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I really do not understand Greenville. It seems that crime / violence is out of control. In the past couple of weeks innocent women were assulted, robbed, and injured coming out of stores in large shopping areas. One had her car stolen as well. This may be the new low risk crime tactic. Hopefully it will not grow, but it seems a recent trend.
Then the morning news is a litany of stabbing, shooting and various robberies. I live in Carteret county and have zero fear of walking anywhere. Crime is minimal here. What I don't understand is why live there? Why risk your family's well being?
I moved here from the North several years ago and what I did was to read online newspapers from most towns in ENC for a couple years to get a feel for the way things are here. Thank God I did. Greenville and Kinston were ruled out quickly. I feel bad for you folks.
I really do not understand Greenville. It seems that crime / violence is out of control. In the past couple of weeks innocent women were assulted, robbed, and injured coming out of stores in large shopping areas. One had her car stolen as well. This may be the new low risk crime tactic. Hopefully it will not grow, but it seems a recent trend.
Then the morning news is a litany of stabbing, shooting and various robberies. I live in Carteret county and have zero fear of walking anywhere. Crime is minimal here. What I don't understand is why live there? Why risk your family's well being?
I moved here from the North several years ago and what I did was to read online newspapers from most towns in ENC for a couple years to get a feel for the way things are here. Thank God I did. Greenville and Kinston were ruled out quickly. I feel bad for you folks.
I lived in Lenoir County and currently live in Pitt County so I can speak on this.
1. Never, ever compare Greenville to Kinston. I feel completely comfortable walking in Uptown Greenville at night vs. downtown Kinston which is run down, and depressing (although I like what they done to Heritage St.). Kinston's crimes are way more in the violent nature.
2. Kinston is a depressing city that has no economic drivers while Greenville has 2 in Vident and ECU. Those 2 brings jobs, thus brings business. Plently of good neighborhoods. If you still don't feel safe then you can go to Winterville which recently was named the 4th safest place in the state.
3. Almost all of Greenville's crime either comes from north central Greenville (around 5th st., Farmville Blvd. area) or something around ECU (which is almost never murder or anything violent like that). Kinston's crime usually happens around the east side of Kinston, but it tends to extend to as far as the Walmart on Vernon.
Hell while were at it they both pale in comparison to Rocky Mount.
I don't think any sane person would deny the fact that Greenville has it's fair share of crime, but Rocky Mount and Kinston are warzones compared to Greenville. ****, even Goldsboro's crime has gotten out of control it seems and if it doesn't change it will be on the same level as Rocky Mount and Kinston.
I absolutely love Greenville and do not feel unsafe at all, here. Of course, i'm not going to travel in crazy places at late times of the night... It's a city and any city our size has crime.
Greenville and Carteret County are two completely different places. Not trying to be rude, but Carteret County is in the middle of nowhere, except during tourist season. Carteret County doesn't even have 70k residents in the land area of 500 square miles. Greenville is a city of 90(+)k residents in only 26 square miles- not to mention students and the thousands more added during our daytime population from employment. Looking further into the two places:
CCounty: Highly desirable place to live for retirees and those searching a beach area with very low density, fairly expensive, large percent of residents are 'well-to-do', older population, Almost entirely one race.
Greenville: An underdog city for years, inexpensive, 30% are below poverty line, very diverse population, densely populated, very young population.
I could go on and on, but these two areas are just two completely different places to compare. It just annoys me to see people talking about it being such a dangerous area. Most of the crime (obviously not all) is between people who know each other-whether its a bad drug deal, or a spousal issue, or whatever it may be... Crime is always reported, it sells newspapers, it's bait to click, on the Daily Reflector and WITN, so of course those who do not know the area hear of the crime, but its really not high in the majority of the city. Crime is generally concentrated in pockets though crime can happen anywhere and sometimes it does. Furthermore, Winterville, which is pretty much part of the city of Greenville, is ranked the 3rd safest city (with a population of 4k residents or higher). Farmville, in Pitt County, is ranked 47th, according to the yearly safewise reports.
Greenville is a thriving and growing city that, in my opinion, is becoming one of the more unique cities in North Carolina- and is growing in the right direction- though it's slowly developing, of course, it takes time.
And Kinston, honestly, has a lot of character too. I love their park and science center near the river and their downtown for an afternoon retreat. But, I guess some people can't see the beauty of flowers, purely because they attract some bees. Thank God for those who are optimist and can see the whole picture.
(by the way, this is in no way geared as an attack on your opinion, it is just a statement of my opinion of the area and an expression against the ill perception of Greenville from surrounding areas.)
Greenville's crime is there, but it's mainly concentrated and you're overrating it. Over 90,000 people live in Greenville, and there's still less total violent crime than Kinston or Rocky Mount - and per capita Kinston or Rocky Mount seem like they're in Uganda compared to Greenville.
I moved here from the North several years ago and what I did was to read online newspapers from most towns in ENC for a couple years to get a feel for the way things are here.
Tell that to all the people who move expecting to see "Mayberry"...
I am originally from the Greenville area and moved to Carteret County (Emerald Isle) around a year ago. I agree completely with the original post. This is coming from someone who used to spend almost every Friday & Saturday night downtown Greenville frequenting the multiple bars/clubs that had a thriving live music scene which is in todays time pretty much non-existent.
I've spent time in mostly every town or city around this whole state as I have played in touring rock bands for many years. I've seen the worst of each city around as usually the clubs I played in are near the worst part of town during the worst time to be there. I feel perfectly safe walking anywhere around downtown Raleigh any time of night. Raleigh has multiple venues/bars with just about any style of entertainment you could hope for. Greenville in today's time can't support one dedicated live music venue and I don't feel safe at all when I'm there to begin with.
