How bad is Tyler's "gang problem"? How is Tyler for raising a family in general? (Houston: rentals, home) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

myanna · 07-12-2010, 07:48 PM

My husband and I are considering moving to Tyler, TX with our four kids. We were considering a smaller town, but, honestly, I don't like the idea of having to drive more than 30-40 minutes to see a movie or go to a mall (I know, pathetic) and I want to live in a town with an airport because my parents plan to visit often and would not appreciate having a long car ride immediately following a long flight. My husband works with a company that has a facility in Tyler, so we are not particularly worried about how scarce jobs are or are not.

The main reason my husband gave for not wanting to live directly in Tyler was a "gang problem", but another woman from Tyler (lived there as recently as four years ago) says that the "gang" problem was never as bad as the media made it out to be, and offered that at least part of it was a temporary "growing pain" that occurred when Tyler suddenly expanded and a number of refugees from Katrina came (NOLA kids looking for racism and finding it; older Tyler residents looking for the new kids to be trouble). Can any current Tyler residents, particularly parents, shed some light on this?

Also, how are the public schools? Is there a good Catholic school or non-religious private school?

Finally, my husband and I are white; two of our kids are racially different from us. We've never had issue with it in San Antonio or El Paso, but I've heard E. Texas is a bit left-behind in race relations. Can someone tell me if this is a problem, or if it's just part of the small-town-Texas-is-full-of-racist-hicks stereotype?

BobTex · 07-12-2010, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myanna

Can someone tell me if this is a problem, or if it's just part of the small-town-Texas-is-full-of-racist-hicks stereotype?

Are you serious?

If you want to live in Tyler or one of the outlying towns then do it ... it is not Texas-like to be timid!

BTW ... I'm from small-town-Texas and I'm a racist hick!

myanna · 07-12-2010, 10:01 PM

I don't care about being Texas-like, as much as I love Texas; I care about whether my kids are likely to be harassed or feel out of place.

Seriously, why would you tell someone "if you want to move there, just do it?" I don't know for sure if I want to move there until I find out more about it; isn't that the point of asking?

BobTex · 07-12-2010, 11:24 PM

I told you that because I think over protective parents do their kids a disservice by coddling their "feelings" instead of building within them coping strategies.

Kids are likely to be harassed at times through life and my job as a parent is not to keep that from happening but to teach them to deal with it. I don't want to have weak kids ... I want them to be able to take on the world if need be! Handling and overcoming adversity builds character. Kids are much more resilient than most adults.

Is this a lateral move for the husband or a promotion? If it means a step up then that should be a first consideration IMO. But, if he's using the gang issue as a reason to not come to Tyler maybe he doesn't want to live there. I don't see safety as an issue concerning your kids. Tyler is safer than San Antonio or El Paso when it comes to gang activity. There is no way I'd live in either San Antonio or El Paso but I would live in Tyler.

I applied at one of the hospitals(ETMC) 3 years ago and investigated the area pretty well and could find no drawbacks other than lower payscale than I was willing to accept. Tyler itself was a nice town IMO. I liked the southside.

Can't speak to the school situation but we had our kids in a small private school at the time and was prepared to continue that if the public schools were not up to par or even home school if need be.

Have you done the "search" thing on "Tyler"? Many threads on these boards about that subject with a plethora of good info.

small-town-East Texas racist hick ... Bob

myanna · 07-13-2010, 12:16 AM

No, I understand that El Paso and San Antonio have gang problems, but it was my impression that because Tyler is smaller geographically and population-wise, the gangs in Tyler are harder to avoid; I'd still like to know if that's true or not. I had no problem avoiding gangs growing up in El Paso; they pretty much stayed in their areas, their schools, and I stayed out except to either go to the courthouse or to the bridge to go party in Juarez (which used to actually be something besides a suicide mission). And anyway, we left El Paso hoping to find better things for our kids. San Antonio's the same way, the gangs are fairly easy to avoid in a city of 600,000. I have no idea how it works in a town with only two high schools and 100,000 people; it would seem that the gangs (if there are any to speak of) would be in the same areas as everyone else.

