Widefield... the good and bad (Colorado Springs, Security-Widefield: fit in, rentals, HOA)

[haubrich29]

We are relocating to Colorado Springs and are currently school and househunting. We would like to stay reasonably close to Ft. Carson but open to a small commute.
We have found very decent size homes with beautiful established yards in the D-3 Widefield community but have heard the area is "yucky" and crime rate is slightly higher such as vandalism and drugs. Please give me the good and bad.
Is their another area that may be a better option? I have read a lot about D-20 and Briargate but an area with less of a commute and a little larger home for your buck would be great.

[ryanek9freak]

well you aren't gonna get as much house for your dollar in Briargate that anywhere else. The housing prices up here are rediculous. But I guess that's the price you pay for nicer neighborhoods.

[froggin4colorado]

Consider that area as middle class, lower middle class, and some under the poverty level. I am assuming you may be looking at the newer homes? The area to stay away from in the Widefield/ Security area would be the west side of Hwy 85/87 and the older homes near the community center/HS, and behind Ross. I live in the same part of town. Have you looked at the Glen at Widefield, Oakwood Homes, Lorson Ranch, Country Crossing, and Heritage neighborhoods? These are other areas I would recommend that would keep the commute to Fort Carson down (all in the Fountain Valley- Security/Widefield/Fountain area). I also recommend FFC8 over WSD3 schools, mostly because I have found FFC8 is a wonderful place to work: XMas bonuses, slightly higher pay, and other nice teaching extras that aren't common in other districts.
FYI- John Carroll, from News 13, lives in the area. You will see him and his family at Walmart and Security Public Library frequently.

[melkreeves]

Grew up and graduated in Widefield and personally, I loved it. There were some drugs, vandalism and minor gang problems but you know what? I kept nose out of places it didn't need to be and I never had a problem. I still love the area and visit as much as possible. The older areas like old Security do seem to have more of these problems while the newer areas (Colorado Center, Glen at Widefield) have less. Just like any other place there are good and bad people and areas and its up to you what you make of it. There is a definite sense of community there.

[lourdas1976]

Let's see here, I was born and raised in security and widefield. My grandparents are small business owners here and have been for over 40 years. Now my spouse and I just bought a home up off fountain mesa. A 3285 sq. foot home with 6 beds, 4 baths, and 2 car garage that appraises for $215,000, and we got it in perfect condition as a forclosure for only $165,000. We have a ton of children, parks, schools, and shopping access nearby, and a neighborhood watch in effect. I must point out that this area is in no way worse then any other area in the springs except maybe the broadmoor skyway area's and that is only because white collar crime doesn't make headlines, and typically rich peoples kids, even though they too have drug and wanna-be gang activity, tend to be protected under their parents invisible shield of protection, connections, and money. There is really no ghetto in colorado springs. Meth houses have even started pop up in briargate, the west side, and north east areas, and we here in Widefield are given the reputation of being ahead of everyone else in that problem. If memory serves me right, it was two avarage appearing white people from the northside of the springs that murdered their two beautiful children in a house fire due to meth and money issues. Bottem line is, crime happens everywhere. We are not like california or chicago or even denver where there truley are localized areas of crime. And if I were to have to pick an area here that would top the list as unsafe to live, it would be fountain and chelton area, or the sand creek are around sierra high, as well as the stratton meadows and B street area. To the person who is moving here, the crime rate in the springs has increased drasticly over the last few years. It has been nearly every day in the last few months that there is a robbery or home invasion on the news. But we are still well below that of other cities our size, and as far as the neighborhood I grew up in.....I have two cousins who graduated as widefield glads and both received full ride scholerships to the Colorado school of mines in golden. A very prestigous school for engineers and they are both very successful men now. I can give you examples a many more success stories as well as a few that didn't turn out so great. Living in widefield I have never been robbed or injured. and as a matter of fact it was only when I branched out in to the colorado sprigs central and NORTH areas that I had any issues what so ever. I was a victim of a crime in the meadows, I had my car broke into and system stolen when I lived in Rockrimmon, by two very well off families teenage sons I might add, and I work up north off of barnes and just recently my place of employment was broken into and robbed overnight. So my advice is to weigh a few things out. Number one, the home we just purchased in july is beautiful and huge!!! The only thing that I find of concern is that we live on a curve and I see that there are many who do not follow that speed limit around that blind curve and there are many children that play and ride bikes freely around that area. My neighborhood is clean, the people are friendly, and the schools are great. A house just like this on the northside would have ran us around $325,000 if taking size and quality into consideration. So for far less then that we have a beautiful home, a strong community, and a safer neighborhood than any other I have lived in. I would look as another poster said, in the area that is further south from the point of the street fontaine, and east from the hwy 85/87. Even heading into the fountain new homes. Very reasonably priced and they are pretty nice. Ours is an older home, built same year i was born 1976, and It is as sturdy as most older built homes are, and still has the more modern appearnce of newer builds. You will find that there are a lot of people in this area that have been here for many many years, and on the flip side of that, there is a large amount of fort carson soldiars and there families in this area. I know that I probably should have made this a lot shorter but when I hear the hype about widefield i am a bit angered my it. We are a middle class, blue collar, working class community and if that makes us the Ghetto then so be it, but I am sure once you do some reasearch of your own, like a visual assessment and a look at the housing market, as well as using your own judgement and knowledge as to the bias that is in the media and government, you will come to see that we are no where near the area of town you want to avoid.

