Davenport (Bettendorf: apartment, crime, how much)

[garmanl]

we are moving to Davenport. is it a good place for kids? hows crime there? is it family friendly? and also we are gay.... will we be ok there?

[jeffs]

Davenport is a city of a little over a hundred thousand. It's in a metro area called the Quad Cities, (Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline,IL, Rock Island,IL) of about 350,000.

Here are some links to the local high schools.
//www.city-data.com/school/nort...school-ia.html
//www.city-data.com/school/cent...chool3-ia.html
//www.city-data.com/school/west...school-ia.html
//www.city-data.com/school/assu...school-ia.html

North, West, and Central are the public schools. Assumption is the private/catholic school. All 4 are capable of giving your children a good education. Assumption is pretty pricey though being private. Assumption has smaller class sizes and more one on one interaction with teachers. The public schools are bigger, and more diverse, depending on what you were looking for.

Crime in Davenport is overblown a lot. There are neighborhoods that can get pretty bad, but unless you're a dope dealer, or gang banger, you'd really have no reason to be in those neighborhoods, unless your passing through to get somewhere else. Crime is mostly isolated to those areas. People aren't getting gunned down in the streets or anything.

Davenport has a surprisingly liberal attitude, for Iowa standards. It's not San Fran, or NYC type of liberal, but people hear Iowa and automatically assume everyone here is some backwoods hillbilly. Most bigger cities in Iowa are really not like that.

As far as being gay. I knew plenty of kids growing up who were gay, I have gay friends and family members, and I never hear them say they are treated any differently than anyone else. Although I am the first to admit, any city has a few intolerant people, but that is not the norm here.

PS. Just a tip, I hear a lot of people who come from out of state say Iowans are kind of cliquish. It's not that their rude, it's just a lot of people around here aren't the type to just walk up to strangers, but if you initiate the conversation, you will find people quickly warm up to you. I'd suggest, looking on an internet forum, or joining something in the community, and you will make friends quickly.

Good Luck. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[jeffs]

I forgot to put this in. It's a schedule of QC events. In the summer there's a TON of street fest/parties. Right now not so much, obviously due to the weather, but when it warms up, there seems like there's a big event every week.

Ya Maka My Weekend, and Gumbo Ya Ya, are held in Rock Island, it celebrates caribbean and cajun/creole heritage, and has great authentic food. The Bix 7 is a nationally recognized race that draws between 15,000-20,000 runners a year, with a big party afterwards. Also a bike race across the state called Ragbrai, is ending in Davenport this year. Theres a harley bike event called Sturgis on the River, Blues Fest/ Rib Fest, is a mix of blues music, with a rib competition, very good music and food. They have an annual Gay Pride Day/event down on the river. Also things like St. Patricks day, and other holidays, they have big events. Some of them may be in Rock Island or Moline, which are in Illinois, but when you get here you will find, you can go from Iowa to Illinois in less than 5 or 10 minutes, just across the Mississippi River, so any city is easily accessible from the others.

Visit Quad Cities

[garmanl]

How much does it cost to have your electric turned on there? I thinking its about a 125 deposit for it but i'm not sure. we are going to be moving into a apartment around may and the electric will need to be put in our name but I making a budget book on the move and need to know how much the electric deposit will be

[garmanl]

We are going to be moving around the
▼ Northpark Mall. Is that area safe?

[jeffs]

Originally Posted by garmanl

We are going to be moving around the
▼ Northpark Mall. Is that area safe?

Yeah that's not a bad neighborhood. I have family that live around there. When I moved into an apartment here for the first time, it didn't cost anything to have the electricity turned on. I just had to put my deposit on the apartment down, and call Mid American Energy and have the names switched over. It may vary based on the apartment though.

Here's the local energy company, you might want to call and ask them.

MidAmerican Energy Company
888-427-5632

[Dport7674]

Stay north of Locust St. when looking for apts. Locust runs east and west right thru the middle of Davenport. Locust turns into Middle rd. in Bettendorf.

I don't remember having to pay a deposit on any utilities.