North Weymouth Deteriorating... (Quincy, Dedham, Walpole: for sale, crime, houses)

[andrea5150]

We have lived in North Weymouth (on the water) for 8 years. We love our house and have pretty much loved the neigborhood despite the industry nearby. The last year or so (maybe even longer than that and I sort of stuck my head in the sand) it seems the neighborhood is going downhill and fast.
The talk is all about the drugs and drug dealers settling here. Also there are run down buildings/houses and now graffiti all over the neighborhood. The Town seems to do nothing about the appearance of the neighborhood and I'm afraid that with the way it looks there won't be many nice families moving in. I've tried everything I can to get the neighborhood cleaned up and it's a losing battle. We love being on the water and it is such a shame what is happening to this town...or should I say this section of town.
I have two small children 5 and 3 and I am thinking we really should get out of here while our kids are still small.
My question is where to go? We want to be within 20-25 minutes of Dedham (work/family) but don't want to live in Dedham either.
I was looking at Walpole and Westwood but we don't have a huge budget.
Any opinions?

[brightdoglover]

Isn't Dedham a very nice place?
If I were you, I'd skip "the talk" and go with what you know to be happening, or what you see. Follow police reports, etc. The graffiti might be one or two people (but yes, the town should get on it). I personally loathe graffiti and take it as a bold statement, an offensive statement, and it should be dealt with quickly. I'm surprised the officials don't seem to care about the neighborhood, or is that the talk?
I'm not sure how you conflate Walpole and Westwood. They strike me as incredibly different communities, and Westwood is very expensive. But they're not the only choices.
Best wishes if you decide to move, or if you don't and really look at your neighborhood and town.

[Newdaawn]

I'm so sorry to hear that about North Weymouth. I have many happy memories from my childhood of that town as my grandparents lived on Athens Street, right off of Bridge street. There was an elementary school there and their church was right across the street and a fire station at the end of the street. I'm sure it is very different looking now. Do you know of Athens Street? Interesting that you mention Walpole as that is where I grew up and graduated HS. I think that Walpole would be much closer to Dedham than N. Weymouth is. My grandmother's family were from Dedham. I am going back to Walpole on the 26 of this month for a class reunion, which is actually being held at the Country Club in Foxboro. I liked Walpole alot - you should check it out as a possible place to move to.

[bgrasser]

Weymouths crime statistics are low compared to a good percentage
of other cities in MA.
DM me for an interesting read.

[andrea5150]

Thanks for the replies. By talk I mean neighbors that I know, the police that I've spoken to, the town councilman for our area. Not only that but general feel of the neighborhood is just not good. I guess I was looking to see if this is really a new thing there or something that was there (maybe not as blatant) and I just didn't see it before I had kids.
To brightdoglover...I don't see Walpole and Westwood as extremely different communities. They border each other and the neighborhoods I've been looking at are very similar. Westwood does have more affluent sections but neither of them really have bad sections...at least nothing compared with what I see in Weymouth/Quincy/East Dedham.
How I came up with Walpole/Westwood was the quick commute to Dedham and also I have friends in East Walpole that will be able to help me with the kids if need be.
Here are some pictures of my neighborhood in N. Weymouth...and this is how it stays, no one cleans it up. So very sad

[bgrasser]

The tagging appears to be on private property; I don't think the town will clean up.

[brightdoglover]

Oh, dear. Those pictures really are discouraging.
Maybe I'm thinking of different towns. I didn't know Westwood bordered Walpole, and always thought of Westwood as quite expensive. So don't listen to me, OK?

[ThinkingThinking]

LOL, I know nothing about the towns in question, but I find it humorous that all of the graffiti seems to be done by one or perhaps two bored teenagers, judging by the art. Theres the same face in two of the pictures and the same "signiture" in the others. (As an art student I knew a few "taggers" as they are called. Annoying and destructive, yes, but I did learn to tell the difference between Gang and Tag)
My current neighborhood has gang graffiti... bored teens are much more preferable to the gangs.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

Oh, dear. Those pictures really are discouraging.
Maybe I'm thinking of different towns. I didn't know Westwood bordered Walpole, and always thought of Westwood as quite expensive. So don't listen to me, OK?

Westwood IS more expensive, primarily because of the schools, but you can find really nice areas in Walpole, as well.

andrea5015, what is the price range you want?

[andrea5150]

I know it's probably not gangs, but the fact that it is ALL over the place... private property, sea walls, telephone poles etc. is really disgusting. It isn't being cleaned up and I can't imagine people with young kids or young professionals driving by that crap to see a house for sale and actually wanting to stop.
I'd say the price range would be between 380k and 420k. That's IF we can sell our house for what we need to - with the looks of the neighborhood I'm doubtful.