It's getting really old to see people repeatedly told not to live in Durham b/c of the false belief that violent crime is happening all over the city and all the schools are "bad". City-data posts are one of the primary search results that come up when googling (I use google exclusively so can't speak to other engines) and it's very disappointing to see people in neighboring cities tell relocators not to live here.
Before we bought in Durham we were strongly urged several times (including by two realtors) to not even look in Durham. Not one of them - which they each admitted - was actually familiar with the city. One was my own husband who had never been past an industrial area by RTP and wasn't even aware Durham had a downtown
An incredible downtown btw (see some of the photo threads stickied to the top of the triangle forum).
We *almost* didn't look b/c of all the negativity but I began talking to moms
Moderator cut: removed who actually lived in Durham (N, W, and SW areas) and slowly began to discover on my own what a great place it is for families. Another big factor was finding the website we-love-durham.com which showed many of Durham's positives.
The reason I even began to dig deeper was that I LOVED SW Durham's central location combined with all the incredible shopping - Streets of Southpoint as well as ALL the big box stores within a few miles (yes I'm shallow that way) -in the area. My husband ended up getting a job in N Chapel Hill, but with four children # of bedrooms was important to us and Chapel Hill's per sq footage prices were almost the same as what we were trying to get away from in Northern Virginia. Also, if my husband ever needed to work in RTP, it would be an extremely short commute to there as well. Now his commute to N Chapel Hill is 12 mins! We wanted to maximize the time he spent with the children every day and our suburban Durham location does just that
Speaking of suburbia...while people always tout downtown Durham's fabulous urban lifestyle, what is less often advertised is that Durham also boasts many many heavily treed suburban subdivisions (Durham is plagued/blessed with HOA's too), and in north Durham county areas that are still very rural and/or back to protected forests.
I also researched the schools b/c I kept hearing the blanket statement that all Durham schools are "bad". I discovered that there are indeed two high schools that are doing very poorly. They also happen (not surprisingly) to channel out of the high crime areas in the city (as well as areas that don't have violent crime issues). However, as I've posted elsewhere, the other three high schools in Durham are in Newsweek's top 1300 high schools in the US, with Jordan High School ranking #190. Here are all the NC high schools listed:
America's Top Public High Schools - Newsweek America's Best High Schools - MSNBC.com (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18757087/?sort=Rank&count=1236&start=0&limit=100&year=2005& Search=NC - broken link)
This comparative speaks for itself as to a Durham public school education being on par with that of neighboring counties (and note that the includes scores from the two struggling high schools!). A quote - "the bottom line is that Durham compares favorably, and families can reliably focus relocation decisions on the communities that fufill lifestyle preferences and lessen traffic and commute times"
http://www.durham-nc.com/pdf/2006school_scores.pdf (broken link)
Durham was ranked the sixth smartest city in the US by Forbes.com (see link below) The city is packed with highly educated people, many of whom send their children to Durham public schools
Forbes.com also has Durham listed as the #7 best metro area for business or career. It's known for having an inordinate amount of creative people - a lot of advertising, marketing, etc businesses are here. And Research Triangle Park is almost entirely inside Durham county. The smartest city ranking is as a result of the high proportion of Durham residents who have degrees and advanced degrees:
America's Smartest Cities - Forbes.com
Here Durham was ranked the #3 best small city for relocating families:
http://www.primacy.com/resources/PRIM-5472.pdf (broken link)
Sperling's "City's Ranked and Rated" book has the Durham metro area ranked as #15:
Amazon.com: Cities Ranked & Rated: More than 400 Metropolitan Areas Evaluated in the U.S. and Canada: Books: Bert Sperling,Peter Sander
Crime is another reason often cited as a reason to not live in Durham, yet the crime rate has been decreasing steadily since the early 90's. The city's crime reputation however seems like it's never going to budge
This past year alone Durham's murder rate dropped by 57%, from 35 murders in 2005 to 15 murders in 2006. In another thread I posted the outgoing police chief's letter to the city about what they've been doing to lower the crime rate. It's really neat how involved they are in the community as well. Note he says that the violent crime rate is even lower this year.
//www.city-data.com/forum/ralei...ice-chief.html
Looking across the state, the below North Carolina cities had higher violent crime per 100,000 people rates than Durham in 2005. Should noone ever live in these cities either?
Burlington
Charlotte
Fayetteville
Greenville
Just some of the
many many cities in the US with higher violent crime rates per 100,000 people than Durham in 2005 (the one that really surprised me was Lafayette, LA b/c it's violent crime rate in 2005 was MUCH MUCH higher than Durham's but I went to college there and it definitely didn't have a dangerous city reputation
)
Harrisonburg, VA
Hot Springs, AZ
Lafayette, LA
Kansas City, KS
Fresno, CA
Indianapolis, IN
Jacksonville, FL
Dallas, TX
Albuquerqe, NM
Anchorage, AK
Baltimore, MD
Charleston, SC
Here is a very long article which is definitely worth the read. Very interesting, thoroughly researched, and well written. A Duke undergrad was assigned an article concerning Durham's image problem. He was chosen b/c he was new to the area and therefore a clean slate. Check it out:
Independent Weekly: News: Durham: Durham: The making of an image
More positive articles about Durham:
NCGMA Feature Article - Destination Durham
Durham, NC | Media | Twenty Reasons to Build and Live In Durham (http://www.durham-nc.com/media/evergreens-backgrounders/relocation/twenty_reasons.php - broken link)
Our latest (there have been many) positive experience in Durham was on July 4th at the seventh annual Children's Processional Parade held downtown at Central Park. It was jam packed with families. The Scrap Exchange had tables set up so children could decorate their scooters, bikes, wagons, and strollers. The event was organized by the developers of Central Park, and they provided balloons, water, and popsicles. A raffle was held for children to win prizes from the Play House Toy Store on Ninth Street.
A fire engine from Station 1 was parked there, and blared it's sirens during the parade. Afterwards they hooked the fire truck up to the city water and made a huge sprinkler for everyone to enjoy for a few minutes. I got totally completely soaked (on purpose - I was one of the very few parents who jumped in) and was quite glad I wasn't wearing a white tshirt
It felt AMAZING in the 80+ degrees
My kids had a blast and we are so enjoying living in Durham. You will too
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