Safe Neighborhoods?

[here2talk]

Hi all! I am looking for housing in North Oklahoma City or Edmond. I want to be sure I am in a safe neighborhood, but I don't have much to spend on rent. I would prefer to live alone, rather than with a roommate. What is a good area in which I could find a small duplex to rent for around $500? I am new to the area and want to make sure I make a good choice. I few places available (I have only seen the address online and haven't been able to view the properties yet) are around NW 42nd and Western, NW 18th and Broadway, and NW 12th or 16th and Villa. Are these in decent areas? Thanks for your help!

[Midtowner]

Are these decent areas?

42nd and Western maybe. The rest, I'd say are sketchy.

[ShiroiHikari]

I was about to say the same.

[hipsterdoofus]

For that price I'd recommend at least parts of the Village - we owned a house south of Britton between May & Penn and never felt unsafe in the 4 1/2 years that I lived there. I think that area tends to be young professionals who can't afford Edmond anymore or retirees...either way, makes for some nice neighbors, in my experience.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Check Jefferson Park and the Paseo. Kinda sketchy still, but in a historic and quaint way =)

[AAC2005]

Sketchy, as in chalk outlines or composites of a possible suspect?

(Sorry, I drive down Villa everyday, so I couldn't resist)

[here2talk]

Thanks for your responses. I realized it's actually 47th and Western....not much difference I'm sure, but just to clarify. So is that area still sketchy and just better than the others I mentioned or is it actually a nice area to live for a year or two?

[wsucougz]

18th and Broad(Heritage Hills East) is probably comparable to 42nd and Western. If you're on the west side of Western near 42nd, it's slightly rough depending which block. Either one is a fairly decent locale, though, and getting better.

Both are in good proximity to cool ****e. You can walk downtown from 18 and Broad.

[circuitboard]

For that price I'd recommend at least parts of the Village - we owned a house south of Britton between May & Penn and never felt unsafe in the 4 1/2 years that I lived there. I think that area tends to be young professionals who can't afford Edmond anymore or retirees...either way, makes for some nice neighbors, in my experience.

I agree... go for the Village if you can't afford edmond. The village has there own police department, and they are FAST! Look at crime tracker, you see very little to almost no crime.

[wsucougz]

Thanks for your responses. I realized it's actually 47th and Western....not much difference I'm sure, but just to clarify. So is that area still sketchy and just better than the others I mentioned or is it actually a nice area to live for a year or two?

It's probably fine. I would have no problem living near 47th and Western or 18th and Broad, depending upon the quality of the apartment itself.

The question is really, what are you interested in? If it's close proximity to neighborhood bars and restaurants, as well as downtown, or if you work nearby, then you're on the right track. At 47th and Western, you could stumble in and out of some of the best bars in the city without having to get in your car: Edna's, Cock O' the Walk, VZD's, Speakeasy, etc. and good Sushi and such. You're also within a couple minutes drive or bike to downtown, paseo, midtown, Nichols Hills.
At 18th and Broad, assuming you're in the 100 block, you're 1 block east of near million dollar houses, 8-10 blocks N of midtown and A-alley(Mcnellies pub, good restaurants, coffee shops), and just a few more blocks further to Downtown and Bricktown. Basically, you're right in the middle of all the cool **** happening in OKC at either location.

Now if you could give a rats about all that, you might want to check out the village and such. It's probably a bit quieter.

[BG918]

NW 18 and Broadway and NW 47 and Western are both decent areas and you shouldn't have problems around either. Like others have said you are close to some of the best restaurants and nightlife in the city, within walking distance at NW 47 and Western. I would choose NW 18 myself just because you're closer to downtown and midtown and you're at the edge of the beautiful Heritage Hills/Mesta Park neighborhood. NW 16 and Villa is pretty sketchy though, but I do believe that whole neighborhood is improving but more so east of Penn.

[OKCMallen]

18th and Broadway...you better drive by there first...each street is hit and miss around there.

[HOT ROD]

I agree with BG, get a place in the inner city, as close to downtown as you can. 18th and Broadway is about the best of all worlds - the place itself might not be all that (since it's inner city/urban) but look at what's nearby:

Downtown and it's districts (AAlley, Deep Deuce, Flatiron/Triangle, Arts District, Bricktown, C2S, WestDowntown)
Midtown
Heritage Hills
Asian District
Paseo District
Uptown 23rd
Eastside
Capitol Campus
Oklahoma Health Center
Oklahoma City University
39th Street
Penn Square

All of this is within 2 miles from said location! A host of other districts are within 5 miles. You should have NO SHORTAGE of things to do.

Also, there's public transit and the promise of gentrification as the city's makeover is sure to encompass the area in the near future (as it expands out from downtown).

Aside from living in downtown itself, I don't think you could beat the inner north for Urban living in the city!

[PennyQuilts]

I lived at 49th and Western and that is a great place. I bet you'd like that area. I walked and always felt safe. Close to everything.

I miss that house.

