What can you tell me about the El Vista neighborhood in Peoria? (Morton: apartment)

[MerriMeg]

I have found a house that I really like in the El Vista neighborhood in Peoria. I am moving from out of state and not familiar with the city at all. I have to admit, I am pretty concerned about the crime rate in the city. Other than that, it seems great, with lots of diversity and lots to do. What can you tell me about the El Vista neighborhood? Would you want to live in it? Is it safe to walk around alone? Are there gang problems? Or is it pretty quiet? Thank you!

[Master Jay]

Well, this intrigues me, but for a bit of a different reason....

I hope you get some REAL experienced people to reply. As I read a couple articles on it, I thought to myself " Is this even legit info?/ Is it recycled old data??

In any event, what I read was that it was safe and had some diversity (a.k.a. some residents of Mexican heritage).

But the reason why I wanted to look into it is because if this neighborhood name was chosen to have a Spanish-sounding name, then it seems like something is missing; given that in Spanish, the word for "The View" is LA Vista, and not EL Vista.

Either way, good luck/buena suerte!

[MerriMeg]

The map on Realtor.com has the neighborhood labeled El Vista. That isn't listed as a neighborhood on the Peoria page here on City-Data. I am not sure what neighborhood City-Data would consider it. The street the house is on is North Leroy.

[kazimierz]

I do not know that particular neighborhood, but when we moved here we were always told do not move south of the Hwy 150 (War memorial) - I74 line. I do not know how up to date it is, but: Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site

[Caglee]

I last lived in Peoria back in the early and mid 2000's, and the general rule of thumb was always never live south of War Memorial Drive as the previous poster stated. This was very common knowledge among people, and having lived there and experiencing the city for half a decade, I found it to be very prudent advice.

If you're moving from out of state I would recommend finding an apartment or rental house temporarily so you can see for yourself what the city is like and if you want to live there. I think Peoria is a dying city and wouldn't recommend anyone live there, but if you have circumstances or reasons for doing so, I wouldn't make any permanent decisions until you get a chance to move here, live life for awhile, check out the neighborhoods, and then find a house to buy. Everyone I know that lived there has long since moved away. Something else to consider is that the Peoria public schools are notoriously bad. Anyone with the means to do so sends their kids to private schools or moves out to the suburbs like Dunlap, Washington, and Morton.