Possibly moving to Lincoln..need help with good areas to live and good elementary schools... (Omaha: 2013)

[kwyff]

We are possibly moving to Lincoln from the Quad Cities (Moline area) in the next few months. My husband will be moving out without us until my oldest daughter finishes out this school year, then we will be moving out in the summer. We will have a 4th grader and a preschooler next year. I was wondering if anyone could give any advice of where in the vicinity of Lincoln, NE were the best school districts and/or the better places to live? We don't want to be right in the center of town, and would prefer to live in a quieter area where we can have a larger yard without our neighbors living right on top of us, no offense, but still fairly close to shopping, etc. . Any suggestions would be great!! We've never been to the area so anything will be helpful...

[jamielynn81]

I grew up in Northeast Lincoln, near Mahoney Park and Havelock. I really enjoyed growing up there and my mom and sisters still live in the area. We all went to Kahoa Elementary. Good luck with your move.

[Need2KnowWhy]

Below I describe the experiences I've had living in the NE-Mahoney park area the person is responding to. I lived in this part of town about 15 years

I should add that I've lived in 7 states and 9 cities that includes Lincoln, NE. I lived there a total of about 19 years. Have lived in cities of all sizes.

Of all the places I've lived, Lincoln was by far the worst. Although the people like to think they are the "heartland" of American, Nebraskans are unfriendly, tribal, narrow minded, and ignorant which is really surprising give the number of colleges there. I left to find a better career with better upward mobility.

My friends behind in Lincoln, are all under-employed, with few if any options to improved their condition, and/or worried about keeping their jobs, and that was before the recession.

Crime: other respondents have mentioned to avoid area near South and 17th etc. I've lived in that neighborhood and I'm white. I've also lived in the NE area about Mahoney Park that some mention - that's the nice place. In the "nice" neighborhood, I had a meth mom that lived next door neglecting a 5 year old that had leukemia. Police found her when following up on a bullet hole in her windshield.

I've seen drug deals (adult deals, not kids) in front of my house on the Mickel Middle School grounds in broad daylight. That same park adjacent to the Mickel Middle school grounds had a dead body dumped there.

I've had the newspaper delivery man urinate on the street in front of my house in this same area; he couldn't make the effort to at least walk over to the trees or bushes.

My car would be broken into at least every year in that "nice" area. Although none of this happened when I lived in the "bad" neighborhood. Nebraskans will scorn the blacks and underprivileged that live in the so called "bad" areas while thinking themselves to be the best of America who I should add are the worst drivers in the USA.

And there is lots of dirt on LPS. You should investigate some of the issues they've had with teachers....

Finally, if you are going to live in Lincoln, I'd still pick the NE side for the simple reason, you may have to work in Omaha and deal with the commute. Might as well be as close to I80 as possible. Actually, why not live in Omaha? Oh, cuz the Nebraskans that think Omaha should be removed from Nebraska statehood tell you it's a bad place. Cause there are different kinds of people (from other states and countries) that live in Omaha.

Note: if you live in Omaha - which is about the same cost of living as Lincoln - and you HAD to look for a job in Lincoln, your commute would at least be against traffic.

I know of no advantage to living in Lincoln.

[justmiinNE]

WOW, what a bitter and unhappy person, must suck to be you. I have lived in Arizona, Louisiana, Texas, California, Ohio, Georgia and Nebraska. I wouldn't say Lincoln is bad, when i first moved here, I drove through the supposed bad neighborhood, it was nothing compared to what I have seen in any of the other cities I have lived in. Ok, to get away from Mr. Negative. No being from Lincoln I had no bias on where to live and where my children should go to school. After a few years of living here we decided that one of the best school systems, that we had heard the most positive comments was the Norris School District. Hickman is less than 10 mins from all the S. Lincoln shopping areas, small town living, decent yard size, local youth sports, yet still close to Lincoln. Norris is looking to build a new 3-5 grade building with the opening scheduled for Fall 2013. They are very pro active in keeping up with school growth, not retro active, bringing in portables, since the school population has increased too fast. I have seen that happen in many other places I have lived. People in Nebraska are diehard Husker fans, so that is the most ribbing I ever get, also the Cajun thing since I'm a LSU fan and grew up in Louisiana, military brat. So I think if you move here with an open mind, not like somebody, you will be very happy.

[Omahahonors]

One last thing.....

No matter how massive the disproportionate the population becomes with omaha's, Lincoln's growth is over the decline of the rest of the state (which the tri cities are now growing nicely too) the rural areas and the big-business communities will always depend on each other. You cannot have business without commodities and you rarely have a good economy without business diversity.

Rural must have urban which is equally true to the fact that urban needs rural. We are a dynamic of diverse, but generous cultures with great people with economics that feed.each other. There's just some general misconceptions that are a little embarrassing to admit from both sides which have historically favored the rural areas more (and again is changing closer to neutral as time goes).

[kwyff]

Thanks so far for everyone's input...it is all helpful!

[Robg95]

Well, I do believe that the negative post was a bit realistic even if he was negative. It is the truth. If you don't mind living in a small town like lincoln that never expanded quite right. You do have to worry about being underpaid...and it is very difficult to even get one of these underpaid jobs.

[DarrellD]

Originally Posted by kwyff

We are possibly moving to Lincoln from the Quad Cities (Moline area) in the next few months. My husband will be moving out without us until my oldest daughter finishes out this school year, then we will be moving out in the summer. We will have a 4th grader and a preschooler next year. I was wondering if anyone could give any advice of where in the vicinity of Lincoln, NE were the best school districts and/or the better places to live? We don't want to be right in the center of town, and would prefer to live in a quieter area where we can have a larger yard without our neighbors living right on top of us, no offense, but still fairly close to shopping, etc. . Any suggestions would be great!! We've never been to the area so anything will be helpful...

There are no really "bad" neighborhoods in Lincoln, but you might want to avoid the areas near-near south (of downtown) and right around Lincoln High. The southeast quarter tends to have bigger lots, higher prices and more Republicans. Eastridge in east-central Lincoln is great for young families. Further southeast - including beyond the city limits is the general trend for the status-conscious. Country Club and Eastridge if you want mature trees.

[joerose]

I am a an elementary school teacher who was born in Nebraska and have been living in California. My 25 yr old daughter, 2 dogs and I are very excited about moving to Lincoln. I appreciate any input and advice anyone has for us. Will it be difficult to rent a two or three bedroom house with our two dogs? We need a fenced in back yard and a finished basement. Is the Northwest area a bad area? I am trying to figure things out, but it is really hard to do from a distance. Does anyone know of any good property management companies. Thank You!