Looking into Fayetteville (Little Rock, Springdale, Rogers: for sale, houses, buying)

[TruBlubadger]

Paper wasps? Or WASPS with papers? Do you mean yellow jackets? I never heard of them being a problem here. Madison, WI had a farmer's market where there were plenty of yellow jackets. I always killed them easily by smacking them between my hands like I was clapping my hands quickly. People always would ask if I was not afraid of getting stung doing that. Never. If you do it quickly they don't have time to set to insert their stinger. If you miss, they soon realize they are prey, and buzz off. When confronted by other larger wasps, I immediately cover my back to a wall, tree or whatever so they can't get me from behind. Then I can use a hat, arm, or whatever to swing at them, the motion which usually frightens them away. Any other local people here every heard of this problem being some other insect that perhaps I have not mentioned? I know the horse flies here in size, compared to Wisconsin, are like on industrial-strentgth steroids, but I have never had one bother me.

[bagelw]

Yellowjackets cause problems for me. It's not very fun to run over a nest while mowing my lawn.

[TruBlubadger]

I made it back home, and here are the areas that the Places Rated guide evaluates: Costs of Living, Transportation, Jobs, Education, Climate, Crime, The Arts, Health Care, Recreation, and a combined score of all of those areas. My copy is ten years old, so I won't give you any info from it because things have changed a lot in a decade.

I agree that hitting the nest of yellow jackets can be an unpleasant experience, to say the least. In the area where I grew up in Wisconsin there was only one butternut tree, but I never got any of the nuts because there was a yellow jacket nest right near it. That was before I learned how to kill them. The tree was out in a pasture a half mile away, so it was not practical going out there at night just to collect them. Are they a major problem here otherwise?

[bagelw]

Originally Posted by TruBlubadger

Are they a major problem here otherwise?

I wouldn't say it's a major problem. They just like to build nest in my yard for some reason.

[Agingwell]

Originally Posted by Dr. Foosball

If you want a safe, small city environment, don't even consider Little Rock. I think one of the samller cities in NWA would fit you well.

The average crime rate in American cities is 320.9.

Little Rock's latest available crime rating (2008) was 775.6.

Fayetteville's crime rating in 2008 was 307.8

The most amazing statistic is murders over the last ten years:
Little Rock, AR: 410
Fayetteville, AR: 13

I think our readers need to be careful when casting a bad light on the entire city of Little Rock based upon these statistics. Please refer to http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2008/documents/variablesaffectingcrime.pdf

[Agingwell]

Originally Posted by bagelw

As much as I actually enjoyed my time living in Little Rock I would never say that LR is a better place to live than NWA. LR has all the problems of a major city and then some. NWA has just as much culture and entertainment opportunities but doesn't have the crime or the impoverished southern mentality LR has. I wouldn't even say LR has better job opportunities. It probably depends on your field. Don't get me wrong, I really like LR but it can't compare to NWA.

Based off the OPs questions, NWA (Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale) is the best bet. A friend of mine is a respiratory therapist but spends most of his time making house calls covering most of NWA and southern Missouri. He had a job here as soon as he graduated but this was a few years ago so I'm not sure what the market is like now. Your wife might be able to find a job with a vendor office. Protor and Gamble and Unilever are the two big ones but there is a vendor office here for just about every product sold at Walmart. Nickelodeon is about to open and office here.

What!? ". . . the impoverished southern mentality LR has."

[ArkansasTgirl]

When people give me a number for the answer too how bad a place is it makes me think of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe. When the supercomputer gives them the answer to what is the meaning of life...47

[bagelw]

Originally Posted by Agingwell

What!? ". . . the impoverished southern mentality LR has."

Ever heard of the blues? There is a distinct cultural difference southern cities like Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, and Jackson have that does not exist in NWA. Ain't nobody singin the blues in Fayetteville.

And before someone says it, Bikes, Blues and BBQ is not the real blues.

[joebaldknobber]

Ronnie Hawkins, Fayetteville's biggest rock star, was only a star in Canada. Well, he was also a Friend of Bill.

Originally Posted by bagelw

Ever heard of the blues? There is a distinct cultural difference southern cities like Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, and Jackson have that does not exist in NWA. Ain't nobody singin the blues in Fayetteville.

And before someone says it, Bikes, Blues and BBQ is not the real blues.

[Agingwell]

Originally Posted by bagelw

Ever heard of the blues? There is a distinct cultural difference southern cities like Little Rock, Memphis, Birmingham, and Jackson have that does not exist in NWA. Ain't nobody singin the blues in Fayetteville.

And before someone says it, Bikes, Blues and BBQ is not the real blues.

This is a rediculous analogy between the two regions of the state. Little Rock is a very progressive southern city with many of of its residents who have open minds with a positive can do attitude. Ever heard of Dillard's, Axciom, Stephens, Inc., Falcon Jet, the windmill industry? You don't attract these to your city "singin the blues." I'd take Little Rock in a heartbeat over a area of the state like NW Arkansas that deems itself a utopia.