Planning on moving either to Kentucky or Boston, Massachussets (Lexington: apartment complexes, rental)

[smarty]

Originally Posted by capecodcathy

To my knowledge, though, SAT's and PSAT's are not administered to Middle School students. We (in our town) had talked about this before within the schools but decided that, unless a particular student displayed an exceptional aptitude, it would not be available. It would be up the the teachers and administrators due to the age group and pressure involved.......and parental, shall we say, "expectations" that their child was the next flippin' Einstein.

I did not say the school administrate SAT to middle school students. I said middle school students can sign up and take the SAT test. Many do! SAT is part of the evaluation for John Hopkins talent search.
CTY Talent Search: Grades 7-8

As you mention, there is NO "gifted" program. I do not know any program in MA public school. It all depends on parents negotiating with the school based on the data they have (like SAT, IQ, ...etc) and see how the school accommodate them. The accommodation usually means moving them up 2-3 grades.

[30apples]

goldenmom7500- so what are the downsides of lexington? Is it a bad place to be if you have allergies? Is it humid like in the south? Do you get an actual fall, winter and spring? One poster said that there is a big illegal immig. problem. have you noticed that as well, like are they hanging around home improv. stores and at Wal-Mart, etc?
Also, is mol and or flooding a problem there? Thanks for your input.

[capecodcathy]

Originally Posted by smarty

I did not say the school administrate SAT to middle school students. I said middle school students can sign up and take the SAT test. Many do! SAT is part of the evaluation for John Hopkins talent search.
CTY Talent Search: Grades 7-8

As you mention, there is NO "gifted" program. I do not know any program in MA public school. It all depends on parents negotiating with the school based on the data they have (like SAT, IQ, ...etc) and see how the school accommodate them. The accommodation usually means moving them up 2-3 grades.

I think we both said the same thing, just in different ways.

[goldenmom7500]

Originally Posted by 30apples

goldenmom7500- so what are the downsides of lexington? Is it a bad place to be if you have allergies? Is it humid like in the south? Do you get an actual fall, winter and spring? One poster said that there is a big illegal immig. problem. have you noticed that as well, like are they hanging around home improv. stores and at Wal-Mart, etc?
Also, is mol and or flooding a problem there? Thanks for your input.

Hi,

I like the size of Lexington and it has a lot of good things for children. I am in a neighborhood that I love where pretty much everyone is friendly. If I drive in certain directions, within 3 minutes, I can find myself driving by gorgeous horse farms. However, within less than 10 minutes I can find myself in not-so-nice neighborhoods where people are kind of icky. I define "icky" as "mean", although in general these are less affluent areas and statisticaly speaking less educated, etc. So, there are really really nice people living here and there are some pretty mean, "icky" people living here. I haven't been here long enough to tell you where the averages would fall.

I am not sure what to say about allergies. There are very localized allergies that - according to my daughter's pediatrician - people have at first and then adapt to. I have just started having symptoms of allergies in the last week. However, I haven't lived in a place that hasn't had less allergies in a long time (13 years in Northern VA where allergies were at least as bad).

The humidity seems similar to the DC area (high), but maybe slightly less than DC. Normally Lexington gets good rainfall and is very green, but we're part of this huge drought. So, not sure about flooding!

I have definitely not seen the illegal alien problem, but I am probably in the wrong part of town.

Finally, I am in a fancy neighborhood (my house is in the low 300s, but the neighborhood goes into the 7 figures - very fancy for KY) but did have my car broken into and my GPS stolen. The next day everyone explained that that was the downside of living in a fancy neighborhood. I think there is a vulnerability to being "new" - everyone had warned me that this sort of petty crime was common here. On the other hand, no one has told me to worry about violent crime.

I'm also not sure about all of the seasons, specifically I'm not sure what the winters are like. The weather is unusual this year, but we've just had our first cold days.

There are some fantastic schools here. The highest rated elementary school is not associated with good junior-high schools. However, there are at least two extremely well rated elementary schools associated with the best junior and high schools.

