With the ongoing discussion below about whether Chicago's Lincoln Park is or is not an upscale neighborhood, how would you rank your school's immediate surroundings against other Big East schools?

The Heights (UC)
Storrs (UConn)
Lincoln Park (DePaul)
Georgetown (GU)
Old Louisville (UofL)
Avenues West (Marquette)
South Bend (ND)
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Elmhurst (Providence)
New Brunswick (Rutgers)
South Orange (Seton Hall)
Jamaica (St. John's)
University Hill (Syracuse)
Temple Terrace (USF)
Radnor (Villanova)
Morgantown (WVU)

Depending on which direction you are headed away from SU, you could be in a really, really bad neighborhood, or a so, so to really nice neighborhood. Also, SU is really close to downtown Syracuse.

Morgantown tops list of America's best small cities
141 places earn 'dreamtown' designation in Demographics Daily study

G. Scott Thomas Demographics Daily

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Morgantown, W.Va., is the best small city in America, according to a new study by Demographics Daily.

The study designated 141 places as "dreamtowns," defined as cities with populations of 10,000 to 50,000 that offer an outstanding quality of life. Morgantown topped the list, followed by Owatonna, Minn.; Bozeman, Mont.; Columbus, Ind.; and Oxford, Miss. (Profiles of the top five dreamtowns and the list of all dreamtowns are at the bottom of this story.)

Demographics Daily rated the quality of life in 632 small cities. The study group included every U.S. nonmetropolitan city with 10,000 to 50,000 residents, along with several cities in small metro areas or on the sparsely settled fringes of large metros.

Morgantown, the top city overall, was awarded 100 points. Scores for the other 631 small cities were based off that benchmark. The 141 places with scores above 80 points were classified as dreamtowns. (An alphabetical list of dreamtowns is at the end of this story.)

The study was inspired by strong public interest in small-town life. More than 18 million people moved from metropolitan areas into small cities or rural counties during the 1990s, according to a Demographics Daily analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. And a 1998 poll by Professional Builder magazine found that two-thirds of Americans would prefer to live far from a major city.

Demographics Daily used 20 sets of statistics to answer the following eight questions that residents of metro areas commonly ask about small towns. Scores in the eight categories below were combined to determine each city's overall rating:

Vitality: Are the local population and employment bases growing at a healthy pace? (Kingsland, Ga., was best in this category.)

Supply of good jobs: Can a newcomer easily find a challenging job that pays well? (Charlottesville, Va., was No. 1.)

Freedom from stress: Is the community a refuge from metropolitan evils such as violent crime and lengthy commutes? (Brookings, S.D., was the category leader.)

Connection to cultural mainstream: Do residents feel connected to the outside world? (Canandaigua, N.Y., was at the top of this list.)

Support for schools: Are local adults committed to education, and are they willing to open their wallets to support it? (Pullman, Wash., led this category.)

Access to health care: Is it easy to find a doctor or a medical specialist? (Charlottesville, Va., finished first.)

Low cost of living: Are housing prices and taxes at affordable levels? (Troy, Ala., ranked first in this category.)

Small-town character: Does the community have a distinct identity, and is it likely to retain its small-town feel in the future? (Brookings, S.D., was best.)

Morgantown earned first place overall because of its consistently strong category performances. It ranked among the nation's 35 best small cities in five categories: access to health care (second), supply of good jobs (12th), connection to cultural mainstream (17th), support for schools (26th) and low cost of living (35th).

The 141 dreamtowns were scattered through 42 states. Neighboring Minnesota and Wisconsin had the most, 12 dreamtowns each. The six runners-up were Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Virginia, each with six dreamtowns.

The 491 small cities that fell below dreamtown status were divided into three groups. Tier 2 consisted of 195 communities with scores from 70 to 79 points, tier 3 had 193 places with scores in the 60s, and tier 4 included the 103 small cities with scores of 59 points or less.
Top five dreamtowns

1. Morgantown, W.Va.: America's best small city is nestled along the Monongahela River in northern West Virginia. The state is struggling economically, but Morgantown is a prosperous exception. It is the home of West Virginia University, Monongalia County government, world-famous glass manufacturers and two large health-care systems serving parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Another strength is Morgantown's proximity to metropolitan attractions. Pittsburgh is slightly more than an hour away on Interstate 79.

