Lancaster Ghetto Grid (Reading, Harrisburg, York: fit in, crime rates, townhouses)

[panda.is.here]

New to the area, and we have family here but I feel their answers are jaded. They are from families of Amish/Mennonite, live in nice suburban settings(some live in the city, but in the nicest area possible with suburban background) and easily startled. I would like honest opinions of people with maybe different backgrounds, or have traveled and actually know what ghetto and crime is.

I'm from a much larger city and lived in an area that was public housing and mexican ghetto area, but at the time yuppies started moving in and cleaning up the area. So ya there were rougher people around but they just wanted to get on with their life and ignored the new higher incomers. On a level scary 1-10 safest, I could do 4-10.

I Searched through other posts so I apologize if this already is somewhere, if so please link.

1. If we were to make a quadrant grid of the city(NW,NE,SW,SE, Center), where is good, ok, and bad?
What I've been told so far was NW/center is good, SW is ok, all NE SE is bad. Another person all city was bad. Another person NW/center is only acceptable...

2. If said house is in a "bad" area but on a street trying to be nice and improve is this better/acceptable than the bad area around it?

3. What are we calling bad/ghetto?? To me bad is literally walking with concealed carry of at least a taser, high gang activity, abandoned housing/public housing, physical property tagged/damaged/stolen consistently, meth lab activity, etc...

4. Are people just calling a working class neighborhood bad/ghetto because it doesn't look as nice, or people have a ten year old car?? That doesn't speak for the people all the time.

Feel free to answer question 1, 2, 3, 4

[PreservationPioneer]

Some of those central PA cities really are iffy, crime-wise, even though they are small cities. I would say that yes, the locals who live in the suburbs may be overstating, exaggerating, and paranoid of urban problems and working class neighborhoods, racial differences, etc. That said, I do think there are serious crime problems in some of PA's smaller cities. This is reflected in some of the elevated crime and homicide rates of Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Reading, etc. I don't think we are talking about Baltimore or Philly levels of crime, but it would be wise to exercise street smarts. Educate yourself about the neighborhoods by talking to the urban professional class who chooses to live in and be champions of city living. These are the people at coffee shops, upscale eateries, who live in and restore the downtown townhouses, and engage themselves in city related events and activities.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Columbia, PA. It has the character of downtown York and Lancaster, without many of the problems.

[notondrugs]

Lancaster is really working to improve their city, but there's still work to be done. The downtown is getting better, but it's right next to drunk people sitting on stumps and hookers. The area around Franklin and Marshall College is a nice area, with good entertainment and restaurants in walking distance, safe, but it's next to an armpit.
The suburbs surrounding Lancaster City (Manheim, Millersville, Strausburg) are good, quiet places to live.

[jag12]

I saw this map of Lancaster city...and so far have found it to be accurate.

http://i.imgur.com/H7YxHdE.jpg

[blue1234567]

#4, there are plenty of nice, safe as in 9-10, working class areas which are not very 'pretty' or uppity in the looks but the base is largely families. It's tough to say specific good working class entire areas as they exist in uppity areas and bad areas. Many safe blue collar havens in central Pa.

[KJD17011]

I love this map, and would like to see one of Mechanicsburg, Pa.

[g500]

I second KJDs request. Please can someone do this map for the Harrisburg metro area?

[JettaPA]

Originally Posted by KJD17011

I love this map, and would like to see one of Mechanicsburg, Pa.

There are no bad parts of Mechanicsburg that you would have to worry about.

[Answerboii717]

Southwest isn't the best place to live, but it has its good and bad. The poverty rate throughout the city is horrible. And also, crime rates are 57% over the national average. (Most of them are property crimes, but there are still a lot of violent or malevolent crimes.) northwest and north Lancaster aren't as bad as southern and sowe Lancaster, but crime is still high in that area. Eastern and western Lancaster are mid to lower class suburbs in some places but projects and public housing in others. crime is high there. (As it is pretty much throughout the whole city)
I'm my honest opinion, ghetto would be frequent crime and vandalism in one area. Plus high drug usage is another aspect I look at. (The drug usage in sowe Lancaster is ridiculously high)
I would steer clear of the areas around culliton park (formerly farnum) these areas are ****ing high in drug and crime rates. There are many blocks around here that aren't acceptable such as water and Conestoga up to prince. So a block trying to not be affected by crime is still gonna be affected if the other hoods around it are bad. Gun violence is mild around here. As most crimes are stabbings or beatings. people may be calling working class neighborhoods "bad" because the type of people who live there.

[Nefret]

This month's Kipplinger magazine listed Lancaster as one of the best places to retire. That doesn't fit in with what I'm reading on this thread.