Parts of Colorado Springs (Woodland Park, Manitou Springs: for sale, crime, new house)

[songinthewind7]

What areas of the Springs would be decent to live in and what areas are not too decent?
I haven't lived there since the late 70's. Last year I was looking into Woodland Park and some areas surrounding it but didn't go down into the city.

By decent, I mean not full of crime, livable houses. I'm sure you all get my drift as we all want this. I tried to search for a thread on this but didn't see one.
I'm looking at houses online but not sure of all the areas so all help is appreciated.

[Mike from back east]

Song, the main area that is rather sketchy is the S.E. corner of the city proper, i.e., avoid the area east and west of Citadel Mall. Often we see TV news about trouble along streets like S. Murray, S. Academy, S. Chelton, etc.

Police Dept Crime stats are here.

I'm fond of zip 80920, Pine Creek and Briargate on the far north end near the USAF Academy, prices from $200k to $700k.

Woodland Park is fine, you can't really go wrong there. It's cooler than the city but has some of best scenery around.

[ColoSpgsJamie]

I agree with Mike on 80920, nice areas and Pine Creek has a lot of new houses. You get more of a greenery feel in the lower southwest regions, 80906, can be pricey though (depends on where you are moving from I suppose) but everything down there is lush. If you you want a great area with trees and green check out 80906 and the Cheyenne Canyons. For the Woodland Park feel I would head up Hwy 24 from COS and stop anywhere along the way after Manitou (Crystola, Green Mountain Falls, etc). Outside of a Walmart Woodland Park has tried to maintain a small town feel.

[songinthewind7]

Wow, the citadel is still around? I'm familiar with that and a couple of the streets you mentioned.
I love Woodland Park but doesn't seem to be too much for sale but it's still on the list.

Thanks to both of you for pointing out the areas. It makes it easier to look now online. Thanks for the crime link too. I'll print this out and check out the links.

When I lived there, the streets I lived on were Arrowanna (sp), Jewel and Flintridge Dr. They were nice neighborhoods at the time but that's been a long time ago.

[MMichelle]

Much has changed since the 70s. (I was here then!) Woodland Park is very expensive so is Manitou Springs. New construction is not always best - not in this market. If you like the west side - Mountain Shadows is very nice - Broadmoor / Cheyenne Mountain.
The general statements you are reading about the SE are untrue. A good example is Villages at Sand Creek - very nice single family homes built in the 90s. You will want to avoid commercial areas - that's were the crime is.
Colorado Springs has grown so very much in the past 30-40 years - there is a huge variety of homes. Historic, mid-century, turn of the century, 70s - 80s and new. Most of the new constuction (last 10 years) will be located in an HOA.
I've lived in several areas of Colorado Springs & Manitou Springs - everyone has their favorites - most homeowners tend to favor the place they live and seldom see many other areas.
Best wishes.

[MulattoLouieCO]

I don't understand - after living on fountain right off of circle and just a couple blocks form chelton I don't know why you guys have always said it's so bad - is it because minorities inhabit that part of town? I have no idea what the problem is.

[lalahartma]

Personally, I don't you have to worry about much, Song. It's all pretty good, it just depends on what you want.

[otowi]

I don't think that part of town is bad, but statistically speaking, it does seem to have higher crime than other parts, and worse schools, at least based on test scores, which do not tell the whole story. But in the big scheme of things, I would live there and not really worry about anything. Other people would not. If I had kids, I might prefer a different area because of wanting them to go to a different school, but if I had to put my kids there, I know that they could still get a good education as long as I was actively involved as a parent.

[Postal]

Originally Posted by MulattoLouieCO

I don't understand - after living on fountain right off of circle and just a couple blocks form chelton I don't know why you guys have always said it's so bad - is it because minorities inhabit that part of town? I have no idea what the problem is.

I work near the area. We recently had to lock down our building due to some crazy guy with a gun on the loose. We've also had several incidents of people harassing employees in the parking lot of our building.

No one that works here lives in the area. I wish we could move.

[songinthewind7]

THanks and I appreciate everyone's comments and links.
Keep it coming if you all have anything else to say.

I'm trying to catch up with some more threads on the CS forum.