OVERVIEW: I lived at Ramblewood for seven years and highly recommend this place. It's not new or shiny or fancy or in the "cool" part of town, but it’s functional and friendly and provides quality service at a quality price.
ORIGINAL SELLING POINTS: I originally chose this complex because rent for a 1-bedroom was super cheap, all utilities were included, and it had air conditioning. In 2000, many of the cheaper places around town were quite old and had no AC; newer complexes with more amenities were out of my price range. I was also sold on the shuttle to CSU campus, the weight/workout room (simple but functional), and the computer lab (more on this later).
DEMOGRAPHICS: While I lived there, Ramblewood was mostly made up of CSU students (~80%) and low-income families. The two groups didn't interact/overlap much, except in the laundry and mail rooms.
STAFF: The staff hardly changed during my stint here, so it must be a good place to live AND work. Steve the shuttle driver was a regular friendly face, as were the office ladies and the fix-it guys. Any issues I had were addressed quickly and professionally.
SAFETY: In 7 years time, there were few safety issues of which I was aware. Two or three times letters were sent to all residents warning of a peeping tom or break-ins in the area. There was one incidence of graffiti (gang signs spray painted on my building; paint removed within one week) and one incidence of vandalism (a car in my parking lot was keyed; suspected juvenile culprits). There was also one occasion where I was woken up in the middle of the night to someone pounding on my door (and my neighbor's). I thought it was an attempted break-in, so I called 911. It turned out to be a drunken resident at the wrong building. Super scary at the time, but harmless in the end. Lastly, there were some shady characters seen walking to/from the liquor store down the block. I suspect most of these experiences were influenced in part by living in the building right by the entrance to the complex, next to the road.
LOCATION: The complex is on the northwest corner of town. You CAN walk to Old Town and you CAN walk to CSU campus, but it might take 30 to 60 minutes, so you'll need your tennies. Biking to those areas is much more conducive, or you can take the city bus which has two stops within one block or less of the complex entrance. A large park and public golf course are also nearby, walkable and bikeable distances. Friends would park at my place and walk to park events and concerts. The biggest location negative is the high school just up the road from the complex, which creates some brief but heavy traffic in the morning and around 3pm during the school year.
MY UNIT: My building was comprised of four old 3-bedroom units that were each split into two 1-bedroom units, resulting in units with back porches and AC and units with more windows, a dishwasher, and the heater thermostat. I chose the AC unit and never missed the extra sunlight or dishwasher. My apartment was often overheated in the winter, but I suspect the heating is not divided equally among the apartment pairs, and I would just crack a window to bring the temp down. My kitchen and bathroom were extremely small with little to no counter space, respectively. The curtains and carpet were old and the sliding back door needed to be replaced/updated as it did not lock and I had to use a wooden dowel to secure it. I noticed, however, that neighboring units had newer back doors and mine was most likely replaced when I left.
COMPLAINTS: The negatives worth mentioning are few. The mail service was slow and irregular – some days the mail did not come until 6pm or later and I felt my mail was at least one day slower than mail at friends’ houses in the area. The laundry room and the “computer lab” are sub-par. The price of the coin-operated units was lower than at Laundromats but the machines were often broken, the driers were ineffectual, machines were left unattended (so finished loads just sat there), and sometimes people would empty your machine or open your machine and not restart it. After 2 years, I started regularly going to an off-site Laundromat (The Laundry Basket on West Elizabeth). The computer lab, in the beginning, had an employee that stayed in the room, fielded questions/complaints, and enforced the rules (especially with unattended children). But then the computer guy left and the equipment got to be laughably outdated and slow. Again, I stopped using the lab altogether and went to CSU library or campus labs to do any digital work. Lastly, the complex has some equipment like vacuums and snow shovels that residents could check out temporarily. These were of poor quality and were often never brought back. It bothered me that the staff could not foresee such problems and come up with a better loan program.