Is Carthage a good place to live? (Kent, Reading: low income, apartment)

[meeksapril88]

I am 26 and I just bought a cute house in Carthage on W 69th street in November. I am feeling a bit uneasy about it since I've noticed the local drug dealer/pimp (an educated guess but a confident one) lives two houses down from me and there are always people coming and going, out front fighting and yelling everyday. I have also noticed that my street must be ***** street as I only see prostitutes on my corner walking up and down the sidewalks. Also people just throw their garbage anywhere which is horrible and makes the neighborhoods look dumpy and scarier than what they really are.

Maybe I picked the wrong street? Is all of Carthage like this?

One neighbor came and introduced themselves telling me they were good people. I haven't met anyone else so far. My overall impression of the town of Carthage is that it is very cute. A lot of history in the city and the houses and buildings. I see a lot potential here. The run down houses don't bother me as I know Carthage is just a low income area and good people don't have a lot of money to do upkeep.

I guess I am searching for reassurance that Carthage and the people that live here are pretty nice and that I probably just picked the wrong street. Thanks

[jmecklenborg]

I have thought about buying a house in that area because they are such great deals. I'm aware that there is some crime in that area but I have lived around much worse and not been affected by it. If you don't have kids or teenagers it shouldn't be a problem.

Remember that the departure of a single neighbor could mean all of that activity goes away. But at the same time I've observed that "structured" drug and prostitution (persistent presence of street dealing and women on corners for months or years) has the odd effect of cutting down on petty crime like car break-ins and small-time muggings. I lived directly across the street from non-stop drug dealing in Corryville for 5 years and never had a problem. No car break-ins, no apartment break-ins. One time a huge tree was struck by lightning and fell over in our back parking lot. The tree was on the property of a foreclosure and it took the bank weeks to send a crew out to cut it up. In the meantime someone started hiding drugs in the fallen tree branches. One time he was back there for hours trying to find something that he lost. He saw me looking at the window at him and I just told him to find whatever he was looking for and move on.

Don't call the cops on these guys. They'll figure out it was you and start messing with you and your stuff.

[SonnyDaze]

I used to frequent the area a lot about 5-10 years ago. North of North Bend Rd has some nice streets. The rest of Carthage is a mixed bag. Despite the sharp demographic shifts in the neighborhood (was essentially all blue-collar Appalachian up until 2000), Carthage is more vibrant and has more potential than Elmwood to the south. For a small neighborhood, it does have a fairly strong sense of community from what I've seen.

[censusdata]

I went through there quite a bit and I'd avoid anything in Elmwood Place or Carthage. It was a nice working class neighborhood at one point, my great grandparents owned a boarding house on the main drag that catered towards displaced Kentuckians. But it seems like it's not an area that's going to improve anytime soon. For a good deal on housing in that area I would look at St Bernard or Reading.

[meeksapril88]

Thanks for the quick reply's! I agree with you on not calling the cops on them. Them being a drug dealer doesn't bother me but all the yelling I hear freaks me out. Their definitely is a strong sense of community in Carthage. I think I will be joining the volunteer force there cleaning up garbage from the neighborhoods.

I will stay hopeful and just try to help clean it up some.