E. Nashville -- WEST of Gallatin... (living in, best, areas)

[Carol McCullough]

Hi Montana Guy,
Welcome to East Nashville! If you will refer back to one of my earlier posts in this thread (#12), you will find that I dealt with this issue very specifically. There are actually some crimes that happen more East of Gallatin and some that happen more West of Gallatin.

I actually am less worried about getting robbed on the street or having my house or car broken into in my neighborhood (West of Gallatin) than I would be if I lived near 5 Points or on Russell or Fatherland which seem to regularly have reports of such things. Given that those are the types of crimes where the victim is "random" and most of the crimes happen between drug dealers over here (not random), it would seem my personal property and safety are less threatened here (generally speaking).

Also, you mention the original question like we have strayed from it, but McFerrin Park and Cleveland Park are both West of Gallatin.

I don't think I or anyone else has encouraged people to come here without weighing the risks. I have done my best to be very forthright about what to expect here. We just have differences of opinion with regard to what those risks are.

[HouseWhisperer]

Honestly your best bet is to come drive these areas and get a feel. There is good and bad to every neighborhood and everyone sees them in different ways. Many a harsh word was said about even the historic core of East Nashville maybe 10 years ago (not that it is all good now) but look at it now, there are many people that would say they have made a wise investment. Regardless, I would throw out the extremely positive and negative comments you see on a site like this. So, drive the areas, drive them at all times of days, see the houses, etc and make up your own mind. There are "fringes" to all "good" neighborhoods, you will have to see for yourself just have far out your budget and comfort level will allow you to buy.

[MontanaGuy]

Carol McCullough wrote:

Hi Montana Guy,
Welcome to East Nashville! If you will refer back to one of my earlier posts in this thread (#12), you will find that I dealt with this issue very specifically. There are actually some crimes that happen more East of Gallatin and some that happen more West of Gallatin.

Thanks. I'm sure you're much more aware of what's going on than I am, I've only been here since January. I found a website from the police department that had a map of the whole city and it was shaded in various colors which represented the amount of crime. Areas that were shaded with a dark green were the highest crime areas. It's true that there's not a clear division from one side of Gallatin to the other, there's alot of overlapping of the high crime areas and there's areas of low crime on both sides. The west side did have a larger area of high crime though and alot of my decision was also based on the fact that when I looked at houses on a visit here about a year ago I just got a bad feeling for the areas in the west that I saw so when I finally sold my house in Arizona I just looked at the east area. I do need to get out more often and really explore different parts of town. I work from home as a contractor so I spend alot of time just sitting in front of my computer.

[kcnative]

I'd love to look at that map if you could provide a link.

[MontanaGuy]

Metro Nashville Interactive Crime Maps
kcnative,
I'm not sure if this is the same one I looked at before but this does give information on crimes within the last month. I still have a couple of copies that I printed a year ago that are zoomed in on parts of East Nashville and it has areas in dark green that are high crime and then various shades that get lighter where there's less crime. I just looked at this interactive map and it appears to highlight a specific point where a crime was committed instead of having an entire area shaded so they may have changed the website in the last year. Let me know if you have a problem and I'll try to figure it out.

[kcnative]

Thanks for the link. I have indeed seen that one. If you have an image of the other map I'd love to see it. I'll shoot you a PM and see if you can send me an email with it.

[Carol McCullough]

kcnative,
The kind of map that MontanaGuy is describing, one with shading as opposed to specific points, is called a crime density map. The information specialist at the nonprofit Neighborhoods Resource Center can make such a map for a specific area if your neighborhood group would like one. His name is Blaine and the office phone is 782-8212. Alternatively, you can ask Sgt. Ogren at the East Precinct for one, but it is a little harder to get customized information from the police than from Blaine.

MontanaGuy, it sounds like you did your homework and I didn't mean to suggest that you don't know what you are talking about. What I am suggesting is that such a map is not always the best indicator for how safe a law abiding person is in a particular area. While I don't think it is ok that drug dealers and buyers often end up engaging in violence against one another, the truth is that much of the crime one sees on such a map for West of Gallatin illustrates crime that occurs between individuals engaged in illegal activity. The East Precinct could give you more information, but I am basing my opinion on being in at least 5 neighborhood meetings a month with the East police and on living West of Gallatin for 5 years.

[MontanaGuy]

kcnative and Carol McCullough,
I just have two small hard copies of those maps but nothing I could email and they both are just small areas of East Nashville to the east of Gallatin because that's where I was interested in looking for a house. I noticed on the bottom of them that I had gotten this information from factfinder.census.gov but I entered in the exact file name and searched that website but couldn't find anything so apparently they don't have this information available anymore. I tried doing a Google search and all I came up with is the link I've already posted. Sorry.

[aboo]

Montana,
My daughter is moving to Nashville and we are interested in the East Nashville area, but some of what I'm reading about the area and crime has me a bit concerned. It appears that in areas its great and then in others its a bit sketchy. I'd love your opinion. She is currently living in Denver, and before that was in Seattle, both places which you are familiar.

She's my baby, want her safe.

[Pimpy]

If someone is defending an area's high crime rate by saying, essentially, "It's between all the drug dealers living here!" ... I would probably reconsider that area.

East Nashville is one area where Tupac has it wrong. West side is NOT the best side.