SperlingViews - Kent, Ohio

Kent is a great community which has a lot of character. Kent has an interesting history and great Educational community. Kent was my home for 23 years and I often wish I still lived there. People are very open-minded and welcoming. With the University being there we often met people from all over the world. The roads were generally well kept and sidewalks abundant. If I had a job opportunity nearby I would certainly move back. I learned a lot about what a great community it is there once I left. As they say: you don't know what you have until it's gone. I can't think of another nearby community with as much interesting culture and history along with great amount of variety. If you can't find what you're looking for in town you're not too far from Akron or Cleveland.[read more...]

I have lived in Kent for 10 years have witnessed a steady but sharp decline in the quality of life here. First off, violent crime rose 101% in 2007. Second, most neighborhoods have more rental properties than owner- occupied houses and so you never know who your neighbors are (and will be). For example, this year there are three (youth oriented) sexual offenders living within a half mile of my home (two not even a full block away); all of them live in rental properties. Third, the neighborhoods are loud and, since there so many rental houses, block parties are coming into fashion. During these parties, people cut through yards- damaging garden space and stealing/ destroying children's toys. We can't put any holiday decorations up in our front yard as they will either be maimed or stolen by people walking home from parties and bars. Fourth, there are many run- down houses in Kent that never seem to be taken care of; there are exterior maintenance codes but they are seldom enforced. Fifth, we can't take our kids for walks down certain streets because of what they might see; from our own backyard my daughter saw a man urinating (fully exposed) during a house party. Kent should be a nice place because it has so much potential and, to be fair, there are people who are really trying to better the atmosphere here but, for the most part it is not a good city in which one can raise a family. The situation here has spun out of control so that most neighborhoods are just extensions of the University. City officials underestimate the magnitude of the problems and thus the situation has been severely mismanaged. We are getting out as soon as we can! [read more...]

We have lived in Kent about a year and can't wait to leave. I've never seen a place with so little sunshine. Granted, the summers are nice, but it's still rainy and depressing most of the year including large chunks of the summer. We have had at least 3 stretches of 3 weeks in the last year where there was no more than an hour or so of sun in the entire 3 weeks. If you want to spend your life living under the darkest cloud in the world, Kent is the place for you.[read more...]