Where to buy a house close to Southwestern (zipcodes 75235, 75219 or 75204)?

[NS-GR]

Hello and thank you again for all this info. It is really so helpful and I really appreciate you are taking the time to help me out with our decision.
Indeed, I had read all the posts about South Dallas and the overall impression that someone gets from the discussions in this forum is that South Dallas is so dangerous that is not worth to take the risk and move to the nice areas of South Dallas. That was the major reason I did not include initially, areas such as Kessler/Winnetka in my search for houses. The same impression I got from the discussions about the area of Oaklawn west from Tollway to Southwestern Medical.

However, I analyzed the crime stats (years 2005,2006,2007 for the police beats that correspond to the areas we are interested and I could not find any significant difference in the crime rates ( I used this source: Beat Statistics ) among these areas.
So, my impression is that I cannot base my decision where to move on crime data/statistics. That was a major reason that I asked your help and your opinions, because from the stats I cannot not get a clear answer.

So, I think that for me it will be very helpful if you could tell me from experience or from discussions with friends, how they feel in these neighborhoods. I mean, do people in Winnetka Heights or Kessler feel safe to walk around in the evenings? Can you walk to Bishop district after work in the evening? Do people in Oaklawn and Lower Greenville feel safe?

My ideal neighborhood will be one for example in which some days after work you have the option to walk to a cafe/pastry shop or a bar/restaurant and hang there for a couple of hours in your neighborhood. So, the comment about being able to walk to Bishop district was very appealing to me. But is it safe to do so? Same thing with Uptown, Oaklawn and Greenville. It looks like there are all these cafes/restaurants/bars in these areas. But can you walk in the evening 5-6 blocks from your home to get to these cafes and feel safe? Because in almost all the major neighborhoods in Boston (where we currently live), for example, this is not an issue. So, I am trying to find a similar neighborhood.
Thank you again all of you who take the time to read and reply for all your help!! You really help our thinking and our decision making a lot!

[cityconvo]

Originally Posted by NS-GR

So, I think that for me it will be very helpful if you could tell me from experience or from discussions with friends, how they feel in these neighborhoods. I mean, do people in Winnetka Heights or Kessler feel safe to walk around in the evenings? Can you walk to Bishop district after work in the evening? Do people in Oaklawn and Lower Greenville feel safe?

My ideal neighborhood will be one for example in which some days after work you have the option to walk to a cafe/pastry shop or a bar/restaurant and hang there for a couple of hours in your neighborhood. So, the comment about being able to walk to Bishop district was very appealing to me. But is it safe to do so? Same thing with Uptown, Oaklawn and Greenville. It looks like there are all these cafes/restaurants/bars in these areas. But can you walk in the evening 5-6 blocks from your home to get to these cafes and feel safe? Because in almost all the major neighborhoods in Boston (where we currently live), for example, this is not an issue. So, I am trying to find a similar neighborhood.
Thank you again all of you who take the time to read and reply for all your help!! You really help our thinking and our decision making a lot!

I have lived in most of these neighborhoods so I will share my experience.

In the Lower Greenville area I lived in Vickery Place for a number of years and I never had any reservations about walking all throughout the neighborhood. I was reluctant to cross 75 over to Knox by foot but that was more out fear for getting hit by a car than crime related. Though I do see people doing it both on foot and bike.

In Uptown, I lived next to the West Village for a few years and that is probably the most pedestrian friendly area in all of Dallas. Not only do you have everything you need within walking distance such as shopping, movies, books, grocery, and access to the Mckinney Ave. Trolley as well as DART's City Place light rail station, but drivers over there are more accustomed to seeing pedestrians so I don't feel as threatened by cars when walking in that neighborhood.

I now live in Oak Cliff but not in Winnetka or Kessler so I can't speak for how the residents in those neighborhoods feel about walking to the Bishop Arts District. I can say that I am a 5 minute drive to the Bishop area and I never feel unsafe walking all around the area. I think Kessler would be too far of a walk from the Bishop Arts District especially in the summer. Winnetka is much closer but you would have to cross two large roads (Polk and Tyler to get there). They are both one way roads at that point so that might make it safer. Aside from that I would have no reservations about walking from the Bishop Arts Area to Winnetka.

I am not sure if you are in Dallas right now but this Thursday is First Thursday in the Bishop Arts District (Held each month). If you are able to come it is a great way to get familiar with the area and see all the shops and restaurants. You might be able to meet some people in Winnetka and see what they think.

