I'm a student attending Drexel and I'm considering renting an apartment around 41st St. and Poweltown Ave. Is this considered a good area? Is it safe?

Its pretty safe in my book. Obviously not as tony as Powelton proper but allright. Our moderator lives not too far from there. Maybe he can chime in.

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I do live a couple blocks from there. We sometimes have problems with kids, but it's mostly light vandalism and mischief, no worse than stuff that happens in neighborhoods like Fairmount and Fishtown. I walk home from 40th & Market at all hours of the day/night and haven't had trouble so far (been living here ~2 years).

You should be fine.

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That area is on the up-and-up with more families moving in and rehabbing going on. I work two blocks from there, and other than the shady stuff that goes on at 40th and Market, it seems fine to me.

Don't know that I'd call 40th & Market "shady" unless the "taxi hack" people are doing something other than offering people a taxi ride (maybe it's in an unlicensed taxi?). 40th St gets a little weird/shady farther up (somewhere north of Powelton), but once you go a block either East or West of 40th the neighborhood changes for the better. Not sure what it is about 40th.

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Well, I got shoved by some random guy walking north on 40th to my office, which is around the back of the Market Square building. He shoved me so hard in the chest that I got pushed backward, for no reason at all. I've also gotten gay-bashed a few times there. It's not a great corner for me, I guess...

I lived at 40th and powelton for about 5 years 12 years ago so it has been awhile but I do still work in the area, rent out my old house and go through quite often and it seems pretty much the same. I was glad when I got out. It was the little things that started to get to me: Multiple car radios blasting all summer long, litter and broken glass a constant, aggressive panhandlers, hostile young teens, vandalism, graffiti and walking around at night was simply not an option. Fortunately I was not a victim of some of the more serious violent crime, most of that was drug related inside stuff. I had 2 house mates, both were mugged with a gun near the El the el stop at 40th St. In this environment were some of the nicest neighbors I have ever had. Mostly old ladies but the kindest people you could ever know. I still see them and talk from time to time.
For a male student I would say it could be an OK experience but you should be getting a nice place for a good price to compensate for the location. I have seen some pretty hefty rents being asked up that way and I just don't think the time has come for that. It won't stop a landlord from trying to get what they can from an inexperienced Drexel student. 3 bedrooms should go for $1100 or less.

I never set foot in West Powelton until I started looking into buying but, from what I hear, it's changed significantly over the past few years. On my block, several houses that used to be problem tenants renting from a slumlord all got sold (I bought one of them) and it's now almost all owner-occupants. Some of the people who bought one of the other houses said a cop (or FBI or something) came looking for one of the former occupants shortly after they'd bought and told them if he ever came back to consider him "armed and dangerous." I've also gotten a lot of mail from the PPA (opened one before realizing it wasn't for me and whoever it was for owes something like $2000 for driving without a license, among other things). That isn't to say all the problem tenants are gone (some of my neighbors have complained about kids who live on a house on the 4000 block of Powelton which, based on looking up the address on BRT, appears to be public housing run by the state -- I wrote to the gov and my state reps about it). I've also heard from my neighbors that there used to be a drug corner or two a block or two from where I live, but it got shut down (by people in the neighborhood) a while back.

I've been approached by panhandlers a couple times since I've been here, mostly near 40th st, but also once on my block. None have been really aggressive, though, and I've encountered panhandlers in much nicer neighborhoods, also.

Like I said, 40th St is kind of shady for some reason. I actually avoid 40th St north of Market at night, but generally feel comfortable a block away from it.

Anyway, rents should definitely be lower here. You won't be doing anyone a favor (other than the landlord) by allowing yourself to get ripped off with the rent. I also wouldn't rent without looking at the place first, since some rentals might not be in good condition (you didn't mention whether you have seen the apartment or the area, so I figure I'll put that out there).

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Hmm. I see your point.

Maybe people just tend to leave me alone for some reason.

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FWIW, I just did a lookup on BRT and this property appears to have a different owner now.

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