harrisburg thoughts... (York, Marysville: home, safe neighborhoods, high schools)

[hashford]

wondering what people think of harrisburg. nervous about what i read. i love being outside hiking, fishing ect. is it safe for a woman and kids to walk around? are the middle and high schools good? ate at a pizza place downtown and it was awesome stuff!

[DowntownHarrisburg]

Originally Posted by hashford

wondering what people think of harrisburg. nervous about what i read. i love being outside hiking, fishing ect. is it safe for a woman and kids to walk around? are the middle and high schools good? ate at a pizza place downtown and it was awesome stuff!

Like any other city, Harrisburg has its good spots and bad spots. How safe you are depends on where you are and how comfortable you are in an urban environment. There are suburbanites who are terrified by the prospect of getting pizza downtown, and there are those of us who don't think twice about exploring the back alleys of midtown. So on the whole, I'd say the city is "safe" -- but there are areas that you might want to avoid until you become more familiar with the city.

As a general rule of thumb, if you are southeast of Reily St and southwest of Cameron St, you'll be fine. I've also heard people say that if you can see the capitol dome or the river, you're fine. Unfortunately, these guidelines cut out many interesting and perfectly safe neighborhoods. They will, however, give you a very rough set of boundaries to what's generally considered the "safer" parts of downtown / midtown.

Susquehanna Township and Lower Paxton Township are two major suburban areas here that have Harrisburg mailing addresses, but have their own local government, schools, and police departments. Both of these give you a lot of the benefits of city living without some of the shadier areas of town. I personally think Susquehanna Township is the better of the two.

Harrisburg's city schools are terrible.

I know nothing about the local fishing holes, but apparently there's plenty to be had on the islands of the Susquehanna (though many of them are privately owned). Harrisburg has a large walking loop around the city called the Capital Area Greenbelt. If you want "real" hiking, the Appalachian Trail passes just north of the area. There are also many state parks containing trails of varying difficulty within a 30-45-minute drive, to say nothing of the surrounding mountains.

[hashford]

thank you for answering. we visited once when some Dali paintings were at a museum there. hard time finding a parking space but it was nice out so a walk was welcome. we have a choice of a town in maryland or harrisburg area. both are about the same distance wise to new york. way different in home prices.

[ki0eh]

Those who like suburbs better than urbs and facing moving to the Harrisburg metro typically look first to the so-called "West Shore" area, which is an initially bewildering array of small municipalities mostly in Cumberland County (spilling over into northern York and, to some people, Marysville in Perry, counties). All are safe to walk around in, schools vary.

Here's an organization of 500 hikers in the area: SATC-Hike.org - The Online Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club

[pman]

Originally Posted by hashford

thank you for answering. we visited once when some Dali paintings were at a museum there. hard time finding a parking space but it was nice out so a walk was welcome. we have a choice of a town in maryland or harrisburg area. both are about the same distance wise to new york. way different in home prices.

fwiw harrisburg has train service (amtrak's keystone service) to ny