The racial situation is much, much worse in the suburbs than Midtown or Downtown. Midtown is sort of the liberal oasis in a vast sea of Bible Beaters. If you live in the burbs be prepared to answer the question “where do you go to church?”
LOL, my finances is what I base it on. We couldn’t afford a 1200 sq foot 3 bedroom home in Midtown, with washer dryer hookups. We can’t go above $900/mo for rent. And technically I live in Unincorporated Shelby County off of Old Brownsville, which is lovely and the bonus is we have no inspection required when we renew our vehicles each year! I love our neighborhood because it is mostly families and very racially diverse.
I agree about Cordova, too busy, too expensive, and too cloistered.
Memphis BBQ!!! Yum!
^ Eat here weekly. Or daily. Or twice a day. Hell pitch a tent and live in the parking lot. “So good yull slap yo mamma!”
I guess I was thinking more about apartments than houses. And since you have kids schools are an issue. We both know how much of a hot mess that situation is.
Cordova is just gross. Strip malls on top of strip malls, chain restaurants, etc.
Anyway, it would be fun to plan a meet up since there are quite a few Memphians here.
You have seen the long and beautiful history of corruption and crime that seems to become the legacy for government in the city of Detroit, with such role models as Coleman Young and Kwame Kilpatrick?
Good to see I’ll at least be making a lateral move; perhaps trading off gang violence and arson for geological tremors. 
You’ll fit right in here. Here is a link to the weekly alternative paper to get a sense of the city: http://www.memphisflyer.com. This paper does a better job than the daily of covering local politics and schools, and of course cultural stuff.
Quakes are rare but the “big one” is expected any time now. In 1811-12 there were several earthquakes in the area, one of which made the Mississippi River run backwards and rang bells in Boston MA. That was supposedly an every-200-year quake. It doesn’t keep me up at night but I do have a fear that it will happen when I’m driving across the Memphis/Arkansas bridge. This is one of the many reasons why I don’t go to West Memphis. 
And Mud Island will slide right into the river! lol
ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
Actually the Memphis and Shelby County schools have already merged. This next school year should be interesting. I’m really hoping the changes won’t be negative for the county because I JUST moved here to get away from the city school system.
There are a few good vegan places in Memphis, from what I’ve heard.
I have lived here all my life. Up until this year I was in the Jackson Ave. area, aka “Little Mexico”. Now I’m right off Memphis-Arlington Road in Bartlett. I love Memphis, crime, panhandlers and all. There’s just so many good people here.
Hey our kids will be in school together! I had no idea we were neighbors!
I have not been asked this once. I’ve been in Bartlett since February and I’ve met many people. Most people don’t even ask personal questions unless it’s related to the school.
I’ve not seen any racial problems here either. It’s a good mix of white, black, and Latino. A few Asians. Well, there’s one thing I’ve noticed, that I rarely see white people pulled over by the police. I’ve been told I’m wrong, but I get the feeling there might be some racist cops here.
I do love Midtown though. First Congregational is my daughter’s church and they’re all a bunch of hippies-to-hipsters. It’s a colorful fun area of town.
We tried to find a place in midtown for about a year before we moved to Bartlett. It IS quite a bit more expensive if you want to live on a decent street in a good school zone. We kept finding good deals that ended up closer to Orange Mound. No thank you! I got lucky here though, renting the upstairs of a very nice house with a pool/hot tub and a lovely kitchen. $400 a month total! I couldn’t find a place this cheap anywhere in Memphis, much less midtown. I’d really love to live there if I could, mostly because my daughter works on Central at Dogs Rule. The gas is killing us but we think it’s worth the drive.
My prosecutor friend says Orange Mound isn’t as bad as people think, crime wise. I’ve always had a soft spot for Orange Mound. The history is fascinating, seriously. Orange Mound, Memphis - Wikipedia I think a lot of the perceived issues are racial in origin. I’m not trying to guilt-trip anyone though; I’m just saying it’s an interesting place, historically.
I’d live in Orange Mound over Cordova any day!
Growing up in Germantown, my family and I were asked this countless times. And now my sister is raising her family in Germantown and she said it has come up with many other moms in the neighborhood and at school.
Awesome! They start kindergarten this year
Ehh we have been at or near no#1 in the country in violent crime per capita for the last decade and that is almost all gang violence, so don’t think you are trading it off.
You will be thrilled by the winters. The heat is oppressive. Once you get used to it, it is only tragically bad for the two to three weeks where it is above 95 degrees. The humidity can knock you down at times.
As far as racism and all that goes, I doubt it’s too different than Detroit. Sure there’s some racist folks, and there’s definitely areas you don’t want to be in but beyond that it’s mostly fine. You won’t notice it at all in the suburbs.
Drivers are terrible that is true.
I had something else worth passing on but I forgot. Anyway welcome! We hope you enjoy it.
Me too.
When we lived in Student Family Housing at the U of M. My kids went to a daycare off of Barron Ave, and I never ever felt as unsafe as I did in Cordova. We had a rash of apartment burglaries and car break ins in the apartments we lived at off of Walnut Grove.
The one time I did encounter some serious crime, a friend of mine was assaulted in front of me by some thug who was pissed because he had just gotten in a fight with his girl friend in a parking lot by the student housing and we witnessed it, and since the gf sped off in her car and we were two women by ourselves walking around the neighborhood he decided he didn’t like the way we looked and started yelling and cursing at us about being “white bitches who should mind their own business”. My friend flipped him off and he palmed her in the face, knocking her to the ground. I started screaming at him, at which point he got to his car and started looking for something, I told her to run and I was ready to fight. You see, she had her infant in a stroller and I had my two infants in a double stroller, so she could run much faster and easier than I could, so I readied myself to have to fend off an attacker. Just as she started running down the side walk, the entire U of M football got out of practice and was driving off of South Campus and saw what was happening and chased him off.
To make a looooong story a bit shorter, we were asked to testify against him in the assault trial down at good ol’ 201 Poplar, but never had to because he was jailed shortly thereafter on a second degree murder charge and they decided to drop the assault charge and send us home and pursue the greater charge. I still wasn’t afraid, because the idiot wouldn’t have been able to pick us out of a line up if he tried. To him we were just two white bitches who were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got in his way, but I will never forget his face. That has been my only experience in 13 years of living here where I ever felt in fear of my life from violence. I think it was only coincidence that he was a gang member.
I love Dogs Rule!! Such a cool place.