I also looked at Louisville. I had visited before and somehow didn't realize it is so large! I loved many of the neighborhoods, but a minute out of the neighborhood you are suddenly on a huge freeway and passing some really bad neighborhoods (all of this on a different scale than Lexington). I guess I would conclude that Lexington had all of the advantages but was a smaller, more manageable scale. I loved a suburb of Louisville called "Anchorage" with the best schools. Prices are high, but in the end they fell into my range (too late for me to buy).

Please do not hesitate to ask me any additional questions!

[ghilounel]

10/17/07

Hi goldenmom and everyone else,

One more time thank you for everything you give me so far. However, I have more question. Is there any aftercare program or after school program for the kids? About the jobs, is it difficult for new comers to find jobs in Lexington or Louisville? Do you know anything about renting price?

Thank you

[30apples]

Goldenmom--thanks for all your info. That gives me a good picture of Ky. I think I'd be better off somewhere more north. Good luck in your new home.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by 30apples

goldenmom7500- so what are the downsides of lexington? Is it a bad place to be if you have allergies? Is it humid like in the south? Do you get an actual fall, winter and spring? One poster said that there is a big illegal immig. problem. have you noticed that as well, like are they hanging around home improv. stores and at Wal-Mart, etc?
Also, is mol and or flooding a problem there? Thanks for your input.

If you want a more accurate picture of Louisville, please click my name and view my posts. Also, I disagree about the "icky" neighborhoods of Lexington. It is pretty small and a college town and is mostly middle class or even wealthy in many parts. The not so nice areas are north of downtown. Lexington has a lot more rednecks and is much smaller than Louisville, so maybe that is what she is referring to? Louisville also has a decent redneck population, largely to the SW of the city. Any city will have poorer areas....but I assure you they are few and far between in cities like Louisville and Lexington compared to the declining industrial cities of the northeast and further Midwest (with a few exceptions). Lexington and Louisville are growing faster and have much healthier economies than almost any city further north. Louisville in particlar has a wonderful downtown boom and the east suburbs are attracting a lot of transplants (anchorage is one).

[goldenmom7500]

Hi,

I know the unemployment rate is low in Lexington. I haven't been able to look for a job because of my daughter's school schedule. There are after-school programs - like my daughter's school has a Y program. (Did you ask that? I think you did).

Some people talk about rentals here starting at like $400-500, but I'd budget on more than that for a good neighborhood. But honestly, I would just be guessing.

hth -

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by ghilounel

10/17/07

Hi goldenmom and everyone else,

One more time thank you for everything you give me so far. However, I have more question. Is there any aftercare program or after school program for the kids? About the jobs, is it difficult for new comers to find jobs in Lexington or Louisville? Do you know anything about renting price?

Thank you

Louisville is a metro of 1.3 million people, so if you are more specific I can help. Lexington is much smaller, but there is still 450k in the greater area, so you will have to be more specific there too. Urban or Suburban? Bedrooms? Baths? New? Historic? etc etc How old are the kid?..... and of course there are after school programs all over!

[goldenmom7500]

[quote=stx12499;1758728]Also, I disagree about the "icky" neighborhoods of Lexington. It is pretty small and a college town and is mostly middle class or even wealthy in many parts. The not so nice areas are north of downtown. Lexington has a lot more rednecks and is much smaller than Louisville, so maybe that is what she is referring to?QUOTE]

Hi,

Remember I said that I was talking about mean people, not icky neighborhoods. I guess for me one of the major manifestations of this (mean) trait is that I find the drivers to be extremely unkind as a whole - and I've lived in LA, Boston, DC, etc.. I had my first "road rage" incident here, a woman in a beat up 80s car with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth chasing me for 5 miles, blaring her horn. And the drivers will tend to honk gratuitously even when all risks are cleared and they could just as easily let it go. That said, I've met a lot of nice people and we've had people go way out of their way to help us. I haven't reached any conclusions yet but I do like being here and recommend Lexington to someone interested in relocating. Maybe "red neck" is a good term to describe what I am talking about, but I'm very open to all kinds of people if they are friendly. And I definitely, definitely, don't describe the people here as a whole as redneck, mean, etc., not at all! (But again, driving is another story ...)

does that help?