lesbian family planning a relocation

[sharencare]

Well, since this is posted in the Boston sub-section...

If you want to stay within Boston itself, and you're looking for affordability and you're willing to do the Boston school lottery, I would suggest the Roslindale neighborhood. There's a strong community of gay and lesbian families within Roslindale itself. Additionally, families like yours--who are eager to help and advocate--would be warmly embraced by the local public elementary schools and you would be seriously making a difference in the lives of children.

On my street in Roslindale, almost 80 percent of the houses have children from babies to teenagers. We also have a few retirees and young childless couples, but everyone is incredibly nice, open, and friendly to each other. The children probably all go to different schools (Boston public, fancy private, parochial, METCO), but they all seem to play with each other very nicely regardless of background (e.g. my street has mostly white and heterosexual households, but some families are immigrants, minorities, or lesbian/gay). My street is very much a lounge on your front porch kind of place, where I see families bring out their craft tables, decorate their houses for holidays, or just have chats with fellow neighbors. It's generally quiet, but it's also lovely to hear the sound of children's laughter on a spring day. You poke your head out the door, and it's seriously adorable watching the children play whiffle ball, jump rope down the street, draw chalk designs on the sidewalks, etc. Even in winter, it was cute watching them build snowmen and have have snowball fights with grown up neighbors. Anyway, it could be just my street, but we're absolutely delighted with our home and our neighbors.

Roslindale also has a couple of playgrounds (one is up for an upgrade), a walkable village center with good businesses, and is close to the Arnold Arboretum, which is probably one of the most gorgeous green spaces in Boston. There's a commuter rail stop in Roslindale Village, so the commute to downtown is maybe 18 minutes long? The winter though has been very rough on all public transportation infrastructure. So I ended up driving my spouse (who works near South Station) to the Orange Line subway a lot in February and March, which is a 10-minute car ride from our Roslindale home. The commuter rail is also crowded in the morning and you might not get a seat boarding at Roslindale Village, because it's is the last stop before it starts running parallel with the Orange Line subway.

The main caveat is that Boston Public Schools take a lot of work to figure out and is admittedly very stressful. It's not a guarantee you'll get placed into the school you want. Some parents do feel like they've won the lottery if they get a school they want and they end up saving a lot of money in taxes and tuition. They also gain a short commute to work in Boston and can afford a bigger home compared to nearby Brookline, Newton, or Needham. Other families who don't get the school they want, might feel the city has let them down and they end up leaving Boston for the suburbs.

[G-fused]

Wow, we sure are competing for the OP aren’t we!?

OP, I hear that in Brookline, homosexuals get tax breaks! I’ve been trying to convince my wife to help me cheat the system and claim that I’m gay but she won’t play ball.

Friggin’ women...you know what I’m talking about (nod).

Welcome to Boston!