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Well, perhaps I was taking things a bit personal, as your initial response sounded a bit dismissive:
"Personally I would just move to Cleveland and be done with it..." I'm sorry if I was too defensive.
Since you asked, here are some more specifics:
I didn't think that your response really responded to much of what she asked about aside from the "real winter" issue.
Can one easily find a neighborhood in Cleveland where you can easily walk to grocery store, library, etc.? Can one rely on public transit in Cleveland and forgo buying the second car? I don't know the answer, but my impression is that Akron probably better meets those needs than Cleveland.
On the subject of real winter and snow, Akron gets plenty of snow, but Cleveland experiences the lake effect that Akron does not. My adventures in Cleveland during the winter suggest that Akron is better able to keep up with street clearing than Cleveland.
She mentioned avoiding getting on a highway, which to me suggests she would prefer to avoid sitting in traffic. Having lived in Chicago with a job that took me to various suburbs, I developed a deep hatred of sitting in traffic. EVERY time I go to Cleveland, I spend more time in transit than seems appropriate (either sitting in traffic or at a host of traffic signals). EVERY time. So, I guess I consider it a pretty important component of life quality.
I love going to Cleveland for a show or to visit a museum. Cleveland definitely has the leg up on those types of cultural experiences. For me, I don't mind driving a bit to do those special occasion type things. But I like that the things I need to do on a regular basis are all close to me without much hassle and that I live in an artsy, diverse urban setting with reasonable cost of living/housing without a lot of the drawbacks of most urban environments.
I see. Ohio has a long way to go on transportation. But so do a lot of places. Akron being a smaller, compact city is something to take into consideration.
As you said Cleveland is a possibility, and as you want snowy winters, look at Geauga or Lake Counties. Both receive considerably more snow, especially northern Geauga County, than other places in the Cleveland/Akron MSA. See figure 7 here:
For snowfall, northern Portage and Summit counties also may be options if you want to stay nearer Akron.
Residents of Lake County and northern Geauga County also have easy access to Lake Erie, a great recreational resource.
Both Lake and Geauga counties are part of the Greater Cleveland metro area. With both Route 2 and I-90, Lake County especially provides easy acess to Cleveland attractions and both counties have great park systems and a couple state parks (Punderson is Ohio's winter recreation state park). Greater Cleveland has a couple small, downhill ski/tubing slopes, and many miles of groomed cross country ski trails.
The Painesville/Fairport Harbor area offers many housing bargains, especially if you don't care about schools. Teaching positions pay well in Lake and Geauga counties, if you can get a job. A $120,000 cap on housing prices may limit your options elsewhere in northeast Ohio.
Perhaps visit Cleveland for a weekend to check it out. Downtown hotels often offer shockingly low weekend rates outside of summer and NFL weekends, especially in February as you're interest in snow. Cleveland has a highly rated hostel in Ohio City's market district.
As explained in the immediately preceding link, if you enjoy libraries, moving to a community with a library that is a member of the Clevnet system offers great advantages.
Perhaps also check out Fairport Harbor if you want an extremely walkable community.
We were actually in Akron a week ago. While I enjoy the cultural offerings of Cleveland and would visit frequently, all signs seem to be pointing to Highland Square. Cleveland was pricier than I imagined and I find that it's just big enough that their transportation or lack thereof will be felt more by me. Highland Square actually had more than I imagined. A full grocery and community meet-up space, a library, a barcade (!!!), one screen movie theater, Mediterranean, Italian and and Chinese...some of my favorite staples and some low key bars. We may be visiting again for the PorchRocker festival.
We've found many houses in our price range that are older with character. We also became more concerned about securing a good job for my husband. He's a special ed teacher and there's always openings. But Cleveland was all charter schools or just very very iffy areas. The Akron school system has made a huge investment in updating their schools and had openings in many surrounding districts.
