New Kensington housing and secuirty (Lower Burrell, Arnold: hardwood floors, middle-class, apartment complex)

[kovsky]

I've been accepted to Penn State at New Kensington but worried about the availibility of rooms and security of the city itself. I've read posts which dates back to November 2007 about the city itself and an article which contains news to revitalize the city. But I have not yet read any significant news that can ease my worries.

Can anyone recommend a place to live, preferable studio apartments, single bedrooms, or families that rents a room which is near Penn State?Does anyone has up to date information about the city?

[PeterRabbit]

Downtown New Ken is old and run down, many closed stores. I don't think its unsafe. There are plans to revitalize it with a community college locating there in town. There are nice parts to New Ken with plenty of nice apts. around to rent.


Apartments in New Kensington Pennsylvania (PA) - Yellow Pages - Switchboard.com


Rents for a 1 BR start at $500. Penn State campus isn't too far off a main highway. Will you have a car?

[kovsky]

I am still deciding whether to have a car or not, but most likely I'll get one for sure.

So, rents start at $500? Is this price an exact one for each apartments or it's just an average price? any info. about less than $500 rents?

[PeterRabbit]

$500 is a low average price for a one bedroom in an apt. bldg. in the New Ken area. If you have a car you'll have more options. I know of a place 10 minutes from New Ken where spacious 1 BR apts. are $450. Studio apts. seem scarce. A room in someone's house should be considerably less, maybe $200. Lower Burrell is a good community next to New Ken. Tarentum also borders New Ken but is somewhat run down. Natrona Heights is a good option if you'll have a car. Rents can be a bit higher there. Have you searched on
craigslist.com ? You can place a "wanted" ad on there for free.

$400 / 1br - New Kensington
first floor apartment, 4 rooms, clean, newly remodeled, hardwood floors, central air, all appliances, basement, small porch, fenced yard, parking space, utilities not included

Cozy 1 Bed Room Furnished Studio. Only $390/mo includes FREE utilities. Near town square, handy to stores & transportation. Perfect for single gainfully employed or serious student. Not far from PSU branch.

pittsburgh craigslist > apts/housing for rent: search for "new kensington"

[oflahertie]

Hello
Can anyone tell me please what 3rd Avenue (Zip: 15068) is like to live in as I have seen a cheap house for rent? I have never been to the town but will be coming soon to work.
Also, what is to like to live in New Kensington, is there much going on at night etc?
Thanks!

[PeterRabbit]

New Ken doesn't have a night life anymore. The mafia left town over 30 years ago and relinquished control to the citizens. Ever since, downtown New Ken is like a ghost town with many vacant storefronts.

It isn't dangerous, just run down. If you rent a house on 3rd Street/Avenue it will have a lot of character. Same goes for your neighbors.

New Kensington is 15 miles from downtown Pgh.

[booter]

I am a resident of New Kensington, PA so I speak from experience about the poor living conditions and crime increase. Naturally the city is going to say there is no crime in New Ken, but residents know differently. Probably the only person that may say there is little crime here, besides the politicians that dont want to face facts, are the people that dont have alife and dont probably even venture past their mailbox. The only reason I stay is because of a disability and low income because of it. It use to be known not to go into downtown New Kensington due to crime, but within the past 7 years the crime area is much worse expanding from Arnold, PA to Parnassus, PA. Parnassus is where McDonalds restaurant is, but its considered new kensington. Almost every store there has shut down except for central city plaza, a handful of inner city restaurants, and maybe some little stores that nobody really knows exist anymore in down town zone. This is outside of the business district which is on the outskirts of new kensington such as tarentum bridge road for example. About 10 years ago we use to say that Parnassus was a good area which was from Central City Plaza down to Mcdonald's restaurant which is now beside the Save-a-Lot store. The Save-a-Lot store use to be Shop 'n Save for those that remember and for the sake of giving landmarks. The city is tearing down the old buildings. The roads are very poor condition with filling on top of filling to fix potholes that have been there probably since I moved here around 20 years ago.

How bad is the crime? There is always some type of vandalism, theft, rape, shooting, auto theft, and criminals like to hide out in new kensington such as the criminals that were observed at the local Sheetz store whom were wanted for murder and eventually arrested. The apartment buildings across from the hospital on 4th ave in new ken are turning into places that harbor drug abusers and prostitutes and the police were just at the one building (604 4th ave) and found at least 20 people living up the drug life in an aprtment barely big enough for 2 people after they investigated a report of a shooting. What do the police do? Good question. There was a riot fight and shooting at the apartment complex (known as the projects) which was right across from the police station and it literally took the police over an hour to get there. They could have walked there in 30 seconds. The police actually waited until the matter dispersed on its own before doing anything and that was conveniently leaving them with nothing to do. What is funny is that you will see about 5 police cruisers come out of the wood work from all directions if someone runs a stop sign (not an exageration because it was observed many times by Sheetz). Sometimes you may have 10 police officers show up at the doorstep of a couple having an innocent, but comical lovers spat. Our tax dollars at work for a better society to prevent stopsign offenders.

How bad is the housing and renting? For the price you pay for a one bedroom apartment you could own a couple of houses and still have money left over. The price of rent is too much especially considering that your neighboring house or apartment building is 9 times out of 10 a crack house/apartment or has some kind of illegal disturbance on a daily basis. They are making it hard for disabled people to get a house here and try to force them to live in a highrise which is the problem with many disabled citizens that I have talked with. You could be living in an aprtment building and not even know that the next door apartment made for 2 tenants is housing as many as 15 or 20 crackheads.

