I've got an opportunity to move the family to Lexington and was wondering if anyone around here is from there, currently lives there, or otherwise knows anything about Lexington. It looks like I may get a job offer in the next week or so, and will have to choose between moving across the street to a new job where I live or takin the show on the road 700 miles up I-75.

Anyone?

Crime Type 2004 Total Per 100,000 People National per 100,000 People
Overall Lexington Crime Index 11510 4284.9 3982.6

Lexington Violent Crimes 1306 486.2 465.5
Lexington Murders 24 8.9 5.5
Lexington Rapes 140 52.1 32.2
Lexington Robberies 574 213.7 136.7
Lexington Aggravated Assaults 568 211.5 291.1

Lexington Property Crimes 10204 3798.7 3517.1
Lexington Burglaries 2224 827.9 729.9
Lexington Larceny/Thefts 7207 2683 2365.9
Lexington Motor Vehicle Thefts 773 287.8 421.3

Lexington Arsons 1 30 11.17 N/A

For more city crime stats go to AreaConnect and select a city.

1 - National arson data is not available. Therefore, arson data is not used in a comparitive manner, and arson data is excluded from property crimes total.

Notes:

Based on the final 2004 FBI Crime Reports.
Results are tabulated using the Lexington crime collection area population of 268,618.
Lexington crime collection population may not match US Census data. Population is based on the agencies participating in the reporting.
2005 Lexington crime stats will be available October 2006.

That didn't turn out exactly right. They are a bit higher than the national average when it comes to crime. http://lexingtonky.areaconnect.com/crime1.htm

Now that i'm looking Phoenix is worse than Lexington except there are more rapes in lexington.

Thanks. I've got the demographic info, I'm just looking for people who can tell me what kind of place it is to live, particularly anyone who might know enough to know what areas/outlying towns are the best place to buy a house, best school districts, etc.

They like horses.





that's all I got.

The Horse Capital of the World

I hope you like horses! To me, Lexington is one of my favorite cities in the country in the spring and fall. Its quite beautiful in the spring. I'm a big horse racing enthusiast - Keeneland is my favorite track in the country. I go every year - once in the spring, once in the fall.

Also home of the University of Kentucky. If I were you, I'd go check out the city next month once the weather warms up. Spend a day driving around the countryside and spend an afternoon at Keeneland.

I could easily picture living there. You should check it out.

Check out the Maker's Mark distillery tour. It is a lot of fun, and the countryside is beautiful.

I guess I might be making a mistake moving to the horse capital of the world with 2 young daughters, then, huh?

Lexington appears to be quite similar to where I live now, Tallahassee, in a few ways - it's a bit bigger, but not by much; it's a college town; the capitol is down the street instead of in downtown like Tally; and it's comfortably away from big cities (in fact, it's a lot closer than from Tally, which would be great).

My biggest issue, aside from selling/buying a house and moving the family, is that i would need to take the KY Bar Exam. That would suck. I've just got to figure out whether it's worth it.

http://lexington.craigslist.org/

Road trip!

I've been to Tallahasee. I've been to Lexington. No frickin comparison.

Go visit Lexington and start studying for that KY Bar exam.

I'm probably being way too biased. I'll shut up now.

LOL


I guess I need to start preparing for a crappy football team and great basketball, coming from great football and...well, basketball doesn't even exist here.

Have you checked for reciprocity agreements with the Illinois Bar? You might not have to take the tests again.

First, I'm in Florida, not Illinois. One of about a dozen non-Illinois people around here I bet!

Second, Florida has reciprocity with no one, as they (rightly) are protecting Florida jobs which would be sought out by every snowbird in the country who wanted to retire or just move here. I think it's the only thing they could do, but as a result, if you want to leave the state, you're pretty much fucked. On the upside, once I pass the KY bar, in 5 or so years I should be able to waive into several sister state bars if I want to.

Hey Chris,

I vote for Lexington. Great country, great scenery. Plenty of places outside of town to live that are less expensive. Lots of colleges, lots of sports options. Louisville and Cincinnati are a short drive away, so you have plenty of concert options as well.

The only problem, as I see it, is that it's in Kentucky. Granted, it is one of two actual cities in the state, so the redneck factor may not be as bad, but still...

get ready to have someone like this to be your neighbor.

yeah, go to KY. it's beautiful at least 6 months of the year.

Look, I live 9 miles from the Georgia border as it is, so the redneck factor isn't that big a deal. Once you get about an hour north of Orlando, Florida instantly changes from palm trees, northern transplants, and south americans to sweet tea, hilly terrain, and Cracker Barrels at every other exit.

So Lexington would be a lateral move in that regard...

The redneck factor in Tallahassee compared to Lexington is 10 to 1.

It's funny how much bigotry exists on all sides of the political spectrum.

Anyway, go to KY. As you said, you're already in FL near the GA border, so culturally, you're actually moving up in the world. I'm from Louisville. My brother lives in Lexington. I'm not sure what it's like where you live, but my (possibly warped) perspective of Lexington is that it used to be a cuddly University Town, with all the pros and some of the cons that brings. But it has kinda outgrown its britches, and has more suburb now than town. It's got seemingly endless strip malls, chain restaurants and warehouse stores. Again, I've never lived there, so I'm not really an expert, but that's how it seems to me.

There is still some of the college town charm, but tons of small city suburb as well. Great college hoops, great horse racing (only 2 months a year though), 70 miles from Louisville, about 75 from Cincy, maybe 120 from Nashville and 160 from Knoxville, about 180 from Indy - concerts are pretty easy to get to, I'd say. Beautiful country, nice weather. There seem to be "some" decent schools - I'm not sure about that, but I suspect they're as good as where you are. You'll need to do some due diligence to find out which ones to shoot for/avoid though.

hating a redneck isn't bigotry- it's common sense.

so's hating the death penalty.

Fixed.

I have relatives in Louisville & Burkesville (a town so small Elizibethtown's the Big City...), Ky, but I don't know anyone in Lexington, sorry.

not sure I understand what point you're trying to make. Then again, you being from the south, you probably don't either.

Tallahassee, being both the capital and a college town, is far more educated than pretty much any other town/area in the Florida panhandle. It's not a bad place to live at all. Run-ins with Bubba aren't all that commonplace, but by and large, the general populace is far nicer than the people in most big cities, particularly in South Florida. It's not all that bad, really.

I feel sorry for you sin.

and I love you for it.

Just to clarify, ElCo...I live in Indiana. We have a pretty high redneck quotient.

And there's no prejudice involved...I make fun of everyone.

Just a bump to say I'm flying up Sunday night and staying for two days. We'll see where this leads. If anyone missed the thread but can comment on the town in general, places to live/stay away from, etc., please feel free.

What's your wife's take on all this--is she going with you to see if she likes the lay of the land?

Just make sure you're home next weekend - Will Hoge is in Florida next week.

No shit. It's actually Wednesday night. I'll be back Tuesday night. Maybe Will can help me make the decision of a lifetime...

My wife's fine with it. In fact, I think she's getting excited about the possibility of a move, so muchso that I think she'd be disappointed if we ended up staying here. She's not going to be able to come with me this time, unfortunately. We've got 2 young kids and no one to watch them on short notice. She'll just have to rely on me and then we'll go up there in a couple of weeks if we decide to do it.