Is Erie Ghetto? (Washington, Wesleyville, Ravine: amusement park, crime rate, neighborhoods)

[mrb69]

I'm not from here but I have friends and family who live in Erie. Every time I go to Erie every single person talks about how ghetto it is and thats about it. I don't think it is or even close.

So what do you people think about Erie?

[vectorfrankel]

Not a ghetto. Ever since I moved around the area, it's hysterical when people talk about Erie being a ghetto. They have no idea..


Like, it's a ghetto in the sense that it looks poor and deadbeat or whatever, but it's not dangerous at all

[PeterRabbit]

When I was little I didn't want to go on vacation to Erie (or anywhere). My dad lured me into it by claiming they had an amusement park bigger than Kennywood. Waldameer Park had maybe 4 rides at that time. (The next year it was Cedar Point which had no rides at all!) I've been back to Erie since then and the park is much bigger now. On their site they have photos of the newest ride and there's snow on the ground! Is that golf course still in the city? Presque Isle hasn't changed much except hardly any people on the beach. Too bad because I think it has a lot of potential for a quick getaway. I've been there in the middle of winter too. I like the place and the people. It's not even close to being a ghetto., maybe in some areas I've never seen.

[vectorfrankel]

Waldameer isn't and never will be better/bigger than Kennywood. The only thing cool about it is the free admission and fairly older laugh in the dark rides.

[Ohiogirl81]

Waldameer has the Ravine Flyer II. That's cool.

(The next year it was Cedar Point which had no rides at all!)

And no, Erie isn't ghetto. You need to get out more.

[StuckPA]

A former coworker had told me when he lived in the Erie area there were supposedly 'cult towns' in the area where they didn't let them go out of the town...but that sounds like alot of places in PA

[psulions2007]

Wesleyville is the closest you're going to get to a ghetto in Erie...and even that is laughable to think about.

[Ohiogirl81]

Wesleyville?

Ghetto?

That is laughable.

[pj3000]

Wesleyville, for the most part, is not ghetto. Certain blocks in Wesleyville are pretty run down, but it is not a high crime area. However, one of the highest crime areas in the city borders Wesleyville, so maybe that's what psulions2007 was thinking about.

It seems that many of the posters on here probably have never spent too much time within the city of Erie. By that I mean actually living in the city's neighborhoods, not just going downtown to go to the bars, ballgame, concert, or bayfront, and then driving back to the suburbs of Millcreek, Harborcreek, etc.

Overall, Erie is a relatively safe city, but it does have neighborhoods that would definitely be considered ghettoes (Lower East Side, Lower West Side, Parade St corridor, Buffalo Rd corridor containing numerous housing projects, eastside central city from E 14th to E 26th aka - "the Holly", former Little Italy area/West 18th St corridor... I could go on. Without question, there is a good bit of crime in these areas. People seem to think that because a city is smaller, that it does not have the same problems that bigger cities do. That just shows complete ignorance. Smaller cities have all of the same problems that larger cities do, just on a smaller scale due to a lower population.

Depending on what you consider ghetto, I would have to answer "yes and no" to your original question. Much of the city is very rundown and one has to realize that the city's poverty rate is around 20%... that's pretty "ghetto" in my book. The city has its moments (within the past 2 months there have been a few murders... including a 15 yr old boy and an 86 yr old woman and a number of shootings... in Erie's troubled neighborhoods), but the crime rate overall is not terrible.

It is funny to me when I read what some of these posters say, as if they really know the city's neighborhoods well. It's very easy to avoid seeing what Erie is really like if you live in/visit nicer parts of the city (Frontier area, Glenwood, South Erie, West Side, Upper East/West Sides, suburbs) and go to Presque Isle, the Millcreek Mall area, Bayfront, central Downtown. You'll never see the bad areas of town... you can do that in any city.

If any of you are really interested in actually learning about Erie, go volunteer at the JFK, Booker T Washington, or MLK centers, spend a little time in one of the inner city public schools, or better yet, how bout this: get out of your car and walk east for about 10 blocks over East 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, or 11th... really, see what you think.

[psulions2007]

Yeah I was thinking about that area near the intersection of US 20/Buffalo Rd and PA 430/Station Rd...following Buffalo Rd west towards Erie. That's a pretty 'eh' area, but still laughable in true 'ghetto' terms.