Life in Ft. Wayne

[gus1989]

I'm out of work currently, but have an interview in Ft. Wayne next week. Tell me about the city, the area. What's great about it? What's not great about it? Any parts of town to stay clear of? Any information you can provide would be appreciated as I have no idea. Thanks in advance!

 

[Fletch]

Bad: Paul Helmke used to be mayor.
Good: "used to be"
Bad: Current guy is supposed to be just like him.

Other than that, I've only seen it from the interstate while driving through, so I got no idea.

 

[Sailor]

Big city, but still has small town feel.

Crime is up all over but the SE side of town has more than the rest of the city.

What side of town is your work going to be on?

 

[gus1989]

Big city, but still has small town feel.

Crime is up all over but the SE side of town has more than the rest of the city.

What side of town is your work going to be on?

Well, depending on how things go, it looks like it would be close to the Indiana Institute of Tech.

Used to work in Franklin and live in Nashville currently.

 

[VanillaThunder]

IIT is not in the best neighborhood, it's marginal at best. getting you VERY close to the SE part of the city. Stay away from there.

a mile or two in the other direction, and you will find lots of shops, nice neighborhoods, etc.

i'm a lifelong resident, and a Realtor. let me know if you want some help finding a place to live...no charge.

to Ft Wayne!

 

[gus1989]

IIT is not in the best neighborhood, it's marginal at best. getting you VERY close to the SE part of the city. Stay away from there.

a mile or two in the other direction, and you will find lots of shops, nice neighborhoods, etc.

i'm a lifelong resident, and a Realtor. let me know if you want some help finding a place to live...no charge.

to Ft Wayne!

Thanks for the information and the offer!

 

[Sailor]

If you have kids we have a fantastic zoo.
The new baseball stadium is sweet. I was against building it, but it turned out great and is fun for the whole family.

If you have kids, you want your house to be in good school district.

Good luck with the interview. If (when) you get the job PM me. I can get you more details locations. We just moved a year ago, and our Realtor was fantastic.

 

[wtfd661]

If you have kids we have a fantastic zoo.
The new baseball stadium is sweet. I was against building it, but it turned out great and is fun for the whole family.

+1 to this, and definitely stay out of the SE side (bad juju there). Best bet is to live outside of Fort Wayne, Huntertown is a great area. Better yet live in Whitley Co. and work in Fort Wayne. I'm a lifelong resident.

 

[gus1989]

If you have kids we have a fantastic zoo.
The new baseball stadium is sweet. I was against building it, but it turned out great and is fun for the whole family.

I have a daughter - but I love the zoo too I also love minor league baseball. I've been to quite a few games at Victory Field in Indy. That's a great stadium too.

Best bet is to live outside of Fort Wayne, Huntertown is a great area. Better yet live in Whitley Co. and work in Fort Wayne

Good thought! My old commute was about 30 miles one way so this would easily be doable.

 

[jmiller676]

H&H Firearms is there

 

[Sailor]

I live on the SW side and love it. Great schools, shopping, my wife works at Lutheran which is 5 minutes away.

We travel a lot and I like being close to I-69, 5 minutes and I am on the interstate. If you want rural, and affordable forget Allen county.

 

[gus1989]

All great info so far. What is there to do besides the zoo and baseball - I guess they have hockey too. Festivals, fishing, hunting? Are the parks nice? Any good walking areas, biking areas? How's the snow going to be this winter?

 

[Sailor]

Science Central,
Botanical Consevatory,
Festivals all summer long into the fall.
Tons of bike trails along the rivers and by next year will be connected to the Aboite trails system.

You can fish in rivers and park ponds, I would eat nothing. Hunting public, closest is 25-30 minutes south to Huntington Res.

Lots of theater, shows at the embassy.

Hundreds of lakes north of Fort Wayne. Snow can be brutal, but we know how to deal with it. Its going to be 25 degrees tonight up here. for a comparison.

