living downtown (Phoenix: condos, violent crime, houses)

[sugarlips]

I was wondering if anyone was living in or knows someone living in downtown Phoenix? Specifically the encanto area or in one of the newer high rise /downtown developments.

In a previous post, I asked about the commute time from Ahwatukee to Pointe South Mountain. I wonder if the commute from central phoenix down to south phoenix would be bad?

As far as crime, everyone says that there is some of the worst crime in the valley and that encanto is an oasis in the midst of the crime ridden neighborhoods. However, I looked up the crime stats and found that that is not statistically true. Maybe it's the perception but according to my research, it looks like it is not that bad.

Here's the link for city of Phx crime in the past year:

http://www.azcentral.com/CrimeMaps/?...egory=&x=0&y=0

If you travel up the central corridor, there seems to be much more crime happening closer to arcadia and the biltmore and not just property crime.

Any thoughts?

[silverbear]

There is a lot of attractive housing in Encanto and nearby historic districts. As for crime, property crime is everywhere. You've just got to exercise common sense about locking doors, using an alarm system, etc. There is little violent crime, however, in the historic districts.

The biggest issue associated with the historic districts is the local schools, which are still perceived as spotty. Most families I know in those areas send their kids to private schools if they can afford to do so. Biltmore and Arcadia, however, have stronger local schools.

As for commuting to South Mountain, it would probably be about 20-30 minutes, but fortunately most of the heavy traffic would be in the other direction.

[sugarlips]

Wow, silverbear. You've been a lot of help today. Thanks. 20-30 minutes doesn't seem bad.

I realize the public schools are going to be sub-par in those areas. We would probably go the charter or private route. I have heard good things about Khalsa Montesorri which is downtown. They have received "excelling" designations for the last 3 years.

[rambrush]

I used to work downtown at 7th ave and VanBuren in the old Chevy dealership building.
Every morning we had the street people sleeping in the shrubs along the front door. Just had to wakem up and get em moving along.
Never had any problems.
The commute south should not be much of a problem at all.

[gotdebt]

I live downtown in the Roosevelt area. I love walking my dog in the Encanto, Palmcroft and FQ Story areas. I cannot afford them, because even though they are small historic houses, they are median $500k. That being said, a lot of condos are going to go up with the light rail.

The crime in the areas above is very low. The neighbors do a good job keeping eyes out (trust me, walk your dog at 11pm on a hot summer night and when the neighbor dogs bark, people peek out the windows.) Sure downtown gets the homeless, but most are pretty harmless. I love living downtown everywhere I live so I am pretty tolerant to crime, night walking and homelessness.

As far as the drive south, it's very quick if the traffic isn't bad. You can also do what a lot of people do and take 7th Ave or 13th Street all the way south