Moving to Albany! (Guilderland, Ontario, New Scotland: low income, renting, crime)

[Meteor10]

Hi all,

In May, I'll be moving to Albany from Madison, WI. I'm looking forward to being surrounded by beautiful scenery, and what appears to be a pretty neat city (I like smaller cities, so the nickname "smallbany" appeals to me.... ), but certainly sad to leave Madison.

In any case, I'm considering moving to the neighborhood south of Madison Ave. (between New Scotland Ave. and Madison), and west of Washington Park. Is this a good place to live in the city? Are there some restaurants/coffee shops/grocery stores within walking distance? Is it safe (i.e., would I be comfortable walking alone late at night)? How's the public transportation in the city?

Thanks to everyone for your help. I'm looking forward to moving "upstate"!

[FrozenPenguin]

That area is not what I would consider safe. There are small stores, bars and entertainment within walking distance though. However I would NOT feel safe walking alone at night. That area is a mix of low income housing and off campus housing for albany medical college, st. rose college and a few other area schools. If you will be bringing your car I would suggest the delmar area or further uptown. Good Luck!

[ryangiggs]

i agree with the last post. that area is shady. way too many people around who you don't want to live near. move west a few miles on madison or western avenue, past the college of saint rose towards guilderland. don't live in downtown albany or near it. parking is hell as well down there. if you like nigght life that area is great because lark street has about 10 bars-clubs but i still would not reccomend living near albany medical center or albany law school. the south end is a total hell hole and it is right near there.

[Meteor10]

Thanks to both of you for your responses - After a bit of researching, I agree...while the area may be close to some fun and interesting places, it doesn't seem like a safe place to be alone at night. I'll start looking farther west.

Thanks again for the help!

[JesusisTruth]

Having lived in Albany, NY I would highly suggest you come for a visit before moving here. There are plenty of nice places to live in Albany but also some areas I might want to stay out of, especially if you have children.
As someone suggested, going toward Guilderland, NY is nice but more expensive to live. Houses in that area are generally in the high end. If you planning on renting I would suggest you have that settled prior to moving as finding a place to live was not the easiest experience.

[ProvGuy]

I lived in Albany from 2002-2006, that area isn't too bad. You'll find a lot of rowdy college students the closer you get to Madison and Quail. The area around Madison, Quail, Western, Ontario is what many refer to as "the student ghetto", it's where all the off-campus SUNY Albany students live. In general it's okay to walk around at night as there are droves of drunk college kids roaming the bars til all hours. At the same time, there are break-ins (some armed) and a robbery every now and then. The farther west you go up Madison and onto Western Ave, the better the neighborhood gets. The area around St. Rose is pretty nice too.

As far as neighborhood amenities go, there's a Price Chopper supermarket right on Madison, but it's kinda shady at night. There's tons of bars and pizza joints on Madison, Quail and Western all in that general area.

Public transportation in Albany is confined to buses. For a bus system, however, it's pretty damn good. I lived car free while in college there, as there is frequent service on Western, Washington and Madison going downtown and then going out to Crossgates Mall.

Lark Street/State Street area is pretty cool, lots of nice brownstone type buildings, some right on Washington Park. That area is also pretty happening at night. The higher crime areas are those closer to Central Ave, though even they aren't too bad compared to other cities.

Coffee shopes-there's lot of Brueggers in Albany. I never liked them. I'm not too sure about little mom and pop coffee shops, but I'm sure there's some on Lark Street. You'll have to check out the farmers market and the street vendors in Empire State Plaza in the summer and fall. Good, cheap, local food. And also they used to have free concerts on the waterfront in the summer, not sure if they still do that.