Ellen/ parkechrist and others familiar with Cincinnati

[houseelf]

Hi Ellen and anyone else familiar with Cinci,

What do you think about Cincinnati's first ring suburbs? We will be moving to the area soon and have a strict geographic limit of 15-20 minutes within Children's. I know that Cincinnati proper has a fabulous array of crack infested areas that we would like to avoid. Most of my friends recommend Westchester, Loveland, and Mason which are fabulous, but sadly too far from the hospital. School district isn't a huge concern, but safety is. I need to be able to take the kids to the park and go for an occasional run. I've asked my friends about College Hill, Wyoming, Hyde Park, Avondale, Forest Park etc., but have received extremely mixed reviews. Hyde Park looks fabulous but I'm not crazy about having an older home without a garage. What is your two cents?

Thanks,

Kelly

[reciprocity]

I grew up in Cincinnati, but on the west side, and I went to school in one of the aforementioned crack infested areas, so I can't be of much help when it comes to the suburbs.

Hyde Park is a very nice neighborhood, and there are parts of Oakley and Clifton that are nice and very close to the hospital. If I were moving back to do anything relating to the hospital, I'd go Gaslight, Hyde Park or Mount Adams myself, but it sounds like we'd be looking for different things. Sorry I can't be more helpful with regard to living areas, but when it comes to the hospital area, I am an expert!

We live right outside of downtown in technically one of the "crack infested" areas (we have a great apartment west of downtown next to the Bible College, but the area is not very nice). Cincinnati is different than most places. In most large cities, you have lots of wealth and small pockets of ghetto. In Cincinnati, especially closer to the city, you have ghetto and small pockets of wealth.

My sister just moved to the Covedale Garden district. It is a great, very quiet neighborhood. There are also some beautiful homes in the Clifton Gaslight district. Bridgetown is also a great little neighborhood on the West Side. That is pretty far out West though, and may be too far away. I also work with a guy who is looking in Oakley and Norwood. He has been telling me about some great houses at what seem to be reasonable prices.

Things to keep in mind:
1) Look OUT not UP. Go east or west, not north of the city. Children's is only a few minutes from downtown. If you are looking at the Northern Suburbs, you will end up too far out for your husband to be happy. Covedale, Delhi, Indian Hill, Bechmont, Anderson, etc.
2) Check out Northen Kentucky. There are a lot of really nice neightborhoods close to the river, right off the major highways, which would be 15 minutes or so from Children's. Like Ft. Wright (2nd exit off 75 S).
3) When you are close to downtown (5-10 miles) remember: Sh*t flows downhill. The higher on hill you are, the better neighborhood you will be in. Also the higher price for homes, though.
4) Nothing in Cincinnati is more than 20-30 minutes away, except possibly in rush hour traffic. It is actually a fairly easy place to get around, once you know where you are going. Traveling into the city from the east or west tends to be easier than needing to get on 75 or 71 during rush hour.
5) Cincinnati is known for it's architecture. Most of the homes you will find are going to be 50-100 years old and may or may not have a garage. The homes in the nicer neighborhoods have been well kept. A lot of the neighborhoods you will be looking at are going to be older. But, of course, like any city, there are new developments going up all the time.

My suggestion: ask someone who knows the city to show you around the different areas before you even start looking for homes (I assume on the internet). You will be surprised what Cincinnati has to offer. The city has a bad rep. It is actually a really awesome city.

[samssugarmomma]

Hey Kelly,

I haven't been around much - the cross country move, start of residency, and starting a new job has been a lot harder than I thought it would be!! My response is kind of random (sorry), but I wanted to post my thoughts since we just moved to cinci.

We just moved to college hill and we love it! Where we live is what I picture when I think of "neighborhood" - people out walking dogs, kids playing in yards, people out exercising, a farmer's market down the street, etc. We hadn't even moved in yet and our neighbors invited us over for a bbq. A lot of residents (and attendings) live here in College Hill and in Hyde Park. In fact, there are three residents that live on our street and two that we know of that live the next street over, along with our real estate agent. We were also concerned about the "crack infested" reputation, but our research showed that our area is safe.

Hyde Park is supposed to be where the "up and coming" professionals are. We looked there, but the area wasn't for us.

Have you looked in Norwood? Our agent told us that Norwood is fast becoming the last affordable place to live near Hyde Park.

Have you also considered the Kenwood area? We know a few residents that live there.

When you are ready to start working with an agent, I can give your the name of ours if you want. We loved her and she is dating a resident at Childrens (that is how we got her name) so she understands the resident situation.

I just started working at Childrens and I can ask some of my coworkers where they live and how long it takes them to get to work, if you want.

Kate

[houseelf]

Thanks guys. I am getting such mixed information. Some people LOVE college hill, hyde park, etc. Others say that Hyde Park is too snooty and College Hill is too eclectic (whatever that means). It just goes to shows that everyone looks for something different.

For the record, I grew up in Dayton and while I have spent some time in Cincinnati, I have never really paid attention to the neighborhoods. My biggest issue is safety. Apparently, a peds resident was shot in a drive by shooting and attending was car jacked right outside the hospital. I guess we can scratch the Clifton and the Over the Rhine neighborhoods off the list.

Kelly

[reciprocity]

I'd be curious what "right outside the hospital" means. Although that area of Clifton (East and South) is much less reputable than other areas (North and West) so, there are some really nice parts of Clifton (I went to UC for undergrad, and used to work down on Ludlow in the gaslight district, it is a great neighborhood)

I'm not trying to convince you to live there, just not to ignore all of Clifton because some parts are bad - very few of the neighborhoods in Cincinnati are completely homogeneous.

[samssugarmomma]

Kelly,
I know what you mean about the mixed reviews! It gets to the point where you get so confused/so overloaded with info that it's hard to choose! We finally just stopped listening to everyone else and just spent time looking in areas where we could afford to live.

Re: the attending that got carjacked - I heard about this and the word is that she parked on the street, in the same spot everyday. The hospital has parking garages (which cost $10/month) but not everyone wants to spend the $ so they park on the streets around the hospital complex. From the stories that I have heard, the only time that people have problems are when they park on the street. I've never heard of anyone having a problem in the garages. Not to say is doesn't happen, but the 'protective services' does a good job policing the parking areas. And the residents get to park right next to the hospital - they dont' even have to go outside to get to the garage if they don't want to.

[Phoebe]

I just asked my friend who did fellowship at Cinti Children's. They had to be within 30 minutes and lived in Fairfield because her DH was going to Miami at the time.

They recommended Hyde Park or College Hill. I lived in Hyde Park near Oakley and I liked it there, but I wasn't married with children. I will keep digging.

Jennifer