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I agree with our post and I'll add something to raising kids in the city. I have a teenage daughter and a middle school son and it never worried or bothered me raising them in the city. Granted it's the east side, but it's not Waukesha Country. Now that my daughter is a teenage I think being on the east side is great. She goes to Starbucks, Lake Park, Riverside Park, Whole foods, Farwell and North area, Downer, Oakland, Brady, Riverwest, Lakefront etc and she loves it. I think it's a great area to be a teenager. Her cousins, who all live in Waukesha County, drive everywhere and don't have the access she does. Now I think she was a great advantage in the living in the city and I see it when I compare where to her cousins. The exposure to the city and what it offers and the experiences they have had has helped them greatly. I never had a problem with their schools either. There are plenty to pick from and many are very good. Between private schools, open enrollment and magnet city schools there should be no problem finding a decent school. My kids have a great time growing up on the east side and haven't had any problems with crime or thugs.
Hell I'm 52 and I moved to the Lower Eastside in 1991 from 70th & State and what you just described is my dream also. Don't forget the Oakleaf trail (the old rail track route) for walking,biking, and running. I start my walks at Brady and always go north. I did go south once and crossed over into the park behind Summerfest and over to Polk St and then came home via downtown, but the walks going north are better for some reason. I just made it to Capitol drive a few weeks and turned around. Next time I go to Wilson Drive and beyond. One time I got out of the trail at the park at Newberry Blvd, walked east to Lake Park, down the Locust Street ravine trail to Lincoln Memorial Drive and back to Brady. While I grew up on 7th & Greenfield and took my bike everywhere, this is so much nicer.
Location: lifelong Detroiter transplanted to Milwaukee
117 posts, read 367,927 times
Reputation: 120
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solas
I'm sorry, but have you read some of the crap that gets posted at this board? In fact, try seeing if you can find another city-data forum with so many "is this area safe?" threads. Obviously those views of the city aren't held by literally everyone in the suburbs, but the fact that they come up so frequently and without regard for how presumptuous (and offensive, in some cases) such questions are is clear evidence that this is something that's ingrained into the culture of Suburban Milwaukee.
I don't think that reflects badly on Milwaukee. I think that is a normal question to ask when moving to a place you're unfamiliar with, and it doesn't mean that everyone who asks it is thinking that anything east of Waukesha is a dangerous ghetto.
I had to ask some locals for advice about where to consider and where to avoid when I was looking for a house around here (I looked at both suburbs and the city proper). Milwaukee's geography is very confusing for someone who is new here and it wasn't very obvious to me at first which parts of the city were safe enough that I would feel comfortable living there. People who end up unknowingly moving into high crime neighborhoods are much less likely to stick around and contribute to the city's future than those who have a realistic idea of where it's safe.
Here is another reason baby boomers dislike Milwaukee so much and I honestly this is the main reason. Back in their day Milwaukee was like leave it to beaver.
Maybe if Leave It To Beaver had a socialist mayor
Although there's no doubt in my mind that that's exactly how many boomers remember Milwaukee, it has next to no basis in reality. Aside from eras (and allowances for how our society has changed during that time), what's really the difference between modern drug traffickers and the bootleggers during prohibition, for example? And although the more artistic and creative elements that have come to represent many of the revitalized Milwaukee neighborhoods are more prominent now than ever, they've always been around in some form or another (Bronzeville in the 20s, Prospect/Downer/Brady in the 60s, etc). At the end of the day, they're looking down on modern Milwaukee for not being something that it never really was.
I don't think that reflects badly on Milwaukee. I think that is a normal question to ask when moving to a place you're unfamiliar with, and it doesn't mean that everyone who asks it is thinking that anything east of Waukesha is a dangerous ghetto.
I had to ask some locals for advice about where to consider and where to avoid when I was looking for a house around here (I looked at both suburbs and the city proper). Milwaukee's geography is very confusing for someone who is new here and it wasn't very obvious to me at first which parts of the city were safe enoughthat I would feel comfortable living there. People who end up unknowingly moving into high crime neighborhoods are much less likely to stick around and contribute to the city's future than those who have a realistic idea of where it's safe.
Simply presuming that your safety would automatically be compromised if you picked the wrong area is ridiculous and unnecessary. Again... they STILL don't get it...
Feeling it necessary and even justified to ask these questions is no less offensive than if someone from the city started asking which small towns upstate were "safe" based on being free of violent raging alcoholics, meth-addicts and trigger-happy deer hunters. The only difference is that people would waste no time painting the city-dweller as a self-absorbed elitist yuppie prick.
Seriously, I'll never understand why so many people insist on moving to (or near) Milwaukee when they they think nothing of questioning its safety. Shouldn't that be a pretty big indicator that maybe the city isn't for you?
