Leaving Silicon Valley for Philly suburbs - which one? (Philadelphia: school districts, college)

[Leon2014]

Swarthmore is a tiny town of 6000 people. It might be safe in the town, but I personally would never consider a small geographic area as an indicator of the safety of an area. How does crime look like in a 5 mile radius?

I would never purchase a house and put roots down 3 miles from the most dangerous city in the country. That's insane.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Leon2014

Swarthmore is a tiny town of 6000 people. It might be safe in the town, but I personally would never consider a small geographic area as an indicator of the safety of an area. How does crime look like in a 5 mile radius?

Draw a five-mile radius around Gladwyne, and you'll also hit some extremely high-crime areas. And a lot more than just Swarthmore is nice. Nether Providence, Rose valley, Media, Upper Providence, Edgmont, and a whole bunch of other nearby suburbs are among Philly's finest.

Originally Posted by Leon2014

I would never purchase a house and put roots down 3 miles from the most dangerous city in the country. That's insane.

Except it isn't, because some municipal boundaries (e.g., City Avenue) are tantamount to twenty-foot high brick walls. Chester died long ago. Swarthmore has only increased in cachet with time.

[Leon2014]

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

because some municipal boundaries (e.g., City Avenue) are tantamount to twenty-foot high brick walls

I'm sorry, but it is not a brick wall, and that's exactly the problem. Old City in Philly is separated by a mile wide river from Camden. That's a barrier. City Avenue is not.

I understand your eagerness to defend your neighbourhood, but I'm just stating facts for the person that is not from the area. They can verify all the facts themselves by just looking at the map.

And the facts are Swarthmore is in extreme close proximity to the airport, the refineries, and is sandwiched between Chester and Upper Darby. You can't argue with basic facts.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Leon2014

I'm sorry, but it is not a brick wall, and that's exactly the problem. Old City in Philly is separated by a mile wide river from Camden. That's a barrier. City Avenue is not.

I understand your eagerness to defend your neighbourhood, but I'm just stating facts for the person that is not from the area. They can verify all the facts themselves by just looking at the map.

And the facts are Swarthmore is in extreme close proximity to the airport, the refineries, and is sandwiched between Chester and Upper Darby. You can't argue with basic facts.

I'm not from Swarthmore. Your fearmongering is simply misplaced. "Brick wall" here is a figurative term. Swarthmore shows absolutely no signs of decline. The airport, refineries, and less desirable towns have zero effect on its quality of life.

[Leon2014]

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

Your fearmongering is simply misplaced

That's only your opinion.

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

The airport, refineries, and less desirable towns have zero effect on its quality of life.

That's only your opinion.

Originally Posted by Leon2014

Swarthmore is in extreme close proximity to the airport, the refineries, and is sandwiched between Chester and Upper Darby

That's facts.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Leon2014

That's facts.

And the implication that they have any effect on the quality of life is only your opinion, and a tiny minority opinion at that. Hopefully others will chime in to that effect. If you have noise pollution, air quality, or criminal activity statistics that show to the contrary, I'm all ears. Otherwise, I have zero interest in your conjecture.

[eastwestcoast]

This whole discussion is ridiculous. The OP is coming from Silicon Valley where multimillion dollar homes sell for cash despite being literally right next to areas of extreme poverty. Look at Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, one is one of the richest and most desirable cities in the country, the other is arguably the most dangerous part of the south Bay Area, and all that separates them is a freeway. I highly doubt the OP will shy away from some of the nicest PA towns because they are several miles from bad areas. Not saying further-out cities like Doylestown aren't lovely, but the original request was to be near the airport and crime should be a non-issue for somewhere like Swarthmore.

[southbound_295]

Originally Posted by Leon2014

Swarthmore is a tiny town of 6000 people. It might be safe in the town, but I personally would never consider a small geographic area as an indicator of the safety of an area. How does crime look like in a 5 mile radius?

I would never purchase a house and put roots down 3 miles from the most dangerous city in the country. That's insane.

Do you somehow think that Chester is more dangerous than Camden?

[Leon2014]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

Do you somehow think that Chester is more dangerous than Camden?

About the same. They always trade places at the very top or the 100 most dangerous cities in the nation.

But the difference with Camden is that it is a much smaller area than the huge areas of poverty and crime in and around West Philadelphia, South West Philadelphia, and Chester areas. And the river is a natural barrier. So the south NJ suburbs have to deal with a much smaller hot-spot.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by eastwestcoast

This whole discussion is ridiculous. The OP is coming from Silicon Valley where multimillion dollar homes sell for cash despite being literally right next to areas of extreme poverty. Look at Palo Alto and East Palo Alto, one is one of the richest and most desirable cities in the country, the other is arguably the most dangerous part of the south Bay Area, and all that separates them is a freeway. I highly doubt the OP will shy away from some of the nicest PA towns because they are several miles from bad areas. Not saying further-out cities like Doylestown aren't lovely, but the original request was to be near the airport and crime should be a non-issue for somewhere like Swarthmore.

Agree completely. The concerns about crime near places like Swarthmore or on the Main Line are laughable. If you go far enough from any safe town, you're obviously going to find an area that isn't quite as safe.

Being so alarmist about being "only miles" (the horror!) away from a semi-dangerous area is not a realistic way to live.