Is Philly crime really as bad as everyone says? (Philadelphia: condo, how much)

[FromGA]

Thanks Tone509. I was intending to live in the suburbs, so I am asking these questions related to crime to generally understand the metro area (ie. if someone says -- dont move to Philly due to crime, trying to understand what that means).

[FromGA]

Is there any 2008 stats for Philadelphia crime online? How is the new Mayoral adminstration viewed?

[john_starks]

this is usually helpful - 237 murders so far....well as far as what the PPD has decided to report

Philadelphia Police Department :: Headquarters

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by FromGA

Thanks Tone509. I was intending to live in the suburbs, so I am asking these questions related to crime to generally understand the metro area (ie. if someone says -- dont move to Philly due to crime, trying to understand what that means).

It means dont move to the poverty stricken areas. North Philly,SW Philly and inner ring suburbs e.g the city of Camden,Chester city,and the Delaware county border towns next to SW Philly e.g., Darby,Yeadon,parts of Upper Darby.Philadlephia metro is 5,000 sq miles. Maybe 50 sq miles are places you absolutely would not want to live.

3 miles outside the city limits crime rate is not much of a factor. The further N+ W+E you go the better off you are as far as becoming a victim of crime.

[solibs]

Crime in Atlanta is far worse than in Philadelphia. Crime in the suburbs of southern metros is also usually much worse than in northeastern metros.

In Philadelphia you probably wouldn't want to live in North Philly north of Girard Ave.

In West Philly you should stay away from the area north of Market between 40th and 63rd St. South of Market down to the train tracks ranges from awesome to seedy out to about 50th/52nd St. That whole area is improving rapidly.

There are small parts of South Philly that one should avoid but, again, it's changing quickly. The Kingsessing neighborhood in Southwest Philly is pretty rough but the Eastwick neighborhood down by the airport is low key and almost suburban.

Almost all of Northwest Philly above Chelten Ave. would be a great place to live. Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls, Mt. Airy, Andorra, Chestnut Hill and west Germantown. The only exception is the part of Germantown east of Germantown Ave.

In the suburban counties you should avoid most of Camden. There are rare exceptions, downtown/waterfront for example. Also, Chester City south of I-95 is pretty rough. The area north of 95, around Widener University, is fine.

There are some other parts of the suburbs that get a bad rap but IMO it's overblown. Darby Borough is maybe the only place that really deserves its reputation. The rest of eastern Delaware Co (that borders the city) are working class towns full of blue collar white, blacks, latinos, and asians and a lot of upper-middle class folks from Chester and Montgomery County like to look down their noses at those towns but they're not the violent, crime-ridden places that they're made out to be, they're just not as wealthy as places further out.

There are parts of Lower Bucks County (near the river) than can be a little seedy. They've had some meth problems in the past but there's not much in the way of violent crime.

I used to live in SC and knew a lot of people from the Atlanta area. I'm familiar with all of the disparaging comments people from the ATL suburbs make about the city. It's no different here.

[solibs]

Originally Posted by john_starks

this is usually helpful - 237 murders so far....well as far as what the PPD has decided to report

Philadelphia Police Department :: Headquarters

Let me guess, you live in the northeast?

[john_starks]

Originally Posted by solibs

Let me guess, you live in the northeast?

no way! QV (no offense NE folks)

big fan of the area...South street, Headhouse, etc..

[solibs]

Sorry FromGA I just reread your post a little further up and saw that you said you were planning on moving to the suburbs.

Then why worry about crime in the city?

If you have kids most people here will tell you to avoid certain school districts, not towns.

Originally Posted by john_starks

no way! QV

big fan of the area...South street, Headhouse, etc..

Just wondering why you would suggest that the PPD is fudging the murder stats? Just because certain topics get more press than they used to doesn't mean that it's happening more often.

[FromGA]

Originally Posted by solibs

Sorry FromGA I just reread your post a little further up and saw that you said you were planning on moving to the suburbs.

Then why worry about crime in the city?

As I told Tone509, I was asking just to understand the metro area. Your response was probably more detailed than I intended to ask for, but appreciated and useful. Thanks!

[fathergll]

Originally Posted by FromGA

Is there any 2008 stats for Philadelphia crime online? How is the new Mayoral adminstration viewed?