[bleedingrose]

We moved to Widfield in the late 70 and as we come back from Germany we moved back hear. I love it I would not want to be in Pikes Peak Park or by the Airport!
Cimarron Hills we lived a brief moment no . People hear put more money to fix up homes just visit the Valley. We like it here and it is 4-5 degrees warmer.Results are very predictable. Those areas where the residents believe in education and support bond issues when needed reach distinction. Those where you have residents who believe life owes me a living are not. You get what you pay for

"Our top performing global competitors use methods that work and their kids benefit greatly."
The methods used (strict, regimented and highly repetitive and competitive) work well for a few reasons that have nothing to do with teaching methodology, and everything to do with societal attitudes.

Think about this: which countries are those? They are all countries that many in this country, despite some of the best schools in the world, believe to be "socialist". A more accurate word would be "collectivist", meaning that the overall welfare of the nation is just as important as the individual. In their societies, teachers are actually respected and education is not seen as a way to earn more money, but more honor and respect to themselves and others. Educational systems are in no way separate from the societies that they function in.
Education is a partnership between the school and the parents. Having a parent check the homework, monitor the TV viewing, preparing healthy food, getting the child out the door on time, spending quality time socially with their children-these are all indications of effective parenting. Good parenting helps performance in the classroom.

[otowi]

I also am born and raised in Security/Widefield. There are several nice things about Widefield/Security. For one, it has a real community feel to it - like a small town. It is a place where people who are born there tend to stay or come back, the school districts tend to be full of teachers who went to school there themselves, etc. It is also one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse areas of the county. It is a place where everyone can fit in and be accepted, and it is a working class neighborhood. Having lived here my whole life, I know that some places look a little run down, but actual crime isn't worrisome. I feel 100% safe at any time of day or night anywhere in this district, period. In my whole life here, what I've seen in terms of crime is pretty minor - occasional drug houses in rentals, occasional incidents of car break-ins or vandalism, tagging on people's fences, and now and then a robbery or domestic violence, etc. It is the stuff that happens everywhere and that is likely to very rarely affect you personally.

[Not disappointed]

I moved here a single woman to 80911 Security Widefield and although I was a little weary, I do not feel scared at all. I have been here since mid year 2016 and have been very happy. The homes in my area seem to have been selling quickly, not a surprise as I bought mine the 2nd day it was on the market and the house next door sold the 1st day on the market. The homes recently sold are being updated and the area as a whole is looking a lot better.
I would say like all areas, there are good and bad but I do not regret my choice of buying my home.

[Sonic_Spork]

I lived in Security-Widefield from 2012-2016, on Foxwood Drive. That neighborhood was just fine. The schools my kids went to were good in my opinion, though the reason we wanted to be there unfortunately went up in smoke by about the point my oldest started high school. See, they used to have an absolutely killer, award winning orchestra in Widefield High School. But this was due to the efforts of one man, Mr. Magalong, who later went on to do this stuff:
https://palmbeachsymphony.org/assistant-conductor/

...and when he left, he was replaced by a woman who some argue is incompetent, and others like just fine, but in my opinion all that can be said is that she is an adequate high school music teacher. She is not the kind of person to create and sustain a stellar orchestra program. She had big shoes to try and fill, and that is not her fault. Not every high school orchestra teacher will be a Mr. Magalong.

But in other aspects we really didn't have a problem with the area. But as others have mentioned, it was also part of the area with the bigger, newer homes. We had an HOA but it wasn't a bad one, dues were low (about $70/year if I recall) and mainly that was just to keep the common areas mowed and maintained. The rules were not restrictive.

We also, when we first moved to the area, rented for a short time out in the community to the east of Powers, "Colorado Centre" and I would caution you about that, the water district is a pain and the water quality not as good when we were there. And there is just...a whole lotta nothin' out there. My kids used to enjoy going to the Widefield Community Center, but in more recent times have told me (when they were down there visiting their Dad) that there are some sketchy people who seem to hang out there. So I don't know.

One point about the commute... You don't say where you are coming from, but I can tell you right now that in general, traffic on I-25 is nowhere near as bad as it is in many places (such as the greater D.C. metro, Atlanta, etc.) If you live anywhere in town, if you're near an access point to the highway, then you can zip on in to Fort Carson in short order. For instance I just used Google maps to determine the time from where I used to live in Widefield, to the middle of Fort Carson. It was 15 minutes. Not bad, right? Then I moved the dot to the west side, somewhere say off of Mesa Rd. 19 minutes. Then I moved it up to Briargate but kept it near-ish the interstate. 25 minutes.

So bear in mind that if you have easy access to the highway, that can mean that it's not terrible to live slightly further from base. Later when my younger son was in high school, he was going to Coronado and it seemed like a pretty good school to me. There are areas of D-11 that are fairly excellent and areas that are not. I've heard good things about D12 also, which is the west side, mostly south of 24...but I would be careful buying in even a nice neighborhood over there and have the soil checked carefully. I've heard a lot of stories about cracked foundations (on really nice homes!) because of shifting soil, mine tailings, clay, whatever that is all about. Others will know more than me on that subject. Just have an eye out. I'd rent over there though, without hesitation. At least in the nicer areas like the Skyway neighborhood where a friend of mine lived.

[mtngigi]

The OP's post is from 2008 ... just sayin'.