Considering that criminals are moving to New Ken because they are realizing its a safe haven because police are too busy hanging out at Sheetz or some donut shop (literally), it takes the entire police force to pull over someone for going through a stopsign, police harass people having fun at an after hours club, and criminals are getting wiser as to how to get away with their crimes in New Kensington................decide for yourself.

[guylocke]

Penn State New Kensington isn't anywhere close to downtown New Kensington. In fact, it's much closer to Upper Burrell and even Lower Burrell proper. Both are zip codes under 15068. Lower and Upper Burrell are both nice areas. They are very much middle-class cities without a crime problem (as far as I know). Upper Burrell is much more rural (Penn State New Ken is in this rural area!).

Also, despite what people tell you, there are still quite a few very nice areas of New Kensington. I wouldn't live in downtown New Kensington, but there are areas near Lower Burrell that are still lovely, including the neighborhoods off of Craigdale Rd and all of Mt. Vernon.

Downtown New Kensington is due for a revitalization but that is supposed to really begin once the Community College of Westmoreland County opens a satellite campus there, which is being built.

I will also mention that I did have a very good friend who rented a BEAUTIFUL Victorian home on 5th Ave. It was in a neighborhood that most people would have said is unsafe but he never had a problem whatsoever. He actually really liked it there. *shrug*
Hope this helps!

[badguykc]

Originally Posted by booter

I am a resident of New Kensington, PA so I speak from experience about the poor living conditions and crime increase. Naturally the city is going to say there is no crime in New Ken, but residents know differently. Probably the only person that may say there is little crime here, besides the politicians that dont want to face facts, are the people that dont have alife and dont probably even venture past their mailbox. The only reason I stay is because of a disability and low income because of it. It use to be known not to go into downtown New Kensington due to crime, but within the past 7 years the crime area is much worse expanding from Arnold, PA to Parnassus, PA. Parnassus is where McDonalds restaurant is, but its considered new kensington. Almost every store there has shut down except for central city plaza, a handful of inner city restaurants, and maybe some little stores that nobody really knows exist anymore in down town zone. This is outside of the business district which is on the outskirts of new kensington such as tarentum bridge road for example. About 10 years ago we use to say that Parnassus was a good area which was from Central City Plaza down to Mcdonald's restaurant which is now beside the Save-a-Lot store. The Save-a-Lot store use to be Shop 'n Save for those that remember and for the sake of giving landmarks. The city is tearing down the old buildings. The roads are very poor condition with filling on top of filling to fix potholes that have been there probably since I moved here around 20 years ago.

How bad is the crime? There is always some type of vandalism, theft, rape, shooting, auto theft, and criminals like to hide out in new kensington such as the criminals that were observed at the local Sheetz store whom were wanted for murder and eventually arrested. The apartment buildings across from the hospital on 4th ave in new ken are turning into places that harbor drug abusers and prostitutes and the police were just at the one building (604 4th ave) and found at least 20 people living up the drug life in an aprtment barely big enough for 2 people after they investigated a report of a shooting. What do the police do? Good question. There was a riot fight and shooting at the apartment complex (known as the projects) which was right across from the police station and it literally took the police over an hour to get there. They could have walked there in 30 seconds. The police actually waited until the matter dispersed on its own before doing anything and that was conveniently leaving them with nothing to do. What is funny is that you will see about 5 police cruisers come out of the wood work from all directions if someone runs a stop sign (not an exageration because it was observed many times by Sheetz). Sometimes you may have 10 police officers show up at the doorstep of a couple having an innocent, but comical lovers spat. Our tax dollars at work for a better society to prevent stopsign offenders.

How bad is the housing and renting? For the price you pay for a one bedroom apartment you could own a couple of houses and still have money left over. The price of rent is too much especially considering that your neighboring house or apartment building is 9 times out of 10 a crack house/apartment or has some kind of illegal disturbance on a daily basis. They are making it hard for disabled people to get a house here and try to force them to live in a highrise which is the problem with many disabled citizens that I have talked with. You could be living in an aprtment building and not even know that the next door apartment made for 2 tenants is housing as many as 15 or 20 crackheads.

Considering that criminals are moving to New Ken because they are realizing its a safe haven because police are too busy hanging out at Sheetz or some donut shop (literally), it takes the entire police force to pull over someone for going through a stopsign, police harass people having fun at an after hours club, and criminals are getting wiser as to how to get away with their crimes in New Kensington................decide for yourself.

I lived in Arnold, and what you said rings true to the T. One night, a kid got shot at 14th and 4th, and it took cops from NK, Arnold, and Lower Burrell, as well as Vandergrift and Tarentum, to answer ONE SHOOTING CALL. The AK Valley as a whole is a hell hole. The long-time residents are nice people, but the criminal element sadly overshadows these good residents who care about their homes and neighborhoods.

[Awesomo.2000]

Due to the severe ignorance of this board, I said I wouldn't post on this board anymore, but however, I will help the OP out. I went to Penn Ken. There are apartments located at Penn Ken for students. New Ken is about a 5-6 mile drive from Penn Ken. Live up at the campus.