[yadillah nai]

It's all safe..if you walk down the street at two am with diamond bracelets and a gleaming rolex you might get robbed... where there are people who are broke and needing drugs and alcohol and if you seem to have money you might have a problem....I wouldn't park a luxury car anywhere but a drive way anyway...I feel like people who want to gaffle someone will look for someone who seems afraid and then prey on them...It bothers me this fear thing..where the hell did it come from...learn to fight...people won't mess with you if you come right back at them...easy...good luck I recommend anywhere in/near downtown,It is going to do nothing but get better and more interesting......we are going to be experience a recentralization of people as fuel gets more expensive and people figure their cheaper alternatives....we need communities of people who are not afraid of each other,dealing with each other everyday, not a mobile diaspora of dismissive get away cars running back to our ziplocked lives of irrational fear and resistance to change....that was a rant...haha blessing and peace be showered on your souls...
I believe all people are basically good,especially when we are economically enfranchised and moving forward in a sense of real community with interdependent fields of shared responsibility...deprive a man or woman of his or her economic self fulfilment and determination and look out... jesus beat the living crap out of people earning profit fom usury changing money.....yeah the times...it was written indeed...

[yadillah nai]

That rant aside...N.Robinson between 23rd and 36th is where we live and we love it...that sound like the right price range...I think there is one for sale actually...24th and twentfifth maybe...good luck..nice string of parks,especially if you have dogs...downtown is a 10 minute walk and the Paseo is about three minutes...blessings

[BG918]

That rant aside...N.Robinson between 23rd and 36th is where we live and we love it...that sound like the right price range...I think there is one for sale actually...24th and twentfifth maybe...good luck..nice string of parks,especially if you have dogs...downtown is a 10 minute walk and the Paseo is about three minutes...blessings

You live in one of my favorite parts of OKC. I love driving down Robinson from NW 36 into downtown and seeing all those great apartment buildings and houses along tree-lined Robinson. I'd live in that area if I lived in OKC (I live by the OU campus in Norman).

[CuatrodeMayo]

I'm at robinson & 24th. It's a great area. What y/n said is generally true. My wife's uncle works at the firestation on broadway and he said the people that live in the neighborhood are fine. It's the ones who don't live there that you have to worry about.

I like it. It's just a short bike ride from my office in Midtown, easy access to the highway and things along 23rd, and great housing stock. We will buy in this area in 2-3 years.

[Karried]

I just read this article.. might want to avoid this particular neighborhood:

Neighors Cope with Fear
By Ken Raymond
Staff Writer

As far as neighborhoods go, this one's not much to look at — a lonely outpost in the midst of urban sprawl, an isolated settlement falling steadily into disrepair.



Some who live here say the place has changed. What once was safe is now perilous, and when violence occurs — as it did early Saturday — fear grows.

This stretch of Lincoln Boulevard is probably less than a quarter-mile long. Condominiums and apartments, many dating from the mid-1980s, butt against each other, their paint cracked and faded. Fields of grass high enough to cover a man's knees spring up to the north and east, and a trash-littered trail leads through the overgrowth to a nearby apartment complex.

Earlier this year, a storm toppled the chimney from a condo on an adjoining street. Weeks passed before anyone bothered to cover the hole.

A few folks, mainly single women, own their homes here. The rest are somewhere between where they started out and where they want to be.

Increasingly, they don't want to be here.

Saturday, two women were attacked by a rapist. One awoke about 3 a.m. to find the man in her bedroom in the 11000 block of N Lincoln. He hit her with a lamp taken from her nightstand, raped her and apparently stabbed her.

When a neighbor came to check on her after finding the front door open, the man beat and stabbed her, too.
Both survived. The man escaped.

Latest in string of crimes
Saturday's attack continues a crime increase in this northeast Oklahoma City neighborhood. Burglaries, home invasions and drug dealing have become too common. Shots have been fired. Now people have been beaten, sexually assaulted and stabbed. What was once a quiet home for young workers and pensioners is now a scary place.


I should know. I was one of the victims.

Until recently, my wife and I lived about 100 feet from the women injured in Saturday's violence.

More than a year ago, our home was burglarized while I was at work and my wife was shopping.

Neighbors reported seeing a pair of young strangers in the area before the break-in, but they never were caught.

Another neighbor was burglarized after that.

Twice this summer, residents were confronted by home invaders. One invasion was aborted when the criminal took off after realizing a resident was home.

The other, apparently an attempted robbery, ended with the arrest of the "victim” after police found drugs, body armor, weapons and cash inside his condo.

At the time, a neighbor told me she heard a gunshot and saw the resident chasing someone out of his home, yelling at her to call 911. The men struggled. The resident fell, and the other man ran away. She phoned 911, then emerged to find the resident bleeding, armed and telling her not to call for help, after all.

Now this.
On Thursday, I spoke briefly with one of Saturday's victims.
She was understandably upset with me for intruding on her privacy, and she didn't want to talk about what happened.

Her face is bruised and marked with slowly healing wounds. She will get better. Unless something changes, the neighborhood will only get worse."

That is very sad. I'm not sure why the city has let these homes and property remain in such deplorable conditions.

In our neighborhood, we can't park an RV, have a Boat and can't have a weed over an inch without someone on the HOA calling the city and sending a 'letter'.

It is sort of irritating, I guess it takes that sort of diligence to maintain an area.

The neighbors out there need to make some phone calls.