I find it funny how so much money is being pumped into the downtown area trying to rebrand it as "Uptown Greenville". Maybe it will work once a person such as myself could actually go down there on a late Friday or Saturday night without fear of being shot or robbed trying to get back to my car.
Its not just the downtown area either. I remember well back when the the Hooker road area near the old Wal-Mart was full of ECU students. In todays time its Section 8 housing riddled with crime. Same goes for the apartments near Pitt Community college and many other areas around Greenville. People will say well Winterville is safe, well thats because people who used to live in what is now the bad areas of Greenville moved there leaving it open for government housing to take over, which always brings in more crime.
Don't get me wrong there are many areas around Greenville that for the most part are safe. But, the areas that are bad are REALLY bad and much worse than all those who try to promote this idea that Greenville is a safe city would lead you to believe. And many of those "safe" areas have undesirable elements as close as a couple blocks away or less.
I was in New York City a few years back for a trade show and we walked up and down the streets at all hours of the night and felt safer there than going to a gas station in "G-Vegas", that should tell you something.
I really do not understand Greenville. It seems that crime / violence is out of control. In the past couple of weeks innocent women were assulted, robbed, and injured coming out of stores in large shopping areas. One had her car stolen as well. This may be the new low risk crime tactic. Hopefully it will not grow, but it seems a recent trend.
Then the morning news is a litany of stabbing, shooting and various robberies. I live in Carteret county and have zero fear of walking anywhere. Crime is minimal here. What I don't understand is why live there? Why risk your family's well being?
I moved here from the North several years ago and what I did was to read online newspapers from most towns in ENC for a couple years to get a feel for the way things are here. Thank God I did. Greenville and Kinston were ruled out quickly. I feel bad for you folks.
I will be a contrarian here and agree with the OP. Greenville is not a very safe place to live -- the precise reason that I moved the heck away from there 3 years ago. I lived most of my life in Greenville and I saw it transformed from a city that was peaceful and fairly low in crime (as a kid I could leave home on a Saturday morning and not come home until dusk and my parents need not worry about my safety -- Greenville was that kind of city -- where neighbors looked out for one another). From about 10-12 years old and up I could ride my bike most anywhere in town and feel safe. I'm sure even back then there were certain areas of town, particularly late at night that were less than safe, but that is true just about anywhere in the U.S. (my childhood there was from the late 1960's through 1980's).
Fast forward to the mid-1990's until the present when Greenville transformed into a city with abundant gangs and rampant criminal activity (I NEVER saw or heard of any gangs when I was in public schools there, which is not true of the generations that have followed). Far from the community I enjoyed as a child I realized that Greenville had become a place where I had to watch my back day and night regardless of where I was (broad daylight robberies in grocery store and shopping center parking lots, shootings, stabbings, shoplifting galore [just ask anyone who works at places such as the Greenville Mall]). I got sick and tired of BROAD DAYLIGHT attempted robberies as I walked across parking lots at ECU, while I was filling with gas, or heading to my car with groceries from Harris Teeter or merely walking on the Greenway. One year saw every house on my street get broken into (some more than once) -- and I lived in one of the "safe" areas of town.
One telling statistic that came out in 2013 is that Greenville had the second highest rate of illegitimacy in the country (69.4%) http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ed-motherhood/ You don't have to delve too deep into sociology or crime research to know what happens to an area where fathers are absent from children's lives other than at conception.
Marcuspa, you can make up your own mind about Greenville, despite what the sunshiners on here say. All I have is 40 years experience of living there and what I personally observed and encountered on a daily basis. I am sad that the Greenville I once knew no longer exists, but I shed no tears about having left the Greenville that now is.
I am originally from the Greenville area and moved to Carteret County (Emerald Isle) around a year ago. I agree completely with the original post. This is coming from someone who used to spend almost every Friday & Saturday night downtown Greenville frequenting the multiple bars/clubs that had a thriving live music scene which is in todays time pretty much non-existent.
I've spent time in mostly every town or city around this whole state as I have played in touring rock bands for many years. I've seen the worst of each city around as usually the clubs I played in are near the worst part of town during the worst time to be there. I feel perfectly safe walking anywhere around downtown Raleigh any time of night. Raleigh has multiple venues/bars with just about any style of entertainment you could hope for. Greenville in today's time can't support one dedicated live music venue and I don't feel safe at all when I'm there to begin with.
I find it funny how so much money is being pumped into the downtown area trying to rebrand it as "Uptown Greenville". Maybe it will work once a person such as myself could actually go down there on a late Friday or Saturday night without fear of being shot or robbed trying to get back to my car.
Its not just the downtown area either. I remember well back when the the Hooker road area near the old Wal-Mart was full of ECU students. In todays time its Section 8 housing riddled with crime. Same goes for the apartments near Pitt Community college and many other areas around Greenville. People will say well Winterville is safe, well thats because people who used to live in what is now the bad areas of Greenville moved there leaving it open for government housing to take over, which always brings in more crime.
Don't get me wrong there are many areas around Greenville that for the most part are safe. But, the areas that are bad are REALLY bad and much worse than all those who try to promote this idea that Greenville is a safe city would lead you to believe. And many of those "safe" areas have undesirable elements as close as a couple blocks away or less.
I was in New York City a few years back for a trade show and we walked up and down the streets at all hours of the night and felt safer there than going to a gas station in "G-Vegas", that should tell you something.
Yep. Greenville's crime rate is 30% higher than NYC. But any criticism of Greenville on here brings the apologists out in force. With fangs bared.
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