This is funny. Whenever I hear about crime around here I think "Well, crime's worse in W. Philly". I'm not knocking W. Philly in any way, it's just interesting how we all spin stuff to make us feel good about our neighborhoods. Won't it be great if someday we can all feel comfortable where we are without making comparisons?

To WestPhillyRoses: I know very little about your neighborhood but also encourage you to give it some time. I moved to Philly from an area with very little crime, so it has been an adjustment. I would be lying if I said I have never questioned whether living here is the right thing for my family. But, at this point I'm comfortable overall and feel confident that I will know if I need to make a move for the sake of my family. I think you will too.

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"If you think you're too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito."

--Bette Reese

Everyone buy one of these (legally of course) and apply for a CCW:

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Eat your heart out Mr. Obama.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what is for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote" Benjamin Franklin

Yes there is a place where you wont be treated like a child.

I think my little corner of West Philly (Clark Park, Cedar Park) is doing well has seen a steady decline in crime (down 40% according to the UCD). Our problems are the same problems the rest of the not-Center City has. Poor strategy choices early on by Commish Johnson, problems with attrition from DROP, problems with the court system, etc. Some recent changes in police policy seem to be making a difference city wide.

JillyS, I personally still feel much, much safer around 50th and Baltimore than I do around your 'hood south of Fitz but thats just my opinion and where I know it better.

The store was MiaLou BTW and is likely to come back in altered form a few months down the line.

There you go comparing again based on "feelings"! Ok, I'm leaving this thread...seeing as I know little about W. Philly I don't belong here anyway....

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"If you think you're too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito."

--Bette Reese

No diss, its just out this way we've been dealing with being a racially and economically mixed area for a lot longer than you guys have (despite perceptions to the contrary). You can't have the kind of sudden changes that you guys have seen and not expect things to be rocky. The Clark Park Festival (tommorow BTW) has been going on for 35+ years. The Mariposa Coop is over 20 years old. There has been a small but significant non-student vaguely hippieish, lefty, (predominately white) presence as part of the mix out here for a very, very long time.

Ok, I lied. I didn't leave the thread. No "diss" taken whatsoever. Interestingly, I have heard some residents of W. Philly say that they feel that tension based on racial difference is less in SWCC than in W. Philly. Who knows? Honestly, I don't have enough knowledge of either area to comment further.

I don't want to make this about race or SWCC...my contribution (if you want to call it that) to this discussion originally was to make the point of how powerful perception is to our comfort level in a neighborhood...particularly when it comes to safety. The poster I was responding to was robbed at gunpoint while walking the the El and maintains that he loves the neighborhood. That's great, but often without even realizing it, and particularly when we feel vulnerable, we are compelled to make comparisons. When we find a way to be "better than", we feel more at ease with ourselves, our environment, our safety, etc.

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"If you think you're too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito."

--Bette Reese

I'm always shocked at how much open drug-dealing takes place in SWCC compared to West Philly. We have friends who live on lovely blocks over there that are much more "gentrified" than most blocks out here, but have consistent drug dealing in front of their houses all day, every day, with dealers getting shot on their steps and so on. University City definitely has a problem with "imported" crime, with people who come from out of the neighborhood to commit crimes here, mostly muggings, but it strikes me that SWCC has a bigger problem with "domestic" crime, with crimes committed over and over again by people who live in the neighborhood. Though I know it varies a lot block by block.

SW Phila is worse. Beiruit circa 1985 was in better shape. I think it has more to do with the police coverage that's just adjacent to UCity more than anything else.

West Philly dealers have access to the El and they're actually all over town. They're outside working in my neighborhood right now as I write this; but no turf wars ever erupt in Center City, it's a "neutral zone" to the Klingons.

There's a few guys who usually sell pot at night right at City Hall. Check out Dillworth plaza if you have the constiution for it. I've been propped for it twice... once going through there, and once from a guy right in front of my door... upon refusing told me I could find him or his buddies over there should I change my mind.

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WHYY pays their CEO $750,000 a year. So WHYY should I renew my membership? Seems they have no problems finding money and spending it unwisely.


And this is why you should donate to PACCA, not PETA:

In September, PETA made headlines in Vermont and across the nation for asking Ben & Jerry's ice cream to use human breast milk in their ice cream, instead of cow milk

I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to take this thread in the direction of neighborhood comparisons. This thread is meant to discuss crime and security issues in West Philly.

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"If you think you're too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito."

--Bette Reese

Did anyone hear gunfire on 50th Street last night around 1:30am? Any word on what was going on?