Do You Think Bloomington Will Work For Me?

[rrah]

ankemp--I'll respond to all your posts in this one.

First--While Bloomington might be bigger than your daughter has experienced, it's far from being a big city. I was a student here many years ago and always felt safe. I now have two teenage children and live here as an adult. I feel my daughter is safe when she's out with friends at night. She will probably start at IU next fall. We have few concerns that the campus is safe overall-plenty of emergency blue boxes, etc. We will, of course, advice her on being smart, walking in crowds at night, using the bus, etc. but would do that no matter where she was.

I'm not sure where you heard the crime rate is high, but I can tell you that overall it's not bad. I think it's pretty comparable to most college campuses and college towns. Most often the crimes I read about are drunk drivers or occasionally petty robberies. There has been a rash of bank robberies this year for some reason though--economy maybe.

Yes--the school of Music is world famous and wonderful. I did notice you mentioned in a post that she wants to pursue Music Education. I'm not sure Music Educators receive their degrees through Jacobs. They may receive their degrees through the School of Education.

I think that covers most of your concerns.

Not much I can say to free you of your concern for her moral safety. That's up to her. There will certainly be opportunities for her to drink if she chooses to do so. You will find that on just about every campus in the country. There will also be plenty of ways she can make friends that don't drink, etc. My own D does not drink. It was a concern for her a bit, but she will live in the honors dorm so hopefully that will be a bit tamer overall.

[Kirkwoodgirl]

Originally Posted by dakota79

In my search for a possible city to transfer and relocate to from North Dakota, Bloomington is city of interest. But I wanted to get some opinions on if the city would work for me.

Bloomington appears to be a safe, clean city with one of the better economies in Indiana. Is there a part of town I should avoid? I would be working in the College Mall vicinity.

I cannot drive because of an eye condition, and so I rely on walking, public transit, and biking to get around. Bloomington appears to be a good fit. It looks quite walkable and bikeable, and I am impressed by the public transit system for a city its size. It is quite rare to find a city of 70,000 with bus service til 11pm. Since I would be walking a lot, I need it to be fairly safe.

One of my concerns is the whole "college town" thing. Am I going to feel like a total outcast since I have no ties to IU? I am sure I would embrace IU sports once I am there, but I would not be a student or an alumni.

My next question is about apartments. At first I thought apartments might be out of my price range because it is such a college town. I need to stay under $550 a month for a one bedroom. But looking through the classifieds, there were quite a few complexes with 1 bedrooms under that amount. Whether those complexes actually have availability is another story. That leads to my next question. Just how hard is it to get an apartment in Bloomington. Does having the university there make it very hard, or does there seem to be enough to go around? Once I get the okay for my transfer, I will have less than a month to find a place.

Any help or opinions would be appreciated.

Absolutely not! You're way too smart for Bloomington.

[Troubleshooter]

Unemployment in the area is over 20,000 people, due to the closing of Dana, Visteon, GE, RCA, Teletron, and several other factories. Apartments within 2 miles of campus are well over your $550 limit (more like $800/month), mainly because the property taxes are so high here. You probably will not find an apartment that low within the city limits.

We have the second highest housing costs in the state (West Lafayette is the highest).

Beware of one thing. Housing is almost always on an mid-August to mid-august yearly lease, due to the high concentration of students. You can find some sublets when summer sessions start (next week!), but it is hard to find rental housing at other times of the year without buying a house.

We have a law prohibiting more than three unrelated people in the same rental unit in many areas of the city.

[tooningBlom]

Originally Posted by domergurl

There are a lot of apartments within walking distance to college mall and there is limited public transit .. not sure if civilians can ride the IU busses ... RRAH????

When I was a student at IU, I wondered what it would be like to not be affiliated with IU and live in Bloomington. There are several thousand who do though. I do recall that summers and breaks in Bloomington are great with all the students gone.

Citizens "townies" can ride I.U. buses, but have to pay the fare -- $1. It's unfair, but that's how it goes.

[tooningBlom]

Originally Posted by Kirkwoodgirl

Absolutely not! You're way too smart for Bloomington.

Yo, Kirkwood girl -- hey, Kirkwood is a street in Bloomington and a suburb of St. Louis, my hometown. You make me laugh! Did you have a bad time in Bloomington? Sometimes I feel the same way -- Bloomington is too small and I miss living in a city. Do you still live in Bloomington or did you move?

[Kirkwoodgirl]

Originally Posted by tooningBlom

Yo, Kirkwood girl -- hey, Kirkwood is a street in Bloomington and a suburb of St. Louis, my hometown. You make me laugh! Did you have a bad time in Bloomington? Sometimes I feel the same way -- Bloomington is too small and I miss living in a city. Do you still live in Bloomington or did you move?

Yes, I still sadly live in Bloomington, Indiana because I'm broke and I have to stay here to help support my family. I came from metro areas -- Seattle and Detroit. Believe it or not, I'd take Detroit over Bloomington any day. I miss living in a city, too. These small-town people don't like me because I'm loud, my hair's 3 different colors, I wear all black and I don't know how to garden. I'm not into Bloomingfoods or any of that funky small-town-trying-to act-like-California stuff either. The mayor's really mean, too. He gave aspeech to a crowd of homeless people and he said he didn't even want to be at the shelter but that he only showed up because he was the town's mayor. I wish I could move. We'll have to meet up some day. I hang out on the square a lot.

[tooningBlom]

Originally Posted by Kirkwoodgirl

Yes, I still sadly live in Bloomington, Indiana because I'm broke and I have to stay here to help support my family. I came from metro areas -- Seattle and Detroit. Believe it or not, I'd take Detroit over Bloomington any day. I miss living in a city, too. These small-town people don't like me because I'm loud, my hair's 3 different colors, I wear all black and I don't know how to garden. I'm not into Bloomingfoods or any of that funky small-town-trying-to act-like-California stuff either. The mayor's really mean, too. He gave aspeech to a crowd of homeless people and he said he didn't even want to be at the shelter but that he only showed up because he was the town's mayor. I wish I could move. We'll have to meet up some day. I hang out on the square a lot.

I'll meet you in front of Fountain Square Mall (that's on Kirkwood). And we can plan out escape!