info on Springfield, MA (Chicopee, Holyoke: rent, home, buying)

[Woodsey17]

poetic you must live a sad, simple, and sheltered life to not know springfield has not much upside. even the Republican speaks of the drastically increased efforts by town officials to help the city "get back on track"...what area of springfield do you infact live in to be sheltered from the truth? and anyone can come on here and start saying things like "i've obtained degrees from prestigious higher education institutions" because there's no factual backing for it...sure you have...
you want "your city", the disgusting trash hole that it is, it's all yours


and let me ask you this: if it's so safe, why so many bars on windows? riddle me that einstein

[SweetPea23]

I'm not from the springfield area.. I live on the east coast towards NH but I have traveled to Springfield and have heard lots of negative stuff about the crime and low income there.. If you have children It probably isn't the best place to relocate.

[ladyteec22]

I actually reside in East Springfield, MA with my husband and two children. We are NOT low income, I am educated and we both have good jobs. My one child who is school aged, however, will be attending a private school. Our reasoning is soley because we believe that the education will be better, as the classroom to teacher ratio is much better. Our neighborhood is very quiet, great neighbors and a great area to raise our children. We are safe, no crime in our area and we have a beautiful home. We are right next to Chicopee, MA, which I think is also a nice area. With many cities, there are the bad areas, however, our area is great. We are all working class families in my neighborhood, not poverty level by any means. Many families have been here for years and have no complaints. You should try to get your information from people that live in the area!!!!!!!!!

P.S Sixteen Acres area of Springfield is also beautiful and a great are to raise a family and to live in general!!

[rsf67]

Springfield has an unmatched stock of older, intact historical homes that you would have to move the decimal point on if you looked outside the city. Does the city have a horrific crime problem? Yes. Are there distinct areas that have isolated their neighborhoods? Yes, thanks to corrupt politics there is the "cozy corner" a neighbor hood that has blocked itself off from the rest of the city, of course you don't get much diversity in there. Moving north across Sumner Ave you have another historic district with beautiful homes, including Mayor Ryan's. Garfield, Fairfield and the immediate streets are another source of nice oder homes. Cross Belmont(you do use Zillow?) and you have Marengo and Bellevue, formerly known as the "Gold Coast' has some incredible homes and some very affordable bargains. All the areas I've mentioned are relatively safe withing their immediate neighborhoods. Posters speaking of roving gangs etc. are either delusional or refering to the worst sections of the city, and they are very bad.

There are similar cities with older, intact neighborhoods weathering the storm of poverty all around, and if poverty frightens you, Springfield would not be the city for you. Springfield does afford the opportunity to live in a beautiful neighborhood, an incredible house, and a community brought together to make the world better for many in need.

[hibbzem17]

I haven't heard one good thing about Springfield/Holyoke. I'm really discouraged because I'm goign to have to move there in January with my boyfriend so we can be closer to our college! HELP! where to go?

[madeitout]

It's hilarious that so many post about Springfield but don't know much about it. Let me just state right now that there is no way on earth that I would ever move back to Springfield, even though I have family there. I rarely visit as well.

First, some background on me:

I'm black and I grew up in Springfield in the so called notorious Winchester Square area. I graduated from the High School of Commerce. I moved around from Quincy street/Middlesex Street/Various other streets that I don't remember mostly because I was in crisis centers/foster homes for a while.

I joined the Marine Corps right out of high school, as that was really the only option I had.

I have never even so much as smoked a cigarette. I have never sold drugs. I was pretty much a computer geek growing up, staying inside the house as long as I could tolerate it. That being said you have to go to school or walk to the store, so there is no way to stay inside 24/7.

Facts:

1) I have had 7 friends that have been murdered from 1992 to 2007. I knew Ben Schoolfield (a kid that was supposedly unlawfully murdered by Springfield Police), but I don't really consider that a murder as that guy was an ass. He doesn't count.

2) I have had a firearm pointed at me 3 times (not in the military, but as a kid growing up!).

