My thoughts on my recent Visit to Orlando..... (Sanford, University: apartments, foreclose)

[Parrotrosie]

Originally Posted by beckycat

Glad you made it down!!! That's funny you called Philly Philth-adelphia, I call it that too. As for crime, I know it exists here, but compared to Philly, honestly, I think it's way worse in Philly. Anyhow, I can agree with you about Lake Mary having beautiful homes next to cottages. I thought that was weird when we moved here too. Did you get to look around the mall area in Sanford? (Just for shopping reasons) You may like Longwood better which boarders Lake Mary. You're paying for the name in Lake Mary. The houses are less expensive in Longwood. Remember Seminole County for the schools. By the way, Shady Oaks is nice. Keep us informed!

I know crime exists everywhere, and I read all about all of Orlando's sexual predators and pedophiles...so I did what I always do...I looked it up for myself. I use this search program Map of registered offenders in your neighborhood
and you enter your zip code. My zip is 19074, and I entered 32828 for the Eastwood area of Orlando. Apparently I live among many more perverts than you all do. LOL! My city is East and yours is West on the corresponding maps...Orlando has the freckles....Philly has bubonic plague...so it helped to put things into perspective for me.

You can look at numbers until your head hurts (which I have been doing) and you can choose to live your live paralyzed by fear - which I will not do. There are bad people everywhere. Taking responsiblity for yourself and your own environment is all you can do. You can still teach a child or an adult how to be safe in the worst of areas to minimize negative impacts. Soooooo, I choose to find a home that suits my needs, in a school district that does the same, in a neighborhood that is relatively safe (nowhere is perfectly safe!)

I will add Longwood and Sanford to my area of investigations....it seems the more I know...the more I find out that I don't know...lol!

Thanks for the other recommendations by other posters here as well, I think some of those areas are out of my price range tho.....anything that has the word 'reserve' in is over my head...lol...my cap is about 350k

I refuse to get into a house over my head and 25% of the income is the max. Yes those 600k homes are to die for...but...I gotta live as well

Thanks and looking forward to Moving South!!!

[DailyJournalist]

Safest and Most Dangerous U.S. Cities, 2007 — Infoplease.com

[BeenAroundTheBlock]

Hey there Parrot - another Philly girl living in Eastwood. If you end up here, you must let me know. As well, if you narrow your search to Eastwood, I can help answer any questions you may have!

[Wilshire81182]

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

Safest and Most Dangerous U.S. Cities, 2007 — Infoplease.com

Did you see that Little Rock is number 13 on the list? Shows you that the FBI may know a lot more than we do!

[Parrotrosie]

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

Safest and Most Dangerous U.S. Cities, 2007 — Infoplease.com

I have seen this data before and I am having the utmost difficulty reconciling all the data. If you could point me to how they come up with these models It would be helpful because what I come up with just doesn't seem to make sense.

Orlando is about 68 square miles, and has a density of population of about 2000 per square mile....total pop about 230,000

Philly is about 143 square miles and has a density of population of about 4300 per square mile...total pop about 1.5 million

So to start, the population is six and a half times larger and at least twice as dense.

Now, lets factor into what crimes this statitical measure uses for its data to calculate the Most Dangerous Cities...

quoting directly from the website...

"murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft."

I don't really consider burglary and motor vehicle theft to be in the violent crime category myself....and I have been burgled before....feels horrible, yes. I was never in physical danger tho. So how do these crimes make the city more 'dangerous'? Annoying...very much so....walking in on a burglary could be dangerous...yes. Carjacking...yes, dangerous...but...I don't know.....

Now...I look at a dangerous crime...murder...

Orlando 2006 - 49 murders, Philly, 2006 - 406 murders. Hmmmmm
Philly is consistently in the top ten and lately in the top five of cities with populations over 500,000 for murder rates...now that is dangerous.

Lets add in income levels...poverty is a large driver of crime and criminal intent in my opinion

Philly
Median household income 30,746
Median family income 37,036
Per capita income 16,509
About 18.4% of families and 22.9% of the population were below the poverty line.

Orlando
Median household income 35,732
Median family income 40,648
Per capita income 21,216
About 13.3% of families and 15.9% of the population were below then poverty line.

So financially, even, Orlando is in a little better shape.

I am in no way trying to dismiss this issue, I am only trying to better understand it, and decide if it is an issue for my family. Is the crime in Orlando East truly worse than where I am currently living? Or better? Would I choose to live there? I can certainly purchase a larger home there for the money I have to spend, but would I want to ? The area seems really quite nice compared to where we are coming from. I also understand that I am quite used to the crime around here (I am in the suburbs of philly, not in the city, so I am a bit removed from it) and I also understand that the crime in your fair city is a recent development for you all, and as such is a great and grave issue for you, and I do repect that.

