Good luck finding anywhere that fits what you are looking for in the area of UPenn.

It is possible that you can find a relatively safe area of the city.

But not one where you don't lock your doors or you don't have to be cognizant of your surroundings.

However, there are plenty of safe areas in Philly, just not small town safe. If you can deal with some realities of urban living then you might want to think about looking at buildings with doormen. I think you will feel more safe in one of those than in a walk up.

While technically in SW Philly, I've heard Cedar Park is nice, though I've never been myself. I'm sure one of their reps will happen upon this thread in due time.

http://cedarparkneighbors.org/

you won't find that area around UPenn. There are areas farther away such as Roxborough, Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill, and Far Northeast Philly that might meet your needs. All of these areas have train access to the Penn.

Well, I think I should step in and just point out here that the neighborhoods immediately west/soutwest of Penn - Cedar Park, Spruce Hill - are in fact very nice - shady streets, beautiful old Victorian houses, a great neighborhood park, some nifty little cafes, restaurants, and stores. There is also great transit access to Center City, and of course it's close (walking distance) to Penn. I would seriously consider living there if we weren't already ensconced in Fairmount.

Part of the issue, pitt_prncss, is that what you describe in terms of safety is not the reality in Philadelphia - not in any part of town. This doesn't mean you're in dire danger walking down the street. Most of the time these neighborhoods are very quiet. But there is crime, and there is the possibility of being mugged, even if the odds are fairly slim that it will happen to you.

Hence the ambivalence of the answers you're getting. As has been said before, if you are generally comfortable with city living then you should definitely check out these neighborhoods. If not, you might do better to find something out in the burbs and commute into Penn by train, which is fairly easy to do.

Ditto, basically. Plenty of charming, attractive blocks close enough to walk to Penn. Safe, in city terms. UCD claims there is less crime in U City than in Center City, though I wouldn't be surprised if that involved them fidgeting with the Center City boundaries to make it true.

But...it's a city. You should lock your doors. You should be somewhat aware of what's going on around you. If you're looking for a place where you literally don't lock your doors, you'll want to look far, far from the city. The neighborhoods mentioned in the city as being non-locking doors may well be true for longtime residents who have neighbors/relatives looking out for them but is often not true for newcomers moving into those blocks. In other words there are definitely blocks in South Philly and the Northeast where the locals might not lock up...but that's because they know that specific people are looking out for them. That wouldn't necessarily be true for somebody who just showed up.

My sense is that Penn people who live in U City do so because it's cheaper and places are more spacious and greener than Center City. Folks who live in Center City tend to be picking for nightlife, quantity of restaurants, etc. There are plenty of non-Penn people who live in U City for all kinds of reason--longtime family affiliation with the hood, political connections to some of the orgs active out here, the local musicians, etc.

There aren't areas like that near Penn. There are areas of the city like that but you would have to take a train in and out of town or drive. (examples are Roxborough, Andorra, Far Northeast) We have excellent mass transit coverage but poor quality management of it.

Do yourself a favor. Before you decide, check out the place at night and during the day. Philly is easy because you can usually tell by the condition of the houses. Lotsa trash...probably bad. Neighbors outside and kids...probably good. It goes block by block and the higher the numbered street, the less safe it gets. Ther are good parts of University City but all parts of U City suffer from random thefts (cars...) and they occasionally will have a gang of surly youths rob people (students usually) till the cops catch them.

University Philly is the easternmost part of West Philly. West Philly is by all definitions a "depressed" part of Philly. This means crime. Sometimes (and I will hear about this from the "yuppies") the crime like to do a little trip to University City for a new car stereo.

Here's the crime report for campus from the student newspaper.

urglary July 26 -- At about 3:45 a.m., closed-circuit television cameras captured a man breaking into the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity house at 219 South 36th St. West Philadelphia resident Wendell Porter is being charged with burglary and related offenses.

July 26 -- University police arrested 48-year-old Southwest Philadelphia resident Robert Brown for the July 22 burglary of a house on the 4000 block of Pine Street.

July 21 -- Harold Berry -- a 43-year-old West Philadelphia resident -- was arrested by Penn Police for the burglary of a fraternity house on the 3700 block of Locust Walk on July 16. He is being charged with burglary and related offenses.



Theft

July 25 -- Between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., the Sony laptop computer of a 21-year-old male student was taken from an unlocked room in David Rittenhouse Laboratory. The computer is valued at $3,000.

July 25 -- Officials from Campus Apartments on the 4200 block of Walnut Street reported that between July 23 at 5 p.m. and noon on July 25 the lock on the laundry-room change box was broken and an unknown amount of change was stolen.

July 25 -- A tan Schwinn mountain bike valued at $600 was stolen from a porch on the 4000 block of Pine Street between July 23 at 5 p.m. and July 25 at 4 p.m.

July 25 -- A Penn Tower employee saw a man rummaging through his vehicle, which was parked in a garage on the 300 block of South 33rd Street. Two dollars in change was taken from the unsecured vehicle. The suspect, who fled, is a black male in his 30s, about six feet tall and very thin. He was wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans and a blue bag over his shoulder.

July 22 -- A female University employee reported that her car was broken into while parked in a lot on the 3200 block of South Street. Between 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., the passenger-side window was broken, and a GPS system and 20 CDs -- valued together at $1,400 -- were stolen.



All information was obtained from the University Police logbook.

-- Marissa Montenegro


http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vn...f?in_archive=1

Wow...just wow...

We would show the same hospitality to any new resident. We would tell them that the "yuppies" think U city is safe and then chuckle. Then we forget to lock our car and don't think about what's in view from the sidewalk....because we don't have too.

I agree with Zur. I think UCity is a great area, but if you're looking for the Philly equivalent of what you are used to, the far NE, parts of the near NE and Roxborough are your best bets.