Besides my family, I've also got a lot of acquaintances in the area willing to lend their help and opinions and we would go in knowing some people. Cleveland would be a total blank slate. Highland Square just felt really good to us. We originally met in college at Oberlin so anyone that knows downtown Oberlin knows the kind of walkability I mean but without being quite so isolated in Lorain County!
Great! I am glad to hear it! Porchrokr is always lots of fun!
I just finished submitting a collaborative grant with Akron Public Schools, so feel free to message me and I can try to get his resume into the right hands.
Kent might be another option for you. The downtown isn't bad, and some of the streets feel rural even though they are close to a lot. You wouldn't really be able to walk to an ordinary grocery store (as opposed to a overpriced hipster place), but Marc's really isn't that far away. Further south, I like Massillon, OH-it's fairly compact and seems a pretty friendly place. I've also heard good things about Alliance, but I've never been there.
I have been in northeast Ohio for my whole 67 years. I lived in Cleveland until 1999 when I moved to Akron to (ugh) get married. After that divorce (3rd one) I stayed in Akron. Unless you have a CCW, a pistol, and are not shy about the accepting that there's a chance you may have to use it, I would avoid this area.
I live in the North Hill area, just west of the line into Tallmadge. I hear gunshots from my house 5 nights a week. And I am in the BETTER part of North Hill. 2 miles west of me it is like downtown Beirut. Highland Square is the hipster area, but people get mugged, robbed and beaten there a lot. Highland Square itself may be trendy and hipster, but if you wander 17 feet west or east of it you are in danger.
This city seems to think that you can put a nice paint job on a car with a cracked frame and it makes it a good car. What is wrong here won't be fixed by adding bike lanes to the streets or painting murals on buildings. They have money for everything here but what they need, which is more police. I listen to the police scanner all day and it's awful. All day long they are answering calls for burglary, armed robbery, shots fired, fight with weapons....
In Cleveland we always used to say that Akron was the little city that wanted to be Cleveland when it grew up, Well, they have reached that goal here, but more because of the decline of Cleveland than the rise of Akron. Every time Cleveland does any kind of improvement to an area, it lasts about a year until the ghetto invades it. Tremont was the trendy area for a while. Ohio city in general was. Now you don't dare go there. Some thug will carjack you in broad daylight and will likely kill you so there are no witnesses. They arrested one 2 days ago who shot somebody to steak his car, phone and wallet. The Flats were ruined by that element as well. Akron is going down that same path. The upside is that it is STILL better than Cincinnati. As long as the street trash that is out there robbing people and slinging drugs continue to get probation instead of jail time because the jails are full, they will keep committing crimes. I mean, they broke the law to get arrested. Why should anybody think they will respect the terms of their probation?
People say "Akron has everything you could want. It's just that they have ONE of everything." Downtown is a zoo, and animals live in zoos. Fights down there every night at bar closing time. Rolling Acres Mall just gave up and turned it over to the thugs. When they finally sold it they found a couple of hand fulls of people who had broken in and were living there.
You can buy my house next year when I move into my RV to roam the country. Your neighbors will be a bunch of old Italians and Nepalese refugees that they brought here and gave a bunch of money, houses, cars... all while veterans are living in tent city. They don't bother anybody, but they look just like the Vietnamese who were shooting at me 45 years ago and it is a bit unsettling to love among them. But this liberal mayor keeps giving the working people's money away to the not working, so.... They came here and refuse to learn our language or attempt to become Americans, so we have Akron, and little Nepal. They are their own little community with no intention of joining us.
Kent might be another option for you. The downtown isn't bad, and some of the streets feel rural even though they are close to a lot. You wouldn't really be able to walk to an ordinary grocery store (as opposed to a overpriced hipster place), but Marc's really isn't that far away. Further south, I like Massillon, OH-it's fairly compact and seems a pretty friendly place. I've also heard good things about Alliance, but I've never been there.
