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Old 04-29-2007, 07:09 AM
 
4 posts, read 17,237 times
Reputation: 10

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Hi! this is my first post so please bear with me...
After living in Northern Michigan for some years, this Aussie might be moving to Kokomo, IN.
We were able to spend a grand total of 2 hours down there while interviewing and have only a marginal idea of what the place is really like. Online info paints a pretty "nice" picture BUT I would like to hear the real story.
Such as, buy or rent (family of 6 doesn't find 5BR house too easily I've noticed), bad areas of town/crime (we actually don't have to lock our doors up here!), weather (if I survived N. Mi will I make it?), schools, kid friendly things to do (there are swim lakes within 6 miles of everywhere up here) etc.
Thank you
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Old 04-30-2007, 05:04 PM
 
1 posts, read 3,372 times
Reputation: 10
I'm going to tell you the honest truth about Kokomo. My family has lived here for generations & they all say the same...Kokomo is not an ideal place to move to. The nightlife is dull. The smog from the car factories can travel farther than we'd imagined that it would. The property taxes are constantly rising & it's unlikely to ever end. There's only a few places to swim at & they're crowded swimming pools. The nearest lake beach is about 20-30 miles out of town. The shopping choices aren't too great. The restaurants are boring, as most of them are business chains & all served about the same type of food. The downtown area mostly consists of lawyer offices & sometimes you won't realise that you've went through downtown, since it's so small.

Unless you're good at meeting the right people...it always seem that everytime we try to make conversation with locals, they either act like you're not there or get annoyed that you even talked to them.

Crime is rising here as well. Several shootings within the past couple of years. There's a lot of convicted child molesters residing here too. - There's quite a few bad areas in Kokomo. North side, South side, West side & East Side! Not lying either.

There's also a lot of vacated buildings throughout town & I always found that depressing. So basically, the environment isn't worth it.




I'm currently trying to find a way to move out of this town for good.
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Old 04-30-2007, 08:37 PM
 
4 posts, read 17,237 times
Reputation: 10
Default getting nervous

People! Is Kokomo really that bad? Right now we are in a rural, quiet area - so we don't have high expectations of night life, exceptional schools, the arts etc. If my husband has to work there (no jobs up here) where could we comfortably (and safely?) live
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Old 05-01-2007, 05:35 AM
 
Location: Turn Left at Greenland
17,764 posts, read 39,717,430 times
Reputation: 8248
You don't want to live in an area with exceptional schools? I think what the poster before you stated is pretty much true, unfortunately. Kokomo is a blue collar town that is hanging on despite the pit the US automotive industry has dug itself into.

Here's Kokomo's website:

http://www.cityofkokomo.org/

Kokomo's newspaper:

http://www.kokomotribune.com/

here's our data:

//www.city-data.com/city/Kokomo-Indiana.html

Here's Kokomo school data:

http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARC....cfm?corp=3500

I'm very sorry that we can't paint a rosy picture. Michigan's schools are better than Indiana's. Our school system is coming along, but right now, good schools are found in pockets of the state and Kokomo isn't one of them.

I know people who work for the big 2 employers there who live in Noblesville, Carmel, or Westfield. It's a 45 minute commute up 31, but for folks who want good schools for their kids, well, that's where most end up living.
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Old 05-01-2007, 09:22 AM
 
Location: Turn Left at Greenland
17,764 posts, read 39,717,430 times
Reputation: 8248
Here are a couple nice small town school systems near Kokomo that you may want to investigate:

http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARC....cfm?corp=3460

http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARC....cfm?corp=2815
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Old 05-01-2007, 09:33 AM
 
4 posts, read 17,237 times
Reputation: 10
Default thanks...

Re-reading my last post I realize that the school comment didn't come out quite right. We have little to no choice in schools where we live as we are pretty "out there". Naturally we would prefer an exceptional school but living close to Indianapolis is far from our budget at this time. The school data you sent is very informative - thank you. I noticed that Northwestern has an excellent record compared to state averages (where many other county area schools do not). Looks like we may have a good area to look at now!
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Old 05-01-2007, 09:40 AM
 
Location: Turn Left at Greenland
17,764 posts, read 39,717,430 times
Reputation: 8248
Here are a couple nice small town school systems near Kokomo that you may want to investigate:

http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARC....cfm?corp=3460

http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARC....cfm?corp=2815
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