[SWV]

It isn't DANGEROUS at all just know your areas. I'm from Los Angeles (Culver City to be exact) and it reminds me of Kalamazoo a little bit. It has its bad areas and good areas. I stay in the Gull Rd area and the crime has been going up, in fact just a couple of days a go my house was broke into nothing stolen but my window screen was ripped and broken but there are a lot of Police around the area of Gull Rd because of the sudden jump in crime (not violence.) But Gull Rd area is very diverse (which I love) a lot of Blacks and Whites around and other ethnicities.

I do recommend the Drake area very nice, a lot of apartment complexes and businesses.

[WheredoIlive?]

Originally Posted by SWV

It isn't DANGEROUS at all just know your areas. I'm from Los Angeles (Culver City to be exact) and it reminds me of Kalamazoo a little bit. It has its bad areas and good areas. I stay in the Gull Rd area and the crime has been going up, in fact just a couple of days a go my house was broke into nothing stolen but my window screen was ripped and broken but there are a lot of Police around the area of Gull Rd because of the sudden jump in crime (not violence.) But Gull Rd area is very diverse (which I love) a lot of Blacks and Whites around and other ethnicities.

I do recommend the Drake area very nice, a lot of apartment complexes and businesses.

I lived in gull rd area and didnt have any problems. I had a lot more problems when I lived on stockbridge, closer to downtown.

Be careful of northside and going too far down Douglas. They had prostitutes in front of my student ghetto house on Douglas st and a crack house too. This was about 16 years ago. Dont know if things have gotten worse or better. {I lived in Kalamazoo 86-1994}

Kalamazoo does seem to be getting a seedier edge to it, I do think the economy is impacting the place quite badly. I was in shock at how decayed things looked when I was back around 2004, though the West side of town seems to have exploded in growth, I saw that around 1 and half years ago.

[wagonproject]

Yep, anything north of West Main/m43 around Douglas and then a lot to the east would not be a place I would want to live. Yes its liveable/drivable, but there is much nicer/cleaner/safer parts of town. Like stated the west is very nice and where a lot of students live (NOT the student ghetto or even close) along with working people.

[kazoodude]

If you are looking at the west side of Kalamazoo for apartment living, you may want to check out Clayborne Court Apartments. Although they are located smack in the student living area, they really stress a quiet lifestyle to all those who move in. It's not "student" housing, but there are some students there, those who want to get away from "student" housing. Plus, their single story feature helps make it quiet.

[suydam]

If you're talking about going to school in Kalamazoo, as someone mentioned, you'll be fine.

There are 1,000s of college kids in town going about their lives happily without being shot, robbed or mugged.

[AmyElaine7]

Doesn't matter where you live, crime will affect you. I've lived here for 3 years, and my car was broken into and stero ripped out in both of the 2 different apartments I lived in. The 3rd apartment I lived in, I woke up in the morning and my car had be T-Boned and TOTALED by a drunk driver. Hit and Run. All 3 of my room-mates have had their windows broken into, and there have been 5 apartment fires in the last 2 months. The most recent fire was topped off with theives who tried to steal the little belonging the poor residents had left. That to me, sums up the conscious of this **** hole of a town.

DON'T DO IT, I'm leaving as soon as I graduate WMU. Look into GVSU instead.

[pjmiami]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

It's not really dangerous at all! There are only a few bad areas in town (Northside, Eastside), and if you stay away from those, you should be fine. Also, most of the crime isn't violent crime.

I completely agree: Kazoo is a great place to go to college, to live, and to raise kids; you just need to be smart about where you live and where you hang out at night just like I iimagine you would in any other city of a similar size. Anyone who has lived there and has a wee bit of common sense knows which areas aren't safe.

As to the OP referring people away from WMU to GVSU, have you read the GR papers lately? Danger exists wherever you go and with the economic downturn, I think the danger is magnified in most Michigan cities. I will say, however, that the trigger-happy cop that shot an unarmed, non-threatening GVSU student in the chest last week would certainly give me pause. . .

GVSU president: What brought police to off-campus apartment where student Derek Copp was shot? - Grand Rapids News - The Latest News, Blogs, Photos & Videos – MLive.com

Peace,
PJ

[Simonetti]

Having recently moved to the area, I don't know a whole lot, but this is what I do know. I don't think the city is scary. Downtown can be a little creepy at night and I definitely wouldn't go north of downtown. However, you would have no reason to go there unless you lived there. There is tons of student housing around WMU but I wouldn't recommend living close to campus. There is a lot of stupid crime (breaking into cars, apartments, etc.) just because there are a lot of stupid, drunk college kids. I would highly recommend the west side (Oshtemo). It is a newly developed area and it only takes me 10 minutes to get to campus (even in bad traffic). There are lots of nice apartments in the area: Tall Oaks, Saddle Creek, Foxwood. We live in Tall Oaks and we love it. They are brand new and very safe.

Don't let the crime scare you, there are plenty of places in this city that are very safe.

[tjay]

i have no idea, just don't get a job driving buses for mentally ill kids....and that should help you avoid some of the crime:}

[katandmike]

Kalamazoo is a very nice place, not bad with crime at all... the northside is probably the worst