Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Iowa
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-11-2009, 01:11 AM
 
4 posts, read 14,549 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

hello everyone,

im moving in the next few weeks, so i was hoping some locals could answers some questions for me.

im seriously considering Iowa because the low rents, and seems like a average amount of jobs.

1) im planning to go to culinary for pastry as soon as i get settled, think i would have trouble getting a job in this field? i can work as a normal line cook aswell.

2) what cities would you recommend, im 23 years old not much into partying or drinking but i like bigger citys and to be close to the fun (especially skateparks)

3) like everyone id prefer to be in a safer neighborhhood.

id appreciate any advice good or bad, im currently in florida but the rare jobs and high rents make it too stressfull.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-11-2009, 07:18 AM
 
Location: Davenport, Iowa
415 posts, read 1,731,765 times
Reputation: 546
Well, Davenport has a pretty big skatepark. I know DSM is planning to build one at some point, but right now I think Davenport's is the biggest in the state.


The day it opened.


Here it is this past summer during a riverfront concert, so more kids than usual. The skatepark is open 24/7, and obviously its an older crowd later at night.

Aside from just skatepark stuff, I think the Quad City area is definitely worth checking out. Not only do we have a ton of stuff to do around here, but there are also a bunch of cities within easy day trip range. Its about 2.5 hours to downtown Chicago, 45 minutes to Iowa City and the University of Iowa, 2.5 hours to Des Moines. Around 3 hours to Madison...

I don't know much about the pastry chef stuff, but I know that the local community college has a degree in Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management. The only negative I can think of is that I don't know that rents are all that low compared to the national average. Buying is cheap, but renting doesn't seem like as a great of a deal as it should be with our low housing costs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-14-2009, 02:15 PM
 
28 posts, read 106,971 times
Reputation: 29
My boyfriend in a pastry chef and we just moved from Texas. He didn't have any problem finding a job here in Des Moines. And you can actually live on his wage here so that's a plus. Welcome to Iowa
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-14-2009, 04:57 PM
 
Location: I think my user name clarifies that.
8,292 posts, read 26,567,523 times
Reputation: 3924
Quote:
Originally Posted by dgk180 View Post
hello everyone,

im moving in the next few weeks, so i was hoping some locals could answers some questions for me.

im seriously considering Iowa because the low rents, and seems like a average amount of jobs.

1) im planning to go to culinary for pastry as soon as i get settled, think i would have trouble getting a job in this field? i can work as a normal line cook aswell.

2) what cities would you recommend, im 23 years old not much into partying or drinking but i like bigger citys and to be close to the fun (especially skateparks)

3) like everyone id prefer to be in a safer neighborhhood.

id appreciate any advice good or bad, im currently in florida but the rare jobs and high rents make it too stressfull.
I don't want to be a jerk here, and steal the thunder from the Iowa forum, but Metro Community College - here in Omaha - has a growing Culinary Arts program, and actually just built a big huge building for that program.
MCC | Institute for the Culinary Arts

If you want smaller town living, there are quite a few smaller Iowa towns that are pretty close to the Omaha metro area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-23-2009, 01:23 AM
 
Location: Davenport, Iowa
415 posts, read 1,731,765 times
Reputation: 546
In a pretty timely coincidence, the Quad City Times just published this article about the SCC culinary arts program. While their new construction is certainly not on the scale of MCC's, its still progress.

Scott Community College plans for culinary arts boom -QCTimes

Quote:
Construction began earlier this month on a $2.3 million, 10,000-square-foot, on-campus Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Center that is expected to be finished by July 1.
Quote:
Culinary arts has 81 students, but he is hoping to double that number in the next three to five years.
He also might be able to offer a new restaurant management degree program and a pastry certificate program.
“We hope to put culinary arts and Scott Community College on the map,” he added.
In addition to culinary arts, the new building will house the hospitality management degree program, currently in its second year with 11 students, and a new events management certificate program.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-23-2009, 12:02 PM
 
11,289 posts, read 26,057,256 times
Reputation: 11353
I would look at Des Moines. It has the Iowa Culinary Institute, as well as other programs in the city as well.

It's also a very good economy (in the previous good times, as well as in proportion to where our country is now), is safe, and has a very affordable cost of living.

I believe it was just ranked as the most affordable metro area.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-29-2009, 10:09 PM
 
4 posts, read 24,147 times
Reputation: 10
In the Des Moines area there are many suburb towns to choose from if you did not want to be in Des Moines. Ankeny is clean and safe,it is also very close to Des Moines. There are more to choose from as well such as;Grimes,Urbandale etc. I live about an hour and a half from Des Moines and my rent is $325 for a two bedroom apartment. So yes,there are places in Iowa with really cheap rent.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-30-2009, 08:39 PM
 
Location: Midwest
164 posts, read 598,954 times
Reputation: 66
Move to Council Bluffs and attend Metropolitan Community College in their brand new Culinary Institute that opened today. It is right across the river in Omaha.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-11-2014, 06:44 AM
 
4 posts, read 11,748 times
Reputation: 10
I really enjoyed the comments about Iowa but I'm also moving to Iowa...I'm interested in a community that's a suburb.....diverse.....low crime....I can use my sec 8 voucher...... somewhere that's not trifling and ghetto....I used my voucher and lived outside Naperville, IL if any one is familiar with Naperville it's an upscale environment but b/c it's not liberated per say I chose not to live there. Where I live it has to be a community that welcome all walks of life....and has to have churches....anyone know of a nice church non-denominational.....teaching ministry.....like Joel Olsteen ministry or Joyce Meyers......a real come as you are church....I welcome all points to help.....davenport or De monies....I'm also looking to go back to school to complete my degree....I'm in my 40's and I also don't party much but I do like plays and poetry cafe
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-14-2014, 09:27 PM
 
17 posts, read 25,143 times
Reputation: 22
Default Davenport or Des Monies

Both are good choices in Iowa. In Des Monies it more like a big city and there is the capital of iowa there. The drawback is there are more pockets of ghetto in Des Monies then Davenport. I did like Des Monies though as a city and the arts district. Davenport and the quad cities has a lot of outdoor activities and more lively environment and you will never get bored or run out of things to do.

Crime wise Davenport is better IMO.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Iowa
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top