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Old 11-12-2017, 08:58 AM
 
4,861 posts, read 9,260,105 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Aguilar View Post
Thank you for all of these suggestions, noted for when we return!

It's good to hear that the economy is doing better -- if we are ever to make the move, we can take our jobs with us.....no sense in continuing to live in our current COL area when both of us are pretty tired of it anyway!
I would also recommend that you visit between mid-May and late October because the weather during those months is usually gorgeous here and everything is much prettier with the flowers in bloom, etc.

It is nice to hear a fresh perspective on our area from someone who isn't from here and has never been here before. I didn't grow up in Toledo proper but it was our go to "big city" when I was growing up and my DH is from Toledo so we lived there for a few years after we got married. IMHO, I think Toledo gets a very bad rap from the rest of the country when it really is full of hidden gems: a very low COL, lots of nature and terrific parks and waterways, friendly people, easy access to major highways and other larger cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago, and relatively little traffic congestion, one of the things I hate most in life. I know so many people who have left this area and moved back (including us a few years ago) because they (we) didn't appreciate what we have here and had to find out the hard way. The grass definitely wasn't greener, and in fact, in our case, it wasn't even green at all because we stupidly moved to Phoenix... We couldn't wait to get back home and we won't be leaving again!
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Old 11-15-2017, 01:19 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by canudigit View Post
I would also recommend that you visit between mid-May and late October because the weather during those months is usually gorgeous here and everything is much prettier with the flowers in bloom, etc.

It is nice to hear a fresh perspective on our area from someone who isn't from here and has never been here before. I didn't grow up in Toledo proper but it was our go to "big city" when I was growing up and my DH is from Toledo so we lived there for a few years after we got married. IMHO, I think Toledo gets a very bad rap from the rest of the country when it really is full of hidden gems: a very low COL, lots of nature and terrific parks and waterways, friendly people, easy access to major highways and other larger cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago, and relatively little traffic congestion, one of the things I hate most in life. I know so many people who have left this area and moved back (including us a few years ago) because they (we) didn't appreciate what we have here and had to find out the hard way. The grass definitely wasn't greener, and in fact, in our case, it wasn't even green at all because we stupidly moved to Phoenix... We couldn't wait to get back home and we won't be leaving again!
LOL on the grass not being green at all in Phoenix lol!

I agree though I didn't realize until I left what a gem Toledo really is. I'm very happy that I moved back 3 years ago.

IMO the people here are the best. I've lived in quite a few different cities and prior to moving home, I lived in metro Atlanta, and it has been refreshing to be back home. We have the best folks around here IMO. Nice, down to earth people and I also am happy to get 4 seasons again.

Toledo is also a good place to raise a family. My kids love it here better than Atlanta where they were born, my oldest because, as you noted, less traffic and we don't spend 2-4 hours in the car everyday anymore.
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Old 11-17-2017, 02:15 PM
 
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David, great comments from someone who wasn't born here. These days people can be negative so it was refreshing to read through your post.

While I was born here, I did spend quite a few years away from Toledo. Six years in the Navy, and after coming back for nine years moved and stayed away for about eight and a half years. Many times when I mentioned I was from Toledo people would get a smirk on their face, people who had never been here. I recall my father saying people who move away always seem to come back. Didn't think I would but here I am, back since 2007.

Some places you might consider if you're ever back and make a mini-vacation out of it:

The Toledo Zoo - I haven't been there in decades but it's supposed to still be a great zoo. You can take a virtual tour here: https://www.toledozoo.org/

Some of the theatres and even the Huntington Center (very close to where you took the pictures of downtown Toledo), offer plays and other entertainment. For example, Mannheimer Steamroller will be at the Stranahan Center on November 30th, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra will be at the Huntington Center December 1st. The Valentine Theatre is another one to consider.

Botanical Gardens is a place some people really enjoy. I've never been there. Looks like there site is down, but this is a short description of it by Toledo Metroparks: https://metroparkstoledo.com/explore...anical-garden/ Maybe you mentioned this one in your post I don't recall.

My impression is that Toledo didn't get a bad rap until at least the 1980's. I could be wrong. My impression also is that a lot of people from Cleveland like to put our city down. Might be because they want to deflect from the negative comments about their city from around the country? Guess they figure Toledo being less populated than Cleveland and being close to Michigan make us easy targets.
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Old 11-18-2017, 06:53 AM
 
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The Botanical Gardens are one of my favorite places on the planet, and I make a habit of touring gardens wherever I travel. And what speaks volumes for Toledo: this incredible space remains free to the public except for a few special events per year.

Here is a teaser photo of my favorite TBG sculpture, taken in October 2012.
Attached Thumbnails
Trip to Toledo last weekend!-bird-woman-october-2012.jpg  

Last edited by Rebek56; 11-18-2017 at 06:54 AM.. Reason: Checking for photo upload
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Old 11-18-2017, 09:45 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OhioJB View Post

My impression is that Toledo didn't get a bad rap until at least the 1980's. I could be wrong. My impression also is that a lot of people from Cleveland like to put our city down. Might be because they want to deflect from the negative comments about their city from around the country? Guess they figure Toledo being less populated than Cleveland and being close to Michigan make us easy targets.

toledo always had a bad wrap because of their willingness to accept money in turn for a monopoly on a certain business or service. you kill your economy when you tell certain businesses you don't want them here. then beckon others to come here and wonder why they won't accept your phone calls.

also their unwillingness to do simple things such as road work or expansion to keep their city current.
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Old 11-18-2017, 12:08 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by acealive1 View Post
toledo always had a bad wrap because of their willingness to accept money in turn for a monopoly on a certain business or service. you kill your economy when you tell certain businesses you don't want them here. then beckon others to come here and wonder why they won't accept your phone calls.

also their unwillingness to do simple things such as road work or expansion to keep their city current.
I'm no fan of the way the city has been run, and it was partly responsible for me wanting to leave in the 1990's, but people from around the country, including Cleveland, don't know what's going on here.

