Walkable neighborhood? (Toledo, Bowling Green, Green: home, neighborhoods, purchase)

[LouiseY]

Possibly moving from Park Slope Brooklyn to NW ohio for BGSU jobs. We would live to keep our walkable lifestyle at least somewhat. Perrysburg? Maumee? We would be so happy to be able to walk around a nice sidewalked neighborhood and to a couple of shops, parks, restaurants....

[jjameson922]

If you will be working in BG, it would make the most sense to settle in the southern part of the city. Living in the suburbs, Sylvania, Perrysburg, Maumee, Whitehouse, are the areas. Both Sylvania and Maumee have old downtown areas with shops that one could walk to but you will have to purchase a much older home to be within walking distance. Locals are outdoor enthusiasts and we have a wonderful park system but it is very unusual for a homeowner to choose where they want to live just to walk down sidewalks and shop. I guess you could say it is a very mobile city.
Why not consider BG itself? It's old and quaint although the downtown area and shops would be taken over by college kids.

[FleeTheRustBelt]

Yeah, I'd agree with considering BG itself. Perrysburg is the most convenient suburb of Toledo to BG but as far as walkability goes, forget it. You drive everywhere in that town.

Really, NW Ohio is every bit as car-oriented of a place as Southern California, although obviously the traffic is much lighter. Not a lot of emphasis on walkable urban neighborhoods, and not a lot of concern about sprawl being out of control because the economy wouldn't sustain that around here. Public transit consists of only a ghetto bus system and shuttles to and from some suburbs to downtown for drunks going to baseball and hockey games.

[dodeca]

Hi Louise,
I work at BGSU, and live in Bowling Green. BG is a small town, with not a whole lot to do for the over 25 crowd outside of the rich offerings on campus. I wish there was a wider variety of restaurants as well, but Toledo has about anything save for Vietnamese food.

It's a nice place to raise a family, though you may find BG schools to be a little too pearly white. They are strong schools, but not known for being overly friendly to diversity of the color or GLBT variety. People in BG are friendly, and I like living here. There is no traffic, shopping is easy, and Toledo is about 20 minutes by car.

Good luck with your decision. I think you will like BGSU.

[LouiseY]

Thank you all so much for your information and advice! I really appreciate your time.
Best, Louise