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Old 04-28-2013, 03:13 PM
 
Location: Northeast states
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Why the Crime so high in


York, PA, Harrisburg, Allentown, Reading, Chester, McKeesport, Norristown, Lancaster, Wikes-Barre.


It seem Harrisburg, York, Chester, Mckeesport, Reading have the worst murder rates for it the size.


Why Harrisburg, York, Chester, Reading so violent ?
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Old 04-28-2013, 03:28 PM
 
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I'll speak on the cities and towns I have some knowledge of.

Reading, Chester, and Norristown were all once strong blue-collar manufacturing towns. Once those jobs left, they were not successful in attracting other employers. Those who could leave did so; those who could still benefit from the city only moved as far out as the suburbs. Those that could not leave likely found themselves literally fighting over the few economic scraps left over. I would not be surprised if a similar pattern was repeated in the other cities and towns you mentioned.

If crime in Lancaster is bad, it seems from my perspective that it can be mostly avoided by living north of downtown.
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Old 04-28-2013, 03:39 PM
 
Location: Northeast states
13,971 posts, read 13,740,411 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tone509 View Post
I'll speak on the cities and towns I have some knowledge of.

Reading, Chester, and Norristown were all once strong blue-collar manufacturing towns. Once those jobs left, they were not successful in attracting other employers. Those who could leave did so; those who could still benefit from the city only moved as far out as the suburbs. Those that could not leave likely found themselves literally fighting over the few economic scraps left over. I would not be surprised if a similar pattern was repeated in the other cities and towns you mentioned.

If crime in Lancaster is bad, it seems from my perspective that it can be mostly avoided by living north of downtown.

Why the city officials in those cities seem can't get it under control
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Old 04-28-2013, 03:48 PM
 
Location: North by Northwest
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Harrisburg and Chester don't even belong in the same sentence.
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Old 04-28-2013, 05:22 PM
 
8,975 posts, read 21,059,414 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BPt111 View Post
Why the city officials in those cities seem can't get it under control
That's a good rhetorical question.
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Old 04-28-2013, 05:44 PM
 
Location: Montgomery County, PA
16,563 posts, read 15,122,455 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HeavenWood View Post
Harrisburg and Chester don't even belong in the same sentence.
Yeah, really! The other thing I never understand is why won't people leave these run down neighborhoods. You don't have to move from Norristown to Malvern but how about Bridgeport? Much nicer and doubt rent is that much more.
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Old 04-29-2013, 01:24 AM
 
Location: Kittanning
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I can't speak for Chester or some of the others, but York, Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Reading all have some beautiful, historic, and vibrant urban neighborhoods within the city limits. York, Harrisburg, and Lancaster all have great downtowns. Allentown, Wilkes-Barre, and Norristown probably have some nice neighborhoods, too, but I can't verify that (maybe someone else can). McKeesport, like much of the Mon Valley region and old river towns near Pittsburgh, rely on the Pittsburgh metro for jobs and are considered unfashionable areas within the metro to live. Thus McKeesport today functions more as a low income suburb than an independent city (which it once was), although there are some stable / safe areas within the city of McKeesport.

Here are my photo tours of York, Reading, and McKeesport. I think they illustrate how beautiful and well kept much of the city limits of York and Reading really are. On the other hand, McKeesport is rough. The contrast between York and McKeesport, for instance, shows just how far York, Reading, Lancaster, etc. might have fallen, but for whatever reason did not.

Last edited by PreservationPioneer; 04-29-2013 at 01:40 AM..
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Old 04-29-2013, 01:32 AM
 
Location: Kittanning
4,692 posts, read 8,986,083 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyRider View Post
Yeah, really! The other thing I never understand is why won't people leave these run down neighborhoods. You don't have to move from Norristown to Malvern but how about Bridgeport? Much nicer and doubt rent is that much more.
Is Norristown really that bad? Cruising around the downtown on Google Maps streetview, it looks like a pretty nice town. I'm sure there are poverty and crime problems, but it doesn't look at all like Braddock, McKeesport, or Chester. As the county seat, I imagine it retains some level of economic importance. I figure people are going to cite bad schools as a reason not to live there, but a lot of people like me don't have kids and don't care about that.
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Old 04-29-2013, 07:53 AM
 
Location: Philaburbia
41,733 posts, read 74,684,043 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alleghenyangel View Post
Is Norristown really that bad?
It has a lot of quality-of-life crimes and a brisk drug trade, which leads to the usual turf wars and deals gone bad, and the resulting violence. It also has inept and good-old-boy leadership, which as far as I can tell after living here for seven years is deeply entrenched.

Norristown, and to some extent Pottstown, have been Montgomery County's dumping grounds for subsidized housing and group homes. Of course there is a great need for this type of housing, and 9 times out of 10 you wouldn't know that one house was a group home and the next one wasn't, but the perception doesn't make it any easier to attract businesses and residents.

There are some attractive and safe neighborhoods in Norristown, to be sure (I like to think mine is one of them ), but the majority of people in Montgomery County believe they're going to be carjacked just for driving through town on their way to the King of Prussia mall.

Quote:
I figure people are going to cite bad schools as a reason not to live there, but a lot of people like me don't have kids and don't care about that.
That is one reason; Norristown has a lot of low-income kids, special needs kids and immigrant kids, so the school district has to sink its money into services for them, and the result is high school taxes. Housing prices are much lower than in surrounding communities, but the school taxes offset that; even if you don't have kids, you're affected by the school district.
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Old 04-29-2013, 09:41 AM
 
Location: Philly
10,220 posts, read 16,728,305 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tone509 View Post
I'll speak on the cities and towns I have some knowledge of.

Reading, Chester, and Norristown were all once strong blue-collar manufacturing towns. Once those jobs left, they were not successful in attracting other employers. Those who could leave did so; those who could still benefit from the city only moved as far out as the suburbs. Those that could not leave likely found themselves literally fighting over the few economic scraps left over. I would not be surprised if a similar pattern was repeated in the other cities and towns you mentioned.

If crime in Lancaster is bad, it seems from my perspective that it can be mostly avoided by living north of downtown.
crime in downtown lancaster isn't particularly bad. chester and norristown have been run by corrupt and incompetent politicians as well.

Quote:
Originally Posted by alleghenyangel View Post
I can't speak for Chester or some of the others, but York, Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Reading all have some beautiful, historic, and vibrant urban neighborhoods within the city limits. York, Harrisburg, and Lancaster all have great downtowns. Allentown, Wilkes-Barre, and Norristown probably have some nice neighborhoods, too, but I can't verify that (maybe someone else can). McKeesport, like much of the Mon Valley region and old river towns near Pittsburgh, rely on the Pittsburgh metro for jobs and are considered unfashionable areas within the metro to live. Thus McKeesport today functions more as a low income suburb than an independent city (which it once was), although there are some stable / safe areas within the city of McKeesport.

.
there is nothing nice about chester really, the downtown, or what's left, is as bombed out as any I've seen. it's truly an outliar, on par with gary IN and camden, NJ.
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