[billdfw]

Since some people called me a liar, I will not bother to comment.

Here are two map search links that speak for themselves.

1) Texas Register Sex Offenders (where they live)

http://216.140.183.80/SOMAP/somap.cfm?ZOOM=5 (broken link)

2) Dallas Crime Map (note where most of the murders and aggravated assaults occur)

City of Dallas Interactive Maps

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by NS-GR

However, I analyzed the crime stats (years 2005,2006,2007 for the police beats that correspond to the areas we are interested and I could not find any significant difference in the crime rates ( I used this source: Beat Statistics ) among these areas.
So, my impression is that I cannot base my decision where to move on crime data/statistics. That was a major reason that I asked your help and your opinions, because from the stats I cannot not get a clear answer.

So, I think that for me it will be very helpful if you could tell me from experience or from discussions with friends, how they feel in these neighborhoods. I mean, do people in Winnetka Heights or Kessler feel safe to walk around in the evenings? Can you walk to Bishop district after work in the evening? Do people in Oaklawn and Lower Greenville feel safe?

Yes, people in Winnetka Hts., Kessler Park and Stevens Park do feel safe walking around their neighborhoods. I'm glad you looked up the crime rates and discovered that they don't tell the whole story. My point in bringing that up on an earlier post was that if people really do a neighborhood to neighborhood comparison based on crime statistics, they will find that many parts of N. Oak Cliff are similar to many other nice areas of the city. The problem is about perception and stereotypes. The Oak Cliff area gets dissed by a lot of people from other parts of the city who really don't know much about it. For example a recent transplant might hear from someone who relocated to Dallas within the last few years that Oak Cliff is not desirable. Well, more often than not, the person giving the advice has no idea what they are talking about either. They are just parroting what they heard from someone else. One has to actually visit the area, meet people who live there and compare crime statistics as you have just done.

Having lived in NYC for many years, the closest analogy I can come up with is that Oak Cliff is to the glitzier areas of Dallas what Brooklyn is to Manhattan. There are a lot of people who immediately discount Brooklyn because it is not chic enough for many in the Manhattan crowd. However, it is ironic that many of those people could never afford to live in elegant Brooklyn Heights even though they sneer at it. The same attitude applies in Dallas when close minded people think of Oak Cliff. The benefit for Oak Cliff is that it really doesn't attract pretentious people who are consumed with impressing others. The downside for Oak Cliff is that a lot of people who are new to the city and would really enjoy living there never even consider it because they become so misinformed.

Oak Cliff truly is a very diverse, tolerant and liberal part of Dallas. In addition to that it offers some of the most beautiful topography, lots of trees, charming neighborhoods with lots of character and close proximity to the center of Dallas. At your price range you could certainly afford to live in one of the nicer parts of Oak Cliff like Winnetka Hts. or Kessler/Stevens and feel safe walking around in the evenings. With that said, Oak Lawn or Uptown might have more of what you are looking for in the way of restaurants and retail that are accessible by foot. However, please don't let the negative generalizations that some people on this forum make influence your decision about whether to even consider Oak Cliff. Some people only feel safe in their sheltered little worlds and can't relate to anything that deviates from it. Unfortunately their negativism does influence perceptions. I'm just trying to counter that.

[Lakewooder]

Originally Posted by Dallas native

Oak Cliff...really doesn't attract pretentious people who are consumed with impressing others.

I love that - most of us around here also feel that way but we have had a small invasion of the other types - most are converted after a reasonable attitude-adjustment time; others move to you-know-where.

[Lakewooder]

I have walked home alone after 2 am a few times and never had a problem. I don't think I've ever heard of an assault on anyone leaving a place here - there have been some on Lower Greenville over the years. And there was a bar patron who was bashed on Cedar Springs who was on the news the other night.

[WillysB]

I would agree that Oak Lawn or Uptown is going to satisfy your lifestyle. The other areas are less accessible traffic wise. The area between Oak Lawn and Southwestern is something of a no-man's land, in a rapid transition from blight to upscale. Therein the crime rate. You will find some spots of interest there, ie, mexican food, ace hardware, head shops, liquor stores, etc.

Oak Lawn and Uptown share Turtle Creek as a boundary and a well maintained walking/jogging/biking/skating strip also runs between the two, on what was a railroad right of way.

Oak Lawn is locally referred to as the 'gay' area but at the local WholeFoods you'll find more 'young to middle aged upwardly mobile professionals' than gay culture and some wealthy as Oak Lawn abuts Highland Park on the northern edge.