As for the roads, there's been a ton of construction on the highways, and some streets have been repaved, although more needs to be done no doubt. Imagine that's a problem many cities have considering how over-priced repairing them is, including filling in potholes.
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Old 11-19-2017, 06:24 PM
 
Location: Alaska
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You don't make any sense, how is the Toledo area prettier than metro Detroit? southeast Michigan is surrounded by hills, thousands of inland lakes and dense forest, etc. They're only a few miles apart there really isn't much difference. I don't think you explored Detroit enough, did you even go Belle Isle or the DIA? There is much more to southeast Michigan than Canton and Grosse Pointe...
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Old 11-19-2017, 08:09 PM
 
Location: Arvada, CO
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gordonsettler View Post
You don't make any sense, how is the Toledo area prettier than metro Detroit? southeast Michigan is surrounded by hills, thousands of inland lakes and dense forest, etc. They're only a few miles apart there really isn't much difference. I don't think you explored Detroit enough, did you even go Belle Isle or the DIA? There is much more to southeast Michigan than Canton and Grosse Pointe...
Ok Mr. Bone to Pick, chill out. We don't need to play semantics, especially since there are prettier places than both.

It was IMO, especially given the limited time I had in each. However, I would say because it seemed Toledo has denser trees, and because of the big wide river (IMO the Maumee is more scenic than the Detroit, though I did enjoy both).
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Old 11-19-2017, 11:35 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OhioJB View Post
I'm no fan of the way the city has been run, and it was partly responsible for me wanting to leave in the 1990's, but people from around the country, including Cleveland, don't know what's going on here.

As for the roads, there's been a ton of construction on the highways, and some streets have been repaved, although more needs to be done no doubt. Imagine that's a problem many cities have considering how over-priced repairing them is, including filling in potholes.

agreed! i'm all about doing something right the first time. they always pick the lowest bidder. and most of those idiots dont even have a store front. its people running paving and striping businesses out of their homes.....that just happen to know city leaders. pave streets in cement. period.

when they go "hey we paved 15 miles of street this year" alot of the time they repave some of the same streets. meanwhile streets in the inner city are falling apart.

the widening of 75 should have been completed 15 years ago. thats how far behind toledo is progess wise. they seriously didnt think they needed to widen the freeway until jeep mentioned it.
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Old 11-21-2017, 08:57 AM
 
16,212 posts, read 10,749,036 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by acealive1 View Post
agreed! i'm all about doing something right the first time. they always pick the lowest bidder. and most of those idiots dont even have a store front. its people running paving and striping businesses out of their homes.....that just happen to know city leaders. pave streets in cement. period.

when they go "hey we paved 15 miles of street this year" alot of the time they repave some of the same streets. meanwhile streets in the inner city are falling apart.

the widening of 75 should have been completed 15 years ago. thats how far behind toledo is progess wise. they seriously didnt think they needed to widen the freeway until jeep mentioned it.
FYI - I75 being widened is not something that is funded or managed by the City of Toledo. It is an ODOT/state project.

I used to be a project manager for roads/highways in another state and many people are unaware of the fact that cities really don't have anything to do with interstate highways, county, or state roads. The cities only control "city" streets/avenues/roads and no other. They can try to lobby the feds/state/counties to fix/repave certain roads, but it is not up to the city.

In regards to companies being low quality who are paving, I know that in the City of Toledo there are only a handful of asphalt paving companies. FWIW I always try to get young people interested in starting a paving company because there is a lack of them really all over the country. None of them in Toledo are paving streets out of their homes lol. Smaller companies do usually fill in pot holes because they are not anything all that technical, but for striping/repaving, those are big companies or subcontractors of big companies and none of them are run out of homes. Usually 2-4 companies in this area do all the paving in Toledo because local companies do get a preference in city bids and there just aren't that many companies in the city that can do large striping/repaving projects.

FWIW when I worked in Atlanta, there weren't even that many companies down that that were local who did street paving. Their interstates are great down there (again, federal or state road) but their inner city roads are crappy too.

I honestly don't think Toledo's are all that bad considering I've driven to every major city in Ohio over the past 3 years quite frequently for work and I've been to various large and small cities in MI and some in IN as well and all of them have bad roads within the city boundaries. Indianapolis was very surprising how crappy their streets were, worst than Toledo IMO. I also drove around Kent, OH for a business trip and MAN they had some craters in Kent. I had to do 15-20 mph down many of those streets for fear of damaging the rental car.

ETA: Wanted to note as well that cement is a good alternative to asphalt but there are lots of composites used as well in paving streets. Most agencies/cities don't use cement for roads because its more expensive than apshalt or composite materials. People already don't want to pay for streets to be repaired and the cost is pretty high for a concrete road. However, concrete does last longer so I do agree there should be more of a cost/benefit analysis at play and what the maintenance cost of the surface will be.
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