Family with kids moving to PDX for school (Portland, Gresham: rentals, crime)

[Crazychicken]

Mom, Dad and three kids under 10 moving to PDX from NC this August. Mom is attending a college in SE part of town and would like to live in this general area. Housing budget is $1500 per month. What neighborhoods might meet our needs? We would prefer a home that is within walking distance to many conveniences. At this point, Craigslist isn't proving to be much help. Many thanks to those who reply!

[oregonn8v]

Crazychicken:

First of all, welcome. I hope you find the answers you are looking for.

A bit more information on the actual school would be helpful. Just off the top of my head I can think of four schools in SE Portland; Reed College, Western Seminary, Concordia University, and Oregon College of Oriental Medicine.

These four schools are not close to each other, so recommending a neighborhood will be hard.

Reed College (Eastmoreland Neighborhood): Very expensive place to live and not many homes/apts for rent...primarily owner occupied. About 10 blocks east puts you into the Woodstock Neighborhood and 10 blocks north puts you into the Creston/Kenilworth Neighborhood. Both decent areas. More rentals in Creston/Kenilworth.

Western Seminary (Montavilla Neighborhood): OK Area right around school but a little sketchy as you get more than about 10 blocks out in any direction.

Concordia University (Woodlawn Neighborhood): Definitely up and coming. The further south you go from the school the better the neighborhood.

Oregon College of Oriental Medicine - OCOM (Mill Park Neighborhood): Fair neighborhood but I would not live around there if I had a choice.

With that said, you are also probably interested in schools for your kids. Here is a link to the Portland Public Schools; Schools - Portland Public Schools which will allow you to put in any address and see which elementary/middle/high schools serve that address. You can then also view the school rankings.

Once you know of some specific schools, ask questions about them and people can give a better answer. Also, since your kids are all under 10 and your wife is attending school for 2-4years (I would assume), you don't need to worry about which High School. Probably only elementary and middle.

Portland also has a lottery option that will allow you to move your child to any school in the district, but as its name would indicate, it is on a lottery (slightly weighted) system...luck of the draw. Also, you are too late for the lottery for this coming fall so you would be required to enroll in your neighborhood school.

Hope this at least gives you a jumping off point. Let e me know if I can follow up any further.

[Crazychicken]

Thanks so much for the information. I'll be attending Birthingway College of Midwifery which is located at 12113 SE Foster Rd.. Are there any areas near the school that we need to avoid??

Thanks Again. This information is invaluable to us!

[oregonn8v]

OK...well I did not name that school, but congratulations. An exceptional career. The principal at my eldest daughter's schhol is a midwife.

Anyway, that school is located (esentially) at the intersection of SE Foster Rd. and SE 122nd Ave. These are both major streets.

I did a bit of looking and it does not appear as though this is in the Portland Public SD or in the North Clackamas SD. I will need to look a bit more to find out.

This area would be cosidered Far East County or Deep East County...simply meaning that it is not close to downtown portland.

Here is a link the the crime map for the area. I don't want this to encourage or to scare you...it is simply data. I will research the area a bit more and see if I can find you some links to appartments or homes for rent in the area..I don't know this part of town very well.

Crime Map: CrimeMapper Detail Report

[Crazychicken]

Oh my...thanks for the link to the crime map. We live in a small, relatively safe southern town so city life will get some taking used to! So it sounds like inner SE may be a better bet for us?

Wow...a principal and a midwife! Now that's a superwoman!

[oregonn8v]

Again, I did not want that map to startle you but I want you to have the best information to work with. It is going to be easier to direct you to a neighborhood if you tell me what your transportation options are going to be. Will you have one car, two cars? Portland is very bike friendly and it is often easy to ride to different areas.

This is going to be a generalization (and I may get flamed by others), but if you look at a map of Portland you will see I-205 runs South to North on the East side. Typically areas to the East of I-205 are less desireable that areas West of I-205.

If you have a car to get to school, I would suggest looking in the Lents neighborhood. It is not to far, the area is on the upswing, and you will likely find a rental for a reasonable amount of money.

Reagarding a house/appartment...do you have a minimum number of bedrooms you require? Does you rental allotment include utilities? Keep feeding me info and I will do what I can to help you out.

[Crazychicken]

You are really generous to keep providing me such good information.

We need a 3 BR house that will allow 2 dogs. We have two cars so transportation won't be too much of an issue. I will look into Lents. What can you tell me about Milwaukie?

[oregonn8v]

Milwaukie is a nice community just south of Portland. It is part of the North Clackamas School Distric which is has a number of good elementary schools.

There are definitely some better parts of Milwaukie than others.

Here is a listing on Craigslist that may be along the lines of what you are looking for; Single story house w/garage, fireplace, fenced yard (http://portland.craigslist.org/clc/apa/1236213832.html - broken link)

It is fairly close to Clackamas Town Center (large mall) and good freeway access to I-205 so you would likely have less than a 15 minute drive to the school...only 1 or 2 exits north on the freeway.

Another area to look would be Happy Valley but you will find that a car will be required to get to about anything where in Milwaukie you would be able to walk to a number of items.

[Nell Plotts]

I wouldn't choose Lents.

[mobilemindstationaryreality]

Originally Posted by oregonn8v

This is going to be a generalization (and I may get flamed by others), but if you look at a map of Portland you will see I-205 runs South to North on the East side. Typically areas to the East of I-205 are less desirable that areas West of I-205.

That is a very big generalization and one I would have to disagree with. 82nd Ave is west of 205 and from what everyone has said on these posts, it's an area to avoid. I've actually driven down 82nd a lot and it's just a city street full of businesses. Granted it doesn't have artist galleries/organic restaurants/hipster places on every corner, but I didn't find anything scary about it to avoid. I have seen quite a number of prostitutes out at night though.

East of 205 is mostly suburban residential housing that has a long history of working class roots. And 122nd and Foster is hardly east or deep east county. East Portland is Mid-County, Gresham/Troutdale is East County, and areas like Corbett could be considered deep East County.

I have worked in the David Douglas School District (one of the largest school districts in East Portland) and I find that it has its priorities straight. Compared to Portland Public, it is not facing any financial issues at this time. They aren't laying off anyone. If you move to the Foster area, your kids will probably go to Gilbert Heights or Gilbert Park Elementary. They are excellent schools and I would recommend them to anyone.

Most of the neighborhoods near your college are quiet and cheap. It's too bad a lot of people can only see things from their own overpriced neighborhoods. Good luck!