Johnstown area home, please - bad area?? (Indiana, Clearfield: low income, crime)

[mcorrales]

I am flying out to look at homes in the pa area on Tuesday, mostly in Cambria, Blair, Westmoreland, Clearfield and Indiana areas. My DIL found a house she fell in love with (they are moving with me) it is on Grove Avenue in Johnstown. I am not big on living in town either, but I agreed that I would check it out. The house is beautiful, but I am concerned about the area as far as drugs, etc. thanks

[mams1559]

Originally Posted by mcorrales

I am flying out to look at homes in the pa area on Tuesday, mostly in Cambria, Blair, Westmoreland, Clearfield and Indiana areas. My DIL found a house she fell in love with (they are moving with me) it is on Grove Avenue in Johnstown. I am not big on living in town either, but I agreed that I would check it out. The house is beautiful, but I am concerned about the area as far as drugs, etc. thanks

Grove Ave is in the Moxham neighborhood. Moxham has a historic district, but I'm not sure of the exact boundaries. The neighborhood is generally quiet and trouble free. The have a proactive crime watch to help keep trouble away. I grew up in Moxham (800 block Grove; 500 block Coleman) and my brother still lives there (Cypress). Most people take care of their property and it's an overall nice neighborhood. There are lots of churches and no bars and two playgrounds (Village St. / Park Ave.) are being refurbished as I type this. Right within Moxham, not far from Grove Ave. is a Sheetz convenience store, a car wash, a Rite Aid (pharmacy/store), a hardware store, and a lumber mill with a remodling showroom. Hope this helps.

[PAman]

Johnstown, ah, Johnstown....A city which I will defend with all I've got. Sure, like any small city, its got its share of problems, but Johnstown is a very hard working, blue collar town, that loves its city, loves its football, and loves its beer. If you give it a chance, you'll fall in love with the place, and as long as you live in the right place, you'll be fine...Not exactly sure of your location, but let the locals help with that, but I'll just tell you don't fear the place..

[Windsor chair maker]

Greetings All, can anyone tell me anything about the Artist Relocation Program that is offered by Johnstown, PA. ? I'd like to get some information such as what the housing and commercial buildings are going for, what areas are better than others, etc. etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Ralph & Caron, www.TheWindsorChairShop.com

[mams1559]

Originally Posted by Windsor chair maker

Greetings All, can anyone tell me anything about the Artist Relocation Program that is offered by Johnstown, PA. ? I'd like to get some information such as what the housing and commercial buildings are going for, what areas are better than others, etc. etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Ralph & Caron, www.TheWindsorChairShop.com

The following blurb I copied from the City of Johnstown webpage www.cityofjohnstownpa.net. I think the link will provide more information for you.

ARTIST RELOCATION PROGRAM
In August 2005, the City held the kick-off of the much anticipated Artist Relocation Program. This program offers attractive incentives to artists who relocate to Kernville and renovate a structure to house their living quarters, studio, and gallery. More information is available at www.johnstownartspa.com

I will say Kernville is not the nicest neighborhood in town. It has problems with some drugs and minor crime and quite a few blighted properties. However, that said, it is receiving the main focus of the city to be revitalized. They are removing many of the blighted properties. They are offering financial programs for current homeowners and people moving into the neighborhood to improve their properties inside and out. They are trying to get new business to relocate there, with some success. The new tech park is under construction there and several new buildings have gone up in the neighborhood (dr. office, Jtwn police FOP bldg). Overall, the neighborhood isn't all that bad. There are still blocks and streets that are accommodating. The neighbors are friendly and inviting. It is on the verge of a rebound and the city is doing all it can to see that it happens. Don't want to scare you off, but figure you need to know the facts to make a proper decision.

[Windsor chair maker]

Thanks Mams1559, I really appreciate it. I have only had one person talk differant about the Johnstown area but so far everything else has been pretty positive. We have a Living History show that we will be attending in Virginia next week so we are going to stop through Johnstown and stay the night to see it for ourselves, maybe contact the City for more information. Most of the shows and events that we do are primarly back east so moving closer to them would help with travel cost, especially with the rise of gas now. It is now averaging $3.20 a gallon here in the Missouri area. Thanks again.

