Is Toledo REALLY that bad. (Dayton, Youngstown: best city, homes, buy)

[canudigit]

While I would agree with everyone's comments about how Toledo is making strides in the downtown area, what I find to be a disturbing trend is how previously safe, well-kept neighborhoods are quickly changing, and we all know that once an area starts to slide, the likelihood of it coming back is poor. Take Library Village, for example. My husband grew up there and up until about 5-6 years ago it was still a largely safe, middle class neighborhood. Today, homes that once sold for $75,000 and up are selling for $25,000. Crime is escalating in that neighborhood as well (remember the guy who raped the woman on the sidewalk on Royalton Rd. in broad daylight, anyone?). We lived there as recently as the late '90s and it was then still a safe, attractive neighborhood where I used to take my babies for walks in their strollers down the very streets where I wouldn't walk by myself now, let alone take my kids for walks on. Another area is the Douglas Rd. corridor between Sylvania Ave. and Monroe St. When I first came to Toledo, those apartment buildings were all well kept and filled with working people. In fact, we invested in a couple of buildings there because it was such a nice area and great rental market. Today it isn't safe to leave your door unlocked during the day along that street. Once a couple of years ago, my husband and I were over at one of our buildings doing yardwork when a strange man burst out of the back door and ran down the street. When we entered the building to see what he was doing there, we found that he had defecated in the laundry sink in the basement. GROSS, to say the least.

It's all good and well to put money and resources into making downtown viable again, but when you let the core residential neighborhoods rot in the meantime, what is the true quality of life in this city? Right now we would like to sell our rentals, but the values have plummeted so drastically that we would have to take a huge loss. So do we hang onto them and wait years to see if the values ever come back, or do we dump them now and just eat the loss?

Toledo could be a great city. Toledo once was a great city. Toledo needs help, and they could start with all new leadership where the most important factor to getting elected is not if you are a member of the party that supports Big Labor and are related to someone who is already entrenched in Toledo/Lucas County politics, but if you are truly qualified and can offer true leadership and fresh ideas. I am tentatively waiting to see if Mayor Bell can live up to his position as a bi-partisan leader with no strings. I truly hope that if this is so, then he is only the beginning of a lot of fresh blood in the leadership of the city of Toledo and Lucas County. Many of us are counting on it.

[ryansmith]

Toledo neighborhoods are all in a state of change after the housing crisis... we may not fully understand how the housing crisis has affected many neighborhoods until the market is robust again. I will say that Library Village seemed to have more than its share of foreclosures; it is unfortunate to hear that it has had such a negative effect on the neighborhood. I personally think it can rebound, but I am sure some will disagree.

I have found that the houses that sell in that price range have serious problems (often because of being vacant after forclosure.)

[PhillytoCincy]

I think you see this problem everywhere in most neighborhoods in America. People do not realize how vast this housing crisis is. This is the reason the economy is where it is. I was in the south, and there were entire "new" neighborhoods where people had just uped and left. It's pretty sad all across the country.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Beavercreek33

I think you see this problem everywhere in most neighborhoods in America. People do not realize how vast this housing crisis is. This is the reason the economy is where it is. I was in the south, and there were entire "new" neighborhoods where people had just uped and left. It's pretty sad all across the country.

Some of the stories are indeed sad, but on a whole, as a person in my early 20s trying to get a start in life, I have to view lower prices as a good thing for me.

[villageboi_937]

Dayton is worse,trust me

[lastonestanding]

Originally Posted by villageboi_937

Dayton is worse,trust me

Im not disagreeing with you, but I have family in Trotwood, its not that much worse.... Its pretty much the same.

[Kitty4761]

As a Toledo resident for over 20 of my 30 years, I can safely say that I wouldn't recommend anyone moving here long-term. Speaking as one of the statistics in the "just above the poverty line" category, Toledo just isn't friendly to families who can't afford a 5- or 6-figure education. Sure, there are some good areas still, but as stated many times before, most of the neighborhoods are on the decline, & it's mostly because the concept of "neighbor" has gone out the window. No one cares about their neighbors or their neighborhood, not when they're looking out for "#1." We have friends living all over the city, & going anywhere is always depressing. The neighborhoods in the South End have 1 vacant, boarded-up house for every 3 that are inhabited. There aren't enough police officers to control the crime after the layoffs. And there just aren't any life-sustaining jobs in this city, unless you move here with a completed education. UT may be a good choice for students who have families to support them, but it's worthless to many of the actual residents. My husband and I have 3 jobs between us to make ends meet. We can't afford to go back to school, because if we take the time out from work we couldn't afford to have a roof over our heads or to feed & clothe our son. But without a higher education, there's nothing better here than minimum wage. Even having an education is no guarantee of making a livable income.

My mother-in-law works for TPS, which has completely taken a turn for the worse. Many sports, arts & music programs have been cut, & teachers & school staff have had to take cuts in hours AND pay. Between the budget cuts, embezzlement scandals & lackluster voter support, I'm surprised Toledo still has public schools. Half of the TPS students who make it through high school can't (or won't) even speak proper English.

