UPenn this fall need help! (Philadelphia, Drexel Hill: apartments, for rent, crime)

[Finger Laker]

Originally Posted by Synergy1

OR Turn right from City Ave at the reservoir. Make a left on the road that leads to the Zoo (34th st) and go past the Zoo on 34th Street... Keep doors locked.

i lived in university city and worked off city line in bala - during peak hours we would just avoid the expressway and take this route to from

was a pretty short commute and really easy ...... but you wouldn't exactly want your car to break down

(my buddy had his car break down and left his cell at home that day - ended up banging on the gates at the zoo until someone let him use a phone ........ sounded like good times..........)

[Penngirl]

I also wonder if Penngirl knows there is a difference between the published an unpublished crime rate on Penn's campus?? [/quote]

Do tell...

[Penngirl]

Synergy: is the commute under an hour taking the alternate route?
What do you mean about the crime rate at UPenn?
Thanks!

[DailyJournalist]

Originally Posted by Penngirl

Synergy: is the commute under an hour taking the alternate route?
What do you mean about the crime rate at UPenn?
Thanks!

Its called exagerating. UPenn is perfectly safe. No different than any other major city.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

Its called exagerating. UPenn is perfectly safe. No different than any other major city.

Penn,Drexel,University of the Sciences, University of Pa Hospital and Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia are located in the same neighborhood. There are 100,000 students and professional people buzzing around University City on a daily basis. Its one of the safest neighborhoods in the city during the day. That being said you have to be street smart especially at night as nearby SW Philly and far West Philly are poor areas and prone to violence.

You could probably expand your Bala Cynwd search into nearby Ardmore,Narberth,Haverford and Bryn Mawr. Those towns are all part of Lower merion School District which is very good. Once you get to know your way around the back roads/short cuts you can make it from Lower Merion to Penn in 15-20 minutes.

[Tama]

I don't know about schools but I sure wouldn't want to be making that commute to the 'burbs and going to grad school. I commuted from university city to Jersey to teach and didn't have a child or research to deal with and that is a fairly easy commute going against the incoming traffic so to speak--wasn't fun at all. Aren't there any private/church-affilated/charter type schools in the university city area?

[Finger Laker]

i worked at city line right off the expressway and home was around 38th st & lancaster / race ........ took about 15 minutes on the backway ...... would probably have to tack on some extra time to get to penn and further into bala ........ pretty confident you could pull it in a fairly consistent 30 minutes

it used to take about 30 minutes to take the bus to 30th street and then transfer to the trolly line

[pman]

Originally Posted by Penngirl

Hi. I will be attending grad school at UPenn this fall and need to find a rental in a good area. Additionally, I am at a loss with the Philly public schools. Based on the stats I've read, I would not feel comfortable placing my elementary age child in a Philly school.
I would appreciate any suggestions you may have on neighborhoods, rental communities and schools. Must be car-commutable to UPenn. I really need assistance.
Thanks in advance.

In order to counteract that problem Penn took over the local school. Sady Alexander. It's actually a really nice area of the city, full of trees, trolleys, and beautiful victorian era homes. You may even be able to walk your child to school.

[Synergy1]

Originally Posted by DailyJournalist

I would keep my doors locked in Florida. You have better chance of getting hijacked or home invaded in Florida than you do in Philadelphia. Enjoy your swamp.

Thanks and the warm weather does funny things to the minds of once potential criminals. So the criminal element has always been in their mind.

My family did live downtown in Philly but that was almost 50 years ago.

Once crime hicked in Philly to a level my parents could no longer walk during the evenings or depend on our auto to be there for the night (parents had 3 cars stolen in front of our home) we moved to the Media area. Farms with cows could be seen from Balti Pike (Rte 1) when we traveled through Media and my parents seemed to enjoy the safety of a farm home. Within a year of 1956 we moved to a farm in WAWA or Media Pa.

Many years later my wife and I started working in Philly and lived in the suburbs. Univ of Penn was tops for schools because my wife was schooled and worked there for almost 30 years. I worked for the govt. in Center City.... I always loved the Palestra at Penn and the warm water of their pools. I still remember watching Penn's basketball games on my days off while my wife was working.

Penn has become part of our lives and we knew the Capt. on the Police force and almost every Penn Policeman who use to tell my wife what was going on within the confines of Univ of Penn.........So please don't let others tell a story about how safe the campus Univ of Penn has become because it is simply not true. Do not believe that the criminals do not wait for the new students to go off track and find their way, unsuspectedly, to zones of vilolence on Spruce Street or even far out to Woodland Ave. I use to ride my bike all over as a kid. I don't know everything but I do know Penn's campus...

Please do not fear the campus during the daylight if you walk in pairs but I would stay in doors at night while on the Penn campus. Doors lock, of course...Some of our foreind Grad student friends had a row of locks and my wife and I alwyas got a laugh at them trying to be safe in an unsafe area. Oh yeah a few students were attacked in their dorms by the Quads and on the Walkway many years ago and as some would like to believe that crime does not exist on Penn's campus or it is a very small number.....

Do those naysayers remember when a woman was raped in the doorway of Penn's Law School on Walnut Street during the day hours?
Do those naysayers remember when a student (female) was raped in her apt. on the corner of 36th and Chestnut? Where were all those fellow students from Drexel or Penn?

Penngirl -
We say that a single crime is too many and Penn is a great school but just be aware of everything and do not walk around without a friend/partner... No school of higher learning is perfectly safe so just keep in mind that Penn is just your stepping stone to greater things and nothing should get in your way from realizing your dreams.

Thanks and good luck....



...

[pman]

doors locked, don't go out at night? that's a bit alarmist. walk in pairs during the day? things have improved dramatically of late. there's sill crime, of course, esp for backpack toting undergrads with white earbuds. I've been watching crime charts for the past several years and there's definitely been a decrease in crime, particularly violent crime, esp in the neighborhoods around penn where many who work there now live.