[spencersmom]

Originally Posted by mams1559

Grove Ave is in the Moxham neighborhood. Moxham has a historic district, but I'm not sure of the exact boundaries. The neighborhood is generally quiet and trouble free. The have a proactive crime watch to help keep trouble away. I grew up in Moxham (800 block Grove; 500 block Coleman) and my brother still lives there (Cypress). Most people take care of their property and it's an overall nice neighborhood. There are lots of churches and no bars and two playgrounds (Village St. / Park Ave.) are being refurbished as I type this. Right within Moxham, not far from Grove Ave. is a Sheetz convenience store, a car wash, a Rite Aid (pharmacy/store), a hardware store, and a lumber mill with a remodling showroom. Hope this helps.

I grew up in moxham on dupont st right by grove and cypress. It is true that technically there are no bars in moxham but less than a 2 minute drive away there is the ohio street lounge, scotty B's, the ash street tavern, and maybe noe or two craphole bars I'm not thinking of. The quiet and trouble free part of this post is truely misleading. The Right Aide you mentioned was robbed at, get this, putty knife point. I dont know how you rob someone with a putty knife but it happened. The bank two blocks away was robbed. My neighbor was murdered at the pool hall but that's on the other side of moxham so don't worry. I moved into Moxham when i was in second grade in around 1988. It wasn't great when I moved there but has dacayed horribly since then. Every time I go back to visit it seems worse. The neighborhood watch that you mentioned wasn't very intimidating to criminals when i was a kid and I'm not sure it even exists anymore. If it does maybe it's behind the drug dealers that stand in the street and brandish their guns and wads of cash in broad daylight. If you think I'm exagerating and you live in the area just go to the one block strip of dupont st that connects cypress and grove ave at night. It's just one block up from that wonderful lumber yard that you mentioned. As for people keeping their property clean, they dont even bother to keep their babies from crawling in the street. On a positive note the Sheetz covenient store you mentioned rocks and i miss it very much.

[tedsmom]

I am not from the area, rather from NJ. I had traveled to Johnstown to purchase an investment property. The area that it was located in was very downtrodden and when we went inside to look at the apts we were surprised to see such poverty. It was like walking into a third world country. The walls and floors actually had places separating and there was a termite mound in the lower part of the building that was several feet high. It touched me so much that I wanted to see about getting money to put up low income housing so that the tenants would have a better place to live. I also wanted to build a new community center. I contacted city officials and was told that if I planned to build anything else I could get help but not for low income housing. I also looked at other properties there that weren't in much better condition. I have since seen ads for new homes going up. It would be nice to see a better environment for all.

[villagestcafe]

ok so here is a point of view from 1 person. spencersmom,
I grew up in moxham on dupont st right by grove and cypress. It is true that technically there are no bars in moxham but less than a 2 minute drive away there is the ohio street lounge, scotty B's, the ash street tavern, and maybe noe or two craphole bars I'm not thinking of. The quiet and trouble free part of this post is truely misleading. ... please read the rest above

now this is a problem with johnstown, they have not lived elsewhere to compare. small city as we are,johnstown has 3 lower income areas one being moxham. i have lived here all of my life as achild i helped my father build the village row shops and watched him move moxham into historic preservation. please understand i have been to many countries and major cities including some small not so great places. i have lived in pittsburgh and traveled with nothing but me and a pack. that being said, the spencersmom post sounds more like the slums of prague, than the place i lay my head every night. there are some bad elements and drug houses, yes but they are not in the street. as for all the crimes listed, yes their is occasioanally crime but the shooting mentioned happened 8 yrs ago at a pool hall that has not been around for 7 years and since there hasn't been one in 2 years in moxham. as i said not perfect suburbia but far far far from south philly or oakland. you want to see bad go to detroit, we are far from that. yes there is low income housing, and as another poster said some houses are in poor condition, but that is a select group owned by slum lords who don't live here and one happens to be a state rep. but that is the few not the many. moxham is a small city urban enviroment, there are people from all over the country here. there are also great old houses in fair very reparable condition. my point here is to say moxham shows that we are a small city, due to that we have small crime issues. rural communities have their problems too oxys, meth labs, trust me a friend of mine is a social services special investigeter. the bottom line is johnstown is finally on an up swing and the best place to live is moxham. if you have any questions just email me. there are more positives than i can list right now.

[PeterRabbit]

Originally Posted by Windsor chair maker

Ralph & Caron, index

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