I live in one of the more friendly, neighborly areas (off Heatherdowns by the Stranahan Theater), & we still have inconsiderate jerks that try to make life miserable for the upstanding citizens. As C-Dawg said, the brain drain is unbelievable. I was living in the Hunter's Ridge apartment complex (Airport & Byrne) on July 4 2008, when some genius decided to light fireworks off INSIDE THE BUILDING & burned down half the complex. We were lucky enough to be in one of the buildings that stayed up, but I was completely astounded by the number of people who just didn't care. I would estimate that roughly half of Toledo's population are so completely self-absorbed that if their neighbor was on fire, they wouldn't urinate on him to put the fire out if they even noticed the problem. If someone doesn't know you personally you might as well not exist, unless you do something to irritate them, then you might as well paint a target on yourself. We have been lucky to have only had our car stolen once, & we did get it back (minus the battery). canudigit also made a good point, bringing up the unfortunate rape on the sidewalk in broad daylight. There were people driving by as it happened, & no one bothered to stop to help or even call 911. They just glanced over, looked away & kept on driving. If it's not happening to them, then it's not happening. We recently had a woman attack a hair stylist for "messing up" her daughter's bangs after leaving the child alone in the salon to smoke, then try to play the victim & sue the salon, saying she needed plastic surgery to repair the damages made when the salon manager stepped in to defend her employee from the attack. There was another recent incident at a grocery store where 2 women got into a fistfight in front of their small (& crying) children just because one didn't hear the other say "excuse me." People in this city get all worked up & do stupid, mean things for the most insignificant of reasons. The more insignificant the perceived "insult", the more violent the reaction tends to be. I know this happens every day all over the country, but it seems to be very concentrated here. There are plenty of good people out there who care & want to help, but even they feel too overwhelmed to try to do anything to turn the city around. There are isolated pockets of BlockWatch groups & close neighbors who look out for each other, but none of them are in the areas that need them most. Even the presence of the Guardian Angels hasn't done much to help, although they are trying.

Toledo's government may be pouring a lot of money & effort into rebuilding downtown, but the rest of the city is being allowed to fall to rubble. Approximately 1 out of 10 buildings are empty & unused (counting both residential & commercial), many of the streets are actually hazardous to drive on due to potholes, & road construction often goes on for years only to have to be restarted immediately when it's done because it wasn't done correctly. There also seems to be something about Toledo that makes every person with a car think they own the road & that traffic laws apply to everyone but them. It's not all that safe to be a pedestrian either, since many areas lack sidewalks, & many of the sidewalks that exist are in bad shape & are not usable in winter since they are not cleared of snow & slush unless a private citizen attaches a plow to the front of a snowmobile to clear them out of the goodness of their heart. (By the way, to the person who does that for the stretch of Byrne Rd between Airport & Glendale, if you read this, thank you with all my heart!!)

The drug problem in Toledo is mostly ignored & swept under the rug. I can't even remember how many times I called the police about drug use & sales in and around our old apartment building, & the officers didn't show up for at least 4 hours, if at all.

Bottom line, if you're moving here to get an education & then leaving again, you'll be fine. If you're moving here to settle down, start a family & live out your life, please check into ALL of your options first.

[YOUR'S TRULY]

look if u ain't in it to win it then move becuz 9.9x's out of 10 if u in the way that way gets u (seriously 4 real )so stay out the way even in the day time when u come outside to get the mail always remember to look both ways and behind u but first get your gun license and a 9mm(16 in the clip and 1 in the chamber) with 2 extra full clips and keep it in the pocket that you sign your name with and use your weak arm to fend people off while rapidlly squeezing the trigger until it's empty or your the only one still breathing, look i know it sounds crazy but if your on this site then then curiousity just killed the cat if you know what i mean. just imagine oneday it's you when people are high off of(weed) and drunk and took 2 or 3 of them x pills decide to attack you and your family is waiting for you to come back home or pick them up and these type of people that won't even remember what they did or why they are in jail decide to attack you. JUST REMEMBER I SAID TOMORROW IS NOT PROMISE SO WHY NOT PLAY IT SAFE TODAY. FROM THE ONE AND ONLY ''YOURS TRULY''

[ryansmith]

There are areas that the brain drain is bad and there are areas that are unfriendly, but lets not make sweeping generalizations. I have a masters degree and choose to live here. My neighborhood is very friendly.

[ZnGuy]

I used to visit Toledo alot in the 90's and stayed downtown until I got tired at staying at second class hotels and tenants at Portside closing up shop. If it wasn't for the turnpike I probably would go thru the area. IMO lots of nasty areas in Toledo. I used to call the area 'Little Detroit' due to the bad areas (rundown, crime, lock your doors and keep moving) similar to Detroit, although on a smaller scale.