Frustrated:: M-Streets (Dallas: 2013, foreclosure, school)

[Twincam666]

Remember M stands for Mayhem

[Dallas Kitty]

Originally Posted by hamiltonpl

These are some reports of violent crime in Frisco, the place people flee to in order to avoid violent crime in the big city:

Man Shot Dead in Frisco Residential Neighborhood (I can't find if any arrests have been made in this case):
Police search area after Frisco man shot dead | Dallas-Fort Worth Communities - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

Drug Deal Gone Bad in Frisco Parking Lot Leads to Murder Arrests:
Two suspects arrested in Frisco Walmart shooting | wfaa.com Dallas - Fort Worth

Another man shot (but not killed) in another drug deal at Frisco parking lot:
Man shot in Frisco during drug deal gone bad, police say | Crime and Safety | News from ... (http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/21/3168535/man-shot-in-frisco-during-drug.html - broken link)

Dead Body Found Abandoned in Frisco:
Body Found In Frisco Woods Is Missing Woman « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

I'm not saying Frisco is a hotbed for crime. But I think it is important to see the statistics for your neighborhood before making a judgment. A guy is shot dead at his suburban home and thrown into the garbage and no arrest is made? That is scary. Drug deals go bad at the Wal-Mart and people get shot and killed. But are people fleeing Frisco because of a fear of violent crime? Because it appears that Frisco has twice as many murders this year as the M-Streets area. Again, I don't want to diminish any criminal behavior. But perspective is important in this situation. Show me a city without crime and I'll show you a city without people. I don't think there is an area you can move to and be completely confident you'll never see or hear about violent crime.

Try to get the crime stats for the area you will be living and working in and then compare it to where you live now. The crime stats for the entire city of Dallas won't give you an accurate picture because you're not going to live in 100% of the city. Look for your reporting area and beat number for the house you're interested in or live in. Then read what the crime reports really are. (I was surprised that a threatening text message counted as an assault on police reports).

I took a look at the links since I moved from Frisco (to Florida) last year. The first one ... body in an alley in the Preston Lakes subdivision of two-story brick houses and manicured lawns ... is about a mile from where I was living. The next two are at the same Walmart. I never shopped at Walmart but I think that area is the newer part of Frisco which is a very young little city all around. The fourth one was abducted in Plano and dumped in Frisco.

So, as already mentioned, these crimes are not frequent for Frisco and will be big news. My neighbor on one side, a fifty something woman living alone, thought she could command the neighborhood because she "worked" at the police department. The woman on the other side about the same age living alone was something of a mental case that did what she could to support the bold and belligerent police dept worker. So that's as scary as it got for me in Frisco but it made the neighborhood unpleasant. If interested, that was Abbey Rd, zero lot line homes.

I was looking for a place to live in the M Street/lower Greenville area about 15 years ago. I looked at a home retired owners were selling and the man told me they were still unbelievably pleased at how much the home was worth. Prospects were busy lifting back the shag carpet so we could see the beautiful hardwood floors underneath. I lived in the area for a short time to be near work and then work moved to Plano. But I did enjoy certain places like weekend breakfast at Whole Foods but they did away with that. That area is a combo of a mansion on one block with something crappy right next door. It's exciting! Enjoy!

Hey ... sorry about the drought. We've had lots of rain at my place here in Florida. I'm doing a rain dance for ya .......

[JenG1974]

Yeah I very much have to 'consider the source' when I get things like that email. I just wanted to make sure that my instinct was correct and I wasn't letting fairytale visions of the M-streets cloud my vision. I really do love how helpful everyone has been.

[BRITNEYB]

Lived there for 3 years - had a beer bottle thrown through my car's heated back window costing me $600. Weird things happened outside after 2am, fights in the streets, cops pulling over drunk drivers, etc. A bum also walked through our backdoor. It's getting more ghetto on Greenville which isn't helping. A guy tried to rob 2 friends of mine at an ATM on Greenville but they punched him out. Also there are always meth heads and bums at the 711 on Richmond and Greenville asking for money. We moved up Greenville past Mockingbird to a gated condo complex and feel much safer.

