lYNCHBURG/ROANOKE (fiance)

[Mt.Hope]

Hahahaha. I knew those donkeys smelled good!!!!! I also had a feeling DD was employing juan valdez.

[scorlock]

Originally Posted by cocozot61

My family will be moving to Lynchburg in 3 weeks because I got a job at Tyco
Electronics. We are from a big city Montreal, Canada and have 2 kids at age 10 & 12. Here are my concerns in Lynchburg since it's a much smaller city:

1. Schools are good?
2. Are there lots of activities, places to visits & entertainments ?
3. Lynchburg is considered " small village?", isolated ?
4. Are there many high tech companies? When someone lose a job in Engineering field, is it easy to find another one or he/she has to look for jobs
at somewhere else like Richmond, DC...

Can someone give me some information about these questions?
Thank you.

1. Public school academic levels are lower than average to average, with a couple of exceptions. There are special placement programs for well above average children at all levels k-12. Lynchburg also has a city-wide music stringed instrument training program available to all students for free, grades k-12, and you can start at any grade in between. Students must provide there own instrument, which you can rent for $10-15/month. Private schools are also just ok, but discipline I've heard is a little higher and better.

2. Lynchburg has an outstanding youth/adult athletics culture, which includes all of the "regular" sports (basket-, foot-, base- ball, + soccer) plus a few oddities as well, ala' small skateboard park, lacrosse, tennis, track/running organizations, etc. Private clubs are also prevalent for golfers/tennis players as well as an Isaac Walton conservation club for outdoorsy people (camping, lake swimming, rifle, skeet/trap, etc.). Hiking and camping are available on the blue ridge mountains with very good access roads. Fine Arts culture is present and growing but won't be competitive with Montreal for sure. Performing Arts is also present and steady, not going up or down at the present. Oh, and it has a 10 screen dollar movie theater too, wahoo!

3. Lynchburg is somewhat isolated as there is no major highway leading to it. Also, southern Jerry Falwell baptists are everywhere and permeate the city culture and politics inside and out, which brings both pluses and minuses.

Generally speaking...
Pros: city has anti-bad-social behavior culture and provides outdoor drinking parties in a controlled downtown area on a weekly basis, for those who like to partay', so to speak. People are generally polite and friendly, but there is this strange culture of staring at other people they do in Lynchburg -not related to Falwell baptists. Growing tech sector is bringing in a good balance of middle-class workers and entrepreneurs. City green-space is present and growing including some very nice, but short, paved and smooth trails on old railroad beds.

Cons: middle-class flight from central and lower lynchburg are giving way to gangs and poverty. Violent crime is a problem in some areas for a city this small. Schools are not great, as mentioned before. Silly sales tax on all restaurants of 10%. Some racial tensions arise now and then between african-americans and anglos, asians, and hispanics, but generally things are ok.

4. High tech companies left in droves after the dot com bubble burst right after 2000. New, mostly smaller companies have come since then, and generally have replaced the total number of tech jobs, but not quite. But there are many other smaller engineering companies too now.

Lynchburg will feel about 10-years behind what you are used to in many senses, which is both good and bad. It depends on what you like. Things move slower in Lynchburg all the way around. Commuting is easy around the city with decent highway/major road access to most parts of the city.

Best wishes...

[sregorat3]

scorlock- Your stats on crime and education are a little off- or actually a good bit off. Lynchburg has one of the lowest crime rates of any decent or large metro area in the state. While there are some underachievers in the city schools system, it is pretty well known here that if you want your kids in public ed. and you want them to really have opportunities to excel, the city school system has more opportunities than any of the surrounding school systems. There are many private school opportunities in Lynchburg, with a varying degree of quality. There are several that can compete educationally with the best of any other locality. Holy Cross, VES, and New Covenant would be great examples.

Just wanted to debunk some bad press.

[scorlock]

Originally Posted by sregorat3

scorlock- Your stats on crime and education are a little off- or actually a good bit off... Lynchburg has one of the lowest crime rates......There are several that can compete educationally with the best of any other locality. Holy Cross, VES, and New Covenant would be great examples.

Just wanted to debunk some bad press.

Ok, no problem with your opinion here, I just wouldn't agree with your rosy assessment. The number of sex offenders is high per capita --> 454 to 1 on city-data. A good ratio would be 2000 to 1 or higher. Gang activity IS on the rise, you can check that with L-burg Police crime units. There is some effort to combat this by creating Historic Districts for preservation.

Also, I've spoken with 25+ parents about this school and that school, both public and private. You get the same mediocre education whether private or public, but the private schools don't put up with as much bad behavior from children. You can check the SOL scores that are posted publicly on the web and see that L-burg is very average at best (scores in the 70's), where a good school system would be in the 80's or low 90's.

Best wishes....

