Should I move to Williamsport?

[billtowner]

Originally Posted by bobsmith

Hey guys--I'm also thinking about moving to the Williamsport Area, more specifically, to the east and south (Montoursville, Muncy, Milton). I'm intrigued by the extremely contrasting opinions about the place. I'm guessing that this area could be good or bad depending on your tastes and especially what you make of it.

Exactly, it is what you make of it.

I've lived in the Williamsport area for 12 years, came from the Southeast, lived in the Midwest in both small towns and large cities. Williamsport is a rural small town with good and bad like anywhere else.

52% of Williamsport rents, there are plenty of rentals in Muncy, Montoursville, all over. The median HHI is around $32k (it was last time I looked a couple years ago) and housing is prices appropriately.

Crime is not a huge problem anywhere in the area. There are those who like to play the high crime rate card but crime is basically bad guy vs bad guy. Common sense keeps you safe whether you are in Atlanta or Williamsport.

Checkout Billtown Boards for more talk on the area. There is some good discussion there on the Williamsport area.

[bobsmith]

Hey, I just wanted to update here and mention that I have completed my move. I now live in Williamsport City, specificly East End. I'm in a small and nice apartment in the third floor of a house here, and the area seems very nice so far. I commute to outside Muncy for work every day, and I'm happily astonished that even with road construction on I-180 there is still virtually no backup! Try finding that anywhere in Bucks County, where tiny two-lane country roads have near-interstate volumes forced upon them! Anyway, I'm happy with this area so far and I'm staying at least a year, possibly longer, because I am thinking about really putting down roots somewhere.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by bobsmith

Hey, I just wanted to update here and mention that I have completed my move. I now live in Williamsport City, specificly East End. I'm in a small and nice apartment in the third floor of a house here, and the area seems very nice so far. I commute to outside Muncy for work every day, and I'm happily astonished that even with road construction on I-180 there is still virtually no backup! Try finding that anywhere in Bucks County, where tiny two-lane country roads have near-interstate volumes forced upon them! Anyway, I'm happy with this area so far and I'm staying at least a year, possibly longer, because I am thinking about really putting down roots somewhere.

I'm absolutely thrilled to hear that you're adjusting well to life in your new city. If you haven't done so already, then please take a jaunt along West Fourth Street to admire all of the gorgeous historic homes featured in my 2007 http://www.city-data.com/forum/penns...hoto-tour.html.

If you have any further inquiries about Lycoming County, please let us know. Bear in mind also that traffic might be a bit more congested now than usual because of all of the tourists in town for the Little League World Series.

[lizanne8989]

I graduated from Williamsport high school in 07. From the time I moved there I knew two kids killed in gang related problems, seven which went to jail and many who were expelled. I learned that you had to be careful from my first week there in my freshman year. I had moved there from Dallas, Texas. I got shoved for looking at someone 'wrong'. I learned that there was a gap between blacks and whites. A mechanic, 'smitty' openly used the 'n' word in front of us even though he knew nothing about us. I heard the 'n' word repeated many times going to that school. And a black girl even threatened to kill me because I sat at the wrong lunch table. The school and programs were superb, but are wasted on a place like that where education is clearly not valued. The drama club had a wonderful improv group but because of the students, without a cue is disappearing. My mother was told she couldn't be promoted because she wasn't from there. The church my family went to excluded us because we were outsiders. We were miserable there. For five years we learned to keep our heads down and to remember that we are better than this, the first chance I got I left. I hated it there, for me there was only one good thing left and that is my best friend and only friend I had ever met. A mentally challenged girl whose soul is more beautiful than the green mountains that surround that disgusting place.

[Nihilianth]

Originally Posted by lizanne8989

I graduated from Williamsport high school in 07. From the time I moved there I knew two kids killed in gang related problems, seven which went to jail and many who were expelled. I learned that you had to be careful from my first week there in my freshman year. I had moved there from Dallas, Texas. I got shoved for looking at someone 'wrong'. I learned that there was a gap between blacks and whites. A mechanic, 'smitty' openly used the 'n' word in front of us even though he knew nothing about us. I heard the 'n' word repeated many times going to that school. And a black girl even threatened to kill me because I sat at the wrong lunch table. The school and programs were superb, but are wasted on a place like that where education is clearly not valued. The drama club had a wonderful improv group but because of the students, without a cue is disappearing. My mother was told she couldn't be promoted because she wasn't from there. The church my family went to excluded us because we were outsiders. We were miserable there. For five years we learned to keep our heads down and to remember that we are better than this, the first chance I got I left. I hated it there, for me there was only one good thing left and that is my best friend and only friend I had ever met. A mentally challenged girl whose soul is more beautiful than the green mountains that surround that disgusting place.

huh, I have heard that about the highschool. I graduated from WAHS in 2002, and a former teacher of mine (Mrs. Murphy) called from 1997 - 2003 the "glory years" in her 20 years of teaching up there. Apparently most of the other teachers agreed wiht that assessment. I was there form 19998 - 2002, right smack dab in the middle of the "glory years." VERY VERY few fights up there. All the sports teams were doing very well, half of the teams even winning states. The school was scoring much higher on the PSSAs than anywhere else in the state, and the fencing club, and improv groups, as well as other clubs were getting stronger. But since 2003 - 2004, the school has all but almost fallen apart at the seams. Perhaps maybe it is because the head principle that was there when I was retired the year I graduated? I dunno.

But as far as benig called the "n" word directly to your face, and people threatening you for giving them "the wrong look," then either you are incredibly unlucky, or else you may have some kind of bad attitude. No matter where you go, people generally do not act the way that you described them, and I can hardly believe that is just a localized incident that you'll "only find in Willimpsport."

[billtown78]

You must be the guy who came up with the t-shirt idea that said "I'm one of the good guys"

[InCrimetown]

I have lived in Williamsport for a few years now and absolutely would NOT recommend. There is nothing but crime here. Tons of drugs, shootings, stabbings, robberies, etc. happen constantly. Williamsport is definitely not safe. Crime, crime crime! I've even been an innocent victim myself. The only reason is live in this dirthole of a town is because it's all I can afford. Trust me, Williamsport will not be any better. It's absolutely a place of terror.