Where do kids play in the Fan? (Richmond, Floyd: crime, daycare)

[ny_guy]

Hi! I've done a lot of research here and I'm so grateful for all the information everyone has posted about Richmond! My wife and I are considering moving to Richmond and we have a very young son, so I have a few questions.

(1) I keep reading that there are a number of young families in the Fan/Museum District, but in all my searches I haven't really been able to figure out where the kids go out to play. Do they play on the sidewalks/streets (I don't know whether traffic is low enough to allow kids to do that safely), is it mostly indoor play unless they're at a park or playground, or do people keep them in the backyards/patios (which seem very small, even in higher-priced homes)? How do kids/parents meet each other?

I ask because I'd really only prioritize having a private backyard (and thus having to move to the West End or another less-dense area, which is not my preference) if there's no easy way for my kid to play outside in the Fan/Museum District. Given that he's likely to want to play outside only a small part of most days and that I really would like to meet people, I'd probably rather be close to the action, but just wanted to find out what kids do from people who live there.

(2) Do a lot of people really sit on their front porches and talk to each other as they walk by in the Fan/Museum District? I romanticize doing that, but am not sure if it's just a utopian vision I have of living there :-)

(3) I keep reading mixed things about crime, but if we were to buy on one of the "nicer" streets in the Fan, for example (i.e., one of the ones that is a little more central and doesn't border Broad or Main/Cary), is there much of a risk of burglary or muggings? I have lived in NYC for over a decade and in some fairly not-the-best areas in my time here, but NYC is so low-crime these days that I'm not too sure what to expect in Richmond.

(4) I know that in the Northeast, daycare and nannies are both fairly common childcare options when both parents are working. I know there are good daycare centers in Richmond too; do many people hire nannies? That's another thing we're trying to figure out, and certainly if anyone has any recommendations we would appreciate it!

Thanks!

[Charlesaf3]

So annoying ios8, just ate my response. What an awful operating system.

1 - There are approximately a gazillion families with young kids in the Fan/Museum/Byrd park. I'm in that group, my daughter is 4.5, and has grown up most of her life in the area. Play is not on the street! They'd get squished. Usual bikes on sidewalk stuff. Main playgrounds are the Lombardy one, Fox school, and the one by 195. There are a couple of other ones as well. Indoors, the children's museum is basically the local indoor playground in bad weather.

We meet each other at playgrounds, nursery school, and parties/porches, its a pretty social area.

2 - Yes, they do. Porch culture is awesome. Its basically a permanently floating cocktail party. More so on some streets/blocks then others

3- Crime is just not a real issue. Its the same level as the upper east side on Madison in the 70s blocks. The suburbanites still have this picture in their heads of crime from 20 years ago, when it actually was bad. It just isn't now, I neither lock my car doors nor my house doors during the day. I'd say the Fan is a little safer than manhattan, to give you a feel. In neither do I feel the slightest bit unsafe. Not like Manhattan in the 80s when I kept my back to the wall in grand central at night... That was crime...

You'll notice that all of the people on city data who are scared of crime in the city don't live in the city, and none of us in the city are concerned about crime. You can extrapolate out from there...

4 - we do nannies, many others we know do as well. Also know a lot of stay at home moms. I'm sure daycare is huge, never looked into it.

[Charlesaf3]

oh, and go to Kuba Kuba for brunch on a nice sunday, and then go across the street and talk to the parents. That'll probably give you the best feel.

[ny_guy]

Thank you so much, Charlesaf3! That's all incredibly helpful and the area really sounds like a great place to live!

[Charlesaf3]

It really is. Doesn't have anything like New York's energy, of course, but life here is amazingly easy, and very pleasant.

[vanyali]

So is there any rule of thumb for finding the social/family blocks?

Also, do people stay in the neighborhood when their kids reach high school age? My daughter is 13 now and really would like to make friends in the neighborhood. I remember when I lived in Brooklyn years ago, everyone came with young kids and moved out as the kids got older.

[Charlesaf3]

Yes, go out and walk around on a nice afternoon around 6. But start with the houses families live in, ie Floyd is good. Skip the parts right next to VCU.

High school... that's tougher. There's traditionally been a mass exodus after elementary school, though I think that's changing, and I do know families with high school students. I'll have a better idea in say 9 years on that one... but all the families I know with young kids really strongly don't want to move into the counties, its thought of as exile.

[ny_guy]

Quick follow-up question: you note to avoid the parts right next to VCU, which I've heard from other people on city-data as well, but how close to VCU is considered too close? For example, is the area right around Kuba Kuba considered "close" to VCU, or is that considered far enough to be away from the noise of students / closer to families?

[richmondpics]

Id say from around Lombardy west should be fine.

[Charlesaf3]

Originally Posted by ny_guy

Quick follow-up question: you note to avoid the parts right next to VCU, which I've heard from other people on city-data as well, but how close to VCU is considered too close? For example, is the area right around Kuba Kuba considered "close" to VCU, or is that considered far enough to be away from the noise of students / closer to families?

As per richmondpics, Lombardy west is fine, even a block east of Lombardy, as long as your aren't on franklin or grace there. The students have been mostly pushed out by cost, but within say 4 blocks of the school you'll be affected.