Moving to Cleveland from Chicago (Solon, Broadview Heights: best school, live, restaurants)

[Peregrine]

One thing to keep in mind is CLE is tiny compared to Chicago and we don't have the traffic issues you have. Because of this you don't NEED to be that close to good restaurants, etc. You can go from one side of town to the other in 30 minutes or less.

[ctownballr27]

Lakewood = Chicago suburbs

[RaisedRustbelt]

Traffic is not that bad from Strongsville so long as you avoid SouthPark Mall, just go north on Pearl to 71 to get around. Another area that might interest you is Berea, I find that area has more charm than Strongsville and its right to the north of it too.

[ehfp]

Oh, Peregrine's point is a good one - the traffic here is nothing like Chicago traffic. You'll be fine zipping across the city. (I don't know that I'd choose to do it as a regular commute, but it's no big deal to visit friends or go out to dinner or anything.)

And, to refine ctownballr's comment, Lakewood=Evanston. (I adore them both, but they're not the same kind of suburb as Clarendon Hills, if you're trying to match that.)

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by ehfp

Lakewood=Evanston.

Ehh... To some extent, I suppose. Lakewood is kind of like Evanston, only without the university and with a lively bar scene. And, although both are older suburbs with grander, wealthier areas along the lake and more modest neighborhoods further inland, I'd say that Evanston is the more affluent of the two overall, whereas Lakewood is predominantly lower-middle class. Both are cool areas, though.

[YaFace]

The Westside suburbs (Westlake, Rocky River, Fairview Park, Bay, North Olmsted) have plenty of diversity. A lot of these people's definition of "diversity" is 20% or more black people, which I guess these areas don't have, but are fun and doable nonetheless.

[ehfp]

Originally Posted by andrew61

Ehh... To some extent, I suppose. Lakewood is kind of like Evanston

Well, yeah, not exactly, but an improvement over "Lakewood=Chicago Suburbs," which was the existing claim. Definitely more alike than, say, Lakewood and DuPage County. (And, as a general rule for the OP, any Cleveland suburb is going to be less affluent - and more affordable - than its Chicago analogue.)

[ctownballr27]

You guys take things too literally on this site. Yeah I know Lakewood doesn't = all Chicago suburbs but they're more populated than North Ridgeville and the likes. People I know that have moved here from the Chicago suburbs feel very at home in Lakewood so get off my back you cyber nerds.

[andrew61]

One thing that's different about Chicago suburbs vs. Cleveland suburbs is that in many Chicago suburbs, there's a lot of activity where smaller, older houses are torn down and huge "monster" houses are built in their place. I don't think the Cleveland area sees very much of this going on. IIRC, Clarendon Hills is one such place.

I've only ever visited and driven around Clarendon Hills once, so I might be way off here, but if memory serves me, it's more similar to some of Cleveland's far eastern suburbs, like maybe Gates Mills or Moreland Hills or Orange and such. But again, I might be off on that.

[reretarfff]

Solon for years has had some of the best schools in Ohio, and made the top 100 or something high schools in the country. Solon also has the very good St. Rita Private school, which is a large campus that is blended in with a neighborhood and has a community church on campus. St. Rita is also close with the Solon schools.

The Solon School District has 4 elementary schools (K-4, one school with Preschool), one upper elementary/middle school (5-6), one middle school (7-8), and one high school (9-12), that are all on a campus like area, making all the schools walkable to each other and making it a lot easier for everybody. Lewis Elementary is the one school that isn't on the campus, but is all the way in north Solon because Solon is so big and most of the kids in North Solon live far from the main campus. The Solon schools are diverse, smart, have the latest modern technology such as IPads, ties with Google for all the students, Chrome Books laptops, regular laptops, hundreds of computers per school, and more. The teachers in Solon are very smart and teach very well. The test scores in Solon are one of the best in Ohio. Even so, the standards in the Solon schools are very high. Anything lower than a B is considered failing or falling behind, and kids who usually get those grades get a lot of extra help. Kids who usually get A's but get a C or lower on a test get a lot more extra help.

Solon itself has lots of restaurants and stores. It's not like Cleveland heights, but we have our own restaurants that only people from Solon know, such as Jim's, Aleci's, Rube Adler, Hunan, Imperial Wok, and lots more. I recommend you move to Solon.