I do like Kent but we, after quite a while, done with our secondary education and want a bit more stability in the neighborhood than students as we would probably live close to downtown style areas. The thing is, those hipster groceries fit our lifestyle easier. We are only two people. Food often goes to waste when we do the BIG shopping trip every week or so especially once the school year starts and my husband has pop-up after school late nights. So smaller groceries cost more but we may very possibly save money overall by buying reasonable portions. I lived abroad shortly in some places in Europe and much preferred the 5 minute daily shopping trip for one or two nights dinners. Also, we aren't really hipsters. We are definitely not hippies. But we hang out with a lot of both and are unabashedly liberal.
I have been in northeast Ohio for my whole 67 years. I lived in Cleveland until 1999 when I moved to Akron to (ugh) get married. After that divorce (3rd one) I stayed in Akron. Unless you have a CCW, a pistol, and are not shy about the accepting that there's a chance you may have to use it, I would avoid this area.
I live in the North Hill area, just west of the line into Tallmadge. I hear gunshots from my house 5 nights a week. And I am in the BETTER part of North Hill. 2 miles west of me it is like downtown Beirut. Highland Square is the hipster area, but people get mugged, robbed and beaten there a lot. Highland Square itself may be trendy and hipster, but if you wander 17 feet west or east of it you are in danger.
This city seems to think that you can put a nice paint job on a car with a cracked frame and it makes it a good car. What is wrong here won't be fixed by adding bike lanes to the streets or painting murals on buildings. They have money for everything here but what they need, which is more police. I listen to the police scanner all day and it's awful. All day long they are answering calls for burglary, armed robbery, shots fired, fight with weapons....
In Cleveland we always used to say that Akron was the little city that wanted to be Cleveland when it grew up, Well, they have reached that goal here, but more because of the decline of Cleveland than the rise of Akron. Every time Cleveland does any kind of improvement to an area, it lasts about a year until the ghetto invades it. Tremont was the trendy area for a while. Ohio city in general was. Now you don't dare go there. Some thug will carjack you in broad daylight and will likely kill you so there are no witnesses. They arrested one 2 days ago who shot somebody to steak his car, phone and wallet. The Flats were ruined by that element as well. Akron is going down that same path. The upside is that it is STILL better than Cincinnati. As long as the street trash that is out there robbing people and slinging drugs continue to get probation instead of jail time because the jails are full, they will keep committing crimes. I mean, they broke the law to get arrested. Why should anybody think they will respect the terms of their probation?
People say "Akron has everything you could want. It's just that they have ONE of everything." Downtown is a zoo, and animals live in zoos. Fights down there every night at bar closing time. Rolling Acres Mall just gave up and turned it over to the thugs. When they finally sold it they found a couple of hand fulls of people who had broken in and were living there.
You can buy my house next year when I move into my RV to roam the country. Your neighbors will be a bunch of old Italians and Nepalese refugees that they brought here and gave a bunch of money, houses, cars... all while veterans are living in tent city. They don't bother anybody, but they look just like the Vietnamese who were shooting at me 45 years ago and it is a bit unsettling to love among them. But this liberal mayor keeps giving the working people's money away to the not working, so.... They came here and refuse to learn our language or attempt to become Americans, so we have Akron, and little Nepal. They are their own little community with no intention of joining us.
I know that I already replied to your private message. But well, street trash and idiots that fight at bars at closing time is just....life in any urban area?
I totally agree that Veterans are not treated right in this country. And I am shocked that our government refuses to put more money into getting veterans off the streets and to also treat many of the underlying causes of homelessness which can also be mental issues often stemming from their original enlistment. The underfunding of VA hospitals is sickening.
