Nashville - what's missing? (Murfreesboro, Columbia: neighborhood, where to buy, living in)

[mlp206]

Originally Posted by NY2TN

There are avenues to receive services for children with disabilities....

First stop Vandy... navigate their site.... they have plenty of services and free services as well.

I found that Wilson County schools have programs as well.

I was lead to believe that although there is no state income tax, we have more tax on food and a wheel tax among others in place of state tax.

I personally wouldn't mind the taxes going up as long as the state tax is never put into place. My thinking is that the illegals can avoid state income taxes but hey... everyone has to eat!

You have to take into consideration that I moved here from Nassau County, NY... a very highly taxed county... It is really upsetting to have to pay out so much money in taxes while the overload of illegals never paid a dime and were entitled to more than the tax payers were... sad...

I am a veteran at this ( Autism ) I am also a native Nashvillian. Vandy or The Kennedy Center is a great resource but they are the only resource and quite frankly are not able to provide services to everyone. If you have insurance your in great shape. If not your out of luck. Even with insurance the wait is sometimes a year for testing, early diagnosis or interention, there are no Psychologist, Pyschiatrist that specialize in Autism taking new patients at present. It does not matter it the child is 3 or 16. I am sure that this is true in other parts of the country as well.

[Anony-Momma]

Originally Posted by mlp206

I am a veteran at this ( Autism ) I am also a native Nashvillian. Vandy or The Kennedy Center is a great resource but they are the only resource and quite frankly are not able to provide services to everyone. If you have insurance your in great shape.

Tennessee law requires insurance companies cover kids w/ autism up to age 12 - not sure why there's an age cap, but it certainly does affect services. For-profit professionals are going after insurance money and medicaid, which means 12-and-under and 18+. The 12-18 year old age range is very under-represented in terms of therapies, services, supports.

Who advocated an age cap in that legislation? And why? That really hurt tweens and teens in a big way.

[Anony-Momma]

Before we had children, we chose to live in an area with a great school district, so that when we had children, they would have a quality school to attend. What we didn't anticipate, what parents don't anticipate, is watching a child regress after a vaccination and having to utilize special education in a school district. No one checks out the special ed programming if they don't have a child in special ed, and no one anticipates that.

Same concept applies to choosing a city or state when we're considering a move.

My experience and mlp206's experience are helpful only to families considering Tennessee who already have a child with special needs. My hope is that others will hear us and encourage state legislators to make some changes to better support these children, especially the tween and teens, in a state where the ongoing debate over whether grocery stores should be able to sell wine seems to be more important.

(Add that to the list of things Nashville is missing - no wine sales in grocery stores, for now.)

[ExIslander]

I was about to mention wine sales in grocery stores! That, and the whole distributor racket bothers me. I like the local-ownership rule, though.

As a former resident of Florida, I also miss abundant seafood, but I understand that goes with being a landlocked state. Between the fried-catfish low end and the white-tablecloth high end, there's Red Lobster and not a whole lot else. I wish we had more just plain ol' seafood joints. On the plus side, I'll also take my seafood Cajun-style and there are some good choices around for that.

[Ldoubled]

Originally Posted by nashvols

IKEA would be cool, btw...but I think in general the vibe is overrated. It's a European big box store. What separates it from American big box stores?

And Boston Market. We used to have one close by...but they closed after only a few years. Pretty decent stuff. I guess they changed from expanding stores to expanding freezer space in the grocery. Oh well.

The style of the stuff in IKEA separates it from American stores, that and the fact that you can get EVERYTHING for decorating your home in one spot.

Boston Market overexpanded I think...I just miss the ability to have fast food without (most of) the guilt.

[Anony-Momma]

Most of our IKEA buys have not held up - even the solid wood pieces.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Ldoubled

The style of the stuff in IKEA separates it from American stores, that and the fact that you can get EVERYTHING for decorating your home in one spot.

Boston Market overexpanded I think...I just miss the ability to have fast food without (most of) the guilt.

I honestly don't know why Nashville doesn't have IKEA. I think it's only a matter of time. I gladly drive to Atlanta to shop at IKEA, and I would gladly drive to Nashville to do the same. Probably half of my furniture is IKEA and it has all held up very, very well.

I think once Nordstrom is opened, other high-end retailers will take notice of Nashville. I mean good grief, if Birmingham can have a Saks, why can't Nashville?

[NatashaH]

Originally Posted by nashvols

I'm very aware of Cool Springs Brewery...I think they have some decent stuff...I wish it was more widespread, though.

IKEA would be cool, btw...but I think in general the vibe is overrated. It's a European big box store. What separates it from American big box stores?

$1 breakfast and 50 cent hot dogs.

Nashville is also missing a good shopping area in the downtown core.

[brentwoodgirl]

Originally Posted by NatashaH

$1 breakfast and 50 cent hot dogs.

Plus Swedish Meatballs and cinnamon rolls. Great cheap organizing stuff. Cute desk chairs for kids. I go to Atlanta 1-2x a year for work and I always stop at IKEA. I think Nashville is too small of a market to get one.

I totally agree with the wine in grocery stores.

The discussion about autism services is really interesting. My neighbor moved here in the fall from another state to get her autistic child help here. The neighbor doesn't work, and they stay here just for school during the week. So I thought services here must be reasonable since they are going to all of this trouble. But maybe they are just better here in comparision to their home state. The daughter is attending our public school, so they didnt buy a house here for Currey-Ingram.

[brentwoodgirl]

A couple of other things-
I would like a move vibrant downtown for residents. Memphis has some great downtown amenties and residences, I would like to see our downtown be more like that. The Gulch is great, but it's not truly downtown.

I would also like to see at least one set of really great K-12 schools in Nashville. Where you could live somewhere in the city and go straight through without having to worry about lottery/magnet/etc. Hillsboro cluster is the closest thing currently, but Hillsboro doesn't rank that high.