North Ridgeville? Sheffield? (Cleveland, Avon: home builders, school, malls)

[Jake92839]

From all the racism I have experienced living in Lorain County.

I grew up in Berea, home of the Cleveland Browns camp. I never experienced racism.

Then I moved to Lorain County. I've known and worked with people from Avon, Elyria, North Ridgeville, Lorain, and Sheffield. Behind closed doors, I have never seen so much racism in all my life. And these are people such as workers, mid-management, and on up to small business owners. They are absolutely ignorant and horrible and I am diligently trying to secure a job far far away from here. Sorry to sound gruesome but that is the reality here that I have witnessed.

[BelieveInCleve]

I am sorry to hear of your experiences in Lorain County. I have lived here for all my life and I actually find it less racist than most places. There is racism, but like you said its mostly behind closed doors. I am white and I grew up in South Elyria and Central Lorain, and some blacks and hispanics were racist against me. Whites were a minority in those areas. There was also a lot of incidents when whites were getting beaten when they were walking around South Elyria, a majority black area.

There are places like Amherst, and some other small towns that are more known for racism. Now that I think about it, I guess I did see a lot of racism in Lorain County. On my old street in Elyria I never thought anybody was racist, until one time I saw a group of black males being followed by a truck where there were whites inside yelling racist terms at them. It was weird because I had never heard that before, I was actually very offended and insulted because I was friends with 2 of the kids they were yelling at. I also knew of the white people in the truck, they lived down the street and were peaceful most the time, but they moved later and complained that the neighborhood was infested with "them" (blacks, I guess). I was very offended at that also.

[MiamiU08]

Originally Posted by Cle440

I am sorry to hear of your experiences in Lorain County. I have lived here for all my life and I actually find it less racist than most places. There is racism, but like you said its mostly behind closed doors. I am white and I grew up in South Elyria and Central Lorain, and some blacks and hispanics were racist against me. Whites were a minority in those areas. There was also a lot of incidents when whites were getting beaten when they were walking around South Elyria, a majority black area.

There are places like Amherst, and some other small towns that are more known for racism. Now that I think about it, I guess I did see a lot of racism in Lorain County. On my old street in Elyria I never thought anybody was racist, until one time I saw a group of black males being followed by a truck where there were whites inside yelling racist terms at them. It was weird because I had never heard that before, I was actually very offended and insulted because I was friends with 2 of the kids they were yelling at. I also knew of the white people in the truck, they lived down the street and were peaceful most the time, but they moved later and complained that the neighborhood was infested with "them" (blacks, I guess). I was very offended at that also.

Yeah, I think you'll find incidents like that anywhere. I also grew up in Elyria, and lived on 7th, between East and Middle. It was a very diverse neighborhood, and yet, we were a pretty close neighborhood. I never saw any racial issues until I was much older, and even then, they were isolated events. Overall, Lorain County is a very accepting area, and I am sad to hear that people have had negative experiences there.

[BelieveInCleve]

Originally Posted by MiamiU08

Yeah, I think you'll find incidents like that anywhere. I also grew up in Elyria, and lived on 7th, between East and Middle. It was a very diverse neighborhood, and yet, we were a pretty close neighborhood. I never saw any racial issues until I was much older, and even then, they were isolated events. Overall, Lorain County is a very accepting area, and I am sad to hear that people have had negative experiences there.

Wow, really? I lived on 9th near East Ave in the early 90s, also Mussey (W 15th) for a short time. I lived in Central Lorain on W 23rd near Oakdale Ave for a long time too. They both were pretty diverse neighborhoods, but both had a mostly minority population. In South Elyria you will find the northern part of it is more diverse but from 10th street south its a mostly black population. That area in Central Lorain is pretty diverse with pretty much equal amounts of black/white/hispanic. However the area to the north from W 21st to the tracks is mostly black.

I guess racism does happen like that everywhere though. Most of the racism I saw when I was younger in those neighborhoods was anti-white. You would think that in diverse neighborhoods that people would learn to live with eachother, but as soon as something bad happened the racist comments came out. I never really understood it when I was little because most of my friends were black or hispanic. I remember I thought everyplace was like South Elyria or Central Lorain until my first trip to the suburbs and I was amazed that 95% of the people were white. I asked that question to somebody when I was younger and they said "No, the Southside of Elyria is just the ghetto". Wow, this brought back a lot of memories for some reason.

Anyways, there will be racist people everywhere you go. As long as there is a difference in the skin color and income in people, there will be racist and classist people. However, I have learned that Lorain County is less racist than most places I have been.

[Steve36]

Originally Posted by Cle440

There was also a lot of incidents when whites were getting beaten when they were walking around South Elyria, a majority black area....

...one time I saw a group of black males being followed by a truck where there were whites inside yelling racist terms at them...

...they moved later and complained that the neighborhood was infested with "them" (blacks, I guess).

You pretty much just summed up the cycle that has killed a lot of great neighborhoods in Cleveland and other cities.

[BelieveInCleve]

Originally Posted by Steve36

You pretty much just summed up the cycle that has killed a lot of great neighborhoods in Cleveland and other cities.

Yeah, its sad how it had to happen like that though. But, like you said, its not only in Cleveland its pretty much in every place in the country and some places are a lot worse than Cleveland as far as that.

[jshbetz11]

Old High school too small for its pupils??? Come on the fckr is a city block large!!!!!! Lets see here, Sheffield=all rental property. Avon=nice city. Avonlake=on the brink of bein Sheffield. Westlake=dreamland and totally drug infested schools(more worried about their reputation to uphold,witch is slowly slipping, nice town if u want to be surroundeed by rich old republicans= racists. Bay Village=Westlake wanna b's. North Ridgeville=nice town though stopped future developing so its dying as we speak. Elyria= all of the above wrapped into one town thats why I love it.

[jwhalun08]

Rocky River and Coventry are the best options available. I'd eliminate the rest.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by jshbetz11

Westlake=dreamland and totally drug infested schools(more worried about their reputation to uphold,witch is slowly slipping, nice town if u want to be surroundeed by rich old republicans= racists.

I have heard about the meth problem in Westlake yet somehow, SOMEHOW, they managed to rank in the top school districts in Cuyahoga. They must be doing somethiing right. Or... more likely... the media have overblown the "drug" issue because one Westlake mom was dealing meth in the high school.

[CASEROADLION]

We have been living in nr for about 3 years now, and its a nice place. The property is very reasonable, the neigfhbors are a little " wierd" but who cares! We live our lives and its all great.