired of the winter weather (We are both originally from Africa so we love our sun). We spent last week traversing Florida looking at places we would love to live and Lakeland was such a small magnificent town, that we both immediately fell in love with. I took the kids to the Explorers children's museum and they loved it and my wife loved the Lakeland Regional Medical Center where she would potentially be working. We even enjoyed a drive around a couple of the lakes.

The question and concern though, is that we did not see too many black people there. In the 3 days we were there (We stayed at the Terrace Hotel), we maybe saw not more than 10 black people in total including the chefs at the hotel. But we saw a good number of Asians (Indians, Pakistanis) mostly. While we are not looking for Baltimore City or Detroit, we thought there would be a reasonable number. Or did we just not look in the right places?

Other than that, our other questions are:

1. What would be the best places to live in to raise two children? (5 YO Girl and 3 YO Boy)

2. What are the best elementary schools? (Public and Private)

3. Are there any services for a child with autism? (Private speech therapists, music therapists, etc other than those in the school system).

4. Are the private schools predominantly christian schools?

5. Since we are looking to rent in year 1 and buy after that, what would be the best way to get in touch with landlords? (Should we use a realtor?)

6. What would the commute like to University of South Florida?
Hi there,

For a school for a child with autism there is the Monarch School, it is in Bartow about 20-30 minutes from Lakeland, depends on where you live in Lakeland...The Monarch School: Home, Lakeland Christian School, is one of the better Christian schools in the area, it looks like they have an autism program, Lakeland Christian School | Private School | K4-12, Preschool, Elementary, Middle and High School.
As far as I know the private schools are christian, the Monarch School says it is non-denominational.
Try Polk County Public Schools Polk County, Florida, for the school board in Polk County. One of the better Elementary Schools in Lakeland is Highlands Grove Elementary school, but if you go to the web site, it will tell you the letter grade of the school, and more about it, there will be links to the schools web site.
You can go to Apartments for Rent - Rent.com® Apartment Finder, Apartments for Rent - Your Trusted Apartment Finder Tool at ApartmentGuide.com, to find apartments those web sites will tell you how to get in touch with the landlords. In south Lakeland, one of the better apartments would be The Village at Lake Highlands, there is Audubon Oaks in north Lakeland, which would be closer to the hospital. If you want to live in a better part of town, I would try the south side of Lakeland, in the zip codes of 33813 or 33811. Most realtors, are more about renting houses not apartments. If you think you would rather rent a house, you can go to Find Real Estate, Homes for Sale, Apartments & Houses for Rent - realtor.com® and look up rentals.
The commute to the University of South Florida would probably be about 45minutes or so, traffic tends to get backed up on interstate 4, especially during rush hour.
As for diversity you will be fine in Polk County. There are a lot of great lakes in Polk County. Hope I answered enough for you.
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Old 04-20-2015, 07:52 AM
 
229 posts, read 243,300 times
Reputation: 254
You are from Africa? Where in Africa?
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Old 04-20-2015, 10:35 PM
ERH
 
Location: Raleigh-Durham, NC
1,695 posts, read 2,507,184 times
Reputation: 3958
I grew up in Lakeland. I chose to raise my kids elsewhere -- Raleigh, NC area. You still have a touch of winter but nothing like Maryland, I'd bet.
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Old 04-21-2015, 07:32 AM
 
369 posts, read 840,023 times
Reputation: 197
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beezwacks View Post
You are from Africa? Where in Africa?

Are you guys on a work visa or do you have a green card?
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Old 04-21-2015, 09:18 AM
 
299 posts, read 374,209 times
Reputation: 346
I live in south Lakeland (the Highlands) in zip code 33813. I love it here. You would be very accepted. Valley View is a very good elementary school. I don't know about children with Autism, but from my experience the medical community has just about everything you need. If not Tampa is not far away. Depending on where you live travel to USF would be about 30 minutes, more with traffic as during rush hour I-4 can get bad.
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Old 04-24-2015, 10:41 AM
 
Location: Baltimore
18 posts, read 30,329 times
Reputation: 16
Default Resurrection Catholic School

Quote:
Originally Posted by KPB View Post
I moved to north Lakeland from Tampa almost a year ago and I like it a lot. I think the area you drove around which I'm just guessing was Lake Hollingsworth and Lake Morton which are both really nice, more expensive areas. After living here almost a year I think the black/white ratio is no different than Tampa. I also think your family would be welcomed here. I don't have kids but my sister has her 2nd grade daughter at Lakeland Christian. The drive to USF is mostly all interstate and would be around 30 min. I think Lakeland would be a nice place to raise kids.
Hi.
Thanks a lot. Indeed we drove around Lk. Hollingworth. About the schools, we have been looking mostly at the private schools because the public ones are ranked pretty low, but then there are no rankings for the private ones so we would be going blind. We have been looking at Resurrection Catholic School on Old Road but we don't know how good the area is. Would you have any information about this area?
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