Back to Columbus--where to look?

[Susan Mueller]

I live in Clintonville and I really like it here. It's a friendly diverse neighborhood. It's an active community with lots of parks and trails. The down side is that there are no good restaurants within walking distance and the only bars in the area are biker bars and scary dive bars.
Plenty of coffee shops though.

I also lived in Grandview. It's ridiculously over-priced but it's a nice area with pretty neighborhoods (very similar to Clintonville). There are lot's of shops and decent restaurants within walking distance. Walk if you like to go to the bars because the cops swarm the area...I think most of the town's income comes from DUIs.

If you have kids or plan too...The public schools in Grandview are good. Clintonville is in the Columbus public school district and Columbus schools suck.

[Ron.]

Bexley for sure!! In the heart of the city but feels very "homely".

Originally Posted by 2006Buckeye

I would suggest checking out Grandview, Clintonville and Bexley, depending on your price range and the amenities that are most important. Upper Arlington has a more suburban feel to me than the other places I named, but it's still pretty close to the city and all of the city amenities.

Westerville has some great neighborhoods, but it's definitely suburbia. In addition, the Morse/161/Cleveland/Schrock area has seen an increase in crime - it's surprising how fast the area declined. I know it's Columbus (not actually Westerville), but part of the area with Columbus taxes/Westerville schools or Worthington schools has really been declining. If you do decide on Westerville, stay north of Schrock Road!

We're about your ages and live in Clintonville. If you give more specifics of what you're looking for in a neighborhood, what you like to do, etc. I'll try to give useful information.

[OH2CA]

Originally Posted by Susan Mueller

I live in Clintonville and I really like it here. It's a friendly diverse neighborhood. It's an active community with lots of parks and trails. The down side is that there are no good restaurants within walking distance and the only bars in the area are biker bars and scary dive bars.
Plenty of coffee shops though.

What you say sounds wonderful (active, diverse, lots of parks/trails and coffee houses) .. too bad about the lack of restaurants - though I can do without the bars :-)

I am moving to Columbus, single mid 40s, active/outdoorsy type and I've been told Clintonville would be a good choice.

Would you happen to know anything about Olentangy Village (Olentangy Village Apartments) ? Or any other nice places to rent?

I am looking for a quiet decent 2BR apt .. or possibly a small house to rent. I will be working downtown (Franklin U) and I hope to bicycle to work (isn't there a nice bikepath that goes downtown) though I have heard there is good bus service to downtown too.

Anything you could tell me would be great.

Thanks!

[streetcreed]

Clintonville is in the Columbus public school district and Columbus schools suck.

Actually, the Columbus City Schools in the Clintonville neighborhood and the NW side are rated on par with suburban schools. I am glad to hear you love Clintonville so much, however, I am a little disappointed you do not know about the quality schools within your neighborhood.

Columbus Alternative magnet high schools, had performance index score 106.01, that is even higher than Worthington, Dublin, some very popular suburban high schools. The Columbus Alternative High School only admits students within the district with a 3.0. Also, Columbus has schools that teach a student french and have a french speaking teach in every grade from kindergarten to 8th.

There is the Fort Hayes Art high school, which is state of the art, and rate well, I went to worthington, and friends of mine would go to Columbus Fort Hays for half a day because the art programs are that good. She is now making films in NYC.

I am not saying that every CCS is good, but if you live in Clintonville your lucky because your neighborhood actually has good columbus city schools.

[LissaHarmon]

As someone who used to work for the police dept in columbus until this past winter, let me tell you that the campus area has gotten notoriously bad for crime. In the summer, as I'm sure you remember, things get really bad city wide as far as crimes go. You most definitely do NOT want to move into the campus area. The outlying areas, however, aren't too bad. Grove City is still nice, Hilliard, Reynoldsburg, Whitehall, Upper Arlington, Grandview... All within 10 minutes or so of downtown. If you do choose to move inside of the city limits, verify who your police department is (to make certain it is Columbus). Once you do that, any department should have a similar way to do so, call in and speak with someone who works in that area (For Columbus, it would be the Community Liason Officer of the precinct through SRB-Strategic Response Bureau) to get some crime statistics on that area. They can run it down to you as far as what types of crimes happen most what time of the day and what day of the week. If they try to say otherwise then they are just blowing you off, I've seen the reports as we were given them on a weekly basis.

Best of luck!

[LissaHarmon]

Originally Posted by ChicagoRon

Bexley for sure!! In the heart of the city but feels very "homely".

LOL Bexley isn't bad, however, if you live in Bexley, keep your eyes open for Frankie Coleman (Mayor Coleman's wife) driving through the area. Normally when she drives through Bexley she is heavily intoxicated.