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My husband and I are relocating our family to the Binghamton, NY area in a few weeks. I have been doing some independent research on Johnson City, Endicott, Endwell, and Vestal communities. The few homes that I especially like are in Johnson City. I was under the impression that JC wasn't that bad, but then I read some of the forums on here that say its full of crime. I just want to be in the lowest possible crime area for this region. I am realistic, in that I do not expect the crime to be as low as where I currently live, but I want to protect my family from as much of it as I can. I know that the endwell and vestal schools are the best (elementary), but can anyone vouch for JC elementary school(s)? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!
My husband and I are relocating our family to the Binghamton, NY area in a few weeks. I have been doing some independent research on Johnson City, Endicott, Endwell, and Vestal communities. The few homes that I especially like are in Johnson City. I was under the impression that JC wasn't that bad, but then I read some of the forums on here that say its full of crime. I just want to be in the lowest possible crime area for this region. I am realistic, in that I do not expect the crime to be as low as where I currently live, but I want to protect my family from as much of it as I can. I know that the endwell and vestal schools are the best (elementary), but can anyone vouch for JC elementary school(s)? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!
Unfortunately, I can't help you with specifics. But rest assured, you will easily find a community and neighborhood in the Binghamton area that is just as safe as where you currently live.
JC schools are alright. They still graduate a pretty percentage of kids(usually in the 80's) and it is the area's most diverse suburban SD. There are some iffy areas of JC, but there are more good areas of that school district. Union-Endicott isn't too bad either, but they have 1 iffy area and there has been some toxic concerns in the Plume area of the village. Vestal is very good, as is the Maine-Endwell and Chenango Valley SD's. Binghamton, is actually generally a very safe metro, but just like any place else, it has some rough neighborhoods in the city of Binghamton and 1 area in Endicott and Johnson City each.
From what I've seen and heard, the area of JC north of Route 17 is still nice and safe. It's pretty much the Central JC area south of Downtown that has had some issues around the old Endicott-Johnson factory housing.
Endwell and Vestal the towns are both squeaky clean and great schools to. Endicott's U-E is a good school but I don't know about the village. There's really only one nieghborhood where you wouldn't want to leave your house at dark, but there are a lot of areas that have some loud, rowdy rough charccters, the north side is low middle class income, lots of drinking loud neighbors up there. The west side again probably safe but there are quite a bit of domestics bar brawls up there, as there a three bars right on page ave, including some robberies. Johnson City is in a spiral downward imo. North of the new wal mart is ok though. I really wouldn't look in the city of bing, has some nice neighborhoods but close to iffy ones, the nice west side had twenty cars busted into a few months ago cause some of the criminals trickle down from Main St, some loud college kids there to. Don't look at anything north of main st in Bing or the first ward. Probably your best option for bing would be the south side over the bridge the further west the better.
Last edited by TripleCities; 02-03-2011 at 11:13 AM..
Alright here's my best review of the area. Johnson City is really like two different villages, The area around main street and the part on the hills by the new school. The area around the school is a lot nicer. Main St is mostly commercial except for some apartments immediatley north of main, Avenue D, C, B N Broad St etc, those streets North of main are all short because there is a large factory behind them. I definitely would stay away from them, quite a bit of drugs and questionable people day and night loitering. The southside is the worst of JC by far, most crime happens there, drugs run rampant through the southside, there has been some issues with police response time also. So stay away from south side, a lot of illegal immigrants on the southside mostly from Lao, I'm not saying illegal immigrants mean a bad neighborhood it's just some strange charcters down there a lot of criminal activity from legals and illegals, large increase in gang activity also. North of the new wal mart is OK, houses range from 60,000 to $100,000 mostly, but it's a decent middle class neighborhood. anything up on the hill is nice. Endicott is nice enough I guess, good schools(although the elementary and middle schools are questionable) If your looking for in the village I'd definitely try the southside starting at Mersereau Ave to Bassett Ave anything south of main is pretty nice, not many apartments lots of 1 family homes with pride of ownership. The next area for the VOE I'd try is the northwest neighborhood by Skye Island Drive around there is nice, another neighborhood right by there is the northwest one but this NW neighborhood is from Oak Hill to Cornell Ave nice middle class neighborhood. The neighborhood around St. Josephs church on the north side is OK also a little bit closer to some iffy areas though. Those three are probably the best for the most part drug free neighborhoods. The worst are in Endicott is is the plume area around downtown. Pretty much ALL the violent crime happens down there, Washington Ave is the worst the surrounding streets Lincoln, Cleveland, Madison and Jefferson etc, not nice at all, pretty much all rentals high gang activity, LOTS of drug dealers around not just marijuanna either. lots of crack heroin etc. Lots of guns in the neighborhood. I wouldn't really go out to much at night there, lots of druggies desperate for money results in a large number of robberies and muggings lately in the dead of winter so I can't imagine what summers gonna be like. Binghamton there are pretty much drugs every where. The west side SOUTH of main is nice, higher income the homes are expensive, but there are some college kids in the rentals south of main. NORTH of main is the really bad, lots of bloods gang members from downstate all over. The North Side is probably the worst of it all IMO, You can see the Latin Kings loitering around Doubleday St, Liberty St and Robinson. The first ward is really going down hill, lots of rough charcters, big 20 person brawls and stuff like that. The west south side is nice but expensive. The east south side is not very nice the saratoga terrace low income apartments are full of trouble shootings, robberies, stabbings etc. The east side is sorta decent, I do listen to the police scanner frequently and here Moeller, Robinson, Broad Ave streets A LOT, and they are all on the east side so it has it's trouble streets, Howard Ave is ok though. Endwell and Vestal are both nice but somewhat expensive. If you want a run down on a specific street just let me know.
