Questions about SA (New Braunfels, Universal City, West: crimes, neighborhood, high school)

[sticksnsniffles]

Hi, this is our first post. My wife and I are considering jobs in SA and have some questions about the area that we cannot find answers to on the internet. We have found reviews on the internet that say that there have been some problems with gangs moving from neighborhood to neighborhood within the city. Is this true? Some articles made it sound like you did not want to go outside after dark no matter where you lived. One incident in particular involved a man who lived in a gated community and he was car jacked. Does this happen? We are planning on starting a family and are concerned about the potential issues this could raise in the future.

We have read that the recent population explosion over the past decade has created heavy traffic and pollution in the area. As for traffic can anyone compare this to a major city like Chicago or LA? Is there a rush hour or a rush minute? Also, I have noticed that the population is predominantly hispanic. Is racial tension high in SA? All feedback is appreciated. Thank you.

[AFWife1029]

I havent been here long myself(aug06) but can answer some of those questions. Though I have seen gang writing in a few places around the city I have never seen any gangs whatsoever so far. I live in Universal City and have had no problems with gangs and its a nice neighborhood. I go to class at UTSA downtown and have seen no gangs down there nor ever felt unsafe in most places downtown. Youll have to wait for one of the people who have lived here longer to ask about the gangs moving from neighborhood to neighborhood.

As far as traffic it just depends on where you are in the city during the rush hour times, yes we do have rush hour in some areas traffic starts to slow down a bit on around 3 but doesnt usually back up until 5. It just depends like I said bc there are times when I can take I10 East or 1604 West and run into very little traffic during rush hour but other places around town like 410, I10W and 1604 E that do get quite a bit of traffic. As far as pollution I havent really noticed any, no big cloud of smoke over the city or anything like that. Unless you count some of the trees allergy pollution.

Hope that helps some.

AFWife1029

Originally Posted by sticksnsniffles

Hi, this is our first post. My wife and I are considering jobs in SA and have some questions about the area that we cannot find answers to on the internet. We have found reviews on the internet that say that there have been some problems with gangs moving from neighborhood to neighborhood within the city. Is this true? Some articles made it sound like you did not want to go outside after dark no matter where you lived. One incident in particular involved a man who lived in a gated community and he was car jacked. Does this happen? We are planning on starting a family and are concerned about the potential issues this could raise in the future.

We have read that the recent population explosion over the past decade has created heavy traffic and pollution in the area. As for traffic can anyone compare this to a major city like Chicago or LA? Is there a rush hour or a rush minute? Also, I have noticed that the population is predominantly hispanic. Is racial tension high in SA? All feedback is appreciated. Thank you.

[winst0n]

I think what you read is an exaggeration...

In my 6 yrs of living here, I had 1 break-in incident in my car in i-10/dezavala wal-mart... but that is because i forgot to lock my car... they took my gym bag, tennis racket, cd's and my pager... since they i made sure i always lock my car anywhere i go. I feel generally safe in most areas that i go to, which is often in the north side. when i occasionally go to the south side, there's a little wobbly feeling for me, so i am just being more cautious. but so far, nothing horrific had happened to me, even in the south side...

Traffic here is almost everywhere in major roads and highways on rush hour... but i can tolerate the traffic here, compared to other cities that i had been to. It's almost like you can go anywhere within 20 min or less drive. Its a different story when there is an accident though... but as i observe, there is still so much room to grow and expansion for roads, unlike other cities where they maxed out their road spaces already yet still suffering terrible daily traffic...

Racial tension? I never felt it here. Its true that SA is predominantly hispanic, but I guess that holds true to most cities in texas bec if i'm not mistaken texas is one of the 3 majority-minority state in which hispanic is the bigger chunk. Within the city though, there are not as much in north central as there are in other parts that i observe...

These are my personal views and experiences living here in SA, hope you get something out of it...

[fierce_flawless]

I've lived here 22 years, and before that my father lived here and I visited him and went to school here for a while in elementary.

Racial tension? Nah. In high school, 50% of my friends were Hispanic. As an adult I migrated from the North and Northeast to the North Central, Central, and near West sides of town... to poorer areas than where I grew up, basically. I would say that out of all the people I know, most are at least half Hispanic, including my partner, and my own kid. ;-) I know lots of families that are blended in this way, and people seem to coexist peacefully in that regard here.

If there is any racial tension I am completely unaware of it.

Ditto crime. I've had my car broken into here a few times on the poorer sides of town. My kid's bike was stolen from the front porch on the "good" side of town. Nothing ever worse than that. Ironically, the scary crimes I've personally known of have happened in New Braunfels, including 3 known cases of attempted child abduction (1 was my own child, the other 2 neighbor's kids).... things are not always what they seem!

[vatomalo]

hit up www.hausmanunited.org and check the issues. they are for a specific area in the northwest area of san antonio/helotes. as for pollution, look for the mulch fire and read about the ongoing trouble with that.

it will make for good reading.