A safe, nice place close to Philly ? (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: to rent, safe area)

[blackcoral]

Which county/village do you recommend ? I 'll like to rent first and then buy a house(stone, brick) in a nice, safe area. Ideal also to have access to train or bus to Philly(less than 10 mi) and New York.
Thanks a lot.

[chessimprov]

Univ City, Ardmore, Merion might be what you're looking for. Close to Amtrak and possibly other options.

[Jfoldno7]

Bala Cynwyd, Wynnewood, Penn Wynne, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr (pretty much all of Lower Merion Township).

Haverford township, especially Havertown.

These PA burbs offer the type of architecture you are looking for, coupled with train lines that are less than 10 miles from Philly.

Inside Philly you may want to consider Roxborough, Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy for a more suburban feel.

Manayunk and East Falls are other options but give off more of a "small city" type of feel rather than a suburban feel.

All of the communities listed above are safe, close to trains, and less than 10 miles from center city.

[blackcoral]

I visited twice Philly and I liked very much, can be because I saw only the Downtown and the Art Museum area ?
An old article in the Inquirer was saying that the population is shrinking. Why ?
Why a few people living there told me it is just a blue color city, nothing artsy ?
Is any chance that the public libraries will hire again, or do they still want to close some of them ?
When is the next mayoral election ?
Thank you very much for the responses I already received. Great Forum !

[orrmobl]

Places in SE Delaware County and also New Jersey fit the bill. Lansdowne, Drexel Hill, Springfield along with the other places mentioned.

The mayor is enacting his "Doomsday Budget" so lots of libraries will be closing and services will be cut, jobs lost, so I would not count on finding a job with the city in any capacity for the next few years.

[Jfoldno7]

To answer some of your other questions: Don't worry there are other nice areas to see in Philly other than just the downtown and art museum. I listed 5 good neighborhoods in NW Philly because those are the ones I am most familiar with, but there are plenty of other good spots.

The population of Philadelphia county is shrinking but the surrounding Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area is still growing in population since the 2000 census(+2.66%). We won't know the official figures until the 2010 census is complete but these are census estimates.

The metropolitan population's growth is in line with other northeast cities:
New York-N. NJ-: +3.73%
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy: +2.99%
Baltimore-Towson: +4.47%
Providence-New Bedford-Fall River: +0.86%
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford: +3.65%

And is a world better than what most northern industrial cities are going through over the past 9 years:
Detroit-Warren-Livonia: -0.62%
Pittsburgh: -3.29%
Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor: -2.79%
Buffalo-Niagara Falls: -3.91%
Rochester: -0.36%
Dayton: -1.37%
Toledo: -1.25%
Syracuse: -0.75%
Youngstown: -5.35%
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre: -2.00%

The city has a more blue-collar feel but to say nothing artsy is way off imo.

I doubt the public libraries will be hiring at all in the near future.

2011 is the next mayoral election.