Texas to Maryland--APG/Edgewood (Aberdeen, Elkton: sale, apartment complex, crime rate)

[afriendlyface]

yes we are crips and and my husband is a converted blood. we roll with our set nightly.

It is idiotic to think that because there are gang prevention efforts that there is a wide gang problem in the whole town of joppatowne.

The reason for this is that there are kids who live in project housing who are exposed to this type of culture and are vulnerable to this lifestyle and are in danger of imitating it. Do they not have drug prevention programs in schools even if there is not a wide spread problem with ini those schools?

Again... and I repeat.... Joppatowne.... the town of Joppatowne is not a bad area.... Is the school system stellar? no... but that should not cast the town into a stigma that lumps all of us into a stereotype of gang bangers.

This town is an old town... it is located on the edge of the Chesapeake bay. It has a huge boating community with people who own homes that are set on beautiful landscapes. These homes are built on channels that weave in and out of communities giving them access to the bay with their boats.

It is a wonderful working class commmunity that has people who grow up here and never leave.

It is not a modern community with starbucks and applebees but if you want those there are other communities for that.

Joppatowne has wonderful parks and sports facilities with an excellent park and rec council that has produced some of the best football and lacrosse players in the state.

Is is perfect no.. Does the school system have families from low income families that may contribute to the stigma..... yes

What this town does have is character and it is not some cookie cutter designer town like Columbia MD.. In this town you can live, you can put a flag pole in your yard and fly the american flag without people looking at you cross eyed..

They are the kind of people who will stop and see if you are all right if you are broke down on the side of the road... The kind of people who volunteer for stuff... the bread and butter of this country..

If you feel that this town should be avoided at all costs... fine avoid it.... you probably wouldn't fit in anyway..

[Lovin Joppatowne]

I have read enough to know that it is time to stick up for Joppatowne. I have lived here for 5 years, after growing up in the "oh so highly rated Bel Air area." Joppatowne offers the most options for people of all ages. Home prices range from the high 100's to the high 700's and all of the neighborhoods are well maintained and friendly. There are only two rental communities in all of Joppatowne and one is waterfront with all of the amenities. I have never been scared to walk anywhere at night and crime is a rarity.

Joppatowne gets a bad rap because of its proximity to Edgewood, but even Edgewood gets a bad name because of a couple of select neighborhoods. The Rumsey Island neighborhood in Joppatowne offers waterfront living, parklike settings and a variety of home types. I consider all of Joppatowne to be a water oriented community and we are always enjoying outdoor activities located right outside our front door. Mariner Point Park is a great place for the kids as well as the walker/cyclist with its trails and playgrounds. Fishing off of the piers at the park is also very popular. Even if you can't afford waterfront property, the park offers a marina for boaters needs and storage or a public boat drop that is free to all users.

I work on APG and the commute for those moving with BRAC is perfect, just about 20 minutes to/from work. The location is also perfect because of it's proximity to both Bel Air where shopping and restaurants are plentiful and to White Marsh where there is also attractions such as shopping, dining and entertainment.

There are going to be bad things said about Joppatowne always, but keep an open mind. Those who write bad things about Joppatowne have never lived here and like to forget that Bel Air is becoming so crowded that it takes 20 minutes to go 5 miles at rush hour traffic on on Saturday mornings and that the bars in Bel Air have drawn just as much police attention, if not more, than Joppatowne has.

I do not have kids in Joppatowne schools, so I really can't provide any input there, but I do have friends who pulled their children out of a private school so that they could attend Joppatowne Elementary because of the great reputation that the school and its staff has.

[gottogetfishing]

Havre De Grace is certainly a delightful town and very picturesque. W boated there for the 4th of July, however, and rented a transiant slip for the night. Before the night was over, there was a stabbing and police sirens blaring. We were also approached by some young folks who were fairly annoying, but not troublesome in the end. It's impossible to avoid all crime and I don't think that as a rule northern Harford county has any more than anywhere else. Do you have the time to visit for a few days and feel things out just a little? Do you need to commit immediately? Are you a boater, or not? This may help you determine some of your priorities since so much of Maryland and this area in particular, offers options that include water oriented living or inland living. Some very nice diversity.

[sotodog]

I just wanted to say I am jealous. I live in Bel Air and have been here for 8.5 years. I have lived in Annapolis/DC/Balt region for 26 and I have been trying to get to Dallas or Austin for the last 20 years. Now I'm married to someone who will not leave their family who live in Baltimore but I did know that when I married him. This wound was just opened because I found my perfect job in Austin and DH won't move.

Anyway, you never mentioned if you had children and what their ages are. Do you want good schools for kids or for resale? I have to say I don't know much about Havre de Grace but the few times I went there I didn't find much to do. I know downtown Bel Air has been 'growing up' quite a bit but I don't go there much either. I have to also say the library programs for kids are excellent at Bel Air and Abingdon.