That being said, I feel like defending our rights as Americans is also about defending the rights for people to become Americans. The Nepali population are refugees from a climate where their right to even exist is in jeopardy. This is a tough situation as they did not WANT to become Americans. Perhaps, they even wanted to go to another country but these immigrants get divided up amongst many countries. My husband works with some Nepali kids now. They mainly feel isolated as they try to catch up in English as a Second Language courses. Kids often go from model students in Nepal to failing a subject they know and love because they are thrown in the mix while still learning the language. They DO learn fast. But they also struggle because their passions are often very different until they feel confident enough to speak to American classmates and share ideas. Most of these families are too poor for an XBox so while every American kid is currently sitting in front of a screen playing Fortnite, the latest craze, they all just really want to play soccer.
While I am sorry that your state of mind might cause you to feel wary of people with East Asian features, I must say, in the most respectful way, that this is your problem. Not theirs. That is simply the skin they were born in. Also, Nepalese food is quite delicious the few times I had it and I can't wait to explore the eateries. I wouldn't mind living in that neighborhood if it was just slightly more walkable to amenities. We would love to work there.
I have been in northeast Ohio for my whole 67 years. I lived in Cleveland until 1999 when I moved to Akron to (ugh) get married. After that divorce (3rd one) I stayed in Akron. Unless you have a CCW, a pistol, and are not shy about the accepting that there's a chance you may have to use it, I would avoid this area.
I live in the North Hill area, just west of the line into Tallmadge. I hear gunshots from my house 5 nights a week. And I am in the BETTER part of North Hill. 2 miles west of me it is like downtown Beirut. Highland Square is the hipster area, but people get mugged, robbed and beaten there a lot. Highland Square itself may be trendy and hipster, but if you wander 17 feet west or east of it you are in danger.
This city seems to think that you can put a nice paint job on a car with a cracked frame and it makes it a good car. What is wrong here won't be fixed by adding bike lanes to the streets or painting murals on buildings. They have money for everything here but what they need, which is more police. I listen to the police scanner all day and it's awful. All day long they are answering calls for burglary, armed robbery, shots fired, fight with weapons....
In Cleveland we always used to say that Akron was the little city that wanted to be Cleveland when it grew up, Well, they have reached that goal here, but more because of the decline of Cleveland than the rise of Akron. Every time Cleveland does any kind of improvement to an area, it lasts about a year until the ghetto invades it. Tremont was the trendy area for a while. Ohio city in general was. Now you don't dare go there. Some thug will carjack you in broad daylight and will likely kill you so there are no witnesses. They arrested one 2 days ago who shot somebody to steak his car, phone and wallet. The Flats were ruined by that element as well. Akron is going down that same path. The upside is that it is STILL better than Cincinnati. As long as the street trash that is out there robbing people and slinging drugs continue to get probation instead of jail time because the jails are full, they will keep committing crimes. I mean, they broke the law to get arrested. Why should anybody think they will respect the terms of their probation?
People say "Akron has everything you could want. It's just that they have ONE of everything." Downtown is a zoo, and animals live in zoos. Fights down there every night at bar closing time. Rolling Acres Mall just gave up and turned it over to the thugs. When they finally sold it they found a couple of hand fulls of people who had broken in and were living there.
You can buy my house next year when I move into my RV to roam the country. Your neighbors will be a bunch of old Italians and Nepalese refugees that they brought here and gave a bunch of money, houses, cars... all while veterans are living in tent city. They don't bother anybody, but they look just like the Vietnamese who were shooting at me 45 years ago and it is a bit unsettling to love among them. But this liberal mayor keeps giving the working people's money away to the not working, so.... They came here and refuse to learn our language or attempt to become Americans, so we have Akron, and little Nepal. They are their own little community with no intention of joining us.
Your perception of Cleveland and the neighborhoods you mentioned are not accurate. Tremont, the Flats,parts of Ohio city, downtown and other neighborhoods are becoming safer and are considered low crime areas. Yes a few neighborhoods on the west side and large swaths of our east side are very violent. But University Circle area, uptown, Little Italy and other neighborhoods are definitely growing and becoming safer. Cleveland and it's metro are still the place to be if you want to live in Ohio.
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