Is crime in Ft. Myers decreasing? Considering a move from San Diego. (Miami: 2014, condo)

[mmcke712]

The cost of living out here (Carlsbad) is well beyond my means - regarding housing. There isn't even a decent condo in the county for under 250. Considering buying a duplex or other working property in Ft Myers or one of the surrounding areas like Englewood, Port Charlotte or Cape Coral. Everything looks good but these ststs on violent crime. They only reach to 2014 though and seem to be going down. Can you locals give me an idea of how a safe you feel on a daily basis?I have one child, 10, and the schools have good ratings, especially the high school. Yet, I read 'dont go downtown' etc. Elevation notwithstanding, I get the feeling it's up and coming for fmailies. All info. appreciated. Thx!

[chinotto_21]

Wow, is there really THAT much crime in Ft Myers? Like, will I be risking my life going to McDonalds alone, late at night?

I'm asking because I will be relocating to Fort Myers in a month for work, from Montreal, Canada. Montreal is super-safe, we only get a couple murders in a year.

I'll follow this thread and see what the locals have to say about this

[chiluvr1228]

Fort Myers is a large city and like all other large cities, there are good and bad neighborhoods. You can check with the Lee County Sheriff's Dept and they will tell you the higher crime zones but they can't appear to be racist so I'm not sure what they will do other than send you to a site that shows crime statistics. Stay away from parts of downtown Fort Myers and surrounding areas. Look for homes south of Colonial Blvd. Stay away from Lehigh Acres. Be wary of certain areas of Cape Coral. You don't want zip code 33916 and be wary of parts of 33901.


For Fort Myers you will be fine in zip codes 33912, 33913, 33966, 33908 and most parts of 33907 and 33919. The only part of Cape Coral that seems to have more trashy looking areas are 33909 and some parts of 33914. If you like rural consider North Fort Myers but there again, certain areas are iffy.


I've lived here on an off since 1960. Neither me nor anyone in my family have ever been the victim of any crime. Naturally the news plays up the crime because that makes for better ratings but this is not Chicago or Miami. You don't have to fear taking a walk at night unless you plan on doing it in the "bad" neighborhoods.


Edited to add: I hear San Diego has some of the best weather in the country. You are not going to get that here in this area although November-April is pretty nice. Be prepared for high, high humidity from at least June-October. There will be no leaving your windows open to get fresh air in our long, long, very long summer. Unless you like mildew.

[chiluvr1228]

I meant to say zip code 33904 in Cape Coral can have some bad areas with a lot of duplexes and transients. 33914 is Southwest Cape and is very nice.

[wjj]

Originally Posted by chiluvr1228

Fort Myers is a large city and like all other large cities, there are good and bad neighborhoods. You can check with the Lee County Sheriff's Dept and they will tell you the higher crime zones but they can't appear to be racist so I'm not sure what they will do other than send you to a site that shows crime statistics. Stay away from parts of downtown Fort Myers and surrounding areas. Look for homes south of Colonial Blvd. Stay away from Lehigh Acres. Be wary of certain areas of Cape Coral. You don't want zip code 33916 and be wary of parts of 33901.


For Fort Myers you will be fine in zip codes 33912, 33913, 33966, 33908 and most parts of 33907 and 33919. The only part of Cape Coral that seems to have more trashy looking areas are 33909 and some parts of 33914. If you like rural consider North Fort Myers but there again, certain areas are iffy.


I've lived here on an off since 1960. Neither me nor anyone in my family have ever been the victim of any crime. Naturally the news plays up the crime because that makes for better ratings but this is not Chicago or Miami. You don't have to fear taking a walk at night unless you plan on doing it in the "bad" neighborhoods.


Edited to add: I hear San Diego has some of the best weather in the country. You are not going to get that here in this area although November-April is pretty nice. Be prepared for high, high humidity from at least June-October. There will be no leaving your windows open to get fresh air in our long, long, very long summer. Unless you like mildew.

I think that it is worth pointing out that the City of Fort Myers actually is a very small city. 65,000 population. More like a decent sized suburb if it was in a major metro area. But as a stand-alone city, it is quite small. But here is where there is confusion - the greater Fort Myers area where people may have Fort Myers addresses but do not live within the city limits, is much bigger than the city alone. Most of the zip codes listed are outside of the City of Fort Myers (though they have Fort Myers addresses) and the areas to avoid that were cited are within the city limits. The crime stats can lead to people reaching the wrong conclusions about the area because the crime stats for Fort Myers take into account only what happens within the city limits with its small population base. Most, but not all, of the very bad areas are within the city limits and that is where most of the crime, especially violent crime, occurs. But the population base is small within the city limits so the crime rate is high within the City of Fort Myers. But if the population of the entire greater Fort Myers area is taken into account, the crime rate (i.e., number of crimes/population) plummets since crime is low beyond the city limits but the population base is much higher.

Staying south of Colonial is a decent rule of thumb as a starting point. There are a few isolated sketchy areas south of Colonial, but the real bad stuff is almost all north of Colonial (and in parts of Lehigh).

[LifeIsGood01]

There is a new police chief and he's from Toledo Ohio and he's sorting things out. They got a large gang bust recently, but not the police department had problems with bad cops. , but it's being sorted out.

[Florida Paradise]

Where are these isolated sketchy areas, south of Colonial?

[wjj]

Originally Posted by Florida Paradise

Where are these isolated sketchy areas, south of Colonial?

Pine Manor and Harlem Heights for two. Long time residents I am sure can add to those.

[holmesbulldog]

Originally Posted by wjj

Pine Manor and Harlem Heights for two. Long time residents I am sure can add to those.

I live on gladiolus north of Harlem Heights, and actually, i rarely see the police down there or hear about trouble there. I walk for exercise and walk down that way everyday and usually everyone is really friendly.

[wjj]

Originally Posted by holmesbulldog

I live on gladiolus north of Harlem Heights, and actually, i rarely see the police down there or hear about trouble there. I walk for exercise and walk down that way everyday and usually everyone is really friendly.

3 assaults, 2 were assaults with a deadly weapon in the last 6 months in Harlem Heights plus a breaking and entering according to LCPD. Certainly nothing like Dunbar, but it would concern me.