Can West Palm Beach really be that bad? (Lake Worth, Mango: high crime, home)

[32sho]

Originally Posted by Snowbird100

Hi TriMT7,


After reading a number of threads and checking out the CrimeReports, I feel that Wellington/RPB is relative safer to my family, Canadians.

not that those are horrible places to live, but I find it funny people go onto a website to look at crime statistics to see how safe a place is.

doesn't really put up a good showing of all the bad people out there who do wild stuff and haven't been caught/became a statistic. Never mind the fact that a lot of bad stuff in the ghetto's goes without saying because people aren't go to be a snitch on a local gang...

[Snowbird100]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Although one thing I *do* hear a lot is people saying they want to travel to Vegas to see Céline. And Cirque du Soleil.

Downtown Disney has Cirque du Soleil, does anyone know if Céline has shows in Florida ?

[Nolefan34]

Snowbird100-

I will try to break down the West Palm area for you as best I can. It is not cut and dry good/bad areas. There are lots of patches if you know what I mean. West Palm Beach is similar to Fort Lauderdale, in that there are small patches of good neighborhoods in the east near the water and the downtown area, but large areas of ghetto and impoverished hoods surrounding those areas. And most of the middle class people live outside of the city limits in suburbs such as Wellington, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, etc. The immediate downtown area is only vibrant during business hours and becomes a ghost town otherwise. The only happening area is the strip of bars on Clematis Street that attracts young adults on Friday and Sat. nights after 9PM.

In general, anything inside of the entire city limits of West Palm Beach is either dangerous or seedy at best, with few exceptions. The exceptions are areas along the water east of US1 and the downtown area (Clematis Street and City Place). The rest of West Palm Beach is largely undesirable with many crime ridden areas. The neighborhood just north of City Place along Tamarind Avenue is really bad. No area is as bad as Detroit or some neighborhoods in Miami or Philly, but there are some really dangerous parts that tourists should avoid. Riviera Beach, the next town north of West Palm Beach, is the worst. Riviera Beach ranked as the #1 highest crime rate for a city of 30K-60K residents in America recently. There is a nice island called Singer Island located due east of Riviera Beach and you have to drive through to get there. Once you cross the bridge, it switches from ghetto to nice like the flick of a light bulb.

Unless you want to pay high rents for chic luxury condos or waterfront homes downtown, I would suggest living outside of the city in Jupiter, North Palm, PBG, or further south in Delray.

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

Snowbird100-

I will try to break down the West Palm area for you as best I can. It is not cut and dry good/bad areas. There are lots of patches if you know what I mean.

Actually, it IS fairly cut and dry.

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

And most of the middle class people live outside of the city limits in suburbs such as Wellington, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Boca Raton, etc. The immediate downtown area is only vibrant during business hours and becomes a ghost town otherwise. The only happening area is the strip of bars on Clematis Street that attracts young adults on Friday and Sat. nights after 9PM.

This is nonsense. Cityplace itself is pretty much busy every night of the week, and Clematis Street is definitely not a ghost town.

When was the last time you were actually in West Palm Beach? Have you ever LIVED in West Palm Beach? If so, when?

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

In general, anything inside of the entire city limits of West Palm Beach is either dangerous or seedy at best, with few exceptions. The exceptions are areas along the water east of US1 and the downtown area (Clematis Street and City Place). The rest of West Palm Beach is largely undesirable with many crime ridden areas.

The entire south end of the city, east of 95, is not crime ridden. There is a large immigrant community south of Belvedere, west of Dixie Highway, and people who do not like living near Hispanics may have a problem, but there is no reason to feel unsafe in any of those areas.

Originally Posted by Nolefan34

Unless you want to pay high rents for chic luxury condos or waterfront homes downtown, I would suggest living outside of the city in Jupiter, North Palm, PBG, or further south in Delray.

First, the rent on a downtown condo is comparable to most of the rental stock in Gardens, Jupiter, Boca, etc.

Second, there are several miles of well kept, beautiful neighborhoods in the southend that are excellent places to live. In fact, thousands of people live in those neighborhoods. Middle class, upper class, working class... professionals, business owners, snowbirds, retirees... even socialites with second homes. Anyone coming from any real city in the Northeast will see no problem living in West Palm Beach, because South Dixie Highway (which serves as one of the main commercial drag in the southern part of the city) is lined with shops, restaurants, etc. that remind me of my old hometown in New Jersey, surrounded on either side with residential neighborhoods.

Third, Delray Beach has a higher crime rate per capita than West Palm Beach! (which, by the way, is less than Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, etc. etc.)... AND concentrated in some pretty well known areas of the city!

BUT, Snowbird is looking at gated developments anyway, so one of the suburbs will be a better fit anyway, unless he/she chooses to move to one of West Palm's western gated communities (city limits) such as Ibis, Riverwalk, or Andros Isles (which, along with the Villages area, appears to escape your sweeping generalization of life within city limits!)

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by 32sho

not that those are horrible places to live, but I find it funny people go onto a website to look at crime statistics to see how safe a place is.

How else will one know? Ask someone who lives in the ghetto, they'll tell you that crime is everywhere. Ask someone who lives in a gated compound on Palm Beach, they will tell you there is no crime, and how wonderful life is. Personal experiences are biased. The best measure we have is official statistics.

Usually, anyone who ISN'T in the ghetto has no problem reporting that they have been a victim of crime.

Originally Posted by 32sho

doesn't really put up a good showing of all the bad people out there who do wild stuff and haven't been caught/became a statistic. Never mind the fact that a lot of bad stuff in the ghetto's goes without saying because people aren't go to be a snitch on a local gang...

People know not to live in the ghettos regardless of whether or not the crime in the ghetto is reported. Most won't even drive through the ghetto, let alone try to live there. What happens in the ghetto does not usually affect anyone else's life, except to drive crime statistics up for the city as a whole. If you were to carve out the northern zip code of West Palm Beach, "official" crime in the city limits would drop like a rock.

[Snowbird100]

I haven't finished reading all the responses from TriMT7 but will continue later.

But I am a bit confused now as TriMT7 has a different views than Nolefan34 ...

Will respond after I get my internet later ...

Please stay tuned as I really want to sort out which areas to avoid as a snowbird or tourist ...

[Snowbird100]

OK, I read all the responses.

I have problem locating S Dixie hwy on Google Maps (I tried it twice).

[Snowbird100]

First of all, I am a guy

Based on the responses, I summarize it as follows:

"Good" areas:
- Palm beach island
- Singer island
- CityPlace, Clematis area
- Palm Beach Gardens
- North Palm Beach
- Jupiter
- Boca
- Wellington
- Royal Palm Beach
- WPB South of S Dixie Hwy (I couldn't locate it on Google Maps)
- West Palm's western gated communities (city limits) such as Ibis, Riverwalk, or Andros Isles (???)
- Delray Beach (???)

Areas to avoid:
- Riviera Beach
- Areas not mentioned in the above "Good areas"

Do the above "good" and "avoid" areas sound about right ? Please comment, thank you !

Yes, gated communities !

[Snowbird100]

Also, I studied the map of PBC but no one mentioned about these few areas in WPB:

- Palm Springs
- Lake Worth

Are they good, so so or crime ridden ? I know I know that I read the CrimeReports and looked at the stats but I forgot it again, I kind of remember more crimes South of PBIA, just West of PBIA ... things like that !

Thanks !

[Snowbird100]

Good neighbourhood:
Delray Beach except this bad area: W Atlantic/Swinton/Linton/I95 ? Or should it (bad areas) be expanded a bit bigger ?