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This is the very vague comment someone said to me recently when I mentioned we were moving there soon.
I've said similar things about Buffalo, NY where I've lived for the last few years because I've yet to see a neighborhood that really feels safe, ie. no street is outside of walking distance from a very very BAD street.
Is there any truth to this statement? We just want a place to raise a family.
I'm curious to know if you've been there to check it out for yourself?
I've learned that sometimes a person's life experiences makes them perceive certain things differently. I've also learned that some people will make negative comments about something because they don't know any better.
If you've investigated this place for yourself and feel comfortable moving there, you may want to take that comment with a lot of caution.
That's just it. We don't have the chance to check out the area first at all. The church I'd prefer to go to is in Durham. We want to try to be between Raleigh & Durham our first year so we aren't commuting too much. Everything I've been hearing seems good, and then someone said that lol. So I guess it's last minute jitters. I'm well aware of how sheltered or biased some people are.
some parts are ghetto and some parts are not, just like most metropolitan areas. Durham as a whole is not. My brother jjst bought a cute bungalow in downtown Durham near 9ith street and loves it. I think it depends on your needs and wants. If you are looking for an in between area, you might check out Morrisville.
Best wishes to you. What Church are you interested in attending? I have family members making plans to come to Raleigh when I move down there just to visit different churches. I want to visit a few churches myself before I settle into one.
we have about 1000 churches, so get ready for some research lol.
Durhams' reputation as ghetto is quickly becoming a thing of the past. They have done alot to revitalize the area. Personally I wouldnt live near downtown, but I can say that for many cities. I am over in Holly Springs myself but as a home inspector, I am in Durham pretty frequently. They have really done a good job over there compared to how it was say a decade ago.
This is the very vague comment someone said to me recently when I mentioned we were moving there soon.
I've said similar things about Buffalo, NY where I've lived for the last few years because I've yet to see a neighborhood that really feels safe, ie. no street is outside of walking distance from a very very BAD street.
Is there any truth to this statement? We just want a place to raise a family.
I think the person who said that to you may just not like black faces because that's not accurate at all! Durham isn't ghetto - East Durham is apparently a high crime area, I haven't been there - but I moved to Durham and it seems to me that everywhere else in Durham is either gorgeous or suburbia. You should take a trip down and check it out, also search for BullCityRising's posts as he's said many great things about the city.
I really believe a lot of the Durham criticism has to do with the fact that the city has a black majority and it's just racism. Black does not equal ghetto. People are just trying to live their lives happily just like the rest of us.
I live just north of downtown Durham, in Trinity Park. My neighborhood certainly isn't ghetto -- it's an historic neighborhood with homes ranging from the low $200s to $1 million+. (You won't find houses on the high end of that range in the Knightdales and Claytons of the Triangle.)
There are lots of wonderful neighborhoods in Durham that are great places to live and raise a family -- places like my neighborhood, or Forest Hills, Old West Durham, Watts-Hillandale, and large swatches of North Durham and South Durham.
Honestly, I cringe when I hear the term 'ghetto.' Yes, there are some deeply impoverished areas of the Bull City, and these are the areas that are the magnets for crime in the city. But frankly, after reading crazy things over in Wake County -- where some upscale shopping centers are trying to ban city buses from their property, and where Knightdale leaders are saying that having a mere 1.4% of their housing qualify as "affordable" is sufficient -- I'd much rather live in a city that has a balance of socioeconomic and cultural diversity, than in a place that is exclusionary.
Ultimately, that comes down to personal choice. I'd encourage you to visit Durham and see its neighborhoods, and decide for yourself. But don't let someone's snarky stereotype make the decision for you.
You might also want to check the latest surveys on Durhamites' perceptions of the Bull City as opposed to the typically more-negative opinions from Wake County:
Quote:
A sense of safety among those who should know best, a community’s residents, is significant to visitors including newcomers. In a May scientific opinion poll of Durham residents, more than 75% of residents feel safe or very safe in Durham overall, an 11 to 1 ratio over those who don’t with nearly a quarter of all residents feeling very safe and 17% unsure.
Bucking twice the coverage of crime in the news as other communities and negative word of mouth impacting half of all residents in neighboring communities, more than 85% of Durham residents feel safe in their own neighborhoods, an 11 to 1 ratio over those who don’t, with only 6.8% unsure. Nearly 40% feel very safe.
But while residents are the most likely to have accurate perceptions, visitors including potential newcomers are more likely to inherit first impressions from residents commuting to Durham to work from nearby communities, who make up half of the people working here in Durham. In the same poll, more than half of the adults in the two adjacent counties would expect a negative experience in Durham from what people say in their communities.
Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau Bull's Eye e-news: MORE THAN 3 IN 4 RESIDENTS FEEL SAFE IN DURHAM (http://www.durham-nc.com/bullseye/Vol6Issue18/crime.htm - broken link)
I am relocating to Durham from Boston. I have made several trips to the area in search of a home. I found a beautiful home in the woodcroft area. To be straightforward, the Woodcroft area and the area around SouthPoint Mall seemed to be filled with people walking down the wooded trails in Woodcroft with their dogs, couples jogging with Duke tee shirts or UNC tee shirts. Many parents were walking there kids in strollers. I thought this area anything but "ghetto." I am really looking forward to moving there.
We're one of the families enjoying Durham We've been in the Hope Valley area for a couple of months now and it's the epitome of suburbia. One of the factors that contributed to us even looking at houses in Durham was reading welovedurham's website. She has a lot of family friendly places and activities listed, as well as resources for visitors, and a blog about Durham. It's a very large city with diverse people and many different kinds of lifestyles are supported. The downtown has a lot of really neat restaurants and shops, and Durham in general has a lot of educated people and a lot of creative people. 1 out of every 4 people working are in a medically related field.
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Durham seemed wonderful
