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You mentioned you are looking to get away from welfare and sex offenders. I hate to bust your bubble, but Wilmington is full of welfare recipients and sex offenders.
I believe Wilmington is the top city in NC with the number of people living in section eight housing.
Care to back that assertion up with something more substantial than simply "I believe?" Wilmington has its share of poor people and criminals, but to describe it as "full of welfare recipients and sex offenders" is unfounded and ridiculous. (I haven't been mugged or raped even once this week!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by heeha
Unless you plan on living in a place like Landfall or Figure Eight, I would look into some other city to relocate to.
Sure, these are the most upscale areas in and around Wilmington. However, there are plenty of neighborhoods that are very pleasant and very safe, that don't require downright affluence: Pine Valley, Winter Park, Long Leaf Acres, pretty much any part of the city between College Road and the sound. In any of those parts of town you could walk down the street alone at night, or leave your front door unlocked.
Wilmington is not Bogata or south central LA. I'll never understand why some people try to paint it as such.
Care to back that assertion up with something more substantial than simply "I believe?" Wilmington has its share of poor people and criminals, but to describe it as "full of welfare recipients and sex offenders" is unfounded and ridiculous. (I haven't been mugged or raped even once this week!)
Sure, these are the most upscale areas in and around Wilmington. However, there are plenty of neighborhoods that are very pleasant and very safe, that don't require downright affluence: Pine Valley, Winter Park, Long Leaf Acres, pretty much any part of the city between College Road and the sound. In any of those parts of town you could walk down the street alone at night, or leave your front door unlocked.
Wilmington is not Bogata or south central LA. I'll never understand why some people try to paint it as such.
If you walk down the street at night alone anywhere in Wilmington....upscaled or not and leave your door unlocked,you are crazy! The criminals around here drive cars and if you're walking alone,you don't stand a chance. It has already been proven several times.We live in a gated area and we wouldn't get out alone at night or leave our door unlocked.
If you walk down the street at night alone anywhere in Wilmington....upscaled or not and leave your door unlocked,you are crazy! The criminals around here drive cars and if you're walking alone,you don't stand a chance. It has already been proven several times.We live in a gated area and we wouldn't get out alone at night or leave our door unlocked.
I think I understand now. I don't live in a gated community, and I feel perfectly safe every day. I walked down Front St. by myself last night at eleven, then went home and walked my dog: I didn't get jumped, never felt unsafe.
Yes, there are some criminals here, and yes, some of them drive cars. Just like everywhere else. That doesn't mean that crime is rampant.
Maybe if you didn't live in a neighborhood walled off from the rest of the world, you wouldn't imagine that every person outside (and apparently inside) those walls is out to get you.
Last edited by Port City Debaser; 05-28-2010 at 12:35 AM..
Reason: Trying to write 11 o'clock with a colon and zeros yields an unwanted smiley face.
I think I understand now. I don't live in a gated community, and I feel perfectly safe every day. I walked down Front St. by myself last night at eleven, then went home and walked my dog: I didn't get jumped, never felt unsafe.
Yes, there are some criminals here, and yes, some of them drive cars. Just like everywhere else. That doesn't mean that crime is rampant.
Maybe if you didn't live in a neighborhood walled off from the rest of the world, you wouldn't imagine that every person outside (and apparently inside) those walls is out to get you.
Trust me.....we're not walled off from the rest of the world and we are not paranoid. We're just going by what we've read and seen every day and every year. We've been here almost seven years and it just keeps getting worse. There's way too much crime for a town this size. Yes,our little gated community has been affected as well with car break ins and attempted home invasions. You are taking a huge risk walking alone at 11:00 at night anywhere. You've just been lucky..... so far. Hope your luck continues.
I have lived in Wilmington and now I live 20 minutes from Wilmington. As far as being safe in Wilmington its just like any other area in the Country. You need to be careful but I really don't feel unsafe around it. I have two kids at UNCW that live in Wilminton and also hang around town at night. They know to not be alone in ANY area not just NC. The statements above are just plain stupid and not based on facts. If you don't want to live right in the city and want a great place for kids to grow up and for you to have great naghbors with a small town feel then look at other areas like Hampstead, Burgaw, Atkinson etc... Just go to yahoo real estate and put surrounding areas in. The price for houses is cheap and the taxes can't be beat. I live in a small town and love it. I raised my children here and none of us has ever had any problem with crime. We live our cars unlocked in our driveway and also our shed with all our tools inside.
Care to back that assertion up with something more substantial than simply "I believe?" Wilmington has its share of poor people and criminals, but to describe it as "full of welfare recipients and sex offenders" is unfounded and ridiculous. (I haven't been mugged or raped even once this week!)
Sure, these are the most upscale areas in and around Wilmington. However, there are plenty of neighborhoods that are very pleasant and very safe, that don't require downright affluence: Pine Valley, Winter Park, Long Leaf Acres, pretty much any part of the city between College Road and the sound. In any of those parts of town you could walk down the street alone at night, or leave your front door unlocked.
Wilmington is not Bogata or south central LA. I'll never understand why some people try to paint it as such.
2007 numbers. I'd imagine the recession is driving these numbers up.
19.7% of Wilmington residents are below the poverty line vs. 14.3% in the state.
