Jamaica Plains With Kids: Is it do-able or advisable? (Boston: apartments, condo)

[LogansRun]

I've just moved to Providence RI from the UK. My wife and I are now looking around trying to think about where we might want to buy a house (we presently rent). Providence is fine but we think we would like to be closer to Boston for its vibrancy. We also have a young family and think Mass might have more to offer our boys in the long run.

We are are driving around Mass a little clueless at the moment checking things out but were quite taken by Jamaica Plains. It seemed to be a funky little neighbourhood that has all the things that we are after (i) liberal/cosmo, (ii) little bit of a urban feel (iii) walkable with some nice parks (iv) great access to Boston and (v) on the right (ie: South) side of the city to entertain a commute to Providence. Are we reading this right?Just wondering if anyone might be able to help us about the following questions

(1) Does anyone have any idea of the commute from JP to Providence -weekdays. I have done it Sunday and it's less than an hour.
(2) Any thoughts on whether JP with young kids is do-able/advisable???? Safety is obviously a concern but also we really need to get a sense of the public school system. We understand Brookline's Public Schools are excellent but it's probably out of our league (price wise). Can't seem to find any info on JP schools?
(3) Anyone got any sense of what you could get for $400,000 max in JP?

One final question, can anyone give us tips on places that also might be worth checking out? ie: parts of Boston and the surrounding that are commutable to Providence but not too suburban/ex-urban, got walkable neighbourhoods but also got public schools that you could send your kiddies to?

thanks,
Logan

[HowGoesIt]

Commute from JP to Providence would be about an hour to an hour and half depending on traffic. If you work off hours (say 6:30 - 3:30), then you might be able to make it in an hour flat. Otherwise, traffic can be a major pain. In a snow storm, it could take you all day (literally). It took me 6 hours to get from Quincy to Brighton during the one big snow storm last year.

JP can be very block-by-block. As I remember (it could of changed since I've been away), the area around Jackson Sq is EXTREMELY rough, a lot of housing projects, crime, shootings. Anything around the Green St T-stop and Centre St. is fine. JP is part of Boston, so they would be in the BPS school system. I would heavily recommend sending them to one of the numerous private schools in the area.

I think you should be able to get a nice 2/2 condo in JP for 400k. I'm sure a single family home would run upwards around 600k.

If you are thinking about living in Jamaica Plain and commuting to Providence, I would also look into Brookline. It's very close to JP and downtown, but it has very good public schools. But it's also a little more expensive than JP.

[RemiJP]

2) I lived in JP for the past two years and there were many families with school-age kids. All of the kids I know go to the Young Achievers School in JP, which is a city-wide pilot school focusing on math and science. It seems like a fantastic school, low student:teacher ratio, excellent statewide testing scores. However, I think it's tough to get into, because families who wish to have their kids attend a pilot school have to enter a lottery system for spots!
3) I believe $400,000 could get you a newly remodeled 2-3bd condo in a nice spot in the neighborhood. Despite having many, many lovely Victorian homes, single family homes are very hard to come by. Most of the large houses are broken up into apartments/condo. That said, I would much rather give up square feet and guest bedrooms in exchange for living in an urban neighborhood as wonderful as JP.

[clevedark]

You could get a 2 bedroom condo for under 400 in my neighborhood of Brookline, Brookline Village. God, the market's so bad you might do better than that. Plus we're right next to JP, so you can walk around Jamaica Pond, etc. I had a great realtor who helped me buy my house.

Jamaica Plain is lovely, and I know a lot of people who live there--but not with kids in school. If you can swing it, most people would like to do a bit better by their kids than Boston Public Schools.

[maggiekate]

Check up by the Monument area, which is near Centre Street, I also would check Chesnut Hill
and maybe Brookline. With the housing market down you just might it a jackpot.

[goyguy]

...and don't overlook Roslindale, "the new JP" where housing prices are still lower. The nicest areas are around the Arboretum, and along South St and Belgrade Ave. But other than in the immediate vicinity of the Washington-Beech and Archdale public housing "developments" it's all good.

Yet to be mentioned is the fact that one can have a car-less commute to Providence by parking at the Route 128 Amtrak station and taking the train. Both MBCR (the contractor for the "T") and Amtrak offer service to the capitol of RI; the Amtrak trains go non-stop but are a bit more expensive. Even the "regular" commuter rail can get you there inside of an hour. Leave traffic jams, road construction, and slow going in tough weather conditions to those who "have" to drive.

[cohdane]

We just moved out-of-state from JP with our four-year-old in January.

I HIGHLY recommend JP and especially the Woodbourne area for people with kids. Woodbourne is adjacent to the Forest Hills Cemetery (see link below-- on the national historic register, with concerts, picnics, art exhibits, kid activities, etc). It's also a .5 mile walk to the Forest Hills T Stop, walkable to the Arnold Aboretum for trees and sledding, a 2 minute drive to Franklin Park with its zoo and golf course, 2 minutes to the Boston Audobon Society Nature Center for Nature Walks, 5 minute drive to JP Pond for boating and 10 minute drive to the Blue Hills area for skiing in winter and a sandy beach on a small kid-friendly lake in summer.

On top of that, Woodbourne has lots of families, a nice demographic mix and feels less "urban" than JP center. Plenty of parking, a little set back from the action, and a neighborhood association gives it a community feel.

