Is property crime a problem in IC? (Iowa City, Coralville: for sale, apartments)

[Sojourner in Iowa]

I looked at some stats online, but it didn't map crimes out by area. I've been the victim of robbery and theft more times than I want to admit. I've even had the same car stolen twice in the same month. Seriously. Anyway, as you can imagine, I try to take precaution. I would really like to decorate the outdoor space of my new apartment with lots of nice planters, maybe a sculpture or two, and some outdoor furniture, but am wary of it all being nabbed. Every time I think of investing in anything more than a terra cotta pot, I remember how my grandparents had a 400lb tiered fountain stolen out of their front yard in the middle of the night! Since I'm only staying for a couple years, I'm not going to plunk down a behemoth fountain, but am I just asking for trouble if I set out pretty things on my patio/in my yard?

[iowegian]

Originally Posted by Sojourner in Iowa

I looked at some stats online, but it didn't map crimes out by area. I've been the victim of robbery and theft more times than I want to admit. I've even had the same car stolen twice in the same month. Seriously. Anyway, as you can imagine, I try to take precaution. I would really like to decorate the outdoor space of my new apartment with lots of nice planters, maybe a sculpture or two, and some outdoor furniture, but am wary of it all being nabbed. Every time I think of investing in anything more than a terra cotta pot, I remember how my grandparents had a 400lb tiered fountain stolen out of their front yard in the middle of the night! Since I'm only staying for a couple years, I'm not going to plunk down a behemoth fountain, but am I just asking for trouble if I set out pretty things on my patio/in my yard?

I have never had anything stolen here in Coralville. (If you did decide on Hampton, I live just a few blocks away.) I wouldn't be concerned at all with putting things in my yard. Of course, anything is possible, but theft is not a big problem in this area. I remember one attempted break-in occurring in this neighborhood, out of 6 years of living here. So go for it

[oktober69105]

Nobody in this town steals things like fountains and lawn ornaments. Downtown is another matter. But some neighborhoods have grills on their ground level patios and nothing is ever taken. But neighborhoods vary. Some have gone bad over the past few years while others are very safe. If you want to know for sure, look at the Iowa City city data at www.icgov.org and look into the police department 2008 annual report and you'll see that property crimes are low and are among the lowest in a decade.

[Chicago60614]

Well here's one big thing that shocked me moving from central Iowa City to Chicago. In Chicago I suddenly realized that people put fountains, flowers, pots, statues, etc. right along the sidewalks and no one ever touched/picked anything.

If you're in an area of Iowa City full of college students, chances are you migth have something messed with (the Ped Mall gets grazed over every year), not so much because it's vicious vandalism, but because you have a wasted 19 year old with first time freedoms who sees a pot next to your sidewalk or some huge flowers and thinks it would be "cool" to rip them up.

Aside from living from say Bowery to Church street and the river to Governor Street on the East Side, and the apartments on the west side near Woodside, I can't see you having any problems. Chances are if you're not a college student most of those areas aren't going to jump out as hot places to live anyway. Maybe you could live in those residential areas as well and be perfectly fine. I know when I was in college we had a knack for waking up to For Sale signs and lumber all over our yards, signs in our apartments, etc.

Maybe things have changed, but growing up in Coralville, and having my friends and parents friends live in the "normal" areas of Iowa City, no one ever messes with anything. I don't know if it's a little more shifty now on the southeast side of town as far as property crime, but everyone seems to be blacklisting that whole neighborhood as it is.