Mason City Home Question (Monroe: low income, renting, houses)

[Sibley18]

I am relocating to Mason City and have heard that the "North" side of the city can be bad ... drugs, stabbings etc. I am renting a house on the Northwest side of the city near 15th st and Monroe Ave. Anyone have any insight on this part of town? Good Bad? Anything helps, thanks a lot.

[pepe1]

The north side of Mason City is the rougher part of town. There is certainly drug activity and plenty of riff-raff on the north side, but it is by no means Compton or East St. Louis. As long as your not associating with the riff-raff, you'll be fine. 15th and Monroe is an OK area - its far enough west that you are a little removed from the tougher areas in the north-central part of town. Property tends to be cheap around 15th and Monroe becasue you are literally right next to the cement plant.

I would personally stay away form the north side only becasue, frankly, it is depressing. The north side once was home to a large meat packing plant that closed down in the 70's. The neighborhood has never recovered from that closure. The north side is littered with closed/abandoned buildings, many houses suffer from years of 'deferred maintenance', and the demographics in the neighborhood skew heavily towards senior citizens and low income households. I would personally pay a little extra and live in one of the nicer parts of town.