I am in total agreement with Trafton, Solas, Milwaukee City and a few others, and want to remind everyone again that the gist of all of this, is that there are so many who think that anything east of 124th Street, south of the north County Line Road, north of the south County line Road/7 Mile Road and west of the lake is Milwaukee and ghetto. (waits for all the smart ass replies)
So maybe the suburbanite can now understand that every time we tell someone who grew up in a suburban county, that we love living in the city, we always have to deal with hearing how bad it is where we live and why would we ever live there. It's gets really old after a while, always defending where you live to people who constantly just use the news for a litmus test of safety in the city, so excuse us if we get a little testy about the issue.
Location: lifelong Detroiter transplanted to Milwaukee
117 posts, read 367,927 times
Reputation: 120
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solas
Seriously, I'll never understand why so many people insist on moving to (or near) Milwaukee when they they think nothing of questioning its safety. Shouldn't that be a pretty big indicator that maybe the city isn't for you?
Dude, I'm originally from Detroit! By my standards, Milwaukee is a relatively safe place. However, still, I have never visited a large city that didn't have certain areas that were safer than others. Do you really mean to say that you don't think that certain areas of the city are more prone to crime than others? It doesn't mean that someone thinks that the entire city of Milwaukee is bad or dangerous just because they admit there are variations in crime rate.
Not everyone gets to choose where they live. I am moving to Milwaukee because of my job. Luckily I do like Milwaukee, but I couldn't leave even if I wanted to. Sometimes people just have to make the best of the area they wind up in. Thank goodness that this area is large enough and diverse enough that it seems to have something for everyone's tastes.
We all have different priorities. Maybe for you, crime isn't a big consideration in where you live. For me, it is a big concern and I want to live somewhere that I feel as safe as possible. I think some of it is also about who you are. Elderly people and females tend to worry more about crime than young men do because we're more likely to be victimized.
Another consideration for those of us who are buying houses is that living in a neighborhood that is widely perceived as dangerous, even if you don't mind living there yourself, may make it harder to sell your house for a good price later.
Right now, I live on the edge of a small city and there probably ARE more meth heads and such here than there are in a more urban area. I wouldn't be offended if someone was very concerned about living near meth addicts and wanted to know if it was a problem in this area. Every area has its own upsides and downsides. I feel comfortable saying that, as a rule, urban areas tend to have more problems with crimes like home invasion, rape, and murder than rural communities do. For some people, that is a big deal and they want to minimize the risk.
...And apparently your mythical "best area possible" for raising kids is anything like where you came from, it doesn't correspond with proper punctuation, grammar, or common sense. I want no part of it.
I'm just catching up on some of the activity in this thread. The quoted sentence above was my first impression upon reading the post that started this thread.
I don't think that the word "sheltered" is appropriate. Although I think the words "undereducated" or "ignorant" might be a bit harsh, the writing style of the OP is such that I have drawn a less than positive conclusion about the him, based on his writing style. If the grammar of the OP is any indication, I wouldn't be eager to raise a child in the OP's school system. Not knowing how to write and/or spell, is a huge disadvantage. Being "too lazy" to spell, phrase, or punctuate properly, is even more unacceptable.
As an aside, I'm curious about UWM's admission criteria. When and where I attended college, a simple spelling error--even a typo--could cut your throat, so to speak. Apparently proper English isn't a factor today. Universities are not doing a good job, if universities cannot develop students who are proficient communicators. Even allowing for the huge cost difference between my (now) $44,843/year college and UWM's comparatively cheap tuition, I still feel that there is no excuse for an academic institution to allow a competent student to graduate, if that student has substandard reading and writing skills.
I have only posted these things in the hope that the OP will reflect briefly on his education and origin, and consider that more research may be necessary before beating a hasty retreat to Waukesha.
Asking what areas are safe and not safe is not inherrently offensive. It's very reasonable and in the case of the OP'er they clearly are ignorant of what these areas are like. Even though we see these threads all the time and it's the 100th time we saw the qeustion, we should still realize that it's usually the first time the poster asked the question.
What the OP'er needs is a tour of these areas to see what they are really like. I can't scarcely think of an area of 'Tosa that is run down. I also wonder if he(she) confuses the borders of different areas. I highly doubt he's been to, or even realizes exactly where, Brown Deer is... yet he posted he "for sure" thought it was ghetto.
There are no excuses, however, for the responses given after the initial reaction from people. The OP'er seemed as ignorant on social interaction as he does the places he was talking about.
What the OP'er needs is a tour of these areas to see what they are really like. I can't scarcely think of an area of 'Tosa that is run down. I also wonder if he(she) confuses the borders of different areas. I highly doubt he's been to, or even realizes exactly where, Brown Deer is... yet he posted he "for sure" thought it was ghetto.
Thankfully he did not mention Brown Deer, or else he would have received a much more caustic response from me...
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