2. Owatonna, Minn.: Owatonna is named after a Native American princess who, according to legend, regained her health after drinking the area's healing waters. The city has blossomed into a regional manufacturing and banking center, with more than half of its jobs in those two sectors. Weather is a strong or weak point, depending on personal preference. "Winter offers distinct beauty," says a brochure from the chamber of commerce. That's a polite way of saying it's cold. Owatonna averages 33 subzero nights a year.

3. Bozeman, Mont.: Frontiersman John Bozeman led the first settlers into the fertile Gallatin Valley in 1864. They found it beautiful, yet isolated and intimidating. Their settlement was 4,800 feet above sea level -- nearly a mile in elevation -- and was surrounded by the towering Rocky Mountains. Modern-day Bozeman is a marketing center for livestock, grain and dairy products, the home of Montana State University and a northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park, which is a bit more than an hour's drive away.

4. Columbus, Ind.: Columbus has an unlikely distinction for a city so small. It is a showplace of modern architecture. Tourists come to see the works of renowned architects such as Eliel Saarinen, I.M. Pei and Eliot Noyes. Fifty local buildings have been conceived by world-class designers. Columbus also is a manufacturing center, specializing in diesel engines and motor-vehicle parts. And it has a strong interest in the arts, which inspired the Indianapolis Museum of Art to establish a separate Columbus gallery.

5. Oxford, Miss.: Oxford has made history in flattering and unhappy ways. Its positive association is with William Faulkner, the local author who won the Nobel Prize. Oxford earned unwanted publicity in 1962, when agitators and students rioted in a futile attempt to prevent integration of the University of Mississippi. Tranquillity has long since returned to the college, which is among the city's strongest assets. Oxford also produces electric motors and wood products, and it is the Lafayette County seat.

(06-01-2011 07:00 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  With the ongoing discussion below about whether Chicago's Lincoln Park is or is not an upscale neighborhood, how would you rank your school's immediate surroundings against other Big East schools?

Temple Terrace (USF)

One of USF's immediate neighborhoods is locally known as 'suitcase city', and it's not pretty, LOL. From AOL Travel, under "places to avoid in Tampa":

Due to its transient nature, "Suitcase City" is the name often used to describe the Tampa area near the University of South Florida (4202 E. Fowler Avenue, (813) 974-2011). .... Generally considered to be the area between Fowler and Busch Boulevards to the north and south, 22nd Street and 30th to the east and west, this part of North Tampa poses dangers to residents and visitors. It is just a few blocks from a safer area that begins northeast of the campus. As you might guess, home break-ins and car theft are major issues.

Unfortunately because of the fact that most student dont have alot of money and are transient by nature as time goes by areas close to universities do attract lower income people that can also afford to live there. At USF if you go west you are in a bad area, if you go east is not bad. The same as you go north.

(06-01-2011 07:19 PM)Cubanbull Wrote:  Unfortunately because of the fact that most student dont have alot of money and are transient by nature as time goes by areas close to universities do attract lower income people that can also afford to live there. At USF if you go west you are in a bad area, if you go west is not bad. The same as you go north.

Just to elaborate: To the west of USF is suitcase city, and few students live there. It's populated by local low-income, homeless, and transient types, with a high minority population, high welfare population. Bad news area.

To the east is Temple Terrace, and this is a nice, middle to upper-income area.

North and South are iffier. Northwest and Southwest are still suitcase city. But northeast and southeast you head in the direction of upscale Tampa Palms (NE) and Temple Terrace (SE), with some nicer middle-income and up student condos and apartment complexes.

(06-01-2011 07:12 PM)Jackson1011 Wrote:  Morgantown tops list of America's best small cities

I don't doubt that Morgantown has all those fine qualities the article attributes to it, but for me it has one fatal flaw that means i wouldn't live there: Way too isolated, i like to be in or near a big city.

Man it depends on which way you go away from Campus. If you go Rt885 SB you go into Hazlewood and Homewood, if you go down Centre Ave. then you go into the Hill district. But if you go down 5th Ave. then you go into Squirrel Hill-which is fairly nice.

