Possible move to Jackson Area (Pearl, Ridgeland: Home Depot, safe area, school district)

[Alamoguy]

It appears as though I may offered a job in the near future located just south of Jackson (Richland, MS). I could use some general advice from those in the area as we want to make an informed decision as to whether this is a good move for us or not, and when and if we do make a move, what areas would be best to look to live.

We are both in our early 40's. Boy is 14 years, girl is 12 years. We currently live in small-town Iowa. Jr. High and High schools would have to be good, and would like to be "close" to a lot of conveniences (shopping, groceries, etc.). We both currently drive about 30-mile round trips for our current jobs. The job I am looking at would be in Richland.

Thanks in advance for any advice, tips, etc. We'd like to have our homework done on this possibility if and when the offer is made.

[ColdAilment]

Fist thing I'll tell you is that since you're relocating from Iowa, which is one of the whitest states in the country to Mississippi the state with the highest black population as a percent in the country is that things will be different, you'll be in for a bit of a culture shock I think.

Jackson in particular is 79% black and 18% white. Inner city Jackson is rather rundown, dangerous, crumbling infrastructure, and little in the way of shopping or areas to visit.

Downtown Jackson is alright, they're doing a good amount of restorative projects, especially around Capitol Street, it may be seeing a resurgence soon. Jackson has some very nice suburbs though, all of which will offer all the amenities, shopping, grocery stores, nice neighborhoods and safe areas with nice large parks. Madison is the principal suburb, it's where the majority of the well to do folk have chosen to relocate, and you can tell by driving through the city, it's very beautiful and well kept. Ridgeland, Flowood, Brandon, and Pearl would be next on the list in terms of nice and desirable suburbs. Northeast Jackson, which also borders all these suburbs is actually alright, Highland Village especially is a very popular shopping destination for the locals. Everything in the way of chain retail stores and big box office stores can be found in Flowood and the remaining suburbs.

People also report the police are more responsive and hardy than the Jackson PD. I hope this information helps, any further questions feel free to ask, I will do my utmost to assist you.

[brickpatio]

Working in Richland, there is no need for a long commute. The towns of Brandon and Florence are both adjacent to Richland. Brandon is a bit larger and has all the regular conveniences of a small town of about 20,000 people (fresh new Kroger, Home Depot, Wal Mart), as well as a Bass Pro Shops and AA baseball Mississippi Braves a couple of minutes away. A particularly pretty area I think is along Highway 471 which runs north of Brandon (lined with nice residential areas) but there are nice residential areas all around Brandon. This area probably feels a bit like a lot of towns in Iowa but more wooded.
- Florence is much smaller (about 5,000 I think) and has some new stores but it feels more small town and unpretentious. The countryside around Florence is also pretty, very wooded and green.
- You should also consider the neighborhoods along the Ross Barnett Reservoir in Rankin County, about 15 minutes north of Richland. Lots of subdivisions near the water, good schools and lots of new shopping.
- If you want more info on schools, check schooldigger.com with info on Brandon, Florence, Richland and Northwest Rankin schools all in Rankin County.

[Alamoguy]

Thank you for the information folks. And yes, I AM aware of the culture shock that will soon be introduced to the kids. Both she and I have lived in bigger areas, and have done plenty of travel. The two kids, however, have been in small town situation (i.e., blinding white) their whole lives, with the exception of travel from time to time, but we don't do much of that.

One thing I'd like to ask is, nobody is mentioning Pearl ..... is there a particular reason for that? After a night of two computers hammering away looking at the area, it would appear that Brandon and Flowood are leading right now for our options, but I'm wondering what the situation is with nobody bringing up Pearl

[brickpatio]

Pearl is okay also. Honestly it kind of depends on your price point. Pearl, Richland, and Florence are generally middle class and working class or blue collar and overall nice and very safe.
- Brandon has that but also more upper middle class newer subdivisions and some historic neighborhoods. Flowood and the Reservoir areas (along Lakeland Dr/Hwy 25) is mostly new and middle to upper middle class. The highest income suburbs are Madison and Ridgeland to the north.
- If you wanted a real small town, out from the suburbs, you could look at Mendenhall which is south of Richland probably 25 to 30 minutes. The countryside down there is wooded and hilly, very pretty, but this is truly a small town of about 2,000-3,000 people. - Lastly, on schooldigger.com, I believe the number one high school or middle school in the state is Pisgah, which is in an area called Sand Hill, about 10 minutes out Lakeland Dr/Hwy 25 past Flowood. If you wanted to try and replicate the feeling of a very, very safe, close-knit country school that happens to be ranked number one in the state, Pisgah would be an amazing choice. It's in the country but only about 10 minutes from the fresh new suburbs of Flowood.

[ColdAilment]

I'm fairly certain that Madison's public schools rank amongst the best in the state academically.