My reference is Annapolis where I grew up and has a very active and interesting downtown. Then I went to college in DC and lived in Northern VA for another 8 years. Comparatively, Harford County and Baltimore do not match Annapolis and DC in terms of ethnic or 'green'. I wouldn't imagine Harford County would be like Austin but sometimes the grass really is just another shade of brown (that's what I keep telling myself). The bottom line is I don't think you'll go wrong if you stay west of Rt 95. I would probably choose Bel Air over Havre de Grace unless it is really important to be close to water.

I hope you can get past my negativity of the area. I actually work for a government contractor and am hoping to get BRAC work as my contract ends.

Good Luck!!

[MamaToThree]

ARRGGHH!! I just typed out a long post for you and lost it when I hit the wrong key. ::sigh:::

Anyway, I grew up in Jtowne and graduated from the high school there in the mid 80's. It was a great suburb to live in. I still have family in the Joppa area and they have never had any problems with gangs. Stay out of Meadowood (Ghettowood as we used to call it!), Harford Square (in the 80's it was nice, now I hear it's just an extension of Meadowood). In fact, my family lives a stones throw from those communities and have never had any problems.

You could probably Google this, but I recall a major network (ABC/NBC/CBS) doing a program that featured Joppatowne High as the "best high school in America" for their science program, maybe? It was called "The Class of 2000". I'll dig around and see what I can find. I haven't lived there since 2000 (I'm out west now), but I also don't believe Joppatowne is a bad place to live.

If I ever moved back to Harford County, I would check into a newer development in Fallston called Willow Vale Farms. Built by the Toll Brothers in 2004 (I still have the brochures). They are beautiful homes that were selling from the high 600's to low 700's. I would also look into Belair, Jarrettsville/Street, and Churchville. I went to Churchville Elementary and loved the farm feel of that community (yet it touches Belair!). The street names in the Willow Vale Farms area are Willow Vale Drive, Providence Drive, and Trinity Place. Lots were from 2-5 acres and just spectacular.

Just saw a beautiful log cabin in the Joppa area for sale on the MLS listings, too. I believe on Hanson Road (the dead end part). Good luck!

[MamaToThree]

Ok, here's something I found on the program. It was CBS and they picked 4 students from Joppatowne High School to follow around. I still remember something about the school having a top science program. ???

Wholesome Teen-Agers Who Defy Stereotypes - New York Times

http://www.inbaseline.com/project.aspx?project_id=43904

and on Wikipedia (wow!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joppatowne_High_School

[AllisonFc21]

Stay clear of Edgewood....I have several friends that live there & think the schools are awful & the area is full of crime (vandals & hoodlums).

Sorry people of Edgewood...I don't mean to offend anyone, just stating what I know...

[havefaith]

Joppatowne is a by product of having the misfortune of having the bad areas of edgewood in their school district. When they redistricted the school system they thought it would be better to further lower the already lower sections of the county by taking roads like clayton rd and send those children to fallston middle school and have the generosity of giving joppatowne schools more of edgewood area. We joppatowne have the back flow of edgewood into our area. Having grown up in joppatowne and gone to magnolia elem , middle and joppatowne high. Now at age 42 with 4 children one who has graduate from joppatowne in 2003 and having 3 other 10 and under just in and starting school have made the decision to move out of joppatowne to our sadden dismay . But the crime is getting to close and the government is at fault for moving the citys promblems to our once beauitful areas. It go's to show that you could have a great school system ,no crime before they moved them here ,have a whole region change in a period of 6 years .They know this so they try to confine it to as they call it "this side of route 40" . So they can't blame it on the area edgewood was once a great place to live as is joppatowne but give it a couple years it will be a little baltimore. Baltimore's crimes have gone down because they gave it all to edgewood they just moved them out to us. In short look up the harford county schools web site you can look at each school independently and it breaks every thing down from the schools passind grades to the demographics. It will show you from 1993 to the present it's a good predictor of the furture trend for that school. That's what we used.

[kingofswords]

I worked at APG - EA (Edgewood Area) for over 16 years.
During my first year I lived at an apartment complex in Edgewood, the rest of the time I lived in Abingdon.
I always found the commute from Abingdon to be worth it. It was about 7.5-8
miles which will take between 15-20 minutes. Abingdon is probably the closest very nice suburban area to APG-EA. Don't get me wrong, I liked some areas in Edgewood and Joppatowne too, but it is hit and miss and you really need to know the area which you can't at this point. I prefer Abingdon over Bel Air because it is more of a suburb and Bel Air is more like a tiny city and also because it is closer geographically to APG-EA.

[rubytue]

Originally Posted by MamaToThree

Just saw a beautiful log cabin in the Joppa area for sale on the MLS listings, too. I believe on Hanson Road (the dead end part). Good luck!

Wow. We looked at that log cabin when we were house hunting. And we have been in our house for 15 months now.

There are so few log houses in Harford County, that I am 100% positive its the same one w/out even looking it up.