Muscatine (Davenport, Iowa City, Coralville: homes, neighborhood, movie theaters)

[katie0413]

My husband has a job opportunity in Muscatine. We currently live in a very small town in Michigan. I am looking for a small friendly town near Muscatine. Currently my husband commutes 30 mins each way so a commute is not a big deal. I am looking for a town that has a great school system. We have 5 kids ages 7-newborn.

Ideally I would love to live a town similar to the one I live in now. My older kids can play outside by themselves, ride their bikes around the block, and they walk to school without me. I feel safe with them doing so. We know everybody that lives in the town. We have lots of community envolvement. Currently the closest mall is over 30 mins away and the closest Walmart is 15 mins away. So traveling is no big deal for us. We are Catholic so a church nearby would be preferred.

Or even a nice neighborhood near a bigger city would be great.

Thanks for any advice or help you can give me.

Katie

[crazysixdownunder]

Fruitland is next to Muscatine, but has some drawbacks. Grandview is further south and is a quiet place with a population of 630. No catholic churches in either, but there are a considerable number of catholics.

[Dport7476]

A 30 min. commute could put you in the Quad Cities, which to me is much preferable to Muscatine.

[iowegian]

Originally Posted by Dport7476

A 30 min. commute could put you in the Quad Cities, which to me is much preferable to Muscatine.

The Quad Cities definitely won't fit your "small town" criteria, it's a mid-sized metro area with a population of about 375,000. However, if you chose a smaller town just outside the Quad Cities, like Blue Grass or Buffalo, you would be closer to the shopping and other amenities of Davenport. You would also be in the Davenport School District, which I don't know much about, but often larger school districts have more to offer as far as advanced classes and extracurricular activities.

I'm much more familiar with the area around Iowa City, so I will suggest Hills. It is in the Iowa City Community School District, which is arguably one of the best in the state. Even though Hills is one of its lower performing elementary schools, Northwest Junior High and West High are both great. Hills also has a Catholic church. The commute might be a little far for you though. I would guess about 45 minutes or so, Google says 1 hour but I really don't think it's that far. West Branch is also a nice small town with a Catholic church and its own school district, which I've heard good things about. You would also have easy access with either of these towns to shopping and other entertainment in Iowa City/Coralville.

[katie0413]

Thank you for the replies!

[skynyrd]

I also have a job opportunity in Muscatine, IA.

How is it like living over there?

I am married, have no kids

33 yrs old and my wife 27

We like out door sports like walking, running, biking

We like hot weather, going to shopping malls, movie theaters, parks, reataurants...

Thanks

[Persimmony]

Wilton or Durant hands down.

[wingit]

If you don't want to be in Muscatine, the Blue Grass area, Durant, even in the Letts area subdivisions, would be good choices. The Letts area and Fruitland area school district would be L & M schools, many people I know are very happy with that school system. One plus to L&M is that all grades are on the same site K-12. Makes it kind of handy to have one drop off point, if you have kids in different grades, and want to drive them to school. There are quiet a few subdivisions around Muscatine itself that would fit what you are wanting. Here's a link that you can search for homes around the area:

Muscatine Board of Realtors - Multiple Listing Service - MLS (http://www.brunerandcompany.com/muscatine/index.html - broken link)

You might also think about just across the river in Illinois, Illinois city is only 8 miles or so away, its pretty small. I do believe the income taxes on the Illinois side of the river are still less than the Iowa side also, even if you work in Iowa, you pay Illinois income taxes if you're a resident of Illinois.

[sage58]

We moved here at the end of '09. We were given 2 days to find a home and it rained both days so we were not aware of the smell. Since then, we haven't had 2 days in a row we could open our windows or go outside. IT'S THE SMELL! The grain processing plant ruins this town for us, though folks couldn't be nicer. Because of this, our utilites run around $300/mo. (gas, water, sewage, garbage & electric). We are selling as a result. Would have done this sooner if not for a gov't subsidy we would have to pay back we cannot afford. On days when it's really bad, imagine being buried in a bag of fresh, commercial dried dog food. The sickening sweet grain smell cannot be avoided. We'll stay with the area as it has everything we need, but we'll go to the other side of 61 instead. As for ADM, my husband has trouble with the heavy Worcheshire sauce smell on Fridays. I've read that those closer to the plant than us, (about 2-3 miles as the crow flies) have difficulties with the paint finish on their cars and breathing problems with their kids.
This whole thing is really unfortunate because otherwise, we live in an extremely nice, safe, lovely neighborhood. Having come from some larger, glamorous cities, I wish I could say more about the restaurants, but they're really lame for the most part. I've been told by proprietors that they really don't bother to attempt gourmet fancy because they say folks don't appreciate it and can't tell the difference. Garlic is denoted as an exotic ingredient here. What can I say about a place where their idea of gourmet pizza has hotdogs and saurkraut on it?