I know I've asked about several neighborhoods but we still haven't found a house. We've been looking for awhile now and have eliminated the suburbs due to high taxes. We don't want high operating costs.

 

We have been looking around the W. 117th and Lorain area (from W. 110 to W. 120th, from Western on the North to several blocks south of Lorain on the South). So far we like the area because they seem to have

 

fairly stable neighborhoods with some well kept homes at a reasonable cost

A Cleveland Public Library Branch at W. 116th and another one further west on Lorain

Close enough to walk or bike to the Giant Eagle

A bus ride or healthy walk to the W. 117th Rapid stop

Halloran Park

An active and engaged neighborhood organization, Westown Development

A coffee shop on W. 117th near Lorain

24 hour bus service on Lorain Ave.

Not as many bars on the doors of the homes as I've seen in some neighborhoods (which I take to mean less burglaries)

Middle Eastern grocery stores

Rennovation of the Variety Theater complex

 

The disadvantages seem

There are foreclosures in the area

It is far from the lake, downtown and the east side

The freeway cuts through the area

 

Am I right in my analysis?

 

We are also looking at homes near the Triskett stop between Triskett and Lorain which have  a little more of a suburban feel and the homes near the West Park Rapid and Lorain which has the advantage of being within walking distance to both the Rapid and a major bus line but doesn't have the density.

 

My concerns are whether or not there are  a lot of muggings and burglaries in the area. Also, if we want to sell our home in 8 or 10 years, will the area still be vialble. With all the cuts to transit service, will RTA continue to run frequent bus and rapid service that far from the city core. Also, some of the homes are colonials and some are bunagalos. We have only lived in apartments and condos, never owned a house.  I am wondering about the quality of the housing stock in these areas. Do people like living in colonials?  Were the homes well built and well maintained? I've seen some wood frame homes on the west side that didn't look like they were in very good shape. 

Hi Justine. I have a fair knowledge of the area. Two of my friends rent over on W 131 just north of Lorain.  Their house is solid, a very nice bungalow.

 

They've lived there two years and I haven't heard of any crime in the neighborhood.

 

One of the nice things about the area is that you merely have to go north on W131 past George's Kitchen (excellent diner!) and turn right onto Lakewood Heights Blvd. Make any right off of Lakewood Heights Blvd. and you are right in Lakewood, so you are also in vicinity of the resources there.

 

Another friend bought a bungalow same general area but south of Lorain. Again, beautiful house where the basement was converted into a bar back in the 50's. The wood paneling alone would cost a fortune! Again, no reports of any bad crimes. He has an infant daughter, and said he wouldn't live there if he thought it was dangerous.

 

Now when I was buying I ended up choosing Lakewood. Admittedly my little house cost more, and isn't as nice as most that are in the neighborhood where you're looking. However, police response time, city services and quality school district were very very important factors for my wife and I. Otherwise, my take is that you can find an incredible house for very cheap by Lorain. Again, both of my friends houses are way nicer than mine. And their neighborhoods seem just as safe as mine in Lakewood.

 

Anyhow, hope this helps. Good luck!

 

p.s. everywhere on the west side is "far" from the east side! But you'll be so close to 90 that you can get over there almost  as fast as if you were living downtown.

Don't forget to put "Proximity to Mi Pueblo" in your advantages column. 

Don't forget to put "Proximity to Mi Pueblo" in your advantages column. 

 

Ha ha...definitely!

The area north of Triskett on the eastern and western sides of W.140 is stable and very safe. Housing stock is usually late 40s. Almost all the homes have milk shutes--a true vestigial organ of post WWII/Pre-50s housing.

I would also add that the Giant Eagle is open 24 hours and is one of the largest on the west side. The CVS at West 117/Lorain is also open 24/7.

 

Next door to Giant Eagle is Target. There are rumors that one or two of the outlots in front of Giant Eagle/Target could be developed soon with restaurants. Applebee's is rumored to be one of them... Oy! If it's going to be a chain, I think a Damon's would do better in that neighborhood.

 

Oh, let's not forget that one of the few remaining White Castle restaurants (recently renovated!) is on West 117th just south of I-90!

 

There is also a Home Depot nearby so you can make improvements to your new home, and there is a Staples which I visit frequently since I work out of my home.

 

You mention Halloran Park, but what many people don't know is that it has the only ice skating rink on Cleveland's west side. It's a nice place to visit or learn to skate during the cabin fever days of winter.

 

Speaking of cabin-fever antidotes, another a great attraction in the area is Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park, 9801 Walford Avenue (http://www.raysmtb.com). It's truly one of the great assets of Northeast Ohio!

 

I'm not aware of any safety issues in the neighborhood, but I'm usually only passing through. I used to travel West 117th between the Gold Coast and I-71 twice daily from 1996-2009, so I'm pretty familiar with the area except when it comes to personal safety experiences. When I covered this area for the newspaper and wrote the police blotter, I don't remember seeing any crime waves or extensive amounts of incidents. To show you how the neighborhood is, a graffiti vandal tagged a few businesses in recent weeks, causing their owners to band together with police and the Westown Development Corp. in announcing a reward to catch the vandal. This neighborhood still cares about itself.

 

As for transit, Lorain Avenue is one of RTA's most heavily traveled routes. It operates 24 hours a day and is one of the few routes that has received the articulated (extra-long hinged) buses. The only route that could be threatened is the 78 on West 117th. It used to have the #50 route which was to be discontinued with no replacement service on West 117th north of Bellaire to the Gold Coast. Enough residents and businesses protested, so RTA rerouted another bus service on West 117th. It is served from 5 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. with half-hourly buses in peak travel hours and hourly-off peak.

 

If the Variety Theater does well, there will be spin-off benefits in the neighborhood. So it might worth getting in on the ground floor now. It's not a gamble, because the neighborhood is already fairly stable, with a friendly mix of Latino and Middle Eastern immigrants and older Irish.

It's been a while since I have had to travel through there regularly but the neighborhood north of Lorain centered around 130th always seemed nice and had a ton of police that lived there, so I am imagining it is very safe. Also there is Mohican Park right there, and the afore mentioned Triskett RTA station and George's Kitchen.

This is helpful, thanks.  We found some homes that are just north of the freeway between W. 117th and W. 112th with Western Ave. on the north. This looks like a good location to be able to walk to the W. 117th and Madison stop but these homes are very close to the freeway. I am wondering about pollution and noise. I have tried to find out information about both but haven't had much luck. I did find that California requires that schools be built at least 500 feet from major roadways due to pollution concerns. These homes have a small park just north of the freeway as a buffer. Does anyone have experience living near a freeway? It would be about 6 homes and a park and a street from the freeway if we moved there.

 

 

^It's part of living in a city. I live in the Old Brooklyn neighborhood exactly in the middle between I-71 and I-480, and at night you can still hear the distant, dull roar of traffic. In my opinion as long as the houses surrounding you are occupied, the day to day noises of neighbors will me much more noticeable than the white noise of a freeway.

Have you considered the Kamms Corner neighborhood?