The worst is when a guy woke me up at 1am trying to get into our house on the one night my husband had to work a double overnight. It woke my dogs up before me and when I walked into the living room he was trying to force the door open with all his body weight. I yelled at him through the window to get away or my dogs would attack and I was calling the police. He put his face up to the window right next to mine and said "Angelina, it's me Brad, you have to let me in." I told my 95lb pit bull to jump on the couch next to the window and get him. It scared the guy and he left. I have never been so happy to have pit bulls in all my life.

Even better the idiot cops came and barely walked around my place, didn't even check my very large yard or the alleyway behind. I had no idea if that guy was still around and my husband wasn't coming home for another couple hours. He was obviously out of his mind. I stayed scared and awake for the rest of the night.

[mSooner]

Ugh...that's horrifying

[WhatNow?]

I'll be moving to the M Streets soon and have a couple of questions.

It seems that most of the criminal activity is either burglary, often through an unlocked rear door/window, or is drunken stupidity related to the bars on Greenville and Henderson. There don't appear to be drug dealers or crazy people wandering around the neighborhood, and violent crime seems about as rare as it is in the suburbs. Is this a correct impression?

I have reinforced door frames and an 8' fence, I always lock my house and set the alarm when I go out, I don't park in the street, and I never get into brawls with my drinking buddies. Anything else I can do to reduce the likelihood of having my property stolen or destroyed?

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by WhatNow?

It seems that most of the criminal activity is either burglary, often through an unlocked rear door/window, or is drunken stupidity related to the bars on Greenville and Henderson. There don't appear to be drug dealers or crazy people wandering around the neighborhood, and violent crime seems about as rare as it is in the suburbs. Is this a correct impression?

Yes, you have the correct impression.

Originally Posted by WhatNow?

I have reinforced door frames and an 8' fence, I always lock my house and set the alarm when I go out, I don't park in the street, and I never get into brawls with my drinking buddies. Anything else I can do to reduce the likelihood of having my property stolen or destroyed?

The #1 thing you can do to prevent crime is select a property that is more than 1 block away from Greenville (so anything east of Matilda/ Delmar and west of Worcola, and also north of Vanderbilt. The parking situation has gotten much better since the streets became "resident parking only" and that has decreased the bar spillover traffic as well as the "random vagrants" trying to follow drunk people to cars after the bars close. If you look at DPD, 90% of crime in the area is within 1 block of Greenville Ave- and about 99% of the violent crimes (assaults, robberies, etc).

The next couple of best things to do are:
1. Never park on the street. Use your garage when possible. If you do leave your car on the street or ungaraged, always leave it empty and clean. No iPods, tennis racquets, keys, handbags, etc in visible sight.
2. Get a home alarm & use it.

[SVTRay]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

Yes, you have the correct impression.


The #1 thing you can do to prevent crime is select a property that is more than 1 block away from Greenville (so anything east of Matilda/ Delmar and west of Worcola, and also north of Vanderbilt. The parking situation has gotten much better since the streets became "resident parking only" and that has decreased the bar spillover traffic as well as the "random vagrants" trying to follow drunk people to cars after the bars close. If you look at DPD, 90% of crime in the area is within 1 block of Greenville Ave- and about 99% of the violent crimes (assaults, robberies, etc).

The next couple of best things to do are:
1. Never park on the street. Use your garage when possible. If you do leave your car on the street or ungaraged, always leave it empty and clean. No iPods, tennis racquets, keys, handbags, etc in visible sight.
2. Get a home alarm & use it.

This!

[Lakewooder]

Also there is a big difference between M-Street section of Lower Greenville down to The Grape vs. Lowest Greenville where they have had some problems with large crowds. That section is now undergoing a radical sidewalk expansion with landscaping - it will make the street only two lanes wide whereas another lane was crammed in on each side. The site of the old Arcadia Theater will soon be a food park. And supposedly big news is in store for the old Whole Foods, owned by a former city councilman.

[mSooner]

The #1 thing you can do to prevent crime is select a property that is more than 1 block away from Greenville

That's also where the college students tend to rent. I don't have anything against them, but many are loud, don't keep up the property, and cause a parking mess. Another reason to rent further in away from Greenville.

I get SO TIRED of trying to navigate my car through the idiots that park on both sides...summer has been heaven while those homes are empty.