3) I have been in probably about 40-50 fights (not including silly stuff like fighting your brother, etc) growing up. There is no way to avoid this.

4) In the Marine Corps I have lived in many cities (Jacksonville, N.C./Kansas City, MO/Quantico, VA/various other places). Springfield was among the worst crime I have ever experienced for black on black violent crime (assault/murder).

5) I don't have *any* (read: zero, nada, ziltch) friends from my part of town that have graduated high school (with me, or after). I have had some that went on to get GEDs though.

6) School was a joke. There is no way you can teach or learn in a classroom of 40 people, all of which are talking. If you did trivial things like have perfect attendance or did your homework you passed.

You can stop reading now if you just like the facts but here is a humorous albeit sick anecdote:

One of my best friends, a Muslim, disapproved of me joining the 'white mans army'. I told him he has a much higher chance of dieing than I do in the Marine Corps, even if a war starts. Well I went off for a year and came back on leave. Can you guess what happened before I came back?

I have 100s of stories like these, while not all as dramatic.

Why on earth would you want to live in Springfield? A Victorian house? I have a 3000 sq ft house in Austin, Tx surrounded by a tech economy that is two orders of magnitude better than Springfield. You have got to be kidding me.

[esya]

I came here looking for information for my college bound daughter. I have learned two things: a lot of opinionated cranks live in small town Massachusetts, and there may be a lot of opportunity for young people in Springfield in a few years.

As for Austin, the main reason not to live there is all the Texans. When I was 18 and working on a dude ranch in Colorado, we had two kinds of guests: the set from Texas and the set from Alabama. What I learned as a member of the "hired help" was that the people from Alabama were polite to me. I can't say as I have changed my mind one bit about people from Texas over 35 years.

I live in Denver, considered "heaven" by many people, and they bash urban living and schools here too. Meanwhile, my kids have done just fine in the public schools, and I hope my daughter will add to the civility of Massachusetts.

[winnie]

Eysa - it is not "urban bashing" it is simply facts. Go look up the numbers on Springfield yourself..it is one of a number of North East cities with a high crime/high poverty rate. Worse than Boston or NYC.

Down in TX I lived in Wichita Falls. No problems! Much safer IMO. Lived in Clovis NM. Again, no problems! Went to Phoenix for a time. Pretty good..at the time it was one of the top 10 safest cities. Lived in Chicopee MA for a short time and worked in Spr for over 3 years. Not cool. South East Albuquerque type not cool..and the numbers reflect that.

I certainly hope your college bound daughter won't be living in Springfield alone?

[purrfectplace]

Originally Posted by rbeltz48

My wife (who lived here more than 44 years) said she now feels like she is living in a foreign country or maybe on another planet because of the number of languages that people are speaking. We plan to get out of this area and move to a nicer one as soon as we are financially able. We're not sure where that wil be at this point.

Some of the southern states are much better than here (VA, NC for starters). Best wishes for a good move to a good location!

Oh boy! Culture overload!
People are way too complacent. with their cookie cutter picket fence suburbs...every house looks the same why can't all the people too!

And VA, and NC?!?!? Come on there are so many New Englanders who have moved there looking for better life only to move back!

[hermajesty0825]

I looked into moving to springfield, because it does have some 'better' areas, but even the real estate agents told us to steer clear, and they work on commission...what does that tell you? and you are right, "hoopcity", springfield does deserve all of these opportunities, and it was very discouraging to hear that it would not be a suitable place to raise children. I saw alot of homes that are so beautiful and brought back to life, but everyone has their own circumstances, and in my case, I have children- two with autism, and a year old baby, and i realize that crime and unfortunate events could happen anywhere, however, let' say, hypothetically, you need to get on a plane , and you have a choice of different airlines to choose from, and one of them has crashed more frequently than the others-- which flight will you take? If you have a family, like so many of us do, you won't take the risk. you would make the safest choice. and furthermore, buying a home is an investment- you want to consider everything. Besides, in order for springfield to get better it's up to those who run the place and its residents to "clean it up" and make it a desirable place to live