Schools. It depends. They are urban public schools so resources are limited. Boston is on a zoned lottery system. JP is in the "west zone," so you go to school open houses, pick 3-4 that you like the feel of and list them in order of preference for the lottery. If you live in the "walk zone" of a school, you get weighted preference, but there's still no guarantee. The good news is, the West Zone has some of the best academic schools in Boston and a lot of parental involvement in all of its schools. And, if your kids have the academic chops, in 5th grade they can take a test to qualify for Boston's Latin School, one of the best public schools in the country.
Having lived within 1/2 block of Young Achievers, I wouldn't recommend it for a variety of reasons. LOTS going on there. If you want more info, PM me, but right off the bat, it's one of only two city-wide lottery schools in Boston. Which means instead of competing against other families in the west zone, you're competing against every family in Boston. So if your kids got in, they probably wouldn't have any classmates living in their neighborhood.

As for housing, you can get a house right now in Woodbourne for 400k. And not a dump. A neat, old, on a nice street with nice families and senior citizens house. Just to give you an idea-- Woodbourne is the type of neighborhood that families DRIVE to on Halloween because it is safe, fun and family oriented. We had 150+ trick or treaters there our last year in the house. (Which sold in February shortly after it was listed. Popular neighborhood.)

Here are some resources for you for checking out JP and Woodbourne (part of JP) from a distance:

The Forest Hills Educational Trust

Boston Public Schools

https://externalweb.mybps.org//Exter...dex=1&tabid=32
this link will appear not to work, they're just poorly designed pages, scroll down a lot

westzoneparents : West Zone Parents Group

Jamaica Plain Gazette

Arnold Arboretum

Boston Nature Center | Mass Audubon | Nature Connection

Zoo New England - Default Home Page

Jamaica Plain Historical Society - 'Locales' Editor - - Woodbourne Historic*District

Department of Conservation and Recreation

Now the cons: Yes, cars get broken into. And occasionally homes. But not if you take precautions. (It's city living.) Depending on what your children need, the schools may not be enough. Also-- JP is ENORMOUSLY AND FAMOUSLY politically active. Meetings about everything. Demonstrations about everything. Petitions about everything. Depending on your perspective, it can be a good thing or a bad thing, but don't take it as a sign that things are going to hell in a handbag-- it's just the way they do it there. Lots of pitchforks and torches in the community. But it's a community. You'll get a sense of this by reading the JP Gazette (a free bi-weekly paper delivered to every home in JP) and by reading through the West Zone parents listserv-- and careful on that, people tend to post more when they're disgruntled than when they're happy.

Last, but not least, if JP is still too urban for you, check out West Roxbury. You won't be able to throw a rock without hitting an Irish American (so definitely throw some rocks), but it's a solid, more "suburban" community. PS. I'm an Irish American.

Good luck. Hope this helps. If you have ANY further questions, PM me, I'll be happy to help.

[LogansRun]

Thank you all very much for all your advise. It's been invaluable.

[Urban Peasant]

Depending on how old your children are, here are a few tips:

1 If your children are close to age 12, sign up for them to take the citywide examinations t get them into one of the examination schools (Boston Latin, Boston Latin Academy, or John D' Obryant). Boston Latin, my own alma mater, is a stellar school. Founded by the Puritans themselves in 1635, it is the oldest public school in the nation, it offers a rigourous college preparatory curriculum with a plenitude of honors and advanced placement classes, and it was recently ranked #27 in US News and World Report. As the name suggests, Latin is a mandatory subject for 4 years and the curriculum is rooted heavily in classics. Boston Latin Academy, our sister school, is nearly as rigourous and John D' Obryant, a school geared more towards science and technology is fine as well.

2 Boston also has several exemplary private schools and academies in or near it. The top notch private academy in the area is Milton Academy, alma mater to our current state governor Deval Patrick, but it is expensive (tuition is somewhere around $30,000). Noble and Greenough in Dedham and Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols in Cambridge are also excellent albeit expensive private schools. Catholic schools such as Boston College High School, Cathedral High School, and Catholic Memorial are not as pricey but can be just as good.

3 If you do choose to live in Jamaica Plain, the closest school is The English High School, actually the oldest public high school in the nation, historic rival to Boston Latin, and alma mater to such great past Americans as financier John Pierpont Morgan and architect Louis Sullivan. At one time having the distinction of being a top notch secondary educaton insitution, the school sadly has fallen on hard times but is recently experiencing a revival. There have been hard working students earning full tuition scholarships to universities and English High is one of the few schools like Boston Latin to give out grant and scholarship awards (some named in honor of its distinguished alumni) to top performers. Just keep this school in mind if your children cannot or decide not to go to the examination schools.

4 I don't know too much about public elementary schools other than the good ones are very competitive to get into. Sorry I cannot help you here. Good luck on your move.

[Padraick.]

overall, in j.p. you are pretty much safe, i have friends and family who live in j.p. and it is safe. Ive walked around forest hills at night with a few friends and been fine, and many say that is a bad idea, but i was cool with it and we had no trouble. Naturally you wouldnt want your children doing that alone. Jackson Sq. can get rough, but you arent going to find anything you want around the public housing in that area. overall j.p. is a fantastic place to live with a family, especially with adolescent children.