16th and mt vernoin/wallace/north will greatly improve once they get all the public housing out of there

i think al alston is leading that endeavor

Thanks to everyone for the input. I figured I would be taking a cab home if I ended up working late- more worried about 6-7ish during the winter hours. My boyfriend and I have walked around the neighborhood and for the most part it didnt seem that bad (just a city neighborhood) but this thread got me thinking otherwise. I did notice that almost everything on Sydenham had been torn down and they are starting new construction- has this deterred any of these activities as of yet? Where should we NOT park our car? North didnt look bad- but I wasnt there late at night. Again- many thanks.

It is close, but those 2 blocks make a HUGE difference.

Which will never happen. The city wants PHA and section 8 in every neighborhood and will never get rid of it to improve the neighborhood. Strange but true.

I couldn't help but notice, but I just moved to 16th and Spring Garden, and I take 16th every morning and I never think it to be too intimidating? Does the problem stretch down to SG or is it just seemingly contained to Mt Vernon/Wallace/North Sts?

Maybe more so at night... Is there a problem also at 16th and SG? I recently thought this area to be pretty safe since the Community College and 1500 SG came along... And with Masterman right down the street...

Most drug dealers don't keep morning hours. They are a stay-late-at-the-office type of crowd.

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SG is relatively safe with all the traffic, lights, etc. I've walked home from Kellian's after midnight a few times and haven't had a problem. I usually walk over to 17th st along SG though before I head north.

16th Street doesn't have that much foot traffic so I avoid it and use 17th as well.

The public housing in the area isn't going anywhere. The best thing that can happen is for it to be better run - some of it is already run by the CDC and that's been an improvement.

Poor people cannot be merely shifted out to another neighborhood when they seem inconvenient. They, too, deserve decent housing and the mix of people is what makes urban living both interesting and challenging. If people want monochromatic neighborhoods - head for the burbs.

Drug dealers, on the other hand, should be in jail, plain and simple.

I have to tell you I am on this blog alot and live at 17th and Wallace...More crime happens in the nicer parts of Fairmount. Cars being broken into , vandalism, strange people asking for money- GUNSHOTS- two blocks away - in the "nicer area" ..Yes I sometimes see shady looking people..but I saw more muggings and car thefts when I lived in Rittenhouse and I would see them right out my window..Being poor doesn't equal being a criminal..THERE IS A MAJOR DIFFERENCE...My perception is that people want to try to focus their attention on 16th and Wallace / Mt. Vernon being bad to get the attention off the actual crime happening on the blocks they live on.

You're right, being poor does not make you a criminal, but the most recent statistic I heard (maybe it was made up, I don't know) is that roughly 10% are. Also, most criminals are poor.

In terms of location of the crime, poor people are smart enough not to mug each other. They're poor. That doesn't make you safe walking through a poor area if you don't look poor.

Given that most criminals are poor and the criminals are forced to travel to find people with money, where do you think the criminals are coming from? The "nice" blocks?

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