Olney: good or bad (Philadelphia, Scranton: crime, houses, neighborhood)

[W-B proud]

Is Olney a good or bad part of Philly?

[FindingZen]

It's a working-class, predominately African-American section of North Philly. As mentioned in a recent thread, LaSalle University as well the well-regarded Central High School are nearby. There is a transportation hub at Broad and Olney from which you could take the subway downtown and to South Philly.

It's not an area that many people would suggest first unless you're comfortable or experienced with whatever the more challenged or transitional areas of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton may be.

[orrmobl]

Not good. How's that for diplomatic

A quick search for Olney and shooting yielded the latest and greatest: http://www.nbc10.com/news/17605181/d...p=news&rss=phi

Shootings don't occur there every day but they do occur frequently enough that I wouldn't want to live there...

http://www.city-data.com/forum/phila...-area-bad.html

[maf763]

Olney covers a pretty large area, not just the neighborhood around LaSalle. There's a busy commercial strip along 5th street that actually has some good restaurants, and there are some nice tree-lined streets as you approach Front Street. It's not the best area of Philly, but there are some nicer parts of Olney.

[solibs]

I wouldn't say Olney is predominately black. It's probably 40% AA, 20% asian, 20% latino, 20% white

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by solibs

I wouldn't say Olney is predominately black. It's probably 40% AA, 20% asian, 20% latino, 20% white

You could be right; there are probably some areas of Olney that I haven't seen.

[fathergll]

Originally Posted by solibs

I wouldn't say Olney is predominately black. It's probably 40% AA, 20% asian, 20% latino, 20% white

As of the census[1] of 2000, the racial makeup of Olney is 44.60% African American, 17.92% Asian, and 11.66% from other races. 21.03% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.


From Wikipedia ...pretty close



And yes Olney is in a "bad" part of Philly. I mean if Olney is considered a good part of Philly then what the hell do you consider Old City? Heaven?

[akorosdc]

It's typically a "bad" part, however there are some areas that are decent. Basically, it was a nice area that went down the tubes. There are some holdouts, and a good part of the population is very community-conscious. As you head closer to East Oaklane it gets better, and there are some gorgeous houses there.

You could do worse, but you could also do better. It really depends on where in Olney you're talking about.

[solibs]

yeah. East Oak Lane is what I think of when I think Olney. It's a pretty diverse place. Definitely not a ghetto. It's not Doylestown either but it's not bad.

Olney is more of a part of the city as opposed to a neighborhood.

IMO E. Oak Lane hit bottom in the mid-90s. It's far from Center City so it's not going to turn around fast but I think it's improved slightly in the last decade and will probably continue to get better.

[akorosdc]

Originally Posted by solibs

IMO E. Oak Lane hit bottom in the mid-90s. It's far from Center City so it's not going to turn around fast but I think it's improved slightly in the last decade and will probably continue to get better.

I forgot to add that there has been some visible improvement in recent years. The mid-90s bottom-out sounds about right, although I was too young then to really notice. There's been a renewed interest in community affairs recently, and I've noticed a lot of renovations going on in the more run-down houses. There's also a trend going on where people who grew up in the area and moved out are trying to come back and fix it up. It'll be slow, as you mentioned, but it's there. As for safety, my family's always felt safe there (going on 48 years of them living there). Generally most of the crime happens "nearby" in West Oaklane or further south in Olney/Logan.