Moving to Burlington with family (Boston, Lowell: middle-class, hotel, affordable houses)

[gnilam]

Hi,

We are thinking of moving to areas near Burlington MA and looking for a town with good school system.
My husband has a job in Wilmington, MA.
We have a five year old son and we want to know how is Burlington as a town with family in terms of

Diversity,
friendly neighborhood,
good activities for kids in town and nearby,
school system and after school programs,
We are especially looking at the fox Hill school district and Memorial.
Also please suggest any other towns south of Wilmington, MA which are not very high end towns but yet great for raising a family.

Thanks for your inputs in advance :-)

[ogre]

I don't know the school districts you're looking at, or even where they are located, so I can't offer thoughts on those.

Different people may mean different things when they say they want "diversity," but many of the towns near Wilmington are very white, and suburban in character. This is definitely true of towns near Burlington, where you said you want to look.

It's difficult to narrow the possibilities without knowing how you define "not too high-end," and without knowing what kind of character you want a town to have (urban, suburban, mix of the two, etc.), what kind of commuting time you prefer, or whether you want access to public transit. Without those details I'm taking stabs in the dark to some degree, but some towns I might suggest to start with would be:

Burlington itself, or Woburn, if a basic no-frills clean suburban town would be a good fit for you;

Bedford, if "not too high-end" could mean an affluent suburban town which is still not one of the ultra-wealthy towns;

Arlington or Melrose, if a nice basically middle-class town with a mix of urban and suburban character sounds right;

Possibly Medford, if you'd like something similar to Arlington or Melrose, skewed slightly more toward the urban end of that urban/suburban transitional zone mix, and if you're okay with a town that might be a bit rough around the edges in spots even though it's basically a solid place.

[DreamworksSKG]

Might i suggest looking into Wakefield. There is easy access to the highways (and lots of back road shortcuts up to Wilmington) -
you could learn and there's "T" service via commuter rail right in town into Boston. There's good school system, lots of activities for kids, and adults to do, a nice downtown with restaurants, shops, cafes, 2 parks (A big lake people walk around)(great way to meet your neighbors or walk the family dog), and the breakheart reservation which also has a leash-less run park for dogs. - and a swimming pond in the summer. - There's also bus routes to Oak Grove (Orange line "T")

From Wakefield you could cut through Reading to Lowell St. - to Wilmington, bypassing 93 and 128 traffic. - once you learn the back roads it would only take about 20 min to and from work.

Wakefield has some affordable houses in the area. especially since the downturn in the economy you might be able to find a good deal

More info on Wakefield (Links)
The Official Site of Town of Wakefield, Massachusetts

Wakfield Public Schools
Town of Wakefield, Massachusetts - School Department


Resident info links
Town of Wakefield, Massachusetts - Quick Links for Residents

Wakefield Library
Beebe Library (Wakefield MA)

WCAT - Wakefield Community Television
WCATWakefield.org | Wakefield Community Access Television 781.224.0300

Wakefield MA
Wakefield Home Page

Wakefield Wikipedia iNfo
Wakefield, Massachusetts - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wakefield Newspaper
Homepage - Wakefield, MA - Wakefield Observer



Lord Wakefield Hotel
Lord Wakefield Hotel, Wakefield, MA

Bellino's Trattoria - Italian restaurant
Bellino's Trattorial, Wakefield MA.

Wakefield Restaurants - Urbanspoon
Wakefield, MA, Restaurants | Urbanspoon

The Farmland Market
Wakefield
The Farmland - Wakefield, MA

Wakefield Fire Dept.
wakefieldfire.org - web home of the Wakefield Fire Department

Wakefield 4th of July Parade
HOME PAGE

Breakheart Reservation
Wakefield
Breakheart Reservation - Wakefield, MA
Department of Conservation and Recreation
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metrob...aps/brkhrt.gif
The Friends of Breakheart Reservation

Lake Q (Quannapowitt) (sp?)
Lake Quannapowitt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.folq.org/
Lake Quannapowitt - Wakefield, MA

LAKE Quannapowitt - Yacht Club -Sailing
Welcome! | Quannapowitt Yacht Club

The Kidcasso Art Studio
Wakefield MA
Home

Defensive edge martial arts
Wakefield
Defensive Edge Martial Arts Training Wakefield MA

Wakefield Civil War monument
Wakefield's Civil War Monument (http://www.wakefieldma.org/soldierssailors.html - broken link)

[ruby42]

We moved to Burlington about 5 years ago from another MA town and have been very happy. We have 4 kids (two in elementary school) and have found it to be very family friendly. The Recreation Department is terrific and the schools have been great. The school superintendent is very forward thinking which I appreciate. Also, there is a very large commercial tax base (Burlington has a large mall and several office parks) and that greatly subsidizes the schools. Many towns have instituted fees to cover sports, activities, the school bus,etc, but Burlington hasn't needed to. They even teach Italian to all students beginning in 1st grade!

There is a Burlington Community message board called the Burlington Board that you can search for (can't add a link here). You should be able to get more specific questions answered there.

Good luck with your move.