[Mr_Jonas]

Originally Posted by scorlock

Ok, no problem with your opinion here, I just wouldn't agree with your rosy assessment. The number of sex offenders is high per capita --> 454 to 1 on city-data. A good ratio would be 2000 to 1 or higher. Gang activity IS on the rise, you can check that with L-burg Police crime units. There is some effort to combat this by creating Historic Districts for preservation.

Also, I've spoken with 25+ parents about this school and that school, both public and private. You get the same mediocre education whether private or public, but the private schools don't put up with as much bad behavior from children. You can check the SOL scores that are posted publicly on the web and see that L-burg is very average at best (scores in the 70's), where a good school system would be in the 80's or low 90's.

Best wishes....

One might ad too that most private schools here are religion based and quite expencive for an area were the income for a household is $32,234.

[badger74]

A "good" school system usually just means fewer minority and more wealthy families. Most feel the college prep program at EC Glass is very very good.

VES is a very good non-religious prep school.

http://www.ves.org/about/index.html

[ConceivedinKY51]

Originally Posted by abandonship

This place is lethargic. Nothing happens here. No symphony, zoo, decent bars. Academy of the Arts is great, that's about it. Get your reservations early because it will sell out. Unless you consider "The Living Christmas Tree" arts and entertainment you will be stressed with boredom. You must go to Roanoke if you want to be around people that won't ask you what church you belong too. College kids rampage all up and down the main drag from Liberty University. Oh, they destroyed and mountain range here to put their initials on it. What a joke! "LU" Big woop! Abandonship!

According to the visitors guide to Lynchburg there IS a symphony there.

And would you PLEASE explain what you mean by kids "rampaging" all up and down the main drag from Liberty University? What do you mean by "rampage?"

[badger74]

Yes, there is. Also the local colleges including LU, have numerours musical and drama events for ALL tastes at little cost.

Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra

[matthews1965]

While in Roanoke consider walking around Grandin village - great restaurants and charm. Through our hockey team (years ago) we have a Canadian contingency that have remained here - happily. Best of luck to you!!!

[ConceivedinKY51]

Originally Posted by scorlock

1. Public school academic levels are lower than average to average, with a couple of exceptions. There are special placement programs for well above average children at all levels k-12. Lynchburg also has a city-wide music stringed instrument training program available to all students for free, grades k-12, and you can start at any grade in between. Students must provide there own instrument, which you can rent for $10-15/month. Private schools are also just ok, but discipline I've heard is a little higher and better.

2. Lynchburg has an outstanding youth/adult athletics culture, which includes all of the "regular" sports (basket-, foot-, base- ball, + soccer) plus a few oddities as well, ala' small skateboard park, lacrosse, tennis, track/running organizations, etc. Private clubs are also prevalent for golfers/tennis players as well as an Isaac Walton conservation club for outdoorsy people (camping, lake swimming, rifle, skeet/trap, etc.). Hiking and camping are available on the blue ridge mountains with very good access roads. Fine Arts culture is present and growing but won't be competitive with Montreal for sure. Performing Arts is also present and steady, not going up or down at the present. Oh, and it has a 10 screen dollar movie theater too, wahoo!

3. Lynchburg is somewhat isolated as there is no major highway leading to it. Also, southern Jerry Falwell baptists are everywhere and permeate the city culture and politics inside and out, which brings both pluses and minuses.

Generally speaking...
Pros: city has anti-bad-social behavior culture and provides outdoor drinking parties in a controlled downtown area on a weekly basis, for those who like to partay', so to speak. People are generally polite and friendly, but there is this strange culture of staring at other people they do in Lynchburg -not related to Falwell baptists. Growing tech sector is bringing in a good balance of middle-class workers and entrepreneurs. City green-space is present and growing including some very nice, but short, paved and smooth trails on old railroad beds.

Cons: middle-class flight from central and lower lynchburg are giving way to gangs and poverty. Violent crime is a problem in some areas for a city this small. Schools are not great, as mentioned before. Silly sales tax on all restaurants of 10%. Some racial tensions arise now and then between african-americans and anglos, asians, and hispanics, but generally things are ok.

4. High tech companies left in droves after the dot com bubble burst right after 2000. New, mostly smaller companies have come since then, and generally have replaced the total number of tech jobs, but not quite. But there are many other smaller engineering companies too now.

Lynchburg will feel about 10-years behind what you are used to in many senses, which is both good and bad. It depends on what you like. Things move slower in Lynchburg all the way around. Commuting is easy around the city with decent highway/major road access to most parts of the city.

Best wishes...

Could you please go into detail about the "staring at people?" Staring at people they don't know? Or staring at people in a judgmental "I don't like you; I think you're weird" (for whatever reason) sort of way? Is Lynchburg FRIENDLY? That's VERY important to me after spending six years in unfriendly, cold New England.