Lincoln Park is definitely a nice neighborhood. New Brunswick except for the immediate campus areas and the George Street and Easton Ave corridors isn't so hot.

TCU is in a good to a high end neighborhood. The football stadium itself backs up to very expensive homes in the Colonial Country Club area. All homes in the area or either expensive single family homes or on the eastside of campus, homes often rented to TCU students. The proximity to TCU has kept the home values up sometimes to the point of ridiculous.

(06-01-2011 08:51 PM)Big Frog II Wrote:  TCU is in a good to a high end neighborhood. The football stadium itself backs up to very expensive homes in the Colonial Country Club area. All homes in the area or either expensive single family homes or on the eastside of campus, homes often rented to TCU students. The proximity to TCU has kept the home values up sometimes to the point of ridiculous.

I still think the area around TCU is relatively fairly price for the type of neighborhood it is, compared with similar cities in other places in the country. But yes for DFW it is a pricey neighborhood.

Down Berry St near TCU gets a little rough, but much better than it was even 10 years ago. Still not that bad though.

A little something about UofL's neighborhood....

"Louisville and Kentucky are fortunate to have the third largest historic preservation district in the United States, and its' largest purely Victorian neighborhood. Old Louisville is a virtual open-air museum of Victorian architecture."


Old Louisville

As already stated, Temple Terrace is pretty much a dump.

I don't see any UC replies. Let's face it, it's not great, but the area around UC is getting better each year. New apartments, condos, a new hotel, some new restaurants.

The majority of urban universities are going to be in areas that are pretty shady. That is just the way it works. Low rent to attract college students, plus landlords who refuse to spend money on buildings that college students will just trash, leads to others looking for low rent moving into the same area.

(06-02-2011 10:13 PM)BullsBEAST Wrote:  As already stated, Temple Terrace is pretty much a dump.

id say USF is as diverse as they come, to the east of campus you have middle class Temple Terrace, which the city of Tampa kinda screwed by building most of their project housing on the outskirts of TT. To the south of campus you have mostly industrial land use and also Busch Garderns/Adventure Island. To the west of campus is where Suitcase City is and although its not as bad as it was in the 80's and 90's, it is still a depressed part of town. To the north of campus is Tampa Palms and that is upper middle/upper class neighborhood, a large number of USF admins, coaches, researchers live in Tampa Palms. This area is really nice but separated from the urban grid of Tampa so its mostly suburban winding streets and lush green lawns.

Depending on which way you walk off of UC's Campus you could be in Clifton, University Heights,
Corryville, etc.

Clifton Heights

The residential area of Clifton Heights is largely rental property that functions as off-campus student housing, with many restaurants and convenience stores.

The Clifton Heights Business District contains many national chain businesses as well as local businesses. It is located in the area of McMillan Street and Calhoun Street between Vine/Jefferson and Clifton Avenue, immediately south of the University of Cincinnati campus.

Clifton Heights is home to the Hughes Center, a vocational and special-purpose high school. Its current Clifton Heights location was built in 1906. Currently there are five college prep schools housed at Hughes. The Paideia High School, the High School for Communications Professions and Health Professions, High School for Teaching and Technology and the Cincinnati Academy of Mathematics and Science (CAMAS).[1] Clifton Heights is also home to the Kreuck recreation complex, a large indoor recreation center which is located on the campus of the Hughes Center. The Kreuck complex is a public facility operated by the Cincinnati Recreation Commission. Bellevue Hill, a 15-acre (61,000 m2) city park located at Ohio Avenue, is well known for its overlook of downtown Cincinnati.

Clifton Heights is sometimes called "Clifton," either intentionally shortened or not, by locals and non-locals. However, the actual Cincinnati neighborhood of Clifton is just north of CUF.
[edit] University Heights

University Heights is primarily a residential area, and like Clifton Heights and Fairview, there is an unusually high percentage of student-targeted rental property. However, unlike the other two neighborhoods, there is also a large contingent of owner-occupied single family houses. University Heights is home to Good Samaritan Hospital.
[edit] Fairview

Fairview is a residential area, with a very high percentage of rental property targeted at University of Cincinnati students. Many of these buildings are excellent examples of the Italianate form of architecture prominent in many of Cincinnati's older neighborhoods.

