Different areas of Knoxville???? East vs West vs South... (Farragut: transplants, renting)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Okay, so we've decided on Tennessee as the state to move to. I am leaning toward Knoxville or surrounding areas. I watched an old crime show about 2 college students who were savagely tortured and murdered. In that show they discussed the difference between East Knoxville vs. West Knoxville. My question is what about North and South Knoxville? Good or bad? Also, what are the "stay away from" zip codes?
This has been covered over and over again (even the horrific crime). Opinions vary on areas, there are good and bad about all areas. Keep in mind that there is really not a "bad area" in Knoxville, and that crime happens in all parts.
Just recently, there was a murder / suicide in a pretty good part of town. Of course, that crime had nothing to do with the "area", it was just a crazy person.
Read the past threads on this subject (there are tons), but nothing beats just driving around and seeing for yourself. To try to pick an area to live from the internet alone does not make much sense.
Do you think there is an invisible fence at the zip code lines?
Knoxville has good and sketchy areas that share the same zip code.
If you are concerned for your safety the most important advice I can give you is don't hang out with or do business with drug dealers.
p.s. word on the street is that crime was not as random as it was prtrayed on TV. But there is nothing to be gained by blaming the victims and why subject the families to any more pain.
I live in North Knoxville, Fountain City area. I've been here about 3 years. I love where I landed, can't say enough good things about my hood, but crime does happen here. Crime happens everywhere. I have never felt unsafe at anytime that I lived here. But in the recent past weeks a neighbors house was broken into while they were out for the day. I was home as well as their next door neighbor, we never heard a thing or noticed anything unusual. But you can bet, we are all on guard and questioning anyone who is stopped or driving slow threw the neighborhood. We are all pretty tight and close knit as neighbors. I like it that way and like that I can call any neighbor for help and they are at my door in a flash. My neighborhood is a mix of natives and transplants.I like that vibe of the mixture we have here. So in my experience, North Knoxville is my favorite part. I have only lived in one other part of Knoxville and that was Northeast and I liked it there too. In a good neighborhood, things can change quickly street by street. I think the way an area feels to any resident is what is important to their safety and comfort level.
Pam
Please, as you respond to my questions, keep in mind I'm coming from the other side of the country. A whole different coast and way of thinking. Here in Sac you clearly know the "bad" higher crime zip codes from other "average" zip codes. Yes, duh, crime happens everywhere. But there is a big difference living in an area where you hear police sirens constantly, drug dealers hanging out, and the area just being run down. I have four kids one of them is autistic and moving a lot trying to find the best "area" is not a good thing. So asking people who actually live in the area makes complete sense to me. If it doesn't to you....move on and reply to another thread. I have read similar threads and too many are either vague or years old.
We keep very much to ourselves, but that didn't prevent my car from being set on fire and totaled and bullets thrown, yes thrown, at my front window shattering it. After the car fire we put up surveillance cameras and yet the thugs rode a bike right up to my front window in plain view of all the cameras and threw bullets at it. The police here seem to side with the bad guys. Having them caught on tape does nothing! Even knowing who it is, neighbor across the street, does nothing! We are tired of fighting to get the cops to do something. We decided to move after kids are done with school. Problem is we can not afford to comfortably live in California. And frankly we are tired of California! From all that I've heard, read and google earthed, East Tennessee appears to be a beautiful part of the state. I do want to move to a part of Knoxville or surrounding area that we can afford to buy a house after renting for a short while. Unfortunately, we'll only have a month from moving to Tenn before the kids start school.
Also, how come so many areas don't have backyard fences? Is that an HOA thing or what?
"So asking people who actually live in the area makes complete sense to me. If it doesn't to you....move on and reply to another thread. I have read similar threads and too many are either vague or years old."
Having to reply to the same question over and over again from people that are too lazy to do a little research is tiring. These questions have been asked and answered over and over again and are not that old.
Honestly, come for a visit and drive around for a few days and you will get a feel for what area feels right to you.
When I moved from CA, thats exactly what we did. We spent a week here going all over the place, talking to everyone we could. In that week, we got a pretty good idea of what the people were like, and where we wanted to live. In fact, we bought a house, then went home to CA and sold ours and moved.
"From all that I've heard, read and google earthed, East Tennessee appears to be a beautiful part of the state."
To pick a place to live from Google Earth and an internet forum is probably not the best method. While it is a good start, there is no substitute for actually walking the streets and seeing for yourself.
Based on this week's news, I would tell you that West Knoxville is very unsafe, because there was a murder there. But that would be ridiculous of course. West Knoxville, for the most part is very safe. The other thing is that my perception of acceptable neighborhoods, might be vasty different than yours, or others on this forum.
