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| Nice Place To Be From - 2/26/2010
If you can't handle wearing a winter coat, you are missing the best part of Oshkosh.
Oshkosh is not for everyone and probably not for you if you have a weak liver. A good night out starts Monday morning. The drinking here is pretty sporting, but nothing as compared to the Russian friends I have back in Germany. Work is taken seriously in the finest traditions of the Middle Ages in Northern Europe - without the glitz.
People who like/do well in Oshkosh are born here. Outsiders are welcome and quickly forgotten. Making money here is not completely based on birthright, the odd upstart occasionally can learn to subsist on the meager economic trickle down.
For a kid, this place is great. Plenty of train tracks, bridges, construction sites, traffic, and buses to play around: The drivers seldom actually convicted of vehicular homicide. The lake is a natural marvel and has a personality of its own, for those who live on it. Most kids learn to swim, water ski, sail, ice skate and underage drive on or in the lake. Drownings are not infrequent but the body retrieval is done without excessive media coverage. There is ample parking at the cemeteries.
Oshkosh: do yourself, but more importantly me, a favor and find some other place to suffer and then die, regardless.
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| best places to live - 2/25/2010
I agree with all the negative they have said about Oshkosh. Residents dont notice the negative until they leave for a while LOL.
I am back only because my wife's family is here but its horribly cold here and I cannot see how this town ever made it to 50,000 much less 60,000 people.
The lakes are nice when you are not attacked by mosquitoes or made filthy by lake flies. The property taxes are so high that if you decide on lake front property you better be as rich as Brett Farve. The government unions have a stranglehold on the community and the services aren't worth the high taxes. All the residence are doing is bank rolling the college and government officials high wages. The water is bad has arsenic the rivers are polluted from 150 years of dumping by the local mills. The prime waterfront they brag about lake Winnebago is a shallow lake and is more like a swamp in many places and between lake fly's and and muddy bottoms doesn't seem worth paying the high property taxes. If you a drunk no problem there are over 100 taverns in this town.
There community redevelopment has stolen a lot of good quality industrial real estate close to the water to spend more tax dollars using the ever evil eminent domain as a right to take it. They have reduced the amount of good usable industrial land that could be incubators for new manufacturing jobs and start ups. Instead they are building condos that will never get sold and have given more tax money to fund projects that are not economically viable. This city has done more to mess it self up over the last 30 years then some but not as bad as Detroit I guess. I think Michigan being as bad as it is will soon be followed by Wisconsin particularly the Fox cities. The socialist trends in this area will probably destroy investment in general. The exception may be a few large industries that are oligopolies that can withstand the government abuse that Oshkosh and Eastern Wi has put on the private sector. If these industries leave for cheaper less taxing geographic regions its over for Oshkosh and the Fox cities! On a scale of 1 to 10 I give Oshkosh a rating of a 3 for cities under 100,000 people. PS if you need great schools then ignore this post and move here we do have good schools.[read more...]
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| VERY, VERY HIGH PROPERTY TAXES, HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, - 11/24/2009
VERY, VERY HIGH PROPERTY TAXES, HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, VERY LONG DARK FREEZING COLD WINTERS, HIGH WINTER HEATING BILLS, CONSTANT SMOKE FILLED AIR POLLUTION FROM RESIDENTS BURNING TRASH. MANY HUNGRY MOSQUITOES AND WOOD TICKS. HIGH FLOODING IN 2004 AND 2008 MANY HOMES NOW EXPERIENCING MOLDS AND MILDEW HAZARDS, ARSENIC FOUND IN SOME OF THE PRIVATE DRINKING WELLS. SOME HOMES ARE BEING MONITORED FOR CONCENTRATIONS OF RADON. DID I MENTION THE VERY HIGH AND GOING HIGHER PROPERTY TAXES DUE TO THE SHORT FALLS IN THE STATE BUDGET? If you are seeking to purchase a quality home with a nice yard in a safe neighborhood you will need to spend over $350,000.00. The local, county and state property taxes are among the highest in the nation and going higher. The Wisconsin winters are over six months long and very cold with less than twelve hours of sunlight on days when it does shine. The mosquitoes and wood ticks are the states insects along with the billions of nasty smelling and staining Lake flies that are disgusting from May through September which smells like rotting meat. We and many of our friends are leaving for value conscious, warmer, lower property tax and income friendly states as soon as our home values recover. Many areas here have experience High Flooding in the years of 2004 and 2008 which bring with it molds and mildew damaged homes. High winds and Tornadoes are common. The City of Oshkosh, WI is changing for the worst with busy street traffic and Not Bicycle Rider and Walking Friendly. The air is fowl and is full of smoke all the time with many of the residents burning their plastics and other unknown trash. Be careful if you send your children to school here. There has been numerous reports and captures of perverts peeping in college girls dorm showers and trying to abduct young college women. The drug and alcohol problems are very present and continues to dominate the nightly news reports along with the increase of crime. Property values have been dropping due to the increasing number of foreclosures and rising unemployment. Fishing here is good on Lake Winnebago, but Do Not Eat the fish because of the virus that they carry and unsafe for human consumption. The blue and green algae in the local waterways is dangerous for humans and their pets causing illness and skin rashes. If you like paying very high property taxes, fridge cold winters, the Green Bay Packers, drinking beer at the very many local taverns and EAA Experimental Aircraft Association than move here. Please buy our house. It has been on the market since the local economy tanked in 2008 for $55,000.00 under Fair Market Value. Brett Farve was no dummy when he left Wisconsin.[read more...]
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| Housing - 5/19/2009
As I have been comparing the cost of homes, I can definitely see the cost of housing in Oshkosh really is not bad. You can easily find an apartment for $500 - $600, and a deluxe apartment for around $700. You can also easily find a nice family home for around $150,000.[read more...]
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| current population - 10/18/2007
The current population listed in your Sperling review is incorrect. Oshkosh, WI is my home town and it is currently over 60,000 people. Not the 38,000 you reported. I would quess that the rest of your findings would not be very reliable considering you have the population wrong.[read more...]
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| It has its charms - 9/23/2006
I lived in Oshkosh for most of my adult life, prior to retiring and moving to a warmer climate. Oshkosh was once a thriving community, but it hasn't progressed like some of the surrounding cities, especially Appleton. There's an undercurrent of doubt by many citizens--especially "old timers"--whenever something new and innovative is proposed. Quality of life, though, is pretty decent. Housing costs are reasonable, and you aren't far from anything you might want to do. UW-Oshkosh is excellent and has a weekend/evening program (I finally got my BS degree that way). Lots of waterways, parks (but watch out for the goose poop), recreational opportunities. Many museums and historic sites, public events, and the big summer attraction: Experimental Aircraft Assosciation fly-in. Employment is probably about average, with some large companies and many smaller ones. Good police presence. City street surfaces range from so-so to horrendous. Be sure your vehicle has good suspension and wheel alignment. You're also close to many smaller towns, and the drive to them is lovely.[read more...]
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