Nice, safe areas in South Philly? (Philadelphia, York: low income, rent, crime)

[Bondurant]

This sounds like the thread for the info I need.

How's the area around The ECW Arena (W Ritner & S Swanson) and walking north along Front or 2nd up to the Olde City area? It's a walk but I don't mind if it's a safe walk.

Reading otters21 description I think it might be okay but I wanted to verify.

Philly sounds very interesting in terms of safety. Most cities you can nail down entire areas but Philly seems to be block by block as someone stated earlier.

[GraysFerryB4]

If you stay on Front all the way up, you are going to be OK. Just be "aware" of your surroundings around Washington ave. Sometimes you become a target when you look like you don't know better. Example: walking late, alone with an ipod on. Thats probably anywhere in the city.
The Whitman neighborhood is not as gentrified as the Pennsport area. Most are older row homes. Some rehabs but you won't find new construction there at all. I think someone said (rightly) that that area isn't the first to welcome outsiders with an apple pie. Homes are thus more affordable. Just do your homework.

[PennKid]

I grew up in South Philly 1999-2009, when I went to undergrad at Penn. I grew up in Grays Ferry, which as some have mentioned, has seen better days, although the portion where I lived is certainly not the worst (28th and Morris). I have friends scattered all over South Philly, and the delineation between good and bad mostly follows Broad to Passyunk, and then Jackson St. Anything to the east or south of that is ok- sure, there are some sketchy blocks east of Broad, mostly around 6th and 7th and Snyder, but even the worst of these blocks can't compare with anything on the west side. The nicest areas are around E Passyunk Avenue, then just south of Passyunk Avenue on the west side, and then the area south of Snyder west of 10th and east of Broad Street. People will tell you that so-and-so block was beautiful once upon a time and isn't now, but if you just look at it, you'll notice someone has put up a new tree, or a new flowerpot, or scrubbed the masonry to a gleaming new look on basically every block. For every crabby, racist family that moved out to Gloucester County to enjoy a car-dependent life free of minorities, there is a new young family that left Center City and a hard-working Mexican or Vietnamese family that do the region's dirty work. Blocks in South Philly are beautiful tapestries- you have young kids playing street hockey, old folks listening to opera, and hipster bikes on any given block side-by-side. I'm glad you guys chose South Philly, I'm sure you're just the type of neighbors that keep this tapestry alive.

[selhars]

Why not live in a close in suburb? If you don't WORK in the city, living in the city and paying more for car insurance and taxes (city wage, etc.) isn't worth the trade off. (IMHO)

[GraysFerryB4]

I grew up at 28th & Tasker. I agree that S. Philly has improved in the last 10 years. The early Section 8 program did the damage as it largley went unsupervised and house=blocks= neighborhoods were rapidly ruined. The program still exists as The Houseing Choice Program. Same thing but people are less likely to get freaked out if you disguise it with a new name. I applaud the families that work hard to change. Unfortunately, it takes fewer irresponsible folk to negate all of their hard work. Drive down 1500 S. Etting...looks like Iraq.

[Bondurant]

The 1500 block of S Etting must have been cleaned up. It looks pretty good on Google Maps (if they have the address correct).

[GraysFerryB4]

1500 Etting, 1500 27th, 1500 and 1600 Taney which were once blue collar people who respected the roofs over their heads. I don't know when Google maps got there but trust me, it is a nightmare any time of day or night. Constant drug war and trash as far as they can toss it out the doors.

[PennKid]

Google Maps got to 1500 S Etting in 2007. I know because I live down the street and I saw the Google Cars.

Having grown up in Grays Ferry, I'll agree it's seen better days. But its decline is associated with the resurgence of all of the rest of South Philly; after all, where are the people who get displaced whenever you build a new condo at like 13th and Ellsworth, or 15th and Reed going to go?

Plus, Grays Ferry isn't really THAT bad. Sure, there's crime. Sure, the neighbors can be a bit trashy. But the housing stock remains decent; the area is surrounded by improving neighborhoods and is just awaiting its turn. There's supposed to be a new park at #0th and Oakford, across from Anderson Rec. There's supposed to be some new tenants in the shopping plaza. They've been remodeling all the nice houses in the "southbrook park" section by the new hope cul-de-sac, and, yes, believe it or not, Grays Ferry has a cul-de-sac. Just give the neighborhood a short while.

[Bondurant]

Interesting. I've wondered how up to date Google maps was.

How's the general area around 22nd & Carpenter? There's a Turkish joint I'd like to try next time I'm down in Philly. Also, is there public transport from downtown to that area? If I was inclined to walk I could take the metro to Lombard/South or Ellsworth/Federal. Perhaps it would just be easier to drive?

BTW, guys...thanks for contributing all of this info. This forum is a treasure trove for info. I'm glad there's a lot of helpful info as opposed to "blah, blah, Philly sucks" crap.

[JACIRO]

If you check out the area around the stadium called Packer Park, moslly Italian, clean safe, impeccable, you could probably sleep with the doors open, good food everywhere, beautiful women. We moved to the suburbs years ago but kept my house there and will always comeback nothing like it .