Anyone ever live on Lowell?

[midnight armadillo]

What's Lowell like these days? I was browsing house prices over the weekend, and noticed how incredibly affordable the city is. I work in Burlington and could survive that commute for a few years, I think. THis is premature since we're not in the housing market for two years...but...what's it like up there? My only exposure has been attending the Lowell Folk Festival a few times.

[mairceridwen]

1. I'm from lowell

It depends on where you live, but it's otherwise a pretty good city. Plus it's somewhat close to Boston...easy enough to get in for the day. Trains to and from.

[ET Awful]

2. Well, thanks to efforts by people like John Kerry and Ed Davis,

(Davis was Chief of Police while Kerry was a prosecutor in Lowell, anad still holds that position today if I'm not mistaken)

Lowell has cut its crime rate by HUGE amounts in the past decade. It's not a bad place to live at all.

I moved out here from Somerville in June, and have had no problems at all. Rent is cheaper here too. I have a brand new loft apartment (I'm the first person to ever live in it) that's over 1,000 square feet, and I only pay $1,000 a month. In the Somervill/Cambridge area, I'd easily be paying almost twice that for a place this nice.

But, as the guy above me said, like any other city, it depends on where in town you are. I'm not too far from worse parts of town, but I've never had any problems at all.

[mairceridwen]

3. i'm not a *guy*

plllbth


What neighborhood do you live in? I'm from Belividere, but not of one of the wealthy families.

[ET Awful]

5. Sorry :)

I actually live right on the edge of downtown in one of the rehabilitated mill buildings.

I'm close to crap neighborhoods, but, being on Dutton Street, it's a pretty high traffic area, which means not much unsavory stuff going on, since there'd be too many witnesses :)

[midnight armadillo]

4. So, what're the 'good' sections?

What are considered the better sections of the city?

[ET Awful]

6. mairceridwen could tell you better than I

I haven't lived hear long enough :)

[mairceridwen]

7. Belvidere

is considered the nicest. But parts of the Highlands (my brother just bought a house there) and Centerville are also nice. Basically, most sections have good parts and bad parts with some (like Belvidere) having mostly good parts and others (like the Acre or the Flats) as having mostly not-so-good parts. BUT, there are lots and lots of urban renewal projects and local communities (especially the south east asian) have done a lot to make Lowell nicer and safer.

Even the flats, where my grandfather lived, was a rather poor neighborhood, but pretty safe.


I'm really impressed with their new website:


http://www.lowellma.gov/


Let me know where you end up.

[thoughtanarchist]

12. There's this thai food place in Lowell

around the corner from the courthouse. Called SouthEast Asia.

The buffet has signs with the names of the dishes and the degree of heat (spiciness)

not hot
super hot
blazing hot
death valley hot
etc

it's a little hole in the wall but the food is incredible.

ever been there?

[rox63]

8. I grew up in Lowell

It used to be a pit, but it's gotten a lot nicer in the last 20 years or so. I'm actually thinking of moving back, because compared to the Boston area, housing prices are very reasonable. Plus, there the commuter rail into Boston. There's even something of a local arts and music scene.

[dddem]

9. We live in Billerica

very close to Lowell, and I can't rave enough about the Lowell Spinners. We are baseball fans, but Fenway park is not an affordable excursion for my family of four. We love Lowell, it's a very diverse city.

[MADem]

10. Doesn't Lowell

...have the largest Cambodian population in the US? Thought I read that somewhere....

[rox63]

11. I think a place in CA has largest Cambodian population

But Lowell has a pretty big one. Probably 10,000-15,000 in Lowell.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

13. Long Beach, CA

my sister's friend is Cambodian, and all her relatives are in Lowell or Long BEach.