[Alamoguy]

Thank you again. All the information we can gather is VERY helpful. We appreciate it folks.

[GrandviewGloria]

I would like to caution certain people to send PRIVATE messages when the information they're sharing, if posted for all the WORLD to see, might end up DESTROYING a nice place.

Remember, there are VOLAGS ('Voluntary Agencies') scouring the Internet, looking for the few nice places left in America, to "settle" horrible people from horrible places. And there are pods of Professional Welfare Recipients (a couple of 'Disabled' designations will make up for Mississippi's lousy welfare payments), who'd love to get their 'little mistakes' into a nice school, and "away from that bad crowd" (when, in fact, their 'little mistakes' are the 'bad crowd').

Please, if you know of a nice, affordable place that hasn't, yet, been ruined, please don't post that information where the dregs of the planet can see it!!!!

One welfare queen, with three pregnant daughters and two blunt-rolling sons (and the inevitable assortment of infants/toddlers/tricycle-riders) would be more than enough to destroy a nice little school district, should they decide to move down from someplace they helped ruin in Wisconsin or Illinois. Once the sons' drug connections are brought into play, it's all over.

Remember when, about fifteen years back, two of LA's most notorious gangs were holding an informal 'Recruitment Day' at Pearl High? (I only heard about it once. Maybe that stopped. Maybe it's no longer considered newsworthy...) They weren't recruiting so much from the traditional Pearletariat, but from the children of newcomers (and I don't mean Iowans).

And heaven forbid some VOLAG's "paid volunteer" should read a glowing recommendation of some unspoiled and affordable spot, and decide that's just the place to settle a group they've imported from some nation where naked American soldiers were tortured and dragged through the streets.

Yes, Mississippi would benefit from a nice family of genuine Iowans. But it would not benefit from a lot of the 'exotics' looking for a nice place to live off government handouts (with supplementary income from a little drug-running and car theft on the side) Please be careful.

The rural mailbox visited by identity thieves newly-arrived from Milwaukee.... could be your own.

___________
PS: Just in case you think I'm exaggerating... The Madison man Abducted from the parking lot of Walgreen's, and stuffed into the trunk of his car, was abducted by members of an assortment of characters who'd moved down to Canton from Chicago. Lucky for that man, there's a surveillance camera on pretty-much every square foot of public space in Madison. The Madison PoPo drove to Canton and rescued him quickly, and the perps are in deep d-- d-- Madison's like a big, giant Snapping Turtle: make a wrong move, and that Turtle is gonna bite, and it's not gonna let go (even if there's thunder).

__________

Oh, and OP, since you inquired about Pearl: My overall impression of Pearl is that of stocky, gorgeous blonds. Somebody emailed my Sons photos of the Pearl High senior girls in their prom dresses, and they were tempted to fly down and date a few of them. Looked like a bunch of supermodels. And the men are even hotter, because they have blond bamabangs and big muscles. Two of them currently are internationally famous fitness models. But frankly, the other impression I've always gotten was that the Pearletariat were, particularly in the schools, a bit mean. There's a class/culture divide in the South, between the Celtic underclass and the Norse/Semitic/Mediterranean Ubermenschen. The Pearl river was the dividing line, and those stocky blonds were the underclass working for the bony, dark-haired upper classes across the river in Jackson. The original settlers of Pearl and Flowood may have even been escaped indentured servants (contrary to what you've been mis-taught by the history books, there were more white slaves than black). Pearl was in the swamps. Jackson was up on a bluff. So, maybe it's collective trauma from historic subjugation. Or, maybe it's genetic. These stocky blonds are NOT Norwegians - NOT Danes - NOT Flemings. If you compare the groups settling the area around Columbine High in Colorado, and the ones settling Pearl, you'll see similarities. They are not the same sweet sort who settled Davenport, Iowa. And both schools produced bullying victims who became mass murderers (in the case of Pearl, it's Luke Woodham).

[JacksonPanther]

Originally Posted by Alamoguy

Thank you again. All the information we can gather is VERY helpful. We appreciate it folks.

Alamoguy, the best advice you're gonna get on this board is to put long-winded posters on ignore.

[GrandviewGloria]

Brighten the corner where you are, BRIGHTEN the corner where you are... Oh my, aren't things lovelier when you learn to use 'Ignore', and BRIGHTEN the corner where you are.

Don't you wish everybody would?

Things had suddenly become so dingy and unStepfordlike, and then... I finally learned how to brighten my little corner of the Internet. Now, the cookies are all baked, the floors are ever so shiny, and I don't even see what was bugging me.

Must have been a little bird, ein kleiner Vogel, chirping into my ear, giving me that suggestion. Vielen dank, mein kleiner vogeleh, mon petit oiseau. Bien sûr: everything's so much better now. Or, to say it in a more Iowan language: Tack för din vänlighet, även om du har försvunnit.