16th & Reed, even with the taproom, is not the next Northern Liberties

i wouldn't live at 9th & tasker if you paid me.
everyone thinks just because they put a coffee shop that sells espresso, and the housing prices go up that they are in a "great" neighborhood.
when in reality there is still filth in the streets, not to mention the crime.

if you have children, i'd be looking elsewhere. where would you send them to school?

The school situation is not indicative of that particular neighborhood. Yes there is trash in the streets but again it is not a characteristic only found there. This neighborhood shows the signs of a poorly run city as does most others outside center city. As for crime there is less crime here then in most other center city fringe neighborhood. And even some center city neighborhoods.

In addition, this neighborhood is improving not declining. You sound as if you have a bone to pick.

the school situation is a problem in all of south philly. i guess the point i'm trying to make is that, if someone is looking to buy in some of these areas in south philly, with housing being so high, they might be in for a real let down. especially if you have children. where do you send your kids...public school? plus when 2007 comes around the property tax situation will change dramatically change in philadelphia.
as for crime, i still don't believe those two areas are very safe.

as for the neighborhood improving not declining...where do you get that from? just because the housing prices are up?

you have definately spawned an interest in exploring these areas further. i have to agree that it is very possible that there is equal crime in nicer areas. I live essentially on 2nd and Queen now in Queen Village where there is very little trash on the streets, there are great little restaurants, coffee shops and trees lining the streets along with beautiful million dollar homes and 400,000$ townhomes. My roommate was held up with a knife against her throat month ago across from a brightly lit WaWa with police cars in the driveway, my neighbor was held up at gun point directly in front of my house that same week by someone else on a bike in the middle of the afternoon, my other neighbor's home was buglarized two weeks ago and my new neighbor was was held up at gun point while moving in last week in the early evening (still daylight). Before I moved here I was living on 2nd and Christian. My neighbor there had her car broken into and a crack pipe was left lying on her seat when she got up to drive to work in the morning. My good friend on 2nd and washington and another one on pemberton and front their cars stolen a little over a year ago!!! Also someone got shot and killed in front of my work in center city not too long ago. I think crime is everywhere in this city. I'm just hoping to have a place to live where there is easy access to center city, where atleast the streets are clean and the neighbors look out for you. It sounds like 9th and tasker isn't for me and 16th and reed sounds even further from what i'm looking for. Thank you for all the help.

Nothing. A little noisy sometimes depending on how close to Grumpy's Bar you live, but it's not dangerous at all. Pretty friendly actually. If the kids at the day care center on that corner can handle it, I'm fairly certain you can.

Some people are just snobby and frightened on this board.

I'm not sure what to think about in regards to the neighborhoods in south philly improving. I mean, yeah they are putting up coffee shops and a lot of the homes i have seen are renovated and still affordable so there are people like me, a twenty five year old graduate student, choosing to live there. I still havent seen it improving much though and I'm not sure how many people will stick around. It seems hit or miss down there and there doens't seem to be a specific location where people are age are being drawn to. It's either 9th and Tasker, 7th and Dickinson, 4th and Morris, 16th and Reed etc....whereever - they're just pokka dotting the place rather than sticking together and making one specific area top-knotch. what do you all think?

16&Reed is terrible.

9&Tasker is fine...but do realize 7th - >4th is quite run down.

Historically, 8th -> Broad on Tasker has been a solid working class South Philly hood. 12&Tasker is my 2nd home, been going there my whole life. (Im 28) There is still plenty of petty, and not so petty crime. 2 nights ago I witnessed police chasing a guy who tried to stick up CVS. We saw 2 police on foot chasing him down Reed St. Fortunately, they got him and his gun.

Well, I'm not going to argue the school issue with you because I agree that choices in south philly are not plentiful. However, half of passyunk square is in the new centercity schhols network. This allows anyone within the jackson elementry school district to be considered as a second catchment to any school in centercity. I think you'll agree that those schools are much better than the current south philly options.

As far as improvements go, I'd say that the recent (last year I think) formation of the PSCA would be a great improvement. They have monthly meeting to discuss how to improve the neighborhood and general goings on. They have also formed a townwatch which patrols the area twice month. They host festivals (there is one next week in goldstar park) and events in the neighborhood. They also have a zoning board review to help accomodate all the new developments in the neighborhood.

Also, If you've been to passyunk ave lately you've seen the new businesses that have opened in the last couple of years and the others being renovated to open soon.

awesome ~ that's valuable info. thanks for the specifics. anyone here what happened two nights ago? my friends neighbor got shot on 12th and ellsworth.