North Historic District for SCAD fella (Savannah, Montgomery: crime, living in, price)

[Sonofapenguin]

Howdy all, glad to have such a wealth of knowledge on Savannah here with helpful folks.

I'm planning on attending SCAD in the fall and have scoured the forums here(lots of useful advice), but I wanted to get some more personalized input for a general idea on the spots I'm looking at.

The N Historic districtish area(between Bay/Liberty and Montgomery/Broad) seems like the most appealing area to me despite the price. I've seen some nice stuff in my range around E President(before Broad), on Broughton and near the Civic Center.

Looking at the crime maps I still see a lot of larceny and burglaries in all but the President area, but I like to think I have a decent head on my shoulders(unfortunately the military didn't teach me how to defend myself that well, heh). Walking around at the wee hours of the morning with friends after seeing a live show was one of my favorite parts of living in Monterey, CA but I can live without it for the sake of safety.

Just wanted to get an idea of what people who live there think of these areas, any particular streets to avoid around them, etc.

If, say, I wanted to walk or bike to Forsyth park or go for a stroll elsewhere in the North area, what streets seem like the safest to you? From what I can tell Oglethorpe and Liberty are okay. I love walking with company or alone so I'll take opinions good and bad on everything.

Savannah seems like the kind of place where you have to look out for yourself, but I guess that goes for many cities. I'm still really excited to get there and return to the civilian life after 6 years of wearing a uniform and clunky boots.

Thanks in advance!

[WanderingImport]

The areas you're mentioning are pretty much near the center of the Historic District and you'll be fine walking around. Yes, even at night. You can walk from one end of the district to the other and be good so long as you use common sense.
In all reality, I think the only people that will bother you would be the homeless begging for money and they are harmless.

So don't worry!! Everyone wants to exaggerate Savannah's crime issues and it really isn't all that bad. Just use common sense wherever you go and enjoy not having to drive (except for the beach, Target or the malls)

[KCofSavannah]

You will see housing projects east of Broad between Liberty and Oglethorpe. I think some crime has been associated with that property over the years.

I agree with the other poster. You will be fine in the area you listed. It is actually very nice. I've lived and walked in Savannah with 0 problems. This is for decades. I swear it is like I live on a different planet sometimes. I hear so many people talk about crime in downtown Savannah who haven't been downtown in 5 years. I think they are missing out on what might be the greatest city on the east coast. . . I also love Chicago.

Good luck. You are going to love living downtown.

[Sonofapenguin]

Thanks for the input...now I just hope something tasty turns up around the July-August timeframe when I leave Maryland. I'm pretty excited to go somewhere and basically start anew.

[fsu813]

i have a nephew that attended scad and lived there too. he alwsy said that crime wasnt as bad as people said it was. and im moving from GA to FL soon and i think people exaggerate crime everywhere from my expereinces moving alot.