 

[CountryBoy19]

It is the largest city/county (by population) in IN to vote Red for last November's presidential election.

I grew up 30 minutes south of Ft. Wayne. Like others have said, its a big city but still has a "smaller" town feel.

As far as crime on the SE side. While I don't recommend that you buy a house there, its not like it should be avoided 100%. Daylight changes a lot, and crime in Ft. Wayne is much lower than other large cities in IN.

 

[Cygnus]

It sucks less than some other large midwestern cities. Decent place really.

Got a lot of INGO folks in and around.

South of State street "pay attention" Rusedesil" run!!!!!

I'm North East. It's hit and miss.Crime especially shootings is up from 2 years ago when I moved here.

Best part is the quasi big city attractions and the ease of getting to and from (welll when the bridges are open....)

 

[IrishSon of Liberty]

I've lived in and around the Ft. Wayne area for the last 14 years. As mentioned, IIT is not in an ideal location, but I don't have second thoughts traveling into and around any area of Ft. Wayne during daylight hours.

The River Greenway is a hiking/biking path along the river that should eventually link all the way to Toledo, Ohio. It travels through multiple parks and many of them have mountain bike trails that you can veer off onto.

The worst part of the Fort has to be the drivers, with a close second being the class of citizens which attend the many downtown festivals. Granted, most of my experiences have been of an evening, but nonetheless, I choose to avoid it. The Botanical Gardens are a must, even for visitors. It's absolutely beautiful. The other major plus is the local music scene. There are a ton of very talented musicians in the area, and it doesn't matter what type of music you prefer. Now that you've lost the Little Opry House to arson, I'm sure you're thirsty for some good acoustic pickin'!

Great golf courses too! As for the notion of living in Whitley County and commuting, I would highly recommend it. I'm a resident of Whitley, and although our property taxes increased last year, it's due to the fact that we are one of only a handful of places in all of America where the property values maintained, at the very least.

Crime rates are subjective, not only for Ft. Wayne, but for the entire country. As people run out of unemployment benefits, and money, food, clothing, and shelter become more difficult to obtain, criminals will resort to any and all measures.

On a side note, from Ft. Wayne:

to Indianapolis = 2-2.5 hours
to Chicago = 3-3.5 hours
to Toledo = 3 hours
to Detroit = 3 hours

If you like Sunday beer, and happened to forget it on Saturday, there's always a state line within an hours drive too!

Good luck on the job interview.

 

[CountryBoy19]

On a side note, from Ft. Wayne:

to Indianapolis = 2-2.5 hours

You must drive slow. Assuming no major traffic problems I can be to the south side of Indy from FW in 2 hours. So I would say Indy 1.5-2 hours.

Sorry for being "technical" I just didn't want him to think it was that far of a drive.

 

[Cygnus]

You must drive slow. Assuming no major traffic problems I can be to the south side of Indy from FW in 2 hours. So I would say Indy 1.5-2 hours.

Sorry for being "technical" I just didn't want him to think it was that far of a drive.

I can make Detroit Metro airport in 2.5 hours and never go faster than 80 from Maplecrest and 469.

Indy fairgrounds from the north part of 469 loop in about 1.75 hours easily.

YMMV literally!

And BOT I agree about the daylight hours being fine (except for the 4pm 469 shooting the other day)

Oh and lately...watch out for the damn urban deer!

 

[gus1989]

I'll spend a little time around town late afternoon and early evening before heading back down south. Suggest 3 things I should do in that short time frame to help me get a feel for the city or surrounding area.

 

[silentvoice71]

i hate this damn down everyone drives like their blindfolded there are trouble makers just about everywhere ya go......lots of the restaurants suck......the mayor is the biggest moron ive ever seen on tv and i hate him.........jobs are almost non existant. We have horrible air quality and the fluency of the inner city roads is horrible theres almost always an important road close because a water main broke for the 2nd time everything is shodding and done half assed in this town.