Anchorage - Russian Jack Area - good/bad? (apartments, rentals)

[scoobagirl]

Anyone familiar with the northeast area of Anchorage? Specifically, Pine Street on the west side of Russian Jack park. Son's in Anchorage looking at rentals, and called to tell me about this 3BR, 2Bath, 2 car garage townhouse that the owner is anxious to show. He thinks the park looks great and that the houses in the immediate area look very nice.

The other place he's considering is a condo on the west side - 35th & Wisconsin. The area looks nice, but the view is nothing compared to the townhouse in Russian Jack.

He will be working downtown and she will be at one of the hospitals.

Any advice? Some things I've read have alluded to RJ being a higher crime area - how come?

As always, thanks for the help you folks can offer. I have to say I think my son is already in love with Anchorage!

[rotorhead]

High crime compared to what? Anchorages crime rate is pretty low compared to most larger cities in the continental US, check the numbers on the City-Data page and compare it to where you're living now. To hear the rest of Alaskans talk, you'd think it was as bad as DC; the Soddom and Gomorrah of the North. The truth is that it's still a small city by the standard of almost any other state, it just happens to be by far the biggest in Alaska. The per-capita murder rate in Anchorage is half of where I'm living now. As previously discussed on this forum the only really alarming crime stat in Alaska and specifically in Anchorage is rape, and that issue boils down pretty much to the twin factors of homelessness and chronic alcohol abuse in the indigent urban native population.

Russian Jack is a mixed neighborhood, you can pretty easily see where the potential problems will be just by a drive-by of the area. It's harder to sort things out in wintertime as everyones yard is just a mess of dirty snow, but when things green up and start to bloom you can see who cares about how their neighborhood looks and who doesn't. The only area to generally avoid is Mountainview, and even it has a few nice pockets in it...they're working on it.

[scoobagirl]

Rotorhead, thanks for putting it back in perspective for me I got caught up for a minute in that paranoid mentality.

My son loved the property he looked at yesterday. Its a duplex with great appliances, utilities paid, and fenced yard. I think it speaks volumes that the owners have built another house in the same neighborhood (just down the street, in fact).

I did some searching and found some great information about all the neighborhood associations in Anchorage, and I was really impressed with the improvements being done in Russian Jack, in the park and the golf course as well as the schools.

As far as crime goes, the neighborhood I live in isn't perfect but I don't really think about it much. In the 30 years we've lived here we have had our cars broken into twice, and we're pretty sure the people across the street are meth-heads, but it doesn't have a major impact on our lives. And our town is only 11,000 people.

You know what else impressed my son yesterday? That so many people were outside - working on yards, riding bikes, walking. He liked everything he saw yesterday and he's really looking forward to living in Anchorage.

thanks again -

[rotorhead]

Sometimes it all depends on your perspective, doesn't it? Of course, having good neighbors makes a big difference as well, no matter where you live. Good luck, and I hope he enjoys living there.

[AKMammabear]

I have lived in Midtown for 11 years and I am raising my two boys here. I run 130 apartments (most in the same area) and while some say it is a scuzzy neighborhood, I agree with rotorhead's post: having good neighbors makes a big difference.

As far as I know, Russian Jack is cleaning up a lot and is a much better neighborhood than it was a few years back.

As for crime: it is all across the country: it just seems worse in any given neighborhood when a big whooha is made of it because it is not frequent.