9.4% of Wilmington below 50% of the poverty line vs. 6.0% for the state.
I'd say those #'s speak for themselves. I'm not sure if college students count in the stats as residents, but if they did and we discounted them, the percentage for "grown ups" would be absurd compared to the state.
185 registered sex offenders as of April 2010, according to city data. Ratio of residents to sex offenders is 410 to 1.
One look at a crime map and it's pretty obvious where not to go strolling alone. When you consider most of the bad crap is in about a 10 block area I guess it's part reassuring and part scary. The crime per population is probably higher than some of the "rougher" neighborhoods. But there are plenty of safe (as in you probably won't get assaulted) areas. Breaking and entering and larceny is going to happen for pretty much anyone who leaves their stuff unlocked.
I'm not steering clear of Wilmington despite this thread. I don't feel the least bit threatened by the crime. I have lived in many cities known for crime and have been the victim of more than a few incidents. I use to take trains and buses through Harlem to get home from work. I lived in Miami and before I had even moved there my car was broken into. I know how to avoid crime and I know who not to trust.
I really don't think Wilmington is a good place for people who like a sterile safe environment. Building a gated community is not the solution. That is a Florida sickness that has spread into NC. It reminds me of the ex-pat compounds in third world countries.
There are a lot of classes and races mixing together here as is the case throughout the state. A typical NC pubs has rednecks drinking beside yuppies. I like that despite the crime it may encourage. If you can't handle racial and economic diversity than don't move to the southeast. There are a lot of places in the Midwest with very low crime. There is practically no crime in North Dakota. New England is beautiful and you can find plenty of towns there with low crime. If you want to stay in NC move to Cary. The crime rate is very low there.
Nothing comes without sacrifice. If Wilmington only paid well for a "doctor, lawyer, accountant, or a professional in the medical field," and you want to be paid well, then you have a choice... You can either sacrifice and go to college and learn one of those professions, or you can sacrifice and move elsewhere. Which I understand is what you want to do.
A lot of people want to complain about not being paid more than $10/hr for doing work that doesn't require an education or experience. You can't have it both ways. Get an education and/or experience and apply it, or get used to earning less money than you think you deserve.
I was just in Wilmington, NC and found it to be a lovely area. The prices are very reasonable in comparison to California and it appears that they actually respect "Americans". For these reasons alone I was considering moving to the area. At least they have jobs for the tax-paying Americans and $10 an hour is not a bad wage these days. Try living in California's San Francisco Bay Area where they cater to the illegal Hispanics, pay about $10 and hour for workers they expect to speak Spanish and perform 4 different jobs (and have a much, much, much higher cost of living). The crime rate continues to rise, the homes are way over priced and presently, many sit empty because even in foreclosure they are priced far above what their value is. Wilmington (and most areas of N.C. that I visited) are clean, beautiful areas that are not inundated with graffiti, homeless and broken down cars. The roads and highways are not crowed and it appeared to me that the people in North Carolina respected the American citizen. Certainly not what you'd find in Northern California.
By all means, if you don't like N.C., leave it. I no longer like Northern California and came to North Carolina seeking my next home. Once there, I didn't need to look much further - Wilmington is a beautiful area with clean beaches and above all, it is still a slice of American. You should really be grateful. Come here to Northern California and tell me you aren't dying to get back home to N.C.
It seems like you just stopped in Wilmington for a few days and said to yourself, "Gee, this seems like a wonderful place, I better pack my bags and move here." I don't think you looked at the "whole picture."
Yes, Wilmington has some nice areas and the beach is nearby, but so what? Wilmington definitely has homeless people, graffiti, and broken down cars. Just drive down Carolina Beach road and look around. Also, if you drive around the downtown part of Wilmington around 31st St, you will find plenty of "trash."
Wilmington is inundated with all of these Pot of Gold Internet sweepstakes cafes. Almost every corner of the city is covered with those stupid internet sweepstakes cafes. I believe these "cafes" were being built so fast,the city council had to enact some type of ordance to stop any more from being built. Unfortunately, the city didn't act fast enough and they are pretty much all over the city. I guarantee you can't drive for more than five minutes without seeing one.
Oh by the way, you think you are going to live a wonderful life in Wilmington on $10 an hour?...hahaha Good luck man. You're going to need it.
$10 an hour is considered a "high" salary in ILM if you are not a doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, CPA, etc. You will probably be lucky if you can make $8 an hour.
A lot of the jobs in Wilmington and NC in general also require or prefer employees to be bilingual so don't think you are getting away from that. NC has a large hispanic population too.
I can predict your future thebright1:
You will end coming here and you will soon find out Wilmington is not as "appealing" as it was when you first visited the place. You will find out that the majority of jobs in the area are either fast food, retail, or commissioned based sales, but I guess that doesn't matter since Wilmington such a great place to you.
I leave you with this piece of advice:
Wilmington is nothing more than a retirement town for all of the rich Northerners. The majority of the businesses in the area cater to the retiree community.
Unless you are a retiree or you have a huge "pot" of money just sitting around and I'm not talking about a few thousand dollars. I'm talking like 200K or more, then don't waste your time coming here.
How do you think you are going to make a decent living here? I would love to know.
BTW, I left Wilmington several months ago and I'll never go back, even if I had a billion dollars...
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You haven't been to California
