East Memphis. Is it safe? (Germantown, Central: lawyers, home, middle school)

[one opinion]

Originally Posted by Hitchhikers_Union

not real far from U of M... It won't be a bad commute at all. and I agree with post above, avoid the Mud Island fiasco. it's only a matter of time before it's all underwater again as if the high priced cheaply built zero lot line homes weren't enough of a waste of money.

Not sure what you mean by fiasco...if, for some reason, you don't like mud island that's your own business, but I think you are definitely exaggerating the flood risk. The river reached a level that was extremely close to all time highs and very few properties were affected...just the a few condos on the harbor side that sit well below the rest of the island. To say that it was all underwater is ridiculous. There is a high probability that the water will not reach as high as it was in our lifetime again meaning that there is very little risk to homes/property. Like I said, if you have something against mud island, that is your own business, but you are severely overstating the risk of flooding and overstating what happened this past year.

Originally Posted by rhymetime

People tend to vastly misestimate the differences in safety between neighborhoods. It's not like Germantown has zero crime and people are getting shot in the head in their driveways every other day in East Memphis.

Sure, there are differences, but planning your life on this one factor is extremely shortsighted.

Agreed. East Memphis is just as safe as the suburbs. In reality, many of the people in the suburbs would be in East Memphis if the price per sq ft had not historically been so high.

[Snake Plissken]

Originally Posted by one opinion

Agreed. East Memphis is just as safe as the suburbs. In reality, many of the people in the suburbs would be in East Memphis if the price per sq ft had not historically been so high.

It entirely depends what part of east Memphis you're talking about though. I'd agree if you were talking about say River Oaks but the areas around U of M for example definitely have much higher crime.

[Tigertate]

Originally Posted by Snake Plissken

It entirely depends what part of east Memphis you're talking about though. I'd agree if you were talking about say River Oaks but the areas around U of M for example definitely have much higher crime.

I assume you mean the areas south of the U of M because crime in Red Acres (Galloway), Belle Meade, Grandview, High Point, Chickasaw Gardens, Joffre, East Buntyn, etc. is pretty low. Heck, crime is also not really that bad in Normal Station. You may have some property crime, but people in these areas are not unsafe at all. Now the further south and west you go and the closer you get to Orange Mound and Bethel Grove; the more crime picks up.

[strumpeace]

Good post, Tigertate. I would add that even in Normal Station, there's very little crime. (Some people tend to label mixed income, mixed race neighborhoods as automatically 'bad' or 'dangerous.' They're idiots.) There's a very, very strong neighborhood association in Normal Station. If you so much as sneeze out of line over there, they'll call the cops. I've worked with that group on neighborhood projects in the past -- and they mean business.

Gosh, of all the neighborhoods surrounding The U of M, the only one that would give me pause would be Messick-Buntyn, and that's only because of its proximity to Orange Mound. Personally, I'd choose Red Acres over any Germantown neighborhood any day.

[Snake Plissken]

Originally Posted by Tigertate

I assume you mean the areas south of the U of M because crime in Red Acres (Galloway), Belle Meade, Grandview, High Point, Chickasaw Gardens, Joffre, East Buntyn, etc. is pretty low. Heck, crime is also not really that bad in Normal Station. You may have some property crime, but people in these areas are not unsafe at all. Now the further south and west you go and the closer you get to Orange Mound and Bethel Grove; the more crime picks up.

Yeah property crime is what I mean. Obviously there aren't really any sketchy people living in those areas, but there are tons of break ins in from what I can tell, despite the private security, etc. IMO that's significant enough to take into considerations because dealing with burglary can be a nightmare. And then there was that mom who got raped on Goodwyn.

Also is this a new thing calling the Galloway area Red Acres, because I know tons of people who live there and I've never once heard the area referred to as such.

[Tigertate]

Originally Posted by Snake Plissken

Yeah property crime is what I mean. Obviously there aren't really any sketchy people living in those areas, but there are tons of break ins in from what I can tell, despite the private security, etc. IMO that's significant enough to take into considerations because dealing with burglary can be a nightmare. And then there was that mom who got raped on Goodwyn.

Also is this a new thing calling the Galloway area Red Acres, because I know tons of people who live there and I've never once heard the area referred to as such.

Most people just call it Galloway since it is bordered by the golf course, but the historic name of the Neighborhood by plat and subdivision is Red Acres.

[looking77]

I agree with rhymetime ... and it depends on what you are looking for: Single = downtown, married = midtown, married with children = east memphis (but you have to see it first), germantown/collierville, the latter are truly the best in the area. For downtown MudIsland is great, I lived there when single and loved it ... the flooding was horrible but its also a 100 year thing. Hope this helps and welcome to Memphis!

[rhymetime]

I don't see why you would necessarily want to move east just because you have kids. Now note I do live in Germantown and I do have kids but the reason we live out here is that we have lots of cousins and friends in this area.

If I were moving to Memphis without knowing anyone I would much rather live in midtown, even with kids. Or ESPECIALLY with kids. All of the fun stuff for the kids is right there. The Zoo, CMOM, football games.

[Snake Plissken]

It sort of depends on your ability to send kids to private school, too. Midtown is nice but personally I would never send kids to school out there. East Memphis has White Station which is a good school but I'd still go private if I lived there.

[Tigertate]

Originally Posted by Snake Plissken

It sort of depends on your ability to send kids to private school, too. Midtown is nice but personally I would never send kids to school out there. East Memphis has White Station which is a good school but I'd still go private if I lived there.

Snowden School in Midtown is a good school, with an excellent optional program. Other good schools in Midtown include Idlewild, Rozelle, and of course Central High. There are also several Charter Schools in the midtown DT area. The East Memphis schools like White Station, Richland, and Grahmwood are probably the best in the city system, but there are also good public options in Midtown if private school is financially out of the question.