Yours Thoughts On Ashtabula (Cleveland, Toledo: 2014, crime, townhouses)

[poor-kid]

your a f****** retard, those are the worst places to tell somebody to move into, i lived in every project complexes in the city, including the streets station av , west av, lake av, main av, the whole west side except like 2 streets is dangerous to be in unless ur a drug dealer or a gangbanger, i lived the life, and am tryin to get out dont say stuff like that if u dont kno what really the neighborhoods are about sorry everybody, look on some real s*** if u like livin in the hood bula is the place, if u like ur window bein crawled in or house shot up at night randomly bula is not, or jus move to the east side or out skirts would be best, i lived all thru the city, the city is goin down hill and has since the 80's lieke my dad used to tell me baby cleveland on deck. good luck

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by poor-kid

your a f****** retard, those are the worst places to tell somebody to move into, i lived in every project complexes in the city, including the streets station av , west av, lake av, main av, the whole west side except like 2 streets is dangerous to be in unless ur a drug dealer or a gangbanger, i lived the life, and am tryin to get out dont say stuff like that if u dont kno what really the neighborhoods are about sorry everybody, look on some real s*** if u like livin in the hood bula is the place, if u like ur window bein crawled in or house shot up at night randomly bula is not, or jus move to the east side or out skirts would be best, i lived all thru the city, the city is goin down hill and has since the 80's lieke my dad used to tell me baby cleveland on deck. good luck

Who are you referring to? Yes, the town is a craphole, but I think the previous poster was talking about it being an OK place to live if you're out in the rural parts of the county.

[blahblahx]

I've lived in Ashtabula county for 11 years. It's not that it's a horrible place to live, you just have to have the right personality. If your looking to live in the farming community and want to be an hour away from humanity then it's totally your place to be! Unfortunately if you do not wish to live out in the middle of nowhere, then Ashtabula is not the place to move to or live. Your not going to get anything you want here. The best you will ever be is a manager at the local walmart. So, if you want to make something of your life besides raise a family and be white trash I would advise you to move far, far away.

& To those who actually do make it out of here, congratulations! Stay the **** away, it's only getting worse & the people getting crazier! Almost everyone I know from highschool is either pregnant or crack heads. (:

[MHelwig]

I was born in Ashtabula and watched as the place slowly imploded through civic corruption (yes--it IS owned by the Mafia--you couldn't get a good job in the city unless you were "made"), poor planning, and a desire of plants and other businesses to be ANYWHERE else. I now live in Georgia and we actually have a functioning economy and decent schools--in other words, a place I am willing to raise my kids. As I like to tell people, Ashtabula is a great place to be FROM!

[schmave]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

Yes, it's where I grew up!

Conneaut is pretty depressed these days, but I think it would have some potential if there was ever a boost in the local economy (that is a big if). The older neighborhoods there are still intact and it has a nice lakefront, but it's not the town it was when I was a kid. Great place to grow up though.

My girlfriend grew up there as well. We were up there visiting her parents for Christmas ... they live out on the west side of town, within sight of the football stadium this time of year with few leaves on the trees. I went out for walks every day when I was there and caught myself wondering what Conneaut will be like in 20-30 years. Most of the people my girlfriend graduated from high school with in 2001 no longer live in the area ... at her 10-year reunion, most were in Cleveland, Columbus or the South now. Down the road, what's going to happen to these towns if few people stick around?
I agree some kind of boost in the economy would do wonders for a town Conneaut's size. It's beautiful up there, especially during the summer. I love vacationing up there for a few days, but I couldn't see myself ever living there. Just not enough to do on a full-time basis, as it were.

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by schmave

My girlfriend grew up there as well. We were up there visiting her parents for Christmas ... they live out on the west side of town, within sight of the football stadium this time of year with few leaves on the trees. I went out for walks every day when I was there and caught myself wondering what Conneaut will be like in 20-30 years. Most of the people my girlfriend graduated from high school with in 2001 no longer live in the area ... at her 10-year reunion, most were in Cleveland, Columbus or the South now. Down the road, what's going to happen to these towns if few people stick around?
I agree some kind of boost in the economy would do wonders for a town Conneaut's size. It's beautiful up there, especially during the summer. I love vacationing up there for a few days, but I couldn't see myself ever living there. Just not enough to do on a full-time basis, as it were.

