Transferring--is Brookside safe for little kids? (Tulsa, Broken Arrow: house, neighborhoods, best schools)

[swake]

The smell thing is being way, way overblown. I lived for years in Brookside and you might get a smell from the refineries once every few months. You get no smell what so ever in Cherry Street or any part of midtown away from the river.

Sapulpa has some charm but it's a mostly a working class/poor town. The downtown has some great old buildings but much of the town is filled with run down strip malls and industrial sites. Worse, the schools are not good. I would not live in Sapulpa with kids. I live in Jenks and like it a lot and the schools are about the best in the state. They are huge, there is no doubt about that, but outside of magnet schools there are the best you will find.

[tuffpirate]

Well...it all keeps circling back to Jenks, I guess. My husband's boss also recommended it. It does have high ratings for schools and low crime, and it seems affordable--I might just have to suck it up and cope with the somewhat less character for the sake of the kiddos.

Would people in Jenks be welcoming toward outsiders? In some communities here in Utah, children aren't allowed to play with anyone whose family isn't Mormon or Christian. Granted, that's the rare exception not the rule, but I want to make sure because some posts have called Jenks snobby.

[nevergoingback]

Originally Posted by tuffpirate

Well...it all keeps circling back to Jenks, I guess. My husband's boss also recommended it. It does have high ratings for schools and low crime, and it seems affordable--I might just have to suck it up and cope with the somewhat less character for the sake of the kiddos.

Would people in Jenks be welcoming toward outsiders? In some communities here in Utah, children aren't allowed to play with anyone whose family isn't Mormon or Christian. Granted, that's the rare exception not the rule, but I want to make sure because some posts have called Jenks snobby.

Be sure to check out the Jenks Public School District boundaries. When people recommend Jenks, it's been my experience that they are mostly just recommending the school district. Tulsa proper has some very nice, affordable, safe, kid friendly neighborhoods within Jenks Public School District.

[okie1962]

Originally Posted by Bill236c

Brookside, Cherry Street and midtown Tulsa in general is often fouled by the smell of the refinery which can't be very healthy. Also, many neighborhoods lack sidewalks.

I have lived near the corner of 13th and Columbia for 22 years and very,very rarely do I smell the refineries. The wind would have to be blowing straight out of the west to smell it. And the wind rarely blows straight out of the west. And I have NEVER smelled the sewer plant which is a lot closer to Jenks than it is to my house in midtown. And my neighborhood is all sidewalks.

[swake]

Originally Posted by tuffpirate

Well...it all keeps circling back to Jenks, I guess. My husband's boss also recommended it. It does have high ratings for schools and low crime, and it seems affordable--I might just have to suck it up and cope with the somewhat less character for the sake of the kiddos.

Would people in Jenks be welcoming toward outsiders? In some communities here in Utah, children aren't allowed to play with anyone whose family isn't Mormon or Christian. Granted, that's the rare exception not the rule, but I want to make sure because some posts have called Jenks snobby.

Jenks is fine accepting people. I'm Unitarian for instance. The part of JPS in the city of Tulsa is actually MORE conservative than the city of Jenks.

[nevergoingback]

Originally Posted by swake

The smell thing is being way, way overblown. I lived for years in Brookside and you might get a smell from the refineries once every few months. You get no smell what so ever in Cherry Street or any part of midtown away from the river.

Sapulpa has some charm but it's a mostly a working class/poor town. The downtown has some great old buildings but much of the town is filled with run down strip malls and industrial sites. Worse, the schools are not good. I would not live in Sapulpa with kids. I live in Jenks and like it a lot and the schools are about the best in the state. They are huge, there is no doubt about that, but outside of magnet schools there are the best you will find.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by okie1962

I have lived near the corner of 13th and Columbia for 22 years and very,very rarely do I smell the refineries. The wind would have to be blowing straight out of the west to smell it. And the wind rarely blows straight out of the west. And I have NEVER smelled the sewer plant which is a lot closer to Jenks than it is to my house in midtown. And my neighborhood is all sidewalks.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by swake

Jenks is fine accepting people. I'm Unitarian for instance. The part of JPS in the city of Tulsa is actually MORE conservative than the city of Jenks.

LOL. You're right about that. JPS is not where we chose to live. If I had a choice of South Tulsa and Jenks I think I'd take Jenks. Not that big on either though. I prefer BA, Bixby and Owasso over both. We chose Bixby (schools) and love our location.

[tuffpirate]

This is really helpful, thanks...middle school mustache, what made you decide on Bixby?

[nevergoingback]

Originally Posted by tuffpirate

This is really helpful, thanks...middle school mustache, what made you decide on Bixby?

Coming from Ca, it was the open space, small school district and of course bang for the buck. One acre lots in established neighborhoods for great value. North Bixby for raising a family and quality of life is as good as it gets IMO.

I would check out the neighborhood at East 111th St. S (North border), East 121st St. S (South border), S Mingo Rd (East border) and S Memorial Dr. (West border). That is where I would personally direct you to and then go West/South/Slightly North from there. Not a whole lot goes up for sale in that neighborhood, but when it does and if it's quality, it goes fast. Homes in that area range from $85,000 to $350,000, all within one square mile. It's a little stepford I guess (for sure). I chose to live more rural, but that's just me.

I would also think about either renting a house first to determine what/where you like or buying an inexpensive property with the thought of turning it into a rental property upon deciding your final location. My personal experience is that the rental market is very strong in this area. It seems hard to go wrong.

Just one man's opinion.

[tuffpirate]

Thanks! I will check out that area--I like the idea of the small school district. I'm ok with a little rural unless it's creepy rural...(I don't really know what I mean by creepy rural...banjos? guns? children of the corn? people speaking in tongues? I don't know...)

Adding bixby to short list...

[teakboat]

I live in Midtown (Terwilliger Heights) and I can assure you, any smell from the industrial areas to the west across the river is a non-issue. Almost never occurs, and even then is faint.

As to no sidewalks, or smog, not an issue. We have sidewalks and walkable streets all over the area. Giant old trees, a real urban forest. I think a better lifestyle than the homogenized new construction in the burbs. But, to each his own