Information on the city! (Dallas, El Paso: high crime, lawyer, house)

[historyteacher]

Hello soon to be new neighbors!
I am a military spouse moving with my DH and toddlers to the area. Very excited to be moving west!
We are wanting a country type house where we can get to post in about a half an hour but still set up with some farm animals. I'm a teacher and an attorney (licensed in another state, of course-lol) Any ideas on job market for teachers? We've heard that we should look in the NE area but is the South side of the city really bad? Our children will start pre-school and kindergarten soon-decent schools in the south side?

[bella_1818]

These threads should answer a lot of your questions:
//www.city-data.com/forum/el-pa...liss-soon.html
//www.city-data.com/forum/el-pa...paso-help.html

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by historyteacher

Hello soon to be new neighbors!
I am a military spouse moving with my DH and toddlers to the area. Very excited to be moving west!
We are wanting a country type house where we can get to post in about a half an hour but still set up with some farm animals. I'm a teacher and an attorney (licensed in another state, of course-lol) Any ideas on job market for teachers? We've heard that we should look in the NE area but is the South side of the city really bad? Our children will start pre-school and kindergarten soon-decent schools in the south side?

I think the south side is where a lot of recent and dirt-poor immigrants from south of the border end up. It's probably the least desirable part of town.

For the kind of house you want, I would recommend Chaparral, which is a suburb just over the New Mexico state line from the northeast side. Or maybe Montana Vista, which is just beyond the eastern El Paso city limits.

[historyteacher]

I have looked in Chaparral but can't find anything available. So let's be straight up-is 'dirt-poor' and 'undesirable' the same as 'high-crime' and 'gang-ridden'? No problem with poor and don't give a hoot if my fancy lawyer friends tut tut about my neighborhood, just want my kids to be able to play outside and chase their chickens and ride their pony in the yard without worrying about people. My espanol is rusty but it's like riding a bike, that won't be an issue really.

[XChucoresident]

I am also a teacher..but a Math teacher at that..I teach the hard stuff here in Dallas!

[historyteacher]

My sis teaches math-my hat is off to you. Even with my funny eight sided grad hat I find math hard (I need to find that old barbie that says that-lol) Math people are special. I do government and history-two HUGE favorites of mine.

[mistabinks]

Originally Posted by XChucoresident

I am also a teacher..but a Math teacher at that..I teach the hard stuff here in Dallas!

[malamute]

Originally Posted by historyteacher

I have looked in Chaparral but can't find anything available. So let's be straight up-is 'dirt-poor' and 'undesirable' the same as 'high-crime' and 'gang-ridden'? No problem with poor and don't give a hoot if my fancy lawyer friends tut tut about my neighborhood, just want my kids to be able to play outside and chase their chickens and ride their pony in the yard without worrying about people. My espanol is rusty but it's like riding a bike, that won't be an issue really.

I think you should definitely consider the south side of El Paso but other than chickens, I'm not sure you can have farm animals in that part of town.

[malamute]

Anyhow I don't think anyone says El Paso's south side is high crime and that's why you wouldn't want to live there. No particular neighborhood here is really bad as far as violent crime and if you want your kids to learn Spanish, then you might want to consider the south side.

The reasons people often mention the far east side or the northeast or the west side has to do with what people are asking for and if they want to hear English some times. It's not so much about crime because here often nicer homes are what are targetted.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by historyteacher

I have looked in Chaparral but can't find anything available. So let's be straight up-is 'dirt-poor' and 'undesirable' the same as 'high-crime' and 'gang-ridden'? No problem with poor and don't give a hoot if my fancy lawyer friends tut tut about my neighborhood, just want my kids to be able to play outside and chase their chickens and ride their pony in the yard without worrying about people. My espanol is rusty but it's like riding a bike, that won't be an issue really.

Chaparral and Montana Vista, which, you may remember, I recommended specifically, both have lots of the kind of people (poor, Spanish-speaking, recent immigrants) you seem to think I'm warning you away from. And neither community is dominated by mansions. And you can live anywhere you want. You have chickens and a pony which you want to hold on to, so it seems to me someplace rural or semi-rural would be your best bet. I think the city has regulations about how you can keep a pony or horse and South El Paso is very much the city, a densely populated area.