Moving to Boston, neighborhood question... (Heath: apartments, crime, school)

[elusive87]

I'm moving from the Chicago suburbs to Boston this fall to go to grad school at Northeastern. I have found a couple of good options for apartments, and I was hoping I could get your opinions on if these streets are safe or not.

First, is Lawn Street (in Mission Hill, I believe) safe? What about St. Alphonsus Street (I cannot find the exact address right now...)

I just got a car for graduation in January, so I won't be walking a ton since I don't want to give up a car I just go, that would be silly. These places both have parking. But if I wanted to walk a few streets north to campus, about a mile or so, would I be relatively safe at night?

Thank you!

[missionhill]

My knowledge is dated but I'd say St Alphonsus Street is fine. Lawn Street-- as I recall that's on the back of the hill, i.e., the Heath Street side. Probably OK but it's a little spotty over there and not within easy walking distance of NEU. Mission Hill has projects on both sides, the Mission Main/Annunciation Road projects on the Roxbury (Tremont Street) side of the hill and the Bromley Heath on the Jamaica Plain side. So it's not Pleasantville, but Mission Hill is a big student area these days and, I would assume, reasonably safe. The Mission Main project is now all redeveloped, much safer and not at all the crime generator it was once, so you can walk down Parker Street from the Hill to Northeastern without risking life and limb. I thought Mission Hill was reasonably safe in the '70s (at least south of Tremont St), assuming a mugging or two and a burglary were to be expected. Apparently one can have higher standards today.