Jersey City,Elizabeth,Paterson,Linden,Irvington, and Union City. Are they really as bad as people say? (Newark: house, school)

[LynnePatrice]

Thank you! That was my point exactly.

[Dorian]

I read in another post about worst crime areas in New Jersey and the greenville area of JC was named, but that was the only section named. Is that the only true bad area of JC?

[JerseyCity201]

No thats not the only true bad area of Jersey City, Bergen Lafayette has parts worst or just as bad as Greenville. Both sections though have good sections within them also. The area in Greenville that is a very high crime/drug area continues into Bergen Lafayette which in my opinion the Begen Lafayette section is worst. This area is Ocean ave to Bergen ave, from Communipaw ave to about Warner ave with MLK drive (Jackson ave) the hart of and worst part of it. This area is up there with Newark. Some other bad areas are parts of Monticello ave and Communipaw ave (Bergen Lafayette). The area of Downtown past the turnpike where Booker T projects, Montgomery projects, and Brunswick Estates complex all are a few blocks from each other (actually one of the worst areas in the city but many yuppies dont like call this area part of Downtown). But Downtown as whole is getting safer the Hieghts is getting worst because most of the original Downtown residents that have been or are being displaced from the gentrification have moved there but its block by block up there. Then you have scattered areas and projects in Jersey City that have alot of crime. There are alot of good areas too like Society Hill, Country Village, Western Slope, The Island section, Parts of Marion, Port Liberty, Parts of Westside, Southern Greenville, scatterd blocks in the Heghts,Downtown east of Jersey ave, Lincoln Park neighborhood (except by Duncan projects and one or two other spots).

[JerseyCity201]

As for the cities you are asking about Jersey City, Elizabeth, Paterson all have there really bad areas and good areas. Irvington for the most part is a war zone but its a shame because I have seen some really nice looking houses there too. Linden and Union City are not bad areas, almost all the crime in both areas is under the national average. Linden just has a some what high auto theft rate for its size but most cities and towns in Essex, Union, and Hudson County have a high auto theft rate especially Essex/Union and even in the suburbs of them. Union City only has some what of a high robbery rate that mostly occurs in the bottom of the Downtown section on the Jersey City border the rest of the city isnt bad and all the other crime catagories are below national average. The people that tell you that these cities are all completely bad tend to be people that either lived in the suburbs there whole life that hear about these places only in the news or word of mouth from friends or family then exagerate. Then you have the older people that lived in the cities when they were young and left either during the white flight times or the 80s/90s and really have no idea what its like now, they tend to live in South Jersey or Bergen County now and like to bad mouth there old areas. A good amount of it has to do with racism also to many people minority equals crime to them. Irvington is the only city I can say is extremely bad in that list it is up there with Camden.

[Gldngrl61]

To those of you on this thread-all of the towns you are mentioning we're booming and beautiful towns 40 years ago. Irvington was a very pretty, safe and clean blue collar town with a town center and movie theaters. You felt safe walking around at night, and in fact, that was the only form of transportation most of us had in high school. It had one of the best school districts in the country where 95% of the graduates went on to higher education.

South Orange was a town of beautiful huge mansions as was Montclair and extremely expensive. Maplewood was where all the rich kids lived. Other than Newark and certain parts of Elizabeth there was nothing to be feared. In fact, prior to the Newark riots in the 60's Newark's downtown was comparable to shopping on 5th Ave. You could hop on a bus and in about 20 minutes you were shopping without fear of being mugged.

Things have changed, but what perplexes me is why being poor means that you have to be dirty and be a criminal. We were poor, but we took care of our property, children were raised to be respectful of others and their property and were clean, decent people.

[EEEPNJ]

I grew up in JC and loved it. Now, don't get me wrong, it had it's problems even back then. (Like when I got mugged on the way to school in 2nd grade...) we moved to another section (I was in Greenville, we moved to the Heights) and it was really a decent place to live. I loved it. I took a drive through the other day and reminiced. I really have such fond memories. But I would not want to be there now. I really wouldn't want to raise my kids there.

[Anglesea]

Elizabeth is a large city of many parts. My area, east Elmora between Elmora Ave. & Morris Ave. could be described as predominantly middle/working class Hispanic, many well maintained single family homes, some streets better than others, not much serious crime. It looks like what it is: old suburbia. People walk around at night, have backyard decks, gardens, mow their lawns. There's a few not so great apt buildings. Downtown Elmora, which I can walk to, is a clean, safe shopping district anchored by two major supermarkets. It's possible to reside here & hardly feel connected to the high crime parts of the city. In fact, I rarely ever visit downtown Elizabeth, an ugly place.

[JERSEY201973]

I live 1 town over from Paterson and it's reflected on this middle-class Italian/Jewish suburb. There's been gangs that have met at the local diner here and have gotten into a stabbing. A cop was shot once, houses and cars get broken into all the time, YET this town is nice and it's not going down the toilet, it just reminds you of the proximatey at times. I'd rather live here than most places in Jersey, I need a lil excitement, if I lived in Morris County i'd jump off a cliff out of boredom.

[JERSEY201973]

Oh and I live in Bergen County and I DO know about ALL these neighborhoods, I go to WNY/UC for cuts too! I eat on Bloomfield ave in Newark, I visit my friends in the North Ward, I use to hang out in Jersey City...not so much anymore. Paterson is right here, so that speaks for itself. Irvington wow, I hear the crime is so bad and all the time on the news I hear about the shootings, but when I drive thru I see well-kept homes that look almost like my suburban-town. Minus all the black people lol!

[JERSEY MAN]

3 people shot in JC within an hour/ bullets fly thru day care center. If you feel safe there fine.