[thedoorisajar]

For those familiar with this area, what would you recommend for a family with young children? If we go with Midland, it would mean commuting to Mount Pleasant daily for work. Are the amenities in Midland worth the commute? Thanks!

[Matthew_MI]

Originally Posted by thedoorisajar

For those familiar with this area, what would you recommend for a family with young children? If we go with Midland, it would mean commuting to Mount Pleasant daily for work. Are the amenities in Midland worth the commute? Thanks!

I live in Midland. Born and raised here. Married 7 years, no children. Went to Midland Public Schools. Rarely visit Mount Pleasant, it has nice newer neighborhoods and older run down areas....much like Midland. Mount Pleasant is very much a college town, major university there, more bars and a party atmosphere...the casino adds to that. Midland has Dow Chemical, and a larger hospital, which are the main employers. Midland has a better hospital, but for kids only Covenant in Saginaw specializes in pediatrics, they have a pediatric ICU. Children typically get transferred to Saginaw if it's a serious medical issue, or downstate if it's even more critical. Midland ER is a level 2 trauma center, Mt Pleasant is not. Midland has a lot of amenities that have been indirectly funded through corporate foundations.

PROS: Neither city would be a bad place for children, but I think Midland has more to offer. A new very nice elementary school was built and opened last year, it's a STEM school called Central Elementary. Never been inside but I heard it's modern and high tech. Midland Public Schools has a pretty good reputation. Midland has minor league baseball games that kids love, with fireworks every Saturday night home game. Lots of parks, a dog park, "tridge" that crosses 3 rivers and lights up at night. Indoor and outdoor ice skating, bowling, movie theater. Rail trail for bikes and walking. City forest that has trails, sledding, and toboggan run. River days, festivals in summer. Chippewa nature center...which includes a preschool, old farm with animals, trails, vegetable gardens, maple syrup harvesting, field trips from local schools. Community center, very nice library, center for arts, dow gardens(beautiful if you go at the right time), butterfly house, county fair, farmers market, new canopy elevated walkway through a forest(not complete yet). The high schools have resource police officers, the other schools may get them soon too. The north half of the city tends to have the nice newer neighborhoods. South half of city is older, some parts of it are improving, other areas areas are decaying. Downtown Midland is growing and improving, very small downtown however.

CONS: Both towns have a drug problem, but that's happening all over the country. No town has been spared from the heroin/meth epidemic. It's not really noticeable on a day to day basis though, just something to be aware of. Flooding. Both towns have rivers going through them, be careful what home you choose. In Midland if the home was built before 1989 or 1985(can't remember exactly) the drain footings in the home for the storm drain system and waste sewage system are connected, which means during heavy rain your house could fill up with raw sewage, regardless of location near a waterway. This happened June 2017 in both cites, our basement was flooded with 17" river water. It's happened twice in my lifetime. Traffic. In Midland traffic can be frustrating. Due in part to construction but also the way it's setup. Not a reason to not live here but certainly frustrating at times. Traffic can be congested, a town of 41,000 should not be like that. Very little violent crime, but petty crime and theft exist. I've had a propane grill stolen from my patio. Others have had cars broken into. Locking doors and having good lighting will usually stop amateur thief's. Stay away from Woodland apartments or any low rent apartment. Midland has a huge chemical plant(Dow). In the past accidental releases would happen and you could see a chemical cloud go through the city. This doesn't happen anymore, it was before my lifetime. Dow bought out 450 land/home owners in a floodplain around a area with contaminated soil with residual dioxin that was left from early 20th century chemical releases into the water and air. Rumor was Midland has or had a reputation for pancreatic cancer. I don't know how it compares now or what the statistics look like. My grandpa worked at Dow and lived well into his 80's. Not trying to scare you off, I'm sure Mt. Pleasant has more cons than I listed, but I'm not as familiar with that city. Many happy families live in Midland, and it has some great neighborhoods. People I grew up with moved away and eventually moved back to Midland to raise a family.

The commute is roughly 30 minutes along M-20. M-20 is a 5 lane state highway, lined with businesses and homes. A lot of risky drivers, and stop and go traffic from school buses, mail trucks, etc. Not many traffic lights though, so it does have a good flow overall. Speed limit is 55, most drive 55-70. It gets pretty hectic, and it's not fun in winter. I've been driving it 18 years, and have never been in a crash, so it's not THAT bad if you pay attention. Currently, the bridge into Midland from M-20 is under construction and won't be done for 2 years, but traffic rarely gets backed up. You can also take Currie Parkway bridge through the golf course to bypass the construction.

[dave w]

My pet peeves about Midland is there aren't enough good or variety of restaurants, not one smooth asphalt road, I would fire every asphalt paving company in Midland and bring in competent people. On the other hand lots of sports sports sports for kids.

[Matthew_MI]

Michigan roads are awful. There are a few in Midland they should just shutdown if they don't get fixed soon.

[Lycanroc]

Midland most likely.