Williamsport pa (Philadelphia, Scranton, Harrisburg: cliquey, violent crime, how much)

[louis scott]

Can any body tell me how Williamsport pa is?

[Dawne]

There are a number of other posts regarding Williamsport in this forum. Check out the links at the bottom of this page.

In a nutshell, Williamsport is a small multicultural city along the Suquehanna River, with some mountains (hill) around the city. The central PA area is beautiful and offers much in the way of restaurants and shopping. The schools are good. Williamsport was a boom town during the lumber era and there are many "mansions" still in existence along Millionaire's Row (from which the high school gets their mascot, the Millionaires). Williamsport is home to two colleges, Penn College of Technology (associated with Penn State University) and Lycoming College, a small private liberal arts college. There is a virbant downtown area that includes a renovated movie theater that brings in outstanding entertainment and cultural events. There is a minor league baseball team in Williamsport also. Home prices for a three-bedroom home can range from under $100,000 to nearly $1 million depending on what part of the city you're looking in.

I grew up in neighboring Montoursville, a much smaller, not multicultual community with (in my opinion) slightly better schools than Williamsport's. I have fond memories of going "to the city" for shopping and entertainment.

I hope this and the other posts will answer your questions. If you have more, please post again.

[SteelCityRising]

I'm quite fond of Williamsport in all respects save for its relatively isolated location in relation to other metropolitan areas. Even though Williamsport has quite a few "big city" amenities (Community Arts Center, minor-league baseball, big-box shopping, art walks, etc.) if there's something "lacking" here you have to hoof it over an hour to a larger metropolitan area like Harrisburg, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, or even State College to find what you crave. My Williamsport Photo Tour gives you my perspectives as a first-time tourist to "Billtown," and overall I had a very, very positive experience. I had a great lunch at the Bullfrog Brewery, many drivers waved me across crosswalks when they were stopped at stop signs, and a man from the Chamber of Commerce even literally RAN down a few flights of stairs to give me a brochure about the city's massive historic district after forgetting to give it to me before I left his office.

Williamsport has a relatively high population of African-Americans for a city of its relative isolation, and this was the result of aggressive relocation marketing efforts to Philadelphians from a prior mayoral administration (from what I gathered from the locals). As such violent crime is not uncommon in Williamsport, but it is generally low-life thugs targeting other low-life thugs---I can't remember the last time there was some sort of random shooting/stabbing reported on the news in Williamsport. If you keep your nose clean and take the normal precautions you'd take in ANY urban area you'll be fine. I sauntered around nearly every city neighborhood and never once felt threatened (although a fair number of people in town had a STARING problem where they'd suddenly stop like deer in headlights to stare at me for 5-10 seconds with their necks tilted before carrying on!)

[wanneroo]

There have been some innocent people targeted lately my sister tells me which has given her some cause for concern. I guess there was a home invasion or two in the central town area recently. How much crime there is compared to other similar towns in PA dunno, Williamsport might not be that bad. The main problem is that the town is a welfare "resort" and when you have a bunch of people sitting around doing nothing they get mixed up with drugs and gangs and trouble. When in the shopping areas or downtown it doesn't feel threatening and I'm on guard like anywhere else. It seems over the years the police presence on the bad streets has increased. There just seems to be a few bad streets where you see sketchy characters lying about and mostly if you avoid those that probably lessens any chance for trouble.

However there are a lot of nice neighborhoods due to at one time being the wealthiest town in the USA. Downtown has been cleaned up nicely, there are plenty of good restaurants, there is minor league baseball and the community arts center has a lot going on. There is also Penn Tech which is a good technical school. Also the Pine Creek rails to trail is nearby, the mountains are to the north with fishing, hunting, hiking.

So in terms of small PA cities, you could do worse and you could do better. Williamsport has it's upside and downside and it all depends what you are looking for.

[supertrucker212]

The scenery in Williamsport & the surrounding areas is beautiful! I would recommend living in either South Williamsport or Montoursville. Economically, however, it's a different story. If it weren't for a booming Penn College and Lycoming College, which also does pretty well, it would be more of a ghost-town. There really isn't any big industry in the city. Other than Shop-Vac & Kellogg's which is 15 minutes away in Muncy. A previous post said the city has become a welfare hub and unfortunately that's true. Also, I have experienced more attitude in Williamsport than any other town when going into a bar. Very cliquey. Especially the Old Corner bar downtown. No place is perfect. State College is just as nice, but with a much better economy. JUst be prepared for a much higher cost of living & more of crowd when school is in.

[goobermentiscorrupt]

I lived in williamsport pa all my life i was a straight A school student always kept my self clean but as soon as i came out of school the williamsport goverment had other plans for me the faslely accused me of all kinds of things put in in the county prison the dilibertly ruin me the aclu told me i was in the school to prison pipe line, so IF I were u stay were your at instead me fighting them i just them go now after 20 years of being an adult iam nobody because of williamsport pa they are slowly now taking more and more of our civil rights away so in my opiNon keep away IF YOU HAVE FREEDOM WERE YOU ARE WE ARE OVER TAXED HERE OVER WORKED AND UNDER PAID

[DCable01]

I grew up in Williamsport Pa, it is such a slower pace of life. It is a very close knit area that welcomes new people. The cost of living is reasonable and the population is low in comparison to other cities. It offers Great Shopping and my all time favorite the Woolrich Factory Store. It has many appealing qualities for small town living...

[onebigmess]

Williamsport is the most ignorant, culturally intolerant, homophobic place I have ever lived. People are reluctant to welcome you because you will always be an outsider to them and I grew up outside Philly.
I have never heard such outspoken racism as I have here in central PA. People graduate from high school,get a factory job and never leave the area. I have nothing against working class folks since my family was all working class "eyetalians" as they say here. When the presidential elections were happening, Democrats were warned against putting signs around for fear of vandalizing of their homes, cars,etc. WOW. How scary is that?
This is an area that thrives on fear and ignorance.Yes, there are some nice people here.But there are nice people wherever you go. I don't consider this a great place to raise kids unless you think white is right. And, that is the dominant belief here. I am here only to care for a friend who I would love to convince to move away.

[lizanne8989]

Don't move there. Period. The people there have a small-town mentality and are not very friendly. At least not in my experience. They will ignore you and exclude you no matter how nice you are to them. Not to mention EXTREMELY RACIST!! Onebigmess's account is very accurate. My family moved there from Texas and we were shocked. Not to mention the school system is disgusting and well, frankly stupid, as in intelligence.