It is a lateral move, more or less. My husband is a truck driver, and his company used to be able to get him through San Antonio (which I love) but they lost some contracts in this neck of the woods and it's lately been six or eight weeks a time that he's on the road...he gets through Houston and Tyler plenty, but to come home from either of those places, he'd have to spend his own money on fuel and he's dead tired when he gets here. The company promised he could get home more often if "home" changed to somewhere else. So, we've got some options, and we're weighing them. So far we've argued over Nacogdoches and a few Houston suburbs...if Tyler is a good place to live, it'd be great because there is a terminal right there in Tyler, and the shop he prefers is there, too.

Re: "feelings", I'm sorry, but avoiding places where my kids will be harassed because of their race or the fact that our family is mixed race is not the same as coddling. Of course they have coping skills, but why if I have options (we're considering Houston and its suburbs as well) would I pick a place that forces my kids to bust out those coping skills every day for something that's not in their control? Their coping skills got plenty of exercise in foster care already...maybe the transracial adoption people made us a bit sensitive, but I don't think it's unreasonable to ask what attitudes on race prevail in an area. I heard lots of stereotypes about how racist Texas is in general when I lived in CA, which I knew of course weren't true, so I'm expecting that the east-Texans-are-racist thing I've heard in El Paso/San Antonio is just as false, but I'd like to know for sure beforehand.

But, yeah, I'm glad you were pleased with your kids' private school. Were there quite a few private schools to choose from? I've gotten the impression that most of the private schools are Baptist or evangelical and I'm hoping to find one that is either non-affiliated or Catholic, just because I don't want the kids to learn one theology at school and a vastly different one at church and CCD. Any suggestions, from anyone out there, would be appreciated.

Yeah, I tried the search, but I got a lot of really old threads and got frustrated with it....I'm a little spoiled...

Metro Matt · 07-13-2010, 12:46 AM

Lived in the City of Tyler for over 30 years & have never had a run in with a gang. I went to REL HS. Most of the Tyler gangs are Hispanic & keep to their turf which is on the East sides & North sides.

If you don't dress & look like one there's no need to worry. Most of the gang bangers in East Texas are posers anyways. They wouldn't last a day in East LA.

myanna · 07-13-2010, 10:33 AM

Okay, thanks, Metro Matt...I wonder, then, if John Tyler is the high school to avoid, or if both have their wannabes?

DFWMike · 07-13-2010, 12:06 PM

I would avoid John Tyler, Tyler Lee is a pretty good school. Tyler can be backward but I doubt you would ever encounter it face to face. It is better there than most other places in East Texas but the stereotype is real, I grew up near Nacogdoches, I can attest to it. Tyler has a somewhat large hispanic population I would imagine your kids wouldn't experience alot of abuse but I can't guarantee that.

But there are more than two high schools, they're just not in Tyler ISD, there are 7 or 8 in the general area, plus TK Gorman is a fine catholic high school in S. Tyler off of the loop. I would say if your husband spends alot of time working in the area Tyler would be a safe bet.

I've walked around shopping/dining areas in S. Tyler many times at night and have never seen obvious signs of gang activity so yes it can be avoided. There are signs in the N. of SH 31/front st. Pockets elsewhere, but none s of the loop save for the occassional bad apt. complex.

myanna · 07-13-2010, 02:03 PM

Thanks, DFWMike...I'm about to start looking online at rentals in Tyler, if anyone can help me out with the zip codes or names of neighborhoods/subdivisions I should be looking for to avoid the gang areas, that would be great.

DFWMike · 07-13-2010, 02:09 PM

I would start in 75701and 75757, thats S. Tyler and Bullard. I imagine your preference would be 75701for that is where TK Gorman is located and there are lots of nice neighborhoods in that zip code.

If I were you I would generally try to stay east of Old Jacksonville Highway and Broadway further up for schools sake in 75701. I would stay south of 5th street as well, thats just general parameters, but a good rule of thumb.

Somebody local would have to give you more info on specific subdivisions, I grew up in the area and still have some friends there as well as doing some recent demographics work in Tyler so I'm familiar with it, but not intimately. The only one that quickly comes to mind is Hollytree and that is relatively high end.