New Transplant, Where to Live?

[deg1114]

It has been said, Northside is a developing neighborhood and there will be crime but with new residents moving in, you will find that some areas are safer than others. You can't just paint all of Northside as being crime ridden with one huge brush stroke. With new residents making Northside their home, you will find that people are more vigilent and less tolerable of crimes in their neighborhood. If you look for a place in Northside, get to know where that area is in terms of growing. I wish I could tell you specific areas to live in, but I don't know the residential area that well. I can just tell you that Hamilton Avenue has some great bars, restaurants, and stores and if you visit Northside and it seems like a good fit for you, you will enjoy living there.

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by Chemistry_Guy

In my opinion the biggest problem with Northside is that when the eccentric twenty-thirtysomething hipster types get married and choose a more traditional career, they pack up and move out of the neighborhood. I've lost track of the number of my close friends who were DAAP students, journalists, musicians, engineers, and social workers who turned 33 or so, got married, took a job with a bank or insurance company or something and went looking for a house in Mason or Blue Ash. In Oakley, by comparison, individuals are more likely to stay or at least settle in nearby Pleasant Ridge or Hyde Park. I just don't see Northside improving as a neighborhood without some serious gentrification like Prospect Hill or Mt. Adams, and I don't see the gentrification happening because of the area's geographical location.

You made a really interesting and valid sounding point, and you lost me only at the last sentence. Northside is pretty darn convenient to downtown, U.C. and Pill Hill, among others. What about the location do you think would keep it from further gentrifying? Just wondering.

[Chemistry_Guy]

Originally Posted by Sarah Perry

You made a really interesting and valid sounding point, and you lost me only at the last sentence. Northside is pretty darn convenient to downtown, U.C. and Pill Hill, among others. What about the location do you think would keep it from further gentrifying? Just wondering.

Despite some nice old architecture, Northside is perched on the edge of an industrial valley. While Mt. Adams and Columbia Tusculum have river views, Northside has views of the I-75/I-74 interchange and the Mill Creek. Some days you can smell the emissions from the local industry, and highway noise is ubiquitous. Northside is developing into a much nicer middle/working class neighborhood, but I don't anticipate million dollar condos or fancy hotels springing up any time soon. Personally I see Northside going more in the direction of Pleasant Ridge than Mt. Adams, OTR, or Columbia Tusculum. I don't consider P. Ridge to be gentrified at all, just that a critical mass of middle class families making the neighborhood better. Unfortunately, this process takes generations, while gentrification can occur blindingly fast due to the rapid influx of capital.

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by Chemistry_Guy

Despite some nice old architecture, Northside is perched on the edge of an industrial valley. While Mt. Adams and Columbia Tusculum have river views, Northside has views of the I-75/I-74 interchange and the Mill Creek. Some days you can smell the emissions from the local industry, and highway noise is ubiquitous. Northside is developing into a much nicer middle/working class neighborhood, but I don't anticipate million dollar condos or fancy hotels springing up any time soon. Personally I see Northside going more in the direction of Pleasant Ridge than Mt. Adams, OTR, or Columbia Tusculum. I don't consider P. Ridge to be gentrified at all, just that a critical mass of middle class families making the neighborhood better. Unfortunately, this process takes generations, while gentrification can occur blindingly fast due to the rapid influx of capital.

Yep, I see your point--it'll never be another Mt. Adams, that's for sure! Still, as you say, it has definite potential as a more middle-class neighborhood than it is at present.

[deg1114]

I don't think the people who are moving to Northside want or expect it to be like another Mt. Adams or Columbia Tusculum. For lack of a better word, those areas are, "yuppie". Northside is more of the, "hipster" type. Yea, sounds like my descriptions are straight out of the 50's or 80's but whatever.