While you might know the zip codes where crime is happening, its just not the case in the Knoxville area. While we may not be quite up to speed on your way of thinking ("A whole different coast and way of thinking. "), most of us on this forum, and in Knoxville, have come from other parts of the Country. Maybe thats why you think the answers are too vague.
My suggestion is to come for a visit, and spend some time driving all over the area, and talk to as many people as you can. Come with either a job in hand, or a fair amount of savings. And maybe leave some of the tude back home.
You will find that most of Knoxville is a safe place to live. That said, it all depends on what YOU are looking for, and what YOU are comfortable with. However, you will not get all of your answers with Google Earth, or an internet forum.
Spider provided about the best response you will get; the threads talking about "bad" areas keep coming up and are not old at all.
I am not aware of any gang violence in Knoxville. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I don't ever hear about it. Not long ago there was a map in the paper showing where shootings have occurred, and it was mostly in east Knoxville and just north of downtown. (Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong)
West Knoxville (from Bearden to Farragut) is mostly middle and upper class except for some areas along Western Ave. The further west you go, the bigger the houses get. The majority of transplants to the area seem to go to west Knoxville. North, east and south Knox have more natives and poorer areas.
"So asking people who actually live in the area makes complete sense to me. If it doesn't to you....move on and reply to another thread. I have read similar threads and too many are either vague or years old."
Having to reply to the same question over and over again from people that are too lazy to do a little research is tiring. These questions have been asked and answered over and over again and are not that old.
Honestly, come for a visit and drive around for a few days and you will get a feel for what area feels right to you.
When I moved from CA, thats exactly what we did. We spent a week here going all over the place, talking to everyone we could. In that week, we got a pretty good idea of what the people were like, and where we wanted to live. In fact, we bought a house, then went home to CA and sold ours and moved.
"From all that I've heard, read and google earthed, East Tennessee appears to be a beautiful part of the state."
To pick a place to live from Google Earth and an internet forum is probably not the best method. While it is a good start, there is no substitute for actually walking the streets and seeing for yourself.
Based on this week's news, I would tell you that West Knoxville is very unsafe, because there was a murder there. But that would be ridiculous of course. West Knoxville, for the most part is very safe. The other thing is that my perception of acceptable neighborhoods, might be vasty different than yours, or others on this forum.
While you might know the zip codes where crime is happening, its just not the case in the Knoxville area. While we may not be quite up to speed on your way of thinking ("A whole different coast and way of thinking. "), most of us on this forum, and in Knoxville, have come from other parts of the Country. Maybe thats why you think the answers are too vague.
My suggestion is to come for a visit, and spend some time driving all over the area, and talk to as many people as you can. Come with either a job in hand, or a fair amount of savings. And maybe leave some of the tude back home.
You will find that most of Knoxville is a safe place to live. That said, it all depends on what YOU are looking for, and what YOU are comfortable with. However, you will not get all of your answers with Google Earth, or an internet forum.
No one is forcing anyone to answer posters questions. Many people that come here and ask the questions simply do not know that there are previous threads. It's ok to direct posters to previous threads; it would be great to even help them find specific threads. I can't tell you the number of folks I am currently helping via DM because they fear posting in this forum due to being given responses that seem to be less than helpful.
Southern hospitality has started to lack on this forum. I definitely agree that it is the best when someone can come here and look for themselves but until we know more we should ask questions that will help us give each new poster the best help that we can give. Let's give new posters the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. Let's be the best Ambassadors for Knoxville that we can be.
Well said Beretta! I have thought that same thing so many times on this forum.
I personally would avoid East Knoxville, by that I mean east of Downtown, north of the river, and south of I-40. I also, personally, would avoid living inside the I-640 loop. There are some good neighborhoods in those areas, but I wouldnt consider them as a whole myself. This is my opinion, so please take from it what you will. I would suggest you to look at crime maps and income maps. Take from those what you want, its just a suggestion. Also, follow local news and see if any trends start to pop up for you.
The OP starts out talking about the most brutal event in our little city's history and you are surprised that she gets a chilly reception?
It may be interesting to note Pam's reaction to a neighborhood crime. It seems to pull the neighbors together and I don't see her (or her neighbors?) planning to leave.
I'm going to put on my amateur sociologist's hat and wonder if leaving would be the typical reaction of a California resident? After all, being mobile was helpful to ancestors who escaped poverty in the great depression. Appalachians tend to hunker down and deal with adversity as a community.
I realize there are a LOT of factors at play in why crime got so bad in your community - but I have to wonder if part of it was because the law abiding citizens were (are) so quick to leave. Perhaps better suited for a general discussion but it is a thought that occurs to me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
