[mastro30]

My wife and I are moving to the New Haven area and I am not sure about the safety of the town. We were thinking of an area called Westville?

If this is the right name, is it a safe area? I've heard that there are some places in New Haven that aren't good at night time.

Some info on New Haven would be great also. My wife is doing a residency program potentially in St. Rafael's Hospital. So what the hospital is like too?


Thank you,

mastro30

[Dragondog]

Westville is actually a good place to live. Other areas in New Haven are not.
St. Rafael's is a very good hospital with an excellent reputation- its location is so so.
New Haven has much to offer culturally- and the city is centered around Yale University. The city around Yale has an 'old world skyline'.
Excellent museums like the Yale Art gallery and British Museum of Art. Great theater.
Many great restaurants of every imaginable ethnic group.
The downtown is centered around 'The Green' which has been the city's focal point since 1646.
Biotechnology is the area new growth node- and the city itself despite its problems is rebuilding and doing much better.

[mastro30]

Thank you for your input, that makes me feel better. Any others familiar with the Westville area and it's surroundings. Are there any Calvary Chapel churches near this part of CT?

[mels]

I used to live in Westville and it is a safe area provided you have normal street smarts that every adult should possess. Like any city, New Haven has nice parts and crappy parts. Fair Haven is a dump, as is most of Newhallville, near St. Raphael around Orchard St., Goeffe Street near Southern CT State U gets dicey as you head towards downtown.

Westville is diverse and has a large Jewish population. Some areas can be on the pricey side (near Yale Bowl and northern Edgewood Park) because there are old big lovely homes. Beautiful but pricey. Westville is nice because you have grocery stores near by (Stop and Shop on the Woodbridge town line, Shaw’s right on Whalley Ave) and you can walk to drug store/pharmacy type places. I am a woman and never felt unsafe there. My neighborhood was mostly comprised of three family houses converted to apartments. We were all mostly renters and everyone looked out for each other. There was a real sense of community there.

I don't know about churches, there are many around but I don't know what denomination. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask. I know the area well.

[mastro30]

thanks for that input mel, that was great!

i truly feel alot better about it. and we were looking into renting a house floor converted to an apartment actually. good prices on these options.

thanks again!

[BENZBOY15]

I have a New Haven story. My grandma lives in Darien and she wanted me to see Yale. So we took a tour of the campus and parked on a street in front of the campus. We go on our tour and our guide is more than happy to point out that New Haven is becoming safer, blah, blah, blah. Well, the tour ends and we come out to find the street (in front of yale) is blocked off by police cars and yellow tape. We try to walk to my grandma's car and there's a sizable ammount of blood in the street. I asked someone what happened and she said a woman tried to carjack a car and then somebody came up behind her and hit her with some sort of heavy object, hence the blood on the ground.

Yale is nice as are some of the resturants. However, Yale and the places to eat aren't good enough to comprimise my personal safety.

[mels]

Every urban area has crime, it is just the way it is. You can't hide out in the quiet suburbs your entire life. Well you could, but that would be boring! Also, violent crime in downtown New Haven around the green is extremely rare.

[Danimal]

New Haven is a tough town, but not as tough as it was a few years ago. The city has cleaned up significantly compared to years past, though issues do exist. The area around Yale is the best, though, and as previoously posted probably some of the best culture, dining and entertainment in the state. It looks like you found a place already, but the adjacent towns such as Madison, Branford, Wallingford, etc. are very nice and only a short ride away.

[Jigga2006]

I go to college right on the border with Newhallville and I will honestly say that I never had a problem in New Haven. Not to say that I would recommend walking around Fair Haven or Newhallville at night because there are shootings, drugs, and gang violence in those neighborhoods, but the city as a whole is a wonderful place. Westville is a beautiful area, although it can be very expensive at times.

[Hatter58]

Westville is for the most part pretty good. Stay away from the projects near the West Rock tunnel.
Cedar Cove is also nice but you're near the airport there.
Neighborhoods to avoid are Newhalleville, Fair Haven, the Hill and Dwight-Kensington.

State Street in New Haven has a lot of good restaurants. The whole New Haven area is great for Italian food.

Getting down to the shoreline you can find some very nice seafood places.

The New Haven jazz Fest on the Green as well as Friday flicks on the green are good, free summerime fun.

The Shubert theatre is good. The Criterion Cinemas also have good promotional events like like midnight weekend movies as well as Sunday mornings.