St. Petersburg (Miami, Tampa, Orlando: crime rate, safe area, gated)

[StillFreak]

A friend of mine is considering a move down to St. Petersburg and I'm trying to help him find some info on the city. Rather than only look at statistics, I figured I'd ask residents, as well. Is St. Petersburg a city with lots of crime? Are there any ghettos or places that are just extremely undesirable? Anything negative about the city someone moving should know about? Thanks.

[NeedAChangeFromFL]

AVOID South St. Petersburg like the plaque.

[StillFreak]

Would South St. Petersburg be a large portion of the city?

[NeedAChangeFromFL]

It is a pretty big chunk of St. Petersburg...there are other areas of Pinellas close to St. Petersburg that are nice...there are a few nice areas of St. Petersburg though. You DO NOT want south of downtown if you do choose St. Petersburg. Try TBO.com is Tampa Bay Online
that will give you a better idea of crime. Hope that helps you a little!




quote=StillFreak;2157292]Would South St. Petersburg be a large portion of the city?[/quote]

[cariad]

Originally Posted by StillFreak

A friend of mine is considering a move down to St. Petersburg and I'm trying to help him find some info on the city. Rather than only look at statistics, I figured I'd ask residents, as well. Is St. Petersburg a city with lots of crime? Are there any ghettos or places that are just extremely undesirable? Anything negative about the city someone moving should know about? Thanks.

Read the Tampa forum(link at top of the page) and you will find a lot of info about St. Pete and the surrounding areas. You'll also probably get a lot more info if you ask your question there. The moderator would probably move this thread there if you ask.

[Trabbz]

I just posted on another thread about this. NOT all areas of S. St. Pete are bad areas. Usually this is coming from possibly racist and ignorant people who assume that the large black population in S. St. Pete makes the whole area a terrible place. This is completely untrue. I am from the 2nd safest ranked metro in the US (in Wisconsin) and I am not afraid of S. St. Pete. Sure there are areas that are unsafe, but I wouldn't walk too far at night anywhere in Tampa Bay. As far as during the day there is nothing to be afraid of. There are some really nice, safe, and diverse areas in the Boyd Hill, Country Club and Coquina Key areas. Just do your homework and you will be fine. The only way to tell for sure is to check it out yourself.

[NeedAChangeFromFL]

If South St. Pete is such a safe area and you'd live there, why do you live all the way in Palm Harbor??
I have lived in this area my entire life and South St. Pete is one of the most dangerous places to live in the Bay area.

Originally Posted by Trabbz

I just posted on another thread about this. NOT all areas of S. St. Pete are bad areas. Usually this is coming from possibly racist and ignorant people who assume that the large black population in S. St. Pete makes the whole area a terrible place. This is completely untrue. I am from the 2nd safest ranked metro in the US (in Wisconsin) and I am not afraid of S. St. Pete. Sure there are areas that are unsafe, but I wouldn't walk too far at night anywhere in Tampa Bay. As far as during the day there is nothing to be afraid of. There are some really nice, safe, and diverse areas in the Boyd Hill, Country Club and Coquina Key areas. Just do your homework and you will be fine. The only way to tell for sure is to check it out yourself.

[StillFreak]

Is the city segregated (as in Whites live with Whites, Blacks live with Blacks) or does every race live with one another? I assume it's the former.

[Angler]

THe "south area" that was paitned with a broad brush is more accurately Midtown- north, of Lakewood Estates, East of Lassing Park/Coquina Key, south of downtown, and west of US-19 (though part bleeds over to the border of Gulfport).

In fact, some of the nicest areas in St. Pete are in the "South"- more accurately the PInellas Point area.

Anyway, west St. Pete, the old Northeast, far north, Feathersound, Meadowlawn , Kenwood- lots of great areas.

Midtown is predominately black, the rest of the city is mainly white, though there are pockets of integration. There is also a large Asian population. Not a particularly big Hispanic population though.

[Angler]

Originally Posted by StillFreak

A friend of mine is considering a move down to St. Petersburg and I'm trying to help him find some info on the city. Rather than only look at statistics, I figured I'd ask residents, as well. Is St. Petersburg a city with lots of crime? Are there any ghettos or places that are just extremely undesirable? Anything negative about the city someone moving should know about? Thanks.

Crime is a factor anywhere in the country these days. IN St. Pete, murder is not a big problem- I think there were 20 last year- mostly domestic and drugs.

property crime happens- car broken into, etc. Take precautions and you'll be fine.

St. Pete has a lower per capita crime rate than Tampa, Orlando, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale,