Kirkwood (Jackson: low income, apartment complexes, violent crime)

[MWilson44]

Does anybody have info on kirkwood? Is it up and coming? What is the crime level? Anything would be helpful! Thanks!

[cqholt]

Mayor of Kirkwood here, the neighborhood is bursting with young families. The schools are rapidly improving, Jackson HS just got a brand new school. King MS combined with coan and is getting rebuilt. Toomer ES is great. Close knit community with booming downtown area that offers restaurants, bars, wine store, kids music school, ice cream shop, coffee shop, vegan shop, and pet store. Crime is petty, car break ins, but not higher than other in town neighborhoods. APD has increased patrols and we have seen a huge reduction in crime. Don't leave valuables in your car. Very active neighborhood organization, annual festival and wine stroll. Served by 2 MARTA stations and 2 bus routes. 5 parks and bike infrastructure.

[arjay57]

What the Mayor said. Kirkwood is mature already, and getting better all the time.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

What the Mayor said. Kirkwood is mature already, and getting better all the time.

Thanks arjay, and there is plenty of elbow room with the SFH. Couple of new construction housing developments being built. 2 apartment complexes proposed.

[arjay57]

I wouldn't mind living in Kirkwood at all, cq.

Do y'all need any more old geezers over there? We are great at going around and checking out people's lawns.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I wouldn't mind living in Kirkwood at all, cq.

Do y'all need any more old geezers over there? We are great at going around and checking out people's lawns.

We always need good neighbors.

[red92s]

Also a resident. Here is what I consider to be a more balanced take regarding some of the more undesirable aspects. I won't take the time to gush about the positives, because others will do that. Note that none of the below was enough to deter us from living there.

Schools:
Fantastic Drew charter school, that just expanded to add a a high school. Beautiful facilities. Extremely competitive lottery-based admissions. For pre-K this year, I don't think ANY (that's right, zero) applicants from Kirkwood made it in, as the system is now loaded with siblings of older kids (siblings are automatically admitted). So, a fantastic option, but you better be comfortable with the public alternative because it's a low-probability option.

Toomer has an active and enthusiastic group of parents and staff, and has made big strides in the last couple years. That's not hard to do when you start near the bottom, so it'll be interesting to see if it can reach that critical mass where it makes the jump to a justifiably "good" school. Personally, I think it will, but if you've got kids that need it now, especially older ones, that may not be satisfactory.

For public schools beyond elementary, it's very much in flux. APS just decided to close the neighborhood middle school (Coan) and combine it with some other student populations at King. Good news is it'll be a newly renovated facility. Bad news is the shiny new facility can't teach classes. Additional bad news is that it'll require kirkwood parents to cross some major roads and an interstate to get there. Additional good news is that you've got a similar population of people in Grant Park who really need that to become a viable public option. You've got lots and lots and lots of parents from multiple neighborhoods hoping this thing pans out, but I haven't talked to a single person who would feel comfortable sending their kids to the middle schools as they exist today.

Crime:
Depends on your tolerance band. Break-ins are fairly routine, and are of the smash/grab variety. And by that I mean, maybe once a every two weeks on the neighborhood facebook page you hear about it. Entering autos (especially unlocked ones) is borderline commonplace. Violent crime is near nill, although last summer there was a bad rash of people having a gun put in there face while walking in broad daylight for an iphone. There are two low income housing developments where most of the crime seems to originate from, and flee too. Distance from those should be at least considered when searching for housing.

[cqholt]

For public schools beyond elementary, it's very much in flux. APS just decided to close the neighborhood middle school (Coan) and combine it with some other student populations at King. Good news is it'll be a newly renovated facility. Bad news is the shiny new facility can't teach classes. Additional bad news is that it'll require kirkwood parents to cross some major roads and an interstate to get there. Additional good news is that you've got a similar population of people in Grant Park who really need that to become a viable public option. You've got lots and lots and lots of parents from multiple neighborhoods hoping this thing pans out, but I haven't talked to a single person who would feel comfortable sending their kids to the middle schools as they exist today.

By increasing the school population at one school it will allow the district to give the school what it deserves, a VP at every grade level, full time music dept., etc. I hated to see Coan close and fought during redistricting to keep it open, but we have to wait and see if APS comes thru. Coan also had the biggest improvement in CRCT scores of all APS middle schools.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by cqholt

By increasing the school population at one school it will allow the district to give the school what it deserves, a VP at every grade level, full time music dept., etc. I hated to see Coan close and fought during redistricting to keep it open, but we have to wait and see if APS comes thru. Coan also had the biggest improvement in CRCT scores of all APS middle schools.

At some point, APS has to realize that "pivoting" to a new strategy every couple years just creates uncertainty for the people in these district, depresses housing valves, and drives people to seek alternatives. We've been told neighborhood schools were a great thing and a priority for APS, just in time for them to abandon that strategy and preach the benefits of consolidation into a larger unit.

[PacinoWig]

Love it here. Hope we never have to move. Crime is not bad but you really have to be smart and exercise good judgment. Shame how many people live in intown neighborhoods and don't realize it. Up and coming is a fair description for the neighborhood, it is really exciting to follow all the new developments that seem to be coming up constantly now. With a little more density the business district is really going to take off, especially if we can get more mixed-use developments.

I'm not quite as optimistic about the schools. I think eventually there will be a critical mass of kids from middle and upper income households that will make the schools turn around (lots of kids in strollers in Kirkwood), but I don't really know what the timeframe is. APS is no help and has closed neighborhood schools in order to prevent residents of richer neighborhoods from suffering the most minor inconveniences. I think we'll get there someday, but in the meantime we're going to lose a lot of families who would have otherwise been great long-term residents of the community.