If I move to Oak Cliff in Dallas, where can I run?

I haven't lived in Dallas for 15 years, but when I was growing up oak cliff was basically a ghetto. Seems like it may have improved over the last 10 yrs but not surprised people still have negative connotations with it.

Don't know the area but isn't Oak Cliff in Dallas a famous high school for sprint talent?

Thanks! Did you do any running around the area?

If you don't actually mean Oak lawn instead, you should.

No, definitely not Oak Lawn. Oak Cliff

Bump

I'm in the burbs now but run in Oak Cliff a few times per year. You're in basically the most hilly area of Dallas, which is pretty good for daily runs but not so much for speed work. Long runs are easy - you can run 2 miles to the trinity river levee area and the gravel trails there will take you as far as you want to go.

I would make the drive to WRL for tempo runs so you've got some flat. No idea about tracks.

Run off the cliff.

Yes, Oak Cliff has a reputation for being the ghetto, but they have improved it a lot in the last decade or so.

My only advice is to live close to your work. Traffic in DFW is terrible (and getting worse all the time), so even a modest sounding commute in terms of miles can take forever. I've long maintained that having a long commute is worse for your training than living in a neighborhood that isn't great for running, just because it will eat up so much of your time. Plus the daily aggravation factor.

Also check out Eno's and Oddfellows, those are the two reasons I go to Oak Cliff

I've lived in the DFW area for almost 25 years. I don't live in Dallas; I live out by DFW airport, but I work just east of downtown.

I don't know of any trails in Oak Cliff. There might be some walking trails in city parks. The HS tracks in my area are open to the public, not sure if that's the case in Oak Cliff area. Not sure of exactly what area of Oak Cliff you're talking about, but farther south and west is Mountain View Comm College and I think there's an asphalt trail on their campus. Not sure about access to their track.

Both my kids went to public school in our area, but if I would have had to put them in a public school in Oak Cliff I would have been very concerned. The reputation of DISD schools is not very good and Oak Cliff is considered a low income, under-performing area of Dallas; that mix is usually a disaster for schools. My daughter actually went to a DISD fine arts magnet school in DISD during HS and she noticed the academic standards were much lower there. I would disagree with your associates that St. Mark's is "do or die". My opinion is that a DISD school in Oak Cliff would be near the bottom of the educational spectrum, and St. Mark's would be at the top of the spectrum, with several choices in between.

Regarding moving to Oak Cliff; do a Google images search of 'crime map of Dallas' and see what it shows for the area of Oak Cliff you're considering. The general reputation of Oak Cliff is low income, high crime, don't get caught there at night, etc., and in many areas of Oak Cliff it's a reputation that's well earned/deserved. That said, there are some areas that have huge, beautiful, old, well-maintained homes. The Bishop Arts district is a hip, trendy neighborhood in Oak Cliff that is experiencing some "gentrification".

Hope this helps; sorry I didn't have more RR info for you. A lot of this is my opinion, but hopefully it gives you an understanding of why you're getting the "raised eyebrows" from associates at work.

I lived downtown for two years. Didn't run much in Oak Cliff but it's a cool place to hangout. Def. the place to raise a "hip" family in Dallas.

The trinity levee trail is great and you can run over a pedestrian bridge into downtown (the first 1/4-half mile is gross on the downtown side sadly)

Close to your work in turtle creek is the Katy trail. Nice asphalt trail and plenty of eye candy from the uptown/smu ladies

Katy Trail & White Rock Lake for running. You ought to look into the Lake Highlands neighborhood in NE Dallas. This is Richardson ISD not DISD abd much much better. Save $$ on private schools. You would not have a bad commute to work either.

Oak Cliff is a lovely neighborhood. You can run on the Trinity River, around the neighborhood to some of the parks or go over the river and pick up the Katy trail downtown.

Public schools are a no go. They are about 97% Hispanic and 75% at risk. They are just trying to keep those kids on grade level and out of trouble. There are lots of choices for private schools in Dallas. But you do need to get on wait lists very early for a number of them to have a shot to get in.

The problem with Oak Cliff is that there are some pretty rough neighborhoods to the south and east. So, there is crime, but it is not a dangerous area. If you leave your bike on your porch, it will be gone in the morning. If you leave a bag in your car, your car window will be broken in the morning. Every now and then someone gets broken into during the day when no one is home. But the really bad stuff happens mostly in the southeastern parts of Oak Cliff. So, keep that in mind when you look at crime statistics.

You can get a really nice house for not a lot of money in Oak Cliff. Gentrification has sort of run its course in Oak Cliff as no one is interested in venturing any further south. So, prices have not shot up as demand is limited for the neighborhood. If you buy a house in any of the close in neighborhoods with good K-12 schools in Dallas, you will pay at least an extra $300k on a house. If you have a bunch of kids, that may be a good investment. But if you have one or two, you could get through private school with that much money.

The best schools are in the burbs and the best value on housing is also in the burbs. You can take the light rail to downtown to avoid the awful traffic. But the burbs are pretty soul sucking in Dallas.

I grew up in Dallas and went to St. Mark's.

Oak Cliff now does seem like a trendy place. I'm sure you can find a cool home to live in and it is very different than the rest of the nicer parts of Dallas.

I don't know but assume that no one who can afford it sends their kids to public schools there. They only go there out of necessity. It's sad that's how things work but is the reality. Might be some magnet schools your kids could get in but my impression is unless its Highland Park or the suburbs North of Dallas very few people send their kids to public schools unless they don't have any other choices.

I went to St. Mark's. Great school. Obviously single sex so if you have daughters they'll have to go somewhere else. One thing to factor in is the commute. Oakcliff to St. Mark's can't be easy in rush hour and I doubt a lot of your sons classmates will live in Oak Cliff. Just something to factor in.

Or you could move to Fort Worth. More affordable than Dallas. Kids in my neihborhood go to public (Lilly B Clayton, Paschal) and private schools. And then you could be the one who commutes. Maybe the train and uber isn't really feasible each day but something to consider if you don't want to drive.

But your kids slogging 30 minutes to school each day can't be good. Actually I just put it in google maps and it says at 7:30 am it can take 25-55 minutes to get to St. Mark's. Is that what you want for your kids?

I can see how you'd want to live in Oak Cliff. Less of the mcMansion or suburban feel of a lot of Dallas, but for kids and their education I'm not sure it is for you.

Spoken like someone who has never commuted to a real job. Terrible advice to live in Fort Worth and work in Dallas. You'd be spending 3-4 hours a day sitting in your car. And public transit options suck here. I have been shocked at how bad Fort Worth traffic has gotten in the last few years. I honestly think it might be worse than Dallas right now.

DFW rain man wrote:

Spoken like someone who has never commuted to a real job. Terrible advice to live in Fort Worth and work in Dallas. You'd be spending 3-4 hours a day sitting in your car. And public transit options suck here. I have been shocked at how bad Fort Worth traffic has gotten in the last few years. I honestly think it might be worse than Dallas right now.

I never see traffic in Ft. Worth, but I stay within about 3 miles of my house. No way the traffic is worse here unless you are trying to go north on 35. Most people in Ft. Worth are living closer to downtown than in Dallas so less reason to get on a highway. If I ever have to go north forget about it.

Yes commuting FW to Dallas would suck (I HATE that drive) but so would sending his kids 45 minutes to school each way and having them live far from their school mates.

wejo wrote:

I never see traffic in Ft. Worth, but I stay within about 3 miles of my house.

I rest my case. You have no room to speak on the matter, so you'd be well advised not to.

Wejo are you running cowtown this year?