Orlando police at least, in the news appear to be trying to curb crime, installing cameras, and I did see police patroling during my trip. I saw no issues at all. If I drive through Philly, I am guaranteed at least one visual entertainment by the police with a criminal element at some point.

Thanks for entertaining this discussion with me!!

[DailyJournalist]

I think there is nothing left to discuss. Congratulations Parrotrosie on finding your new city to live in, I hope you are happy for years to come. I am moving the opposite way and close to your old stomping grounds.

[Parrotrosie]

OK....apparently I offended? Didn't mean to...I am seriously trying to understand from 1000 miles away. I spent three days there. I looked at this thread here with the specific detail of the crimes in Eastwood, 179 of them
http://www.city-data.com/forum/orlan...e-32828-a.html

and they are mainly petty auto burlaries, and there are auto thefts...bigger deal. Some home burglaries - how many are of the foreclosed on homes...I hear that is popular?

I had also inquired if the UCF population correlated with these crimes? Are they stupid student related crimes or of a more serious nature? There were about six violent crimes out of the total. Oviedo is another town we are considering...so I have no decision yet. I never rely on any one website for an answer, we subscribe to Neighborhood Scout and it tells me that Orlando, Eastwood area gets a 95 out of 100 (100 being perfect) for crime...so I have two opposing statistics....

I am not trying to dismiss, just to understand better.

Well, I hope you like it up here...all the pollution and politics...lol! I hope you aren't planning to join a Union ....good luck! (just kidding!) There are lots of nice areas around here really! I don't dislike it here at all! The economy is starting to slump tho...quite a few layoffs going on lately. If I can help you at all, please PM me! Lived here my whole life! I am in Delaware County...not the city...so I can't help with the city life...lol!

[DailyJournalist]

Originally Posted by Parrotrosie

Well, I hope you like it up here...all the pollution and politics...lol!

I am from there, I know exactly what it is like and love it.

[Wilshire81182]

I like your synopsis Parrotrosie. I think people just don't expect crime in Orlando given the Disney image and the clean cityscape, but it does exist here. Now why they say it is so dangerous could have a lot more to do with ratios of crime than sheer numbers. I have never really felt unsafe here except once or twice when I tried to take shortcuts through some questionable neighborhoods in the 32805 zip code to avoid tolls. I like my neighborhood (Conway) and I do quite a bit on the eastside too where I work and go to school and in downtown and the central areas like Winter Park and College Park and I feel safe and enjoy Orlando. There are quite a few areas I do not go to but know about and some that I do not even like driving through in the day, but it is nothing like I have seen in New York or LA and that I am sure you have seen in Philly.

[beckycat]

Originally Posted by Parrotrosie

I know crime exists everywhere, and I read all about all of Orlando's sexual predators and pedophiles...so I did what I always do...I looked it up for myself. I use this search program Map of registered offenders in your neighborhood
and you enter your zip code. My zip is 19074, and I entered 32828 for the Eastwood area of Orlando. Apparently I live among many more perverts than you all do. LOL! My city is East and yours is West on the corresponding maps...Orlando has the freckles....Philly has bubonic plague...so it helped to put things into perspective for me.

You can look at numbers until your head hurts (which I have been doing) and you can choose to live your live paralyzed by fear - which I will not do. There are bad people everywhere. Taking responsiblity for yourself and your own environment is all you can do. You can still teach a child or an adult how to be safe in the worst of areas to minimize negative impacts. Soooooo, I choose to find a home that suits my needs, in a school district that does the same, in a neighborhood that is relatively safe (nowhere is perfectly safe!)

I will add Longwood and Sanford to my area of investigations....it seems the more I know...the more I find out that I don't know...lol!

Thanks for the other recommendations by other posters here as well, I think some of those areas are out of my price range tho.....anything that has the word 'reserve' in is over my head...lol...my cap is about 350k

I refuse to get into a house over my head and 25% of the income is the max. Yes those 600k homes are to die for...but...I gotta live as well

Thanks and looking forward to Moving South!!!

Actually, there are plenty homes in that price range in Sanford, Lake Mary and Longwood. I can't speak for the area in Orlando you're talking about though. Honestly, I'd rent first, just for a short term. It will give you more time to look around. Another thing, I'd live close to where you work. Keep us updated.