What is the future of your city? (Columbus, Dayton: daycare, how much)

[bellhead]

Originally Posted by greenvillebuckeye

Born and raised in Lima as well. Moved away in 2004 to South Carolina. From what I've read and been told from parents back home in Lima is slowly becoming an education / healthcare hub for the area. Something that has been in the works for a while but is now on the fringe it seems from actually happening. 43 Town Square (the tallest building downtown) has recently been turned in to nice looking apartments for low income renters. Several new restaurants downtown that are doing well. The population continues to decrease however.

Lima has always had this problem with accepting the fact that those unskilled manufacturing jobs just ain't coming back. I'd hate to see what Lima (the whole area in fact) would look like if Husky, General Dynamics and Ford all split. Heck, even if one of those 3 split.

I still remember being in high school when Sunstrand left town and their was talk of the refinery shutting down. Those were stressful times. Almost lost quite a few friends who had parents working at those places.

Indoor malls across America are dying. Lima is not alone in that regard.

The one really good thing about Lima is the cost of living. I could sell my condo in South Carolina and use the profits to drop cash money on a decent home in Lima. In fact when I do retire in 10 years I may be the only person in South Carolina to retire back North haha.

If I didn't have a 7 year old I would have moved back up north from Savannah 3 years ago. I'm a federal employee & telework, if I had to go into the office 2 days a pay period it would have been Chicago which would have been good as it would mean Chicago locality. 4 nights a month in Chicago would have been a nice break from the small town.

Covid is forcing telework onto the boomer management people who have always been in the office & small towns hopefully see the benefits as people move back to small towns for cheaper costs of living & higher quality of life.

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by dustin183

Sounds like he is young and single. He'd be fine in a small place. But if you're a couple with a dog and a kid or single parent with a couple kids, etc, you simply need the space. That's when you start to value things differently than when you were single w/ no kids. You start to value space. You start to be more pragmatic. Priorities shift

Originally Posted by dustin183

I've moved from Ohio to CA twice. My main tip is make sure you have plenty of cash to transition.

Child-free (and vehemently so), but I'm not young. Instead I was lured out of semi-retirement to join a start-up. Such things are a bit more common in California than in LA.

Decades ago, I moved to Ohio, for work-related reasons. I joined a facility that was nearly inimitable, with a storied past, and which vied with maybe a half-dozen such centers worldwide. Times change, and needs change. So as dustin notes, "priorities shift".

The principal expense of California isn't housing; it's the state income taxes. I thank profusely Mr. John Kasich, who did so much to lower the top marginal state income tax-rate in Ohio. Instead, Gavin Newsom is going to extract his proverbial pound of flesh.

Still, there is a dynamism and a frenetic drive out here, even during pandemic times. It isn't merely wealth. It's jobs, it's foreign investment, but it's also an attitude, an openness to progress and to turning know-how into economic verve.

[Avondalist]

The past five years have been notable in how high housing prices have spread throughout the sunbelt.

The rust belt now has the cheapest housing; that is why I think it has bottomed.

I live in the Chicago metro, and it's really surprising to see how we now have a cheaper median house price than places like Charlotte and Dallas.

[mrkool]

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

Child-free (and vehemently so). .

Certainly something to be proud of...

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by mrkool

Certainly something to be proud of...

I am vehemently pro-natal. I would never move to a place where child-free advocates are so numerous, like California.

[mrkool]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I am vehemently pro-natal. I would never move to a place where child-free advocates are so numerous, like California.

Good man. Kids and grandkids are the best. Someday when they're old and feeble,, many of the anti-child advocates will ruminate about what they've missed. Having a bunch of cats isn't the same.

[Willamette City]

Back to the topic. Our little city (pop. 3300) in western Oregon is dying right before us. There used to be a nice convenience store on the west end of town. Closed several years ago. The bowling alley closed at least 10 years ago. Nice dining restaurant closed 10 to 15 years ago. A&W closed.

There are no jobs in town. There used to be several thriving mills in and around town, all closed of course. One has to drive 30 to 40 miles to get work. Most of the towns people are old and retired, as we are. There is a major east/west highway going through town. Lot's of truckers and tourists going through town, but not stopping in town.
All that said, it is a beautiful area with tall forested hills to the north and south and a world class fishing river running east/west. There is a nice ski area about 30 miles east. There are a number of flood control reservoirs that provide good fishing and nice campgrounds to the east and west, all closed of course due to Covid.

We love it here, but it would be great to have some industries in town. Maybe someday.

[dustin183]

Originally Posted by mrkool

Good man. Kids and grandkids are the best. Someday when they're old and feeble,, many of the anti-child advocates will ruminate about what they've missed. Having a bunch of cats isn't the same.

Kids are great. I hope to have many, just need to find my better half.

[dustin183]

Originally Posted by Willamette City

Back to the topic. Our little city (pop. 3300) in western Oregon is dying right before us. There used to be a nice convenience store on the west end of town. Closed several years ago. The bowling alley closed at least 10 years ago. Nice dining restaurant closed 10 to 15 years ago. A&W closed.

There are no jobs in town. There used to be several thriving mills in and around town, all closed of course. One has to drive 30 to 40 miles to get work. Most of the towns people are old and retired, as we are. There is a major east/west highway going through town. Lot's of truckers and tourists going through town, but not stopping in town.
All that said, it is a beautiful area with tall forested hills to the north and south and a world class fishing river running east/west. There is a nice ski area about 30 miles east. There are a number of flood control reservoirs that provide good fishing and nice campgrounds to the east and west, all closed of course due to Covid.

We love it here, but it would be great to have some industries in town. Maybe someday.

I'm confused... Oregon? That's quite a ways from Ohio.

Also confused because I thought all of Oregon was booming, esp the west side where the people and ocean are.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I am vehemently pro-natal. I would never move to a place where child-free advocates are so numerous, like California.

The US is certainly not pro-natal due to a lack of longer maternity leave policies or even paternity leave policies that are found in the vast majority of the developed world. People can't afford to take time off work due to leave constraints that many employers have. Throw in the inflated costs of healthcare and still rising, and the closure of MANY rural hospitals and you have a large number of counties across the country with a greater percentage of the population over age 65 than under age 18. This will become the norm in many areas due to the baby boomer population aging into their senior years over the next 8 years or so- by 2030 the entire cohort will be over age 65.