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Just doing some research of places to live where less traffic and crime. I moved from San Francisco to Michigan and now residing at Fort Wayne, IN. When we first moved here to Indiana, we could not decide if we want to move here or not. We didn't hear much about Fort Wayne until we came here.
Apparently we are in the process of moving again but not sure where yet. What I would like to know if there are some nice apartments in Columbia or Sumter that are reasonable at the same time "SAFE".
Yes. There are safe, reasonably priced areas in Columbia and Sumter, as well as in the Harbison area.
Have you spent time in these places?
Sumter is a smaller town/city 45 minutes or so from Columbia. It has several great neighborhoods, but it's not exactly a 'happening' place, depending on what you're into. If you like easy access to, say, art house movies and health food, it's not the town for you. Sumter has a high crime rate, but the crime is pretty heavily localized into certain areas. Avoiding those areas goes a long way towards avoiding crime.
Columbia is actually the same way, with regards to crime. I live in Columbia (Melrose Heights/Shandon) and don't have any crime problems where I live. My street is quiet and my neighbors are friendly. However, I could go a mile from my house and be in a neighborhood in which I'd certainly feel uncomfortable.
The Harbison area is pretty typical suburbia. Bland for my tastes, but pretty safe and filled with chain stores and SUVs. When you're there, you could be in any suburb in the US, but some people go for that, I guess.
Of the three, I'd place Columbia as my favorite and Harbison and Sumter tied for second. Most people would probably put Sumter last, but I grew up there, so I guess I see things a little differently.
Thank you for all your feedbacks and I appreciate good information. I was just there this weekend. Looks like Sumter has lots of accidents, I have seen crosses on Broad Street. They probably need to put traffic lights between hotels and restaurants.
But I think I will give Sumter a chance. Visited 8 apartments and check the prices.
I see you are choosing Sumter over Columbia....Just curious on where you work(city/area) and what factors were important in making your decision? Having worked in Sumter.. the accidents along Broad Street are probably due to some of the driving habits of Sumterites in addition to some of the poor design of good ole "hamburger highway". Some of those left turn lanes across the median strip on the 378 portion of Broad Street are death traps. You will be rear ended by someone seeking to use the left lane to pass while you are using it to slow down to turn left....Who designed that road anyway
Thank you for the input and sad for people who lost their lives. Drivers must take cautious and pay more attention!!! Sumterites must petition in one of the meetings how they can change or re-do those medians. They must have traffic lights inbetween hotels and restaurants. I've also seen that they don't have left turn arrows on their traffic lights. Whoever they hired as civil engineer was not the smartest. I don't how he pass the Board exam. How about the city mayor, is he/she concern about the citizens of Sumter?
Any recommendations where is the good place to live? We chose Sumter because it is closer to work and Columbia is nice but we don't much about it.
Best regards,
Papoose
Last edited by papoosebabe; 07-20-2010 at 08:02 PM..
Thank you for the input and sad for people who lost their lives. Drivers must take cautious and pay more attention!!! Sumterites must petition in one of the meetings how they can change or re-do those medians. They must have traffic lights inbetween hotels and restaurants. I've also seen that they don't have left turn arrows on their traffic lights. Whoever they hired as civil engineer was not the smartest. I don't how he pass the Board exam. How about the city mayor, is he/she concern about the citizens of Sumter?
Any recommendations where is the good place to live? We chose Sumter because it is closer to work and Columbia is nice but we don't much about it.
Best regards,
Papoose
Sumter's mayor is a figurehead. They utilize the council-manager form of municipal gov't.
Sumter's mayor is a figurehead. They utilize the council-manager form of municipal gov't.
CBC is correct the Mayor simply presides over city council and has a one vote. He( in this case) is popularly elected though the city council members are elected from districts. The power and direction of the City generally rests with the City Manager who serves as the 'CEO' of the City. He (again in this case) is hired by the Mayor and City Council to run the City and the majority of the City Employees work for him.. So council may lay out the vision based on their interaction with the public but the implementation is the job of the Manager. Since both the Mayor and Council are part time.. often both the vision and the implementation directed by the manager since he has a better grasp of the resources and needs.
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