York, PA what's the real deal? (Harrisburg, Hanover: low crime, neighborhoods, buy)

[ruralgirl]

I work for an organization that is currently looking to relocate - to either Fayetteville, AR or York, PA. I have been asked to move with the organization. York was chosen for reasons such as diversity, low crime, low cost of living, good jobs and schools. However, I have read through all the postings about York and the York area. I was very discouraged. I am a white woman married to a black man -- a dark skinned black man. We have 3 beautiful brown babies. My impression, after reading all the posts, is that York is NOT the place for us or any minority for that matter. Am I getting the correct message? Also - It seems that crime is NOT low and schools are NOT good. This is an extremely serious decision for me. I come from a small
(29K pop.) college town in NE Ohio so diversity is an absolute must. Racial acceptance is a must. Low crime is also a must. So, I am asking for absolute honesty here -- I need the real story on York. What is really going on there? Thank you so much for ANY feedback.

[dullnboring]

While York is actually extremely diverse, I think race relations there are pretty bad. Everyone keeps to themselves within their own community it seems. You rarely see mixed groups of friends let alone interracial couples. There's a lot of older people in the area with "older" attitudes that are sort of lagging behind the times in regards to racial issues unfortunately. I've heard quite a few racist comments. I would recommend googling "Charlie Robertson trial" as in coverage of the trial of the ex-mayor a few years back, a number of stories were done on the state of race relations in York.

While there are plenty of minorities, and I'm sure some interracial couples as well, living happily in York who most likely haven't experienced any problems, as someone who places precedence on racial acceptance and diversity, I'd recommend other places before I'd recommend York.

[Hopes]

You don't have to live in York to work in York. Commuting in that area is a breeze because there's no traffic.

Harrisburg and surrounding neighborhoods are much more accepting of minorities than York. The demographics for the Harrisburg population is 54.83% black. When I lived there, I never experienced any negativity from people while I dined with my friends. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that it's the Capital of Pennsylvania and professionals of all backgrounds move to there from all over the state. Harrisburg would be a 30 minute commute from York.

When comparing schools throughout the state of Pennsylvania to one another, keep in mind that Pennsylvania schools are overall better than most school systems throughout the country. So a school that might not rank among the best in Pennsylvania will outshine schools in other states. Here's a list of the Harrisburg area schools for you to research: http://www.psk12.com/rating/USthreeR...ntyID_220.html

I recommend contacting a pastor at a church in the Harrisburg area and asking his opinion on the matter.

[pspdick]

Originally Posted by ruralgirl

I work for an organization that is currently looking to relocate - to either Fayetteville, AR or York, PA. I have been asked to move with the organization. York was chosen for reasons such as diversity, low crime, low cost of living, good jobs and schools. However, I have read through all the postings about York and the York area. I was very discouraged. I am a white woman married to a black man -- a dark skinned black man. We have 3 beautiful brown babies. My impression, after reading all the posts, is that York is NOT the place for us or any minority for that matter. Am I getting the correct message? Also - It seems that crime is NOT low and schools are NOT good. This is an extremely serious decision for me. I come from a small
(29K pop.) college town in NE Ohio so diversity is an absolute must. Racial acceptance is a must. Low crime is also a must. So, I am asking for absolute honesty here -- I need the real story on York. What is really going on there? Thank you so much for ANY feedback.

I would live in Colunbia and work in york if i were you. York is getting crowded and it isn't a real friendly town anyway. Folks aren't dangerous, they just keep to themselves. The churchs are always full.
Columbia is close by and a pleasant drive. You can get caught up in the 83/30 jam real easy. If you drive to Columbia everyday, you'll enjoy the drive. The river runs right through there and there is things to do there. If your company is in East York , Columbia would be great. If you l\work in west York, You may want to live downtown York or Central York near the fairgrounds or Bantz PArk. Or near the college. If you work in North York, consider living in Harrisburg, south York, stay in-town.

[ruralgirl]

I would like to thank each of you for your speedy and honest responses. i truly appreciate it! They have been VERY helpful and I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

I will let you know how this all ends!

[CA-PA-TX?]

Hi there- I was the OP in the good food thread. We live in York Township and it is a beautiful area with great schools but from what I have seen not a lot of diversity. My son's elementary school is pretty white although of course being from CA I am used to a much more sautrated diversity so not sure if I am just hyper sensitive to that or what. Anyways, we are pretty close to downtown and while it is very historic it also seems rather depressed economically (although again, being from CA I have seen worse lol, it ain't exactly Compton or Logan Heights). I understand the York City schools are pretty bad too but that the rest of the districts around the city are really good. Personally I wish more ethnically diverse people would move here and change the area to be more tolerant but I am sure that many locals would not necessarily share that sentiment. BTW the crime in our area is very low- I think the numbers you see are for the city proper. Out here in the burbs we're pretty safe. Sorry I can't recommend an area near here that is more tolerant in a commutaqble distance but it looks like you are getting some good recommendations here

[md to nc]

I wanted to add, Hanover PA. It is near York PA, not a bad commute and I know there are many other interracial relationships. I use to live in Hanover PA and it has become extremely diverse in that town. You may research on the internet of how it use to be in Hanover years ago but it has changed dramatically. You may want to look into Hanover PA. Plus the schools are excellent.

[openless]

I had friends in York who were half guamanian and half white, their family was very large and had 3 girls and 2 boys. They gre up pretty fine attended highschool and graduated and ended up living in the city and surrounding area.s I think the younger people are the more acceptable it is. You see more and more of it in the suburbs. I live 30 mins north of york in harrisburg. My wife is asian and we have never had any problems whatsoever. York city is pretty diverse with substantian populations of black and hispanics, and some vietnamese there. I'd say if you look at a lot of the cities lancaster, york, harrisburg, lebanon there are multiple families that are mixed or bi-racial. almost always it is a white woman and a black man or an white man and a asian woman. or more common white and hispanic. I dont know when you are moving buy i dont think you will have any problems, york city itself does have some crime, mostly drug related and occasionally a homicide. but 90% of the time the victim and the perp. know each other. it is always about bad drug deals or disrespecting someone. I dont think it's the best place on earth to live personally but you wont have any problems.

[gottalikemike]

I've been living in York county my whole life (not by choice), and I do not recommend raising a family here. I currently attend PSU - York and my experience with it so far has been good but here's the catch. The school districts do not prepare the kids for higher education. The test scores are not impressive and another big problem is that the schools are becoming over-populated. Also another reason for not raising kids here is because of how ignorant a majority of the people are. Do not expect "thank you", "your welcome", "sorry", etc. Plain and simple, people here are rude! And my last reason is because of the growing drug problem. Sure the drug problem is happening everywhere, but just think where York is. It is in between a lot of major cities which cause York to be a trading post, from what I heard (don't make me out to be a druggie because I plan on going to med school so I need to be focused . There is my 2 cents and don't get on my case because IT IS JUST AN OPINION, we are all entitled to one.

[stillnewlyweds]

I am really thankful to have found this one...we are an interracial couple as well....