Unfortunately towns like Conneaut and Ashtabula have become economically obsolete as industry has moved out of the US. This has happened to a lot of towns in this country. Geneva seems to be doing the best out of the towns in Ashtabula County, probably because it's closer to jobs that are lcoated towards Cleveland.

[truemuck]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

Geneva seems to be doing the best out of the towns in Ashtabula County, probably because it's closer to jobs that are lcoated towards Cleveland.

Geneva also gets a lot of tourist dollars during the summer with the wineries and people going to "The Strip" by the lake.

[SteelCityRising]

Wow. What a depressing thread.

[badguykc]

Originally Posted by schmave

My girlfriend grew up there as well. We were up there visiting her parents for Christmas ... they live out on the west side of town, within sight of the football stadium this time of year with few leaves on the trees. I went out for walks every day when I was there and caught myself wondering what Conneaut will be like in 20-30 years. Most of the people my girlfriend graduated from high school with in 2001 no longer live in the area ... at her 10-year reunion, most were in Cleveland, Columbus or the South now. Down the road, what's going to happen to these towns if few people stick around?
I agree some kind of boost in the economy would do wonders for a town Conneaut's size. It's beautiful up there, especially during the summer. I love vacationing up there for a few days, but I couldn't see myself ever living there. Just not enough to do on a full-time basis, as it were.

I live in Erie. My longtime girlfriend moved to Conneaut from the Philadelphia area, and just about every waking moment of my life is spent trying to convince her to move out of that place. Conversely, every waking moment of HER life is spent trying to convince me to move to that town.

Conneaut, Ohio is a very depressing place, it was a dump when I was growing up here in Erie 2 decades ago, and it's even worse now. The only thing Conneaut has going for it is that it still has a relatively decent and intact downtown shopping area, and I will admit that I absolutely love the D-Day celebration that goes on on the lake every year.

But let's face facts. Most people I know there drive to either Erie or Mentor for work, to shop, or to have any half decent stimulation in their life, and you know how bad our winters get up here in the Gem City. I flat out refuse to quit my job here in Erie that I've been at for over five years, to work for $10 an hour in Ashtabula County and get laid off in two months because I'm not related to the plant Foreman. Yes, I will agree with her on one thing, Conneaut is much cheaper to live in than Erie is, but the old saying is you get what you pay for. The cities and towns in Ashtabula County are depressed, and so are most of the people.

Drugs are easier for kids to get in Ashtabula County than a passing grade. My 9 year old stepdaughter-to-be is a very intelligent and bright young woman (not to mention goal-oriented), and I don't want to see her fall into the trap that most kids in Conneaut, Ashtabula, and the other towns in that county fall into. I see some of the parents of the children that she goes to school with and that she hangs out with, and to borrow another old saying... In Conneaut, the man is father to the boy. It just seems to me like generation after generation is content to live just getting by, not getting UP.

Overall, I would never choose to raise a family anywhere in Ashtabula County, and one day I hope my girlfriend comes to her senses and either moves to Erie, or we pack up and go to her native Philadelphia.

With that said, I know my post is going to upset some of the local yokel Ashtabula County cheerleaders on here, but it is what it is. There are worse places to live, but there are by far much better places as well.

[CinOh]

Ashtabula's best days are behind it. We passed through there recently. There was a sign outside of a local lottery convenience shop that warns patrons that they are being video taped and to sell their drugs elsewhere. I've lived a lot of places and I've never seen a sign like that anywhere.

The city has a very redneck look and feel to it. The people are not very friendly. You can still see some of the former beauty in the city but what's left is fading pretty quickly. I felt sort of depressed being there.

The only way to revitalize Northeastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania is to regionalize as much as possible and to do something about the drugs. I think NE Ohio is responsible for most of the drug overdoses in the state.