Fairview is known best as the former home of Fairvew German Language School, which was founded by the neighborhood's German community in 1888. In 2008 however the school was relocated to nearby Clifton.[2]

The neighborhood's name comes from the view much of the area has of Cincinnati, as Fairview is perched on one of many hillsides facing the city proper. Fairview Park, a 27.7-acre (112,000 m2) park located at McMillan Street, has a long driving path with numerous overlooks.[3]

Clifton, Cincinnati
Clifton, incorporated as a village in 1850, is now a neighborhood in the north central part of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.[1] The area includes the Ludlow Avenue Shopping and Dining District. Clifton is situated around Clifton Avenue, north of Dixmyth Avenue, approximately three miles north of Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Clifton is considered to be among Cincinnati's east side neighborhoods, though it is technically located to the north of the city center. Several historic buildings and homes remain in the neighborhood. Clifton was developed in large part due to the expansion of the street car system in the 1880's-1890's [2].

In the nineteenth century, mansions set in extensive grounds of gardens, parkland and woodlands dominated the northern section of Clifton, farther from the city. Their gates and gatehouses were spaced at intervals along Lafayette Avenue. In the southern section, denser settlement flanked a growing business district along Ludlow Avenue, centered on its juncture with Clifton Avenue.

Many of the estate grounds were designed by the landscape designer Adolph Strauch, who served as the Superintendent of Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum in the 1850s, who later revised plantings when estates became public parkland, such as Eden Park and the 89 acres (360,000 m2) of Burnet Woods, the former property of Jacob Burnet.

The estates have found new uses in the twentieth century, or have been demolished, like Alexander McDonald's baronial mansion designed by Samuel Hannaford, the pre-eminent estate architect in later nineteenth-century Cincinnati; it was demolished in the 1960s to make way for an annex to the Clifton School: only a 150-year old yew (Taxus cuspidata capitata on the grounds of Fairview-Clifton German Language School[3] and the carriage house remain.[4]

The city of Cincinnati annexed Clifton in 1896. The University of Cincinnati relocated to Burnet Woods Park. Today the University is located in Clifton Heights, University Heights, Avondale, and Corryville, neighborhoods that surround Clifton. This entire area is often generically (and incorrectly) referred to as "Clifton" despite being several distinct and separate neighborhoods. The presence of Hebrew Union College, settled near the University, and the Sacred Heart Academy in Clifton helped to contribute to the intellectual and bohemian atmosphere of the neighborhood.

UC has four sides to the main campus, each side is very different to the immediate south a typical college bar restaraunt districts and shopping along with huge new student housing projects just opening and some about to break ground. To the north east is the EAst/Medical campus many a city in its own right. Just by that is the Cicnnati Zoo and the other side of that area is Corryville, it has upscale new housing some finished and some under way and some in plans for later this year. This area has ghetto/ slum like housing side by side as it transforms slowly. The Ludlow area is a very nice almost artsy shopping, bar restaurant area and Clifton proper has many million dollar old traditonal homes and other beautiful housing. To teh West is Frat and Sorority row and other new student housing. Around UC you get some of everything like most urban area schools. Luckily we have the 23rd most beautiful campus in the World according to Forbes magazine last year! It has toatlly changed from a mostly computer campus to having well over 80% of students live on ar within a mile of campus.

(06-02-2011 06:47 PM)CardinalJim Wrote:  A little something about UofL's neighborhood....

"Louisville and Kentucky are fortunate to have the third largest historic preservation district in the United States, and its' largest purely Victorian neighborhood. Old Louisville is a virtual open-air museum of Victorian architecture."


Old Louisville

Old Louisville really is a gem. I lived there for a few years in the 1990's while finishing up at UofL. I'm certainly not an architectural connoisseur, but on occasion I used to walk around the blocks and marvel at the houses.

Each one was old, big (like three story flats), and unique. This one would have cool looking Greek pillars, that one would have lion-paw looking things at the top. It's no wonder why the St. James Art Festival down there every fall is rated the best in the country or in the top-3 every year.

In terms of wealth, Georgetown and Nova win.