As many of you know I’ve been living in the westmoore area for over a year now and I’m growing tired of living there. It’s semi-convenient because of the commute to work, but moving to midtown wouldn’t add considerably to it. I’m not looking to buy a house yet but does anyone have any tips or suggestions about areas to stay away from?

From what I’ve heard renting houses/apartments is pretty hit or miss over there. I’m not as worried about my own personal safety, but I would prefer to not come home to my place being cleaned out.


I know I will sound like an idiot - but is there plenty of grocery stores, gas stations, post office, gyms, etc in the area?

There's crime everywhere, but I have yet to run into anyone that has ever scared me and a big strong gym rat wouldn't be scared of a crackhead now, would he? Mesta Park has some great places to rent and Paseo rocks. You should go to the Urban Neighbors (downtown's neighborhood association) meeting tonight at Trattoria from 5-7 and chat with the people that live downtown/midtown for tips. The YMCA is great and so is the Center for Healthy Living. There are no decent grocery stores anywhere in the city that I've found so there are the same options as everywhere else (Homeland, Wal-Mart). Who goes to the post office anymore? Do they still exist? My favorite is the Paseo area, it's cheap, fun, eclectic and there are great places to catch up on my Golden Girls reruns while I watch beefcake boys jog by. HA!

Yeah, we've lived in Midtown for almost a year and a half now and no problems yet. Midtown keeps getting better by the day and so are the property values rising. There are also gyms such as Park Harvey Athletic Club (basement of Park Harvey downtown) as well as Body Werx in the new Legacy at Arts Summitt apartments in the Arts District. Rumor has it the Plaza Court building will feature an athletic club in the 2nd story. Also Aspen Athletic at Penn Square mall is nice as well as within 2 miles of MidTown. Come join us!!

we rented an awesome house in mesta park for 6 months when we moved back here from texas! there was a homeland a block or 2 away (not my fav place to go, at times) but in that area, it's hit or miss.

you go one way and you have HUGE house, and then up a block or 2 and its not where I would go running at night! Now, we did have a handful of instances when someone would come knock at our door saying they want "work" (and unfortuately some bum came around at night when babysitters were at our house YIKES, but I was never scared!

but if you have children, or will have, I love the area because the neighborhood OKC school is INCREDIBLE!!!


they have alot of duplexes for rent, and there are some apts by st. lukes

it's a great area and as soon as we can, we are hoping to move back!!

good luck

^^ Teacher Girl , can you tell me more about the Mesta Park neighborhood Okc schools??

My wife and I are looking at moving to Mesta Park. We love everything about the neighborhood, but we have questions regarding the Okc public schools.

What can you tell me about the Elementary and High Schools that serve Mesta Park??

OKClee~~~the school is wilson elementary school (it's a "specialty" arts integration school

they have a piano lab (children start at grade 1) going

in prek/k they have art specialts coming in at least 4 days a week (drama/music and movement/visual arts/..................can't think of the other

I ADORED my sons prek teacher and he is in kinder now and he is quite happy! it's not your "typical" okc public school (i can say that since I used to work for OKC schools)

now, I "believe" the local middle school is taft, where i wouldn't want my son to go to.........but I don't know at what grade that nw classen (the specialty one right off 18th) begins, but I heard its a good school, too!

the neat thing about wilson is that it serves a wide area (so your child will be exposed to many cultures, as well as transfers and neighborhood children)

I was "told" that some transfers come up from norman and edmond...............people were taking their children from westminster to go there also!

but I am all about artsy stuff too! the outside of the school isn't much to look at, but going inside is a different story!

they are also going to be renovating in the near future (I think it was already supposed to happen)

good luck and like I said, I can't wait to get back down there........someday!

The high school off of 18th and Classen is Classen SAS which starts in the 6th grade. It has an International Baccalaureate program as well as an art program. Northwest Classen is on N May across the street and North of Taft and is strictly a high school. There is a big difference between the two schools. We live in the NW Classen school district and my kids go to Harding Charter School. I am afraid there is no way I would allow my kids to go to NW Classen.

Don't forget about Villa Teressa. It is a great private school that accepts children from 3 years old up to the 4th grade.

If you want to include private schools there is also John Carroll the school by the Cathedral on 33rdish and Western. There is also Westminster on Shartel which is very pricey for a grade school, middle school option. McGuinness is also close to MidTown at 50th and Western for another High School.

CCOKC--your children are at my school! At least, if it's Harding Charter Preparatory. There's also Harding Fine Arts. I think I'm reading your post right, though.

How are they liking it? I know I love teaching there.

Classen SAS also has Advanced Placement (AP) classes now, in addition to the IB program.

Yes, my children are at Harding Charter Prep. I think they are going through a slight period of adjustment because they have never attended public school before. My son just kind of goes with the flow and he is doing fine. My daughter is just a typical 16 year old girl full of drama. She didn't know as many people at Harding as my son did and is somewhat resenting the fact that we moved her back to OKC from Boise and all of her freinds. She starts basketball next week and I'm sure she'll meet more people soon. Congratulations are in order though for the school for meeting the Chesapeake challenge!

Oh my gosh, the Chesapeake thing is SO exciting! The vast majority of that money was raised by parents, and I commend them on a job well done!

This last week I received a $2,500 grant for my newspaper program from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, and currently my band and orchestra are working on raising money to go to NYC in the Spring. The upper level French classes are going to Paris over spring break, we've moved up to 4A level competition in basketball, and we finally have a *real* drama program. Things are very exciting for us right now! The kids might not realize it, but there is a lot going on!

I'm sure your daughter will settle in just fine. 16 year-old girls are...interesting...I don't envy them, nor would I ever want to travel back in time to that age! But it's still a small enough school that I'm sure she'll feel like part of the family soon. If your son is a go with the flow kinda guy, then he's going to do great. Adaptation is a big name of the game at HCP. Lord knows I've had to adapt and adjust :P

Good luck!

This last week I received a $2,500 grant for my newspaper program from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation,


Whoo hoo! Congratulations!!!