SperlingViews - Elkhart, Indiana

not much social life[read more...]

I moved away from Elkhart December of 2006 and I am SO glad that I did. Living there was a nightmare. I never saw this "good" side of town. I thought it was all pretty rotten. Sure there were some large homes along the dumpy river, but there were shacks right next to them too. I never understood that. The air pollution was off the charts. The crime was unbelievable. The corruption was ghastly, and the people were in general either hopeless, depressed, ignorant, uneducated, criminals, drugged out, stuck or angry. I remember several times where people would run up to our car and pound on the windows begging for any money we could spare. Random people would wait by my husband's and other people's cars after work to beg for money. Also, the police were a joke, I have personally seen them break the laws that they are supposed to enforce and not do anything about anything when you call them. At least four people were shot and killed outside my husband's place of work, we nearly got hit by a car walking around our neighborhood and witnessed first hand people either driving or parked doing drugs, and had some guy that ran up to my husband wanting to pick a fight with him (I think he was drugged). It was ridiculous there. It is NO place for a family or children. I on purpose did not get pregnant there because I could not bring a child into that place.[read more...]

Conveniently close to things without the big city traffic and congestion.[read more...]

Elkhart is segegrated as far as the class of people. There is a good side of town and a bad side of town; in which the bad side hosts most of the African-Americans. It reminds me of the Twilight Zone. The type of life you life is based upon where you live and what type of job you have. If you are a professional and live in the good side of town, then you will do just fine. All other types of people live in the bad side of town. On the bad side od town, you will see a bunch of people sitting on porches (reminds me of the poor side of Alabama!). If you drive on the bad side of town, you will see people in their cars stopped in the middle of the road having a conversation; they don't care if you are waiting behind them. And don't think about confronting them or honking your horn; you better back up and find an alternative route. A lot of drug activity is present as well as several streets that are known for purchasing drugs and hiring prostitutes. On one side of town you see the professionals walking around in business suits and on the other you see porch dwellers. You will never see these two types of people in the same area; whether it's a restaurant, gas station, or grocery store. The people on the bad side of town act like a mini-Detroit. They use a lot of slang and get offended easily. In general, you don't see people carrying guns around, but they do have them. They just conceal them. My experience in Elkhart is like a visit to the Twilight Zone and I'm glad I moved away...............(FAR AWAY!!).[read more...]

Northern Indiana is not among the most pleasant places to live in terms of climate. The winters are cold with little sun. The summers are humid. I'd love to see Sperling allow users to search their database for the best places based on criteria they use in reporting. Wouldn't it be great to review all cities with a climate index over 70, for example?[read more...]

It is important to hold public school administrators accountable for their performance or their lack thereof where the education of our children and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 are concerned. Please use the links below to view the real bottom line performance of the schools in our area. These are actual scores posted and tracked by the State of Indiana for each ISTEP testing period since 2001. Each site provides in-depth drill downs to allow you to research a particular school within the district. Four Star Schools http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1652 Benton Elementary School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1621 Millersburg Elementary School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1657 Heritage Middle School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1732 Middlebury Elementary School High Performance Schools http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1725 Concord South Side Elem School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1723 Concord Ox-Bow Elementary Sch http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1713 Concord Junior High School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapcorp.cfm?corp=2155 Fairfield Community Schools http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1613 Fairfield Jr-Sr High School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapcorp.cfm?corp=2275 Middlebury Community Schools http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1656 Jefferson Elementary School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1733 Northridge High School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1734 Orchard View Sch Poorly Performing Schools/Districts http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1849 West Goshen Elementary School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1829 Chamberlain Elementary School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1633 Model Elementary School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1833 Chandler Elementary School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1629 Goshen Middle School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapshot.cfm?schl=1821 Goshen High School http://mustang.doe.state.in.us/SEARCH/snapcorp.cfm?corp=2305 Most schools in the Elkhart Community Schools district Goshen Community Schools knowingly enrolls illegal immigrants just so they can get funds fro[read more...]