[Arshness]

So we found a place in Montgomery and I wonder if anyone is familiar with Woodley Park area, but especially the area around Manasse Drive, Gentilly Court, Peabody Street and Fredricksburg Rd off of the Virginia Loop?
If so, can you comment on the safety of this area?

We found a town house and parking is on the street in front or on the strip behind the townhouses. The land lord said it was safe to park your car there but I didn't see anyone else parking their cars back there. Of course we were only there for a few minutes, and during a time period where maybe people were at work, but there were a lot of cars parked in front on the street and none around back.
This leads me to feel that parking in back is maybe a bad idea? I have searched Montgomery on spotcrime.com and there are more auto-thefts, burglaries and the like than any other kind of crime so far as I can tell. I noticed there had been cars stolen in the area of my neighborhood.

I know any city has crime, but I've never lived in a city before. I've lived in a 14k population "city" in the middle of rural suburbia. I've lived in the sticks. But the city is a new thing for me.

I'm honestly terrified about the idea of living in a city. I don't want to get attacked, mugged, or robbed, like anyone else. I have read all the basics where people tell you not to act like you don't belong there, not to carry valuables in plain sight or leave valuables in your car... but acting like I belong is hard if I don't feel I belong. I'm scared. I don't know how bad Montgomery is really, but I also hear that a city is a city...

My car is not fancy by any means. It has a mismatched hood and messed up front end from hitting a deer on a county road. My roommate will be coming with a Ford Taurus which is not new but it's at least intact. We don't have fancy cars. But we need our cars. Is there anything we can do to keep our cars safe?

I don't think we'll travel by foot. We are mostly concerned with travel from home to car and such and in car around town, parking safely. Also, the advice is requested for 3 white girls and a child who are moving into a townhouse in a predominantly black area.

Any advice is really appreciated.

[Rob.]

I would avoid. That area around Southern BLVD and 231 has been in rapid decay for years.

If you want to avoid the "city", may I suggest Prattville or Millbrook which are (for the most part) very safe small towns.

If you must stay in Montgomery, a good rule of thumb is to stay on the East side.

[Arshness]

Thanks for the response, Rob. You're telling me what my gut was telling me, so I'm indeed going to avoid.
Fortunately, the landlady we found was really awesome and is willing to refund our deposit.
I'm so happy about that because I had a feeling *SHE* was awesome and I still feel I was right about that.
Now I hope we can find a good landlord in a closer area because we're bringing our search back to the Birmingham area.
Everything in Montgomery for anywhere near our price range is in a bad neighborhood.

[EscAlaMike]

Originally Posted by Arshness

Now I hope we can find a good landlord in a closer area because we're bringing our search back to the Birmingham area.
Everything in Montgomery for anywhere near our price range is in a bad neighborhood.

You think Birmingham will have better options for your price range? Not sure about that.

[Arshness]

I was only able to line up 4 houses in Montgomery in our size/price range period.

I have 13 houses lined up to view this weekend already in our size/price range and several of them look really nice from the pictures. I checked each one and only lined up houses that are in decent neighborhoods using Neighborhood Scout and SpotCrime and CityData and other sites to determine safer areas/neighborhoods. The second step will be actually visiting and seeing how each of those areas feels to me.

But regardless, we won't be so far from home and at least will know the area a little bit instead of feeling like fish out of water.
A friend of mine moved to Birmingham earlier this year and the rest of my friends live within an hour, mostly closer to half hour of the city. So we won't be without friends to call on either, which in Montgomery, we would have been.

I'm feeling more and more positive about moving to Birmingham instead. We'll see how I feel about it after this weekend.

[kevinDUBrow]

Its Montgomery. Buy a gun.