Clinton, Iowa (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport: apartment, neighborhood, school districts)

[QuadCityImages]

They're also at least trying to improve their downtown, including a number of projects they're currently working on. They were named one of Iowa's "Great Places" in the first round of the program, back in 2005, which got them a $1M award for riverfront improvement.

I still prefer the QC area, but I do appreciate that Clinton is trying to be proactive about their quality of life.

[HeneryHawk]

Clinton is a nice small city. It has an industrial area that isnt the prettiest, but it also has some real nice neighbourhoods too. It is the county seat, has its own minor league baseball team with a sweet little stadium. Downtown is okay, with efforts to revitalize under way. The Van Allen building is one of the true gems of architecture in the state of Iowa, being a Louis Sullivan design. It is pure looking, in wonderful shape. Nearby ( 16 miles on US 30, the Lincoln Highway ) is a nice little town of DeWitt, with nice schools and just a terrific little place, only 20 miles north of the Quad Cities and about 50 miles south of Dubuque. Fulton is across the Mississippi and is a nice little community and up and around the area are a bounty of things to do.

[JMZ]

I grew up in Clinton, Ia. I was there until I was 19 then left quickly after graduation. Depending on what your position is with living conditions; children, married, single, Clinton may not be so bad.

I left becuase it is no place for a single person, but I would contest that it is a great place for bringing up children. I am 27 now and rarely return but for yearly family gatherings.

Also, the city of Clinton has been in a economic decline for some years now. A couple of a few companies that still thrive in Clinton is ADM and Ralston. ADM is quickly eating up inexpesive real-estate along the river and practically extends the length of 1/3 the small city.

[eejm]

Originally Posted by JMZ

I grew up in Clinton, Ia. I was there until I was 19 then left quickly after graduation. Depending on what your position is with living conditions; children, married, single, Clinton may not be so bad.

I left becuase it is no place for a single person, but I would contest that it is a great place for bringing up children. I am 27 now and rarely return but for yearly family gatherings.

Also, the city of Clinton has been in a economic decline for some years now. A couple of a few companies that still thrive in Clinton is ADM and Ralston. ADM is quickly eating up inexpesive real-estate along the river and practically extends the length of 1/3 the small city.

I grew up in Clinton as well. I liked growing up there (I moved when I was in high school), but know I wouldn't fit in there now. It's very quiet, and not much in the way of a nightlife. When I lived there, the downtown area quite prosperous, but sadly, it isn't any longer.

The real estate market is very inexpensive in Clinton. North of downtown still has some very nice older homes. It's a very working-class town, with a number of people commuting to the Quad Cities.

If you visit, don't be too frightened by the Camanche Ave. stretch. There are a lot of old, very rundown buildings that are slated to be torn down for road expansion. In fact, Clinton had several rundown old buildings that have (thankfully) been torn down in the past few years. It's made a difference, I think. I visited Clinton last fall for a wedding, and it looked MUCH better than the last time I had gone there.

I went to preschool at Ashford University/Mount St. Clare. The setting of the school is quite pretty, very old and set up on the bluffs.

[dubuqueaskme]

Clinton is one of those river cities that hasn't quite realized the Mississippi River opens numerous economic doors. Dubuque and Davenport have realized this, and have coordinated, Dubuque by expanding the port with more things to do, more places to see, more condos to reside, and Davenport by revitalizing their riverfront and cleaning up the downtown a bit.

Hopefully some day soon Clinton will realize that it has potential. It does not have to stay in it's decline. The river can turn it all around! Clinton could be a great middle stop between Dubuque and Davenport, it has a great potential.

Fix up that downtown a bit, make it slightly more appealing to young professionals, singles, and families, and fix up that riverfront, add a few condos, viola! You have a tourist destination, and tourist dollars!

Now, if it were only that easy.

[dubuqueaskme]

Dubuque was in the same stage (but a bit larger) about 10 years ago. The economy was not great, there were no projects to create new economic opportunities for the area, and then bang! in the past five years we have seen tourist numbers skyrocket. We now have 1.4 million visitors per year! Most visited city in the state! Impressive considering it is only 8th largest.

[jasperhobbs]

The Grand Harbor Resort has contributed a lot to tourism growth in Dubuque. Dubuque is also helped by Galena Illinois bringing a lot of tourist to the area.

Dubuque has always been promote tourism first and unfortunately builds economy around it instead of luring good paying jobs to the area.

Jasper

Originally Posted by dubuqueaskme

Dubuque was in the same stage (but a bit larger) about 10 years ago. The economy was not great, there were no projects to create new economic opportunities for the area, and then bang! in the past five years we have seen tourist numbers skyrocket. We now have 1.4 million visitors per year! Most visited city in the state! Impressive considering it is only 8th largest.

[morethanwords]

I lived in Clinton until I was 25. The town is littered in poverty. Factories and retail stores are the lifeline of Clinton. As you can imagine, the only educated people who live there tend to be very pretentious. The quality of life there is pretty low unless you like to gamble at a small casino, spend all day at the park, hang out on the nearly toxic river everyday or bar-hop in run-down or, at best, trashy bars.

Everyone who has a decent job in that town hangs onto it with their dear life, so there isn't much room for success unless you aim low. The town can only accomodate cookie-cutter businesses with a few rare exceptions.

There are A LOT of old people and a lot of young people with kids who aren't capable of giving them a proper upbringing. (Mind you, I had my child young.) These poorly raised children are the ones who end up staying in Clinton. Everyone who has a chance leaves.

Fulton, right across the river, is a very small, quiet place to live and relatively nice. The town doesn't have much money for sufficient upkeep, but it's what you'd expect of a small town in the middle of nowhere. A place to avoid at all cost - the southern half of Clinton. There is a lot of crime and mischeif among the impoverished and bored. Not only that, but ADM and International Biproducts smell awful. Clinton was named the armpit of the state.

I wasn't impressed by the schools through my experience or my son's. Snow sits on the roads for days. Most residential roads and sidewalks are horrible. They're all crumbling... very bumpy!

On the positive side, they do have a YMCA, YWCA and the recent addition of an Anytime Fitness. The YMCA and YWCA hold activities to keep children busy. It's too bad they're not utilized the way they should be. There is a municipal pool which has been updated several times recently and charges a very small fee, but it's usually overcrowded. There is a decent public library for the size of the town. Clinton does have an overpriced university as well as a very inexpensive community college. Classes there are easy credits as far as I'm concerned. The curriculum is pretty basic, and the teachers don't push you as hard as they should. I think they have low expectations. The cost of living is very low, and I think that's why a lot of people stay there.

I hope this helps.

[DMRyan]

Sounds like my experiences living in Fort Dodge, Iowa after school. You could probably extrapolate your comments to any Iowa city in the 25,000-35,000 size range. Too big to be a nice quaint small town and large enough to have the serious problems of a bigger city without the means to pay for the problems. Maybe with the exception of Mason City and Muscatine, I find most of the Iowa cities in this size range to be "armpits." Sorry to offend anyone hailing from these towns, but Ottumwa, Clinton and Fort Dodge in that order are the worst with Marshalltown and Burlington not far behind.

[SharpHawkeye]

Originally Posted by DMRyan

Sounds like my experiences living in Fort Dodge, Iowa after school. You could probably extrapolate your comments to any Iowa city in the 25,000-35,000 size range. Too big to be a nice quaint small town and large enough to have the serious problems of a bigger city without the means to pay for the problems. Maybe with the exception of Mason City and Muscatine, I find most of the Iowa cities in this size range to be "armpits." Sorry to offend anyone hailing from these towns, but Ottumwa, Clinton and Fort Dodge in that order are the worst with Marshalltown and Burlington not far behind.

I agree. It seems that Iowa has a lot of nice small towns in the 10k and below range (Decorah, Pella, Boone, etc.), then several really troubled cities in the 20-30k range (Ottumwa, Clinton, Marshalltown, etc.), then a lot of nice cities in the 35-100k range (Ames, Davenport, Iowa City etc.), then Cedar Rapids, the QC and Des Moines, which are also nice.

It's troubling why there is this big gap in livability.