Real Estate Laundry » Westerville � A Community Growing for the Better?

Westerville � A Community Growing for the Better?

May 11th, 2007 categories: Local Communities, Westerville

The Old

I grew up in Galena, Ohio, just a few minutes north of Westerville. At the time, driving to Westerville for entertainment, shopping, and meals provided very few options and little fanfare. The typical trip consisted of shopping at Gold Circle, a few video games at Funway Freeway, maybe a movie and then a tasty meal at Buzz Cockerell’s (now Graeter’s). Obviously, my parents never chose a cocktail prior to dinner as that option did not even exist until the Old Bag of Nails Pub secured the first liquor license in Westerville since the whiskey wars. As a kid, however, it seemed like a visit to the big city!

The New

Today Westerville is clearly a different animal. Subdivisions have sprouted in all directions, new schools have been built, and shopping and dining options abound. I now live in Westerville and quite enjoy raising a family here. We can ride our bikes from our house to the community center without having to contend with traffic, thanks to a wonderful stretch of bike paths linking the parks dotted throughout our town. Sure, traffic can be a challenge from time to time, but with the additions of Maxtown/Polaris, County Line Extension, and the recent completion of Gemini Parkway, north of the Polaris Mall, drivers are given a number of options to lessen congestion.

As for the temperance movement, it is dead in Westerville, Oh.. In my estimation this change has only served to draw dining establishments which had been missing from our community for far too long. We have a long way to go as far as quality and number of restaurants, but I might even propose Westerville is creating its own “scene”. I certainly don’t see blatant negative effects of booze in Westerville.

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Biking in Westerville has become a joy with miles of bike trails connecting parks throughout the community.

The Future

Clearly, Westerville’s growth spurt is not over. Surely the city will continue to face growing pains and tough decisions as to how to grow in a controlled and quality fashion. Office, commercial and medical development opportunities are plentiful, while residential growth seems to be somewhat limited.

Sure, we can all identify effects of growth that are not to our liking. From my perspective, however, in a world that seems to be racing forward at breakneck speed, we have the best of it all here in Westerville. The comforts of a small town environment, great access to a culturally expanding metropolitan area and a community committed to its future all blend to create what is and will continue to be a great place to live!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 11th, 2007 at 1:38 pm and is filed under Local Communities, Westerville. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Marty Van Diest said at May 17th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I love that name. Real Estate Laundry. If you ever decide to give it up let me know, I’ll buy it from you! Seriously.

Looks like a good start to a great site, keep it up! You chose a good outfit to start out with. Real Estate Tomato…but I like Real Estate Laundry Better.
Sparky said at July 7th, 2007 at 3:29 am
I visited Westerville many moons ago when I was a Parts Manager for Fruehauf Trailer. Their Distribution Center was there. It was HUGE! I’m sure the landscape has changed a lot since back then, but I remember it being a really nice community.