Dear All

I am looking at an apartment in the vicinity of 40th and Spring garden.

I looked at it last weekend and then I drove around the area...

It seems nice walking south and east from there.. not as much going north..

I have couple questions though about the area..

I would be parking my car onthe street.. nothing extravaant, but unfortunately, not beater either.

I plan on walking/biking to work in 20th and Market.

And it seems most of the services are around 40th and Chesnut, so I might be walking from there often and maybe with groceries and maybe later in the evening.

Do you see any safety issues in doing this?
I have lived in Mt. Airy and even there I got mugged, so I guess I am not completely oblivious to city living, but I guess I wanted some opinions on the area.

The apartment is OK (not perfect) but the price is right and the distance is OK as well..so if the area is fine I would be more inclied to give it a go.

any opinions?

Thanks

Igor

I think Dave might know more about that specific area than I do. West Powelton is going through a bit of flux right now, but most of it has been positive. Personally, its not really an area that appeals tremendously to me, but it is close to Penn & Drexel and it does seem to be getting a lot of recent investment.

I can't really comment on crime...but it might even be safer there than Powelton Village because there are less vulnerable students out that way.

__________________
- George -

http://www.nutter2007.com

a good friend of mine lives on 37th and spring garden and its a pretty nice block, imo. although just a little bit north and you're into abandoned buildings and the whatever goes with that.

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

*EDIT*

One thing to be aware of is that there's a PHA building in the vecinity of Preston & Baring Streets. I've walked by it on several occasions, including after dark, without incident but there often are people loitering outside and, given the reputation of PHA housing, I thought I'd mention it.

__________________
Your representatives on Philadelphia's City Council are at odds with our new mayor over whether many reforms he has proposed should become law. Please write to them and tell them what your priorities are.

Indict State Senator Vince Fumo into The Crooked Pol Hall of Fame.

I would concur. I have friends who have lived on the 3900 block of Lancaster for years as well as all around West Powelton generally. You are much better being that block or so SE of Lancaster. There has been a lingering issue with drug activity aournd the corner where 40th, Lancaster and Haverford intersect for years - strangely (or suspiciously if you are particularly conspiracy minded) in pretty close proximity to the police station there. Otherwise I would say Dave hit it kind of on the nose.

on 40th and Green Streets. The block that you refer to was in my backyard. I thought that it was a great location, since the #10 trolley runs 24 hours! Easy to walk to 40th St El station (all trains stop there, none of that A/B stop stuff). I left because I wanted a little garden, and my block had one too many drug busts. The kids did hover around 40th St, but once they knew that I owned a house on the block, they ignored me, for the most part. When I first moved there, the police watched me VERY carefully. After a few days, they stopped me and asked what I was doing in the neighborhood (I stuck out - a single white female) and told me that I had to move - that I would not survive there, and in fact they took it upon themselves to try to find an apartment for me! He also let it be known on my block that I was under police protection (the neighbors told me this, about 6 months after I lived there). This freaked me out, as you might imagine.

YMMV.

e

Thank you all..

This was helpfull.. I guess I will keep it on my list... I like the Art Museum/ Fairmount area a little more (lus it is closer to my work), but so far I have not found any nice apartments there.

Keep the comments coming though... I will kep reading this .
Igor

It's an ok area, but just be on the lookout for the occasional 15 year old punk with his buddies that would try to strong-arm you at gun point. And when it does happen, post it on the board so it can piss everyone off all over again for a few days until the next one rolls around.

I lived at Lancaster & 39th from 9/01 to 8/03. Friends thought I was nuts moving there, but it turned out alright. I got around by foot and bike and never had any real trouble. BUT, be prepared for the usual aesthetic assaults of living in the city: loud, booming music from cars, houses and businesses. There was a house two blocks away that set up humungous speakers on certain summer evenings and blasted away until all hours of the night; getting hit on regularly for "donations" if you look at all non-African-American (I am a 56 y.o. WM); some pretty dicey looking people walking around on Lancaster Ave. who may or may not be dangerous, but definitely not the type you would ask to afternoon tea; middle-class drop out/alternative youth. There was some sort of self-styled, low-level artists' residence on our block that regularly expressed its never so humble opinions by painting on their wall. They would unload things in front of my apartment at times and were pretty shaky. Note too that there are blocks that really should be avoided. These people do not care about themselves or anyone else.

That said, it is a very convenient neighborhood, there is some great housing stock and it is up and coming.

Ha ha. Its funny to hear someone complain about the white punker kids as being sketchier than the guys in the parkas in the pharmaceutical distrubution biz, but to each your own I guess. It should be pointed out that the 4900 block of Lancaster is the home of Fakehouse, Stallag 13 and couple of other well known converted warehouses that were at a time a 4 or 5 years ago- very active punk and alternative music venues. Hassles from the cops and cleaning up after shows started to be a drag so the numbers of shows have over time dropped to very near to zilch. Actually some of the folks at the Fakehouse are good friends of mine and hardly "sketchy" at all - but rather fairly skilled and hardworking carpenters and contractors. The Fakehouse is a particularly interesting residential conversion (not zoned of course) and was actually profiled in a City Paper "decor" issue a couple of years back.