Alright here's my best review of the area. Johnson City is really like two different villages, The area around main street and the part on the hills by the new school. The area around the school is a lot nicer. Main St is mostly commercial except for some apartments immediatley north of main, Avenue D, C, B N Broad St etc, those streets North of main are all short because there is a large factory behind them. I definitely would stay away from them, quite a bit of drugs and questionable people day and night loitering. The southside is the worst of JC by far, most crime happens there, drugs run rampant through the southside, there has been some issues with police response time also. So stay away from south side, a lot of illegal immigrants on the southside mostly from Lao, I'm not saying illegal immigrants mean a bad neighborhood it's just some strange charcters down there a lot of criminal activity from legals and illegals, large increase in gang activity also. North of the new wal mart is OK, houses range from 60,000 to $100,000 mostly, but it's a decent middle class neighborhood. anything up on the hill is nice. Endicott is nice enough I guess, good schools(although the elementary and middle schools are questionable) If your looking for in the village I'd definitely try the southside starting at Mersereau Ave to Bassett Ave anything south of main is pretty nice, not many apartments lots of 1 family homes with pride of ownership. The next area for the VOE I'd try is the northwest neighborhood by Skye Island Drive around there is nice, another neighborhood right by there is the northwest one but this NW neighborhood is from Oak Hill to Cornell Ave nice middle class neighborhood. The neighborhood around St. Josephs church on the north side is OK also a little bit closer to some iffy areas though. Those three are probably the best for the most part drug free neighborhoods. The worst are in Endicott is is the plume area around downtown. Pretty much ALL the violent crime happens down there, Washington Ave is the worst the surrounding streets Lincoln, Cleveland, Madison and Jefferson etc, not nice at all, pretty much all rentals high gang activity, LOTS of drug dealers around not just marijuanna either. lots of crack heroin etc. Lots of guns in the neighborhood. I wouldn't really go out to much at night there, lots of druggies desperate for money results in a large number of robberies and muggings lately in the dead of winter so I can't imagine what summers gonna be like. Binghamton there are pretty much drugs every where. The west side SOUTH of main is nice, higher income the homes are expensive, but there are some college kids in the rentals south of main. NORTH of main is the really bad, lots of bloods gang members from downstate all over. The North Side is probably the worst of it all IMO, You can see the Latin Kings loitering around Doubleday St, Liberty St and Robinson. The first ward is really going down hill, lots of rough charcters, big 20 person brawls and stuff like that. The west south side is nice but expensive. The east south side is not very nice the saratoga terrace low income apartments are full of trouble shootings, robberies, stabbings etc. The east side is sorta decent, I do listen to the police scanner frequently and here Moeller, Robinson, Broad Ave streets A LOT, and they are all on the east side so it has it's trouble streets, Howard Ave is ok though. Endwell and Vestal are both nice but somewhat expensive. If you want a run down on a specific street just let me know.
Are the SE Asians in the area illegal immigrants or are they refugees? We have our share of SE Asian refugees in Syracuse on the city's North Side, as well as refugees from the Sudan and other African nations as well. You some from Bosnia too. Catholic Charities has been known for helping refugees relocate to cities/areas like Binghamton, Syracuse and Utica in Upstate NY, as well as the Twin Cities area and parts of California in other parts of the country.
Also, I thought the part of Johnson City south of floral down to Riverside Drive was fine as well.
I have to say thank you to you all for the advice so far, but I must admit it is a little confusing. The two homes in Johnson city that I looked @ were in the floral park area....is this ok? What makes JC "downhill"? I am barely familiar with the area, so I dont know enough to know what the southside, northside, etc. is. I dont know where the new walmart is. I dont know what the plume area is....help!
It looks like the New Wal*Mart is on Gannett Drive north of the railroad tracks from the Central JC area(letter avenues by the factory) that SoTierNY described. 2 gannett drive johnson city, ny - Google Maps
Just my two cents. There are certainly a lot of LEGAL Laotions, there are lots of illegals also. Most refugees in the area are Vietnamese, we have a big vietnamese population. Floral Ave is probably ok but sorta iffy. It's seperated from the worst of the southside by the train tracks but there are some questionable pockets on Floral. A big problem in the area is all the abandoned warehouses and factories make for big abandoned brownyards, makes for drug dealing spots and violent crime. The plume in Endicott is from Jackson Ave probably down to Vestal ave with North St and Main St as the border. But Floral probably wouldn't be my first choice but it's probably ok, but I'd look around.
Having recently moved out of the area (I was on the Endicott/Endwell border), I really want to stress that if you are buying a home, please look in either Endwell or Vestal - no JC, no Endicott. I came very, very close to losing money on my home and not because the home wasn't nice - it was; and not even because it wasn't in a nice neighborhood - it was. The problem was, it was too close to the not so nice neighborhoods (the parts the other posters warned you about, plume & Washington Street). I'm not sure what your home budget it, but you can get a nice home in a nice part of Endwell & Vestal in the $120-$130,000 range. Even if that is on the upper part of your range, PLEASE take it from someone who has been there. It is well worth it and it will help you tremendously on your resale value. Within the past year, 3 of my friends have moved out of the area. We all had a hard time selling, but, by far, mine was the worst.
Even if you're not buying, I honestly can't recommend JC or Endicott. The majority of both towns are just not attractive and seem to be deteriorating rapidly.
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