Originally Posted by Dave

I'd say Spring Garden West of Lancaster is probably safer than East of Lancaster because it isn't perceived as being affluent (yet) and isn't targetted for muggings and "hate crimes" agains "yuppies."

I live in West Powelton and only use my car a couple times a week when I got to Fairmount. I often walk down to Chestnut and Walnut and commute on the El from 40th St station and haven't really had problems. I've been mugged once since I've been living in West Philly and that was in Spruce Hill (which, if you're unfamiliar with West Philly, is "affluent").

Personally, I wouldn't mind the neighborhood staying roughly the way it is, at least for a while (change is unavoidable) since much of the population is fairly civic minded working class african americans, many retired, who generally keep their blocks clean and watch out for their neighbors. The few kids and teenagers I see around tend to be well behaved (I would guess a lot of them go/went to Powell E.S.). It's true that the neighborhood gets more iffy farther north, but I think you'll probably be fine as long as you stay south of Haverford. A lot of the area north of Haverford is a bit of a no-man's-land (waiting to be renovated?).

HTH