S. Joseph Missouri Neighborhood (St. Louis, St. Joseph: crime, house, neighborhoods)

[carlym]

How can I easily find the names of neighborhood associations in St. Joe? I'd like to find out what's going on in some of them. I hopefully will be there in June 08'?

[northbayeric]

I came across this link for "(St. Joseph) Neighborhood Association Grant Application Instructions" when searching St. Joseph's city website:
http://www.stjoemo.info/planning/neighborhood_grant_instruct.pdf (broken link)

At the bottom of this, there's a telephone number, (816) 271-4620. Hopefully someone at this phone number can provide you with the info you're looking for, or make a referral.

As you probably know, there's an area of St. Joseph called Midtown that historically has had more crime issues than other areas in town. I had the chance to visit St. Joe this past September, and drove pretty extensively around town. I didn't spend that much time in Midtown, I have to admit. I did look at a house on South 27th Street, a few blocks south and east of Midtown, and the neighborhood seemed very quiet, peaceful and safe to me. Ultimately I passed up on this house because it has no garage or carport.

Prior to my visit, I got quite a bit of information from a 13-year resident of St. Joseph who has been a past contributor to these forums: "StJoeFanatic." The info she gave me concerning bad neighborhoods and crime (or the lack thereof in most parts of town) matched my own observations. St. Joseph is hardly anything like East St. Louis, or Camden, New Jersey or some other godforsaken hellhole. In Midtown, there has been a "Weed and Seed" program that has had a somewhat beneficial effect of improving this area. While not ideal, I think it's not as bad as some make it out to be; and the non-Midtown areas, especially around Ashland Ave., Lover's Lane, North 22nd Street north of Frederick Ave., and east of I-29 (newer neighborhoods there) are excellent. The south St. Joseph neighborhoods around Hyde Park are older, established, and quite safe too.

My wife and I have wanted to move from northern California to St. Joe for over a year now. God willing, we should be there sometime in the early to middle spring.