is temple university dangerous? (York, Darby: home, high income, tax)

[jillsforum]

I've read about some of the crime & safety issues around Temple campus, is it getting better? I'm an adult student looking to move my family to PA, plan to attend Temple but live around Abington or other areas around there. Our children would be attending middle & high school, any suggestions on the best areas & schools with a mix of blue & white collar working class families?

[frankgn87]

Originally Posted by jillsforum

I've read about some of the crime & safety issues around Temple campus, is it getting better? I'm an adult student looking to move my family to PA, plan to attend Temple but live around Abington or other areas around there. Our children would be attending middle & high school, any suggestions on the best areas & schools with a mix of blue & white collar working class families?

Abington.. There is your place to live.. Fits the bill perfectly and is close to Temple

[Summersm343]

Originally Posted by jillsforum

I've read about some of the crime & safety issues around Temple campus, is it getting better? I'm an adult student looking to move my family to PA, plan to attend Temple but live around Abington or other areas around there. Our children would be attending middle & high school, any suggestions on the best areas & schools with a mix of blue & white collar working class families?

Temple is fine. Just moved out of that area to Center City after 4 years of school there and never had a problem, neither did any of my friends. Campus is actually probably the safest place in the city, no lie. Temple employs their own police force and it is the third largest university police force in the country. Aside from Temple's Police force, Temple is also patrolled by Philadelphia police and Temple also has security guards too.

The campus is absolutely gorgeous. Very nice and always packed (during the semester of course). There are two bars on campus and I believe two more coming and the students are always out to the wee hours of the morning, so even at night you will feel very safe.

No problems ever happen on campus, ever. All of last school year there was only one robbery one campus, I know this because while attending temple they have the TU Alert system that will email/send you a text when anything happens. Most of the problems at Temple are North and West of campus and since you will not be living there, you will never go to these areas.

Temple is exploding at the seams as it changes from a majority commuter school to a school where everyone lives on campus. There is currently a 27 story residence hall being constructed and even still Temple is short some 20,000 beds. Yes, 20,000 students do not have housing and at least 20% of Freshman can not be guaranteed a dorm. 80% of Sophomores cannot be guaranteed a dorm. No juniors/seniors live on campus. This is causing the students to look elsewhere, in this case, off campus. From Broad Street to 18th, from Susquehanna to Master is filled with students and the area literally gets better every day. Yes, every day there is something new starting construction at Temple, at least it seems like it.

Again, Temple is in North Philadelphia, so to the North, West (passed 18th) and to the East are all ghetto. Neighborhoods to the South are also getting better and being gentrified and revitalized (Yorktown, Francisville, West Poplar, etc. etc.

Again, you will not be living near Temple and you will be taking the train in every day so you will not have any problems. There is a train stop practically on campus and you will not be walking through any dangerous areas (the PHA housing right next to the train station looks a lot more intimidating then it really is, they don't bother students or professors, ever). You will find there are thousands of people who take the train to Temple everyday and you will be walking to and from the train with at least a hundred people around you at all hours of the day.

Temple is a great, diverse experience and I had a blast there. I am sad that it is over and actually miss where I used to live.

As to where you should live, you answered your own question before you even asked it. Live in Abington or Jenkintown. Affluent, safe, quaint, charming, great schools (some of the best in the metro), close to the city. You couldn't find a better place to live.

Hope this helped

[UDResident]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

Abington.. There is your place to live.. Fits the bill perfectly and is close to Temple

What part of Abington is blue collar or working class?

[frankgn87]

Originally Posted by UDResident

What part of Abington is blue collar or working class?

Most of it actually.. Near the mall, on both sides of 611, Edge hill section, off of Easton rd, Roslyn..

[UDResident]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

Most of it actually.. Near the mall, on both sides of 611, Edge hill section, off of Easton rd, Roslyn..

Medium income for a household: $77,363. Doesn't seem working class to me.

[maf763]

There are plenty of working class families in Abington. Do you understand what 'median' means?

[UDResident]

Originally Posted by maf763

There are plenty of working class families in Abington. Do you understand what 'median' means?

Quite well, thanks. It's unlikely that a place with a median income of $77,363 is going to have a mix between working class/blue collar and white collar families that's anywhere close to an even one. There may be some working class families but an area with that high a median income is more likely to be mostly middle class, not mostly working class as frankgn asserted. In order for that to be the case, the median income level would have to be maybe in the 60s, and even that may be high. Also, the working class is still fairly segregated from other classes in this metro. Certain neighborhoods have been filling with working class people in the past 20 years such as parts of Drexel Hill in Upper Darby, parts of Havertown, parts of Brookhaven and Aston, and a small part of Springfield Township. Out of those areas, only Brookhaven, Havertown, and Drexel Hill have a mix of working class/blue collar and white collar families. I would not consider any of the places I mentioned "mostly working class" or consider the majority of any to be working class. I am sure that Abington has working class families living there but I highly doubt that the majority of it is working class, as frankgn suggested. I guess it depends on what kind of mix of working class/blue collar and white collar is the desired mix.

Feel free to throw more unnecessary insults my way though.

[frankgn87]

Originally Posted by maf763

There are plenty of working class families in Abington. Do you understand what 'median' means?

don't argue with him maf. He's obviously clueless. Trying to start crap here.

[UDResident]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

don't argue with him maf. He's obviously clueless. Trying to start crap here.

So that's two completely unprovoked insults all because I disagreed with and questioned your assertion. Please, do tell me how I'm clueless about what makes a working class area, frank. Living in Upper Darby, I definitely have never been in a working class area or understand what makes an area working class.

People who knows Abington better than I do could probably say for sure but I have a hard time believing that "most of" Abington is working class.