Moving to Baystate medical center Springfield MA (Chicopee, West Springfield: best neighborhoods, real estate)

[prudence]

Again, we can talk about crime all we want (naturally the bigger the city the higher the crime), but unless people here are drug users looking to move to the slums and make drug deals it really doesn't speak to the rest of the city. You've got as much chance in Longmeadow and East Long Meadow as being effected by the drug crimes in Springfield as you do in Indian Orchard or East Forest Park (Springfield neighborhoods). This tainting of Springfield as if the entire city is a slum is just rubbish.

[ontheroad]

But descriptives like "all those that" or any alls are just incorrect. I make no mention of crime in my original post. You are being protective of Springfield, others are disagreeing. There is nothing wrong, in my view, with dissenting opinions--after all that is all they are__opinions!

[winnie]

3 of those cities are the same size - 2 of them have crime nearly 1/3rd the US average, the other (holyoke) has crime up the kazoo. You can't say that the bigger the city the more crime as it is simply not true. I worked in Springfield for over 3.5 years, mostly night shift and also had plenty of day shift work.

Last week I had a very nasty, degrading post directed at me which I am sure some of you saw...the sad thing was that what the post contained could not be farther from the truth. I have not seen people bashing members here who are residents of Springfield and Holyoke or stereotyping them like I was stereotyped, yet those who point out places with low crime and nice roads and schools and housing are treated with some degree of hostility here it seems. I don't think it is right to say there are many drug users in Agawam etc without proof - pretty "scapegoatish" IMO. But I see it is OK to stereotype a town 95% white as a bunch of drug abusers. Wonder if that comment was directed eleswhere how well it would fly.

[prudence]

Winnie, I didn't see the post, but judging by how you post you probably had it coming. You run around with these crime indexes, have no clue how they are formulated, make no understanding of how drug related crimes in a couple of small neighborhoods weigh the stats, make no positive statements about these places (like there's a ton of neighborhoods in these cities that are as safe, or safer than the Agawams), and then expect hugs and kisses?

So now I say there are drug abusers coming from Agawam to buy drugs and you are offended? What, you don't believe that? And what, you can post negative things about other cities but when someone does it to you it's different?

Come on now, you're better than that.

[winnie]

Wether people agree with me or not or like me or not, it is not right to haul off and stereotype people and basically call them a rich racist suburbanite when I am none of the 3. I don't think I had THAT coming.

So you say stats are worthless? I don't think raw numbers sustained over a period of time in a 150K population city really should be construed as misleading or inaccurate..take a look on the city's page here for yourself.

Personally I am sick and tired of the whole thing and will respond to inquiries regarding the Pioneer Valley by PM from now on.

[prudence]

You are 100% right, it isn't right to stereotype people (or entire cities), and that's been my point as well.

[winnie]

You have made plenty of generalizations yourself.

There's been shootings and murders in other towns around springfield too. Almost all of springfields are related to drug sales, drug sales by the way that are generated often by a lot of the people from feeding hills, longmeadow, agawam, etc.,

You've got as much chance in Longmeadow and East Long Meadow as being effected by the drug crimes in Springfield as you do in Indian Orchard or East Forest Park (Springfield neighborhoods).

The problem is that the numbers don't suggest that.

Agawam has not had a murder in 8 years. Crime index 142
Ludlow has not had one since City Data started recording data in 2000. Crime index 109
Northampton has had only 2 in 8 years. Crime index 219
Longmeadow - 0 in over 8 years. Crime index 89
Wilbraham - 1 in 8 years. Crime index 115
Southwick - no murders in 6 years reported by City data. Crime index 122
Springfield - 87 murders since 1999
Holyoke - 30 murders in 8 years, a higher rate than Springfield.

Where are these murders in other towns you are talking about? I mean some of these towns have even gone years without a single robbery or rape..like Longmeadow and Southwick. You can say what you want about how they come up with the "index" number, but the raw numbers are pretty hard to refute.

I don't agree with the suggestion that if you don't buy drugs you will not be a victim of crime. Or that living in a Southwick is the same as living in Indian Orchard. It simply does not wash from what I have experienced. I am not going to buy that living in one of the "nicer" areas of a town dealing with this magnitude of crime is going to make you immune to the crime. Because sometimes living in a nice area that is close to not-so-nice areas makes you a target yourself to have your car stolen or your house robbed. Which is probably why one of our resident's BMW's was stolen out of the parking lot of the hospital...one of the criminals miraculously hopped over from the "bad area" to the "good area". Who do you think these criminals are going to rob? Poor people? Or the rich people in the nice neighborhoods? And the middle class people there can really get stuck choosing between the safe areas they cannot afford and living in the not-so safe areas or moving to a suburb they can have safety and make their bills. To me, the suburb makes the most sense.

And in fairness to Springfield, its problems are not all that unique. I can think of several cities in the Northeast dealing with crime, poverty (nearly 1/3rd of Springfield's population living in poverty), failing school districts (average MCAS scores are pretty bad) and aging infrastructure (nearly lost an axle in a foot deep pothole on Carew ). Newburgh NY is a smaller version of Spr with a very high crime index (and I know I grew up around there) and also Albany has more than its fair share of problems. This while some of the larger cities many associate with high crime - like NYC - are cleaning up..maybe some year the city will have the right leadership to do so as well. Until then I personally choose to steer people completely clear of the Springfield area.

[gregs]

Originally Posted by pearlcondos

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Sales/Development
413-222-8067

35 cameras and gated access, this does not send a positive message about the area?? If you were relocating, would select an area that required that level of security?

If someone is moving into an area, try going to the local pharmacy or grocery store, that will also give them an idea about who their neighbors are. Also, try walking the neighborhood in a 1 mile radius, do you feel comfortable within that 1 mile radius?

[prudence]

So much for Winnie's halt to posting and only responding to PM's.

Winnie, how many of those murders were drug related and/or domestic in nature, and how many were just random people being murdered? I'd hazard a guess that 0 were committed on random people.

Have an index for that?

Second question, do you seriously believe that drug purchasers aren't coming from the suburbs often, as I posted?

Third question, under your assumption about criminals robbing people from richer neighborhoods - Springfields most crime infested neighborhood I think is the South End, which offers great highway access and is closer to Longmeadow and East Longmeadow (where there is more $$) than it is to most Springfield neighborhoods. Think the criminals stop at the the town borders?

[ontheroad]

This is really such great advice--nothing like seeing and experiencing a place oneself. It doesn't matter whether it is Springfield or any other town or city, we all have our own comfort barometer and can gauge our own sense of safety. As I said in an earlier post, I worked in Springfield, with those drug users that another poster referenced, and didn't feel threatened, but, and that's a big but I'm sure I would want to live on some of the same streets I worked on.

But Springfield is no different, in many ways, than other mid-sized cities--and if city-life is what you prefer, it shouldn't be presented more negatively than elsewhere.

However, if you already know that you'd prefer to live in a more rural area--north or south of the City, you have many choices, prices and communities to chose from and in all prices.

Often, I'd leave home early and take the back roads from Williamsburg into Springfield--it gave me a good bird's eye view of all the smaller communities in the area. It relaxed me, too!

So, whatever decision you make, take all our opinions--as just our own personal preferences. And good luck at Bay State--a good facility.

Originally Posted by gregs

If someone is moving into an area, try going to the local pharmacy or grocery store, that will also give them an idea about who their neighbors are. Also, try walking the neighborhood in a 1 mile radius, do you feel comfortable within that 1 mile radius?