[portlandisracist]

yeah, most of the people got it right here, I'm a 30 plus year ct native, and went to waterbury for my favorite record store in the state phoenix. it is very unattractive, you could probably find something cheap, and if you don't mind the danger, you could make a go of it. the thing is, you'd be where you wouldn't feel safe coming and going at night, the public schools issue. look outside of there bro, you will be way better off. maybe on the outskirts, I'd say drive around and get a feel.

[Pammsw]

East Mountain which borders Prospect, West side bordering Middlebury and Lakewood a small neighborhood in the retail area of the North end have the best elementary schools in the city. They are also safe areas. You are more likely to find a private home or townhome than apartment complex to rent in these areas. Check the newspaper and new haven craigslist for listings.

[brasscitybluenwhite]

Originally Posted by acidtone

Hi guys. I am seeking a little advice on what neighborhoods I should stay away from in Waterbury when Apartment hunting.

I am looking to move to CT from NJ for my new job, but I am trying to keep my costs down. I have 1 kid who is elementry school aged and we are looking for a 3 bedroom. Waterbury looked low cost and I drove by there a few time in the past on my way to Hartford.

I have lived in many places before which most people would consider rough. Currently I live in Jersey City, NJ (Bergen/Lafayette). So Waterbury doesn't scare me honestly. I have lived in NY, Boston, New Bedford, MA, Chicago, and New Haven. I'm concerned about my kid naturally. I have seen some mixed opinions about Waterbury.

So any good factual advice would be super welcome here.

Thanks in advance!!

I don't come up here very often anymore so sorry for the late response. I don't know what ur income is and exactly what ur looking for, but as a resident of Waterbury, I'll answer ur questions to the best of my knowledge.

To directly answer your questions about "neighborhoods to stay away from", are you referring to schools or are you referring to crime? If your only referring to crime, I'd stay away from the area west of Willow St and south of Ridgewood. That area is about 20 blocks long but I think its the most undesireable area in Waterbury. In my opinion, that's the worst area for drugs/crime/wildness. And from what I was recently told by a firefighter, theres a group of grown men running around rockin red flags and claiming that they're bloods.

As far as the worst schools, our newspaper said that the worst 3 were Bucks Hill, Kingsbury, and Sprague. Sprague covers a predominately-white low to middle income area known as Waterville and, in addition, it covers 2 large, low-income housing projects in an area known as Fairmont. Their principal recently resigned because she was caught forging teacher's signatures on evaluations. Kingsbury is in a really nice neighborhood. However, most of the people in that neighborhood don't send their kids to Kingsbury; they go to private school. Most of the Kingsbury students come from the predominately-black, low-income Crownbrook area. Buck's Hill is also in a very nice area. It is a diverse area with no major cultural groups. As of last year, its district covered the area west of North Main St all the way down to Brewster St (a very large area). The top half of North Main consists of single family homes in a suburban setting. There's a very large housing project close to the school but it is safe and clean (I lived there for a while when I was younger). The bottom half of North Main is much more urban as you get towards downtown. I assume that this is where most of the low performing lived. But the city has built a new school and the new school is designed to split Buck's Hill's entire district in half. I assume this will cause scores to go up at Bucks Hill.


The city is in the process of reforming the entire public school system. They've hired a new superintendent from Manchester, a more suburban town (as opposed to the last one they had, who was from Detroit). They have built/rebuilt or are building/rebuilding a lot of new schools to fit a K-8 model that revolves around neighborhood schooling. For example, Reed, the school that split Buck's Hill's district in half, will have only walkers (no buses unless NCLB or special ed). That was the goal with the reopening of Duggan in the south end and the neighborhood model was a success at Duggan.


Good luck and let me know if u need anything else