Moving to Lake City, is it SAFE?

[brandonbrinegar]

Lake City isn't that bad...it's funny how images of the poor neighborhoods in Seattle in the 80's and 90's stick with people. I work off LCW, 80th and 14th and never see anything unusual. I think theres a pocket somewhere on LCW by a convenience store thats shady but thats about it.

[PigeonCoup77]

Originally Posted by Ira500

marinated organic free range pigeon entrails on a bed of locally sourced arugula.

Ha ha! Love it. I'm looking to live in the most anti-hip neighborhood I can find.

Yeah, I can't go a day without hearing about how wonderful Ballard & Capitol Hill are, and yet those neighborhoods have statistically higher crime than Lake City. Perception is important, though, and I suppose where one feels most comfortable is best.

So what are these "certain blocks" to steer clear of? I imagine anyplace near big apt complexes, no? That's kind of the rule I always follow: more people packed together=more potential problems.

[sean98125]

Steer clear of the area that the police call Little Beirut - Between 135th and 145th, 30th and Lake City Way.

[happyhunting]

Yeah, I can't go a day without hearing about how wonderful Ballard

I live in Ballard and I love it. If I had my way maybe I'd be closer to Sunset Hill or have views of the sound, but that aint happening anytime soon. I looked at the crime stats but couldn't access exactly WHAT the crimes were, are they car break-ins or something? What I've noticed is that you can have a bad block, or even less than that, just one bad street or two, right next door to the most beautiful homes on another street. This applies to Ballard, Phinney, Greenwood, Capitol Hill.....all neighborhoods. There aren't many neighborhoods here (particularly in northern Seattle) I wouldn't live in. For example, when driving to Seward Park, I pass through Columbia City (I like) and Beacon Hill (I like) then pass right through Hillman City (I DON'T like) and within a few blocks are the most beautiful Seward Park homes. They all seem to co-mingle nicely. As with any city, you stay off of the main drags, so Lake City way and Aurora I'd stay directly off of them. But to be fair, I've seen homes around Aurora that are nice. North of 59th, south of 65th near Woodland Park and such. I wouldn't want my house directly facing 15th ave in Ballard, but I'd take any of the side streets between 15th and 16th or 15th and 14th in the other direction. This may seem CLOSE to 15th ave (which is very busy), but the minute you turn off on a side street, seems things get pretty residential pretty fast.

[jkx24]

Last year I rented an apt in the "sketchy" area, on 32nd between 140th and 145th. There were some suspicious looking youth that would stare at you as you drive by, or walk really slowly in the middle of the street in big groups, but there were never any actual problems, i think they just want to give off an intimidating impression. i've never been in, or seen, any confrontations, illegal activity, nothin.

with that said, i don't think the area's gonna get much nicer anytime soon, and if you're talking about BUYING a townhouse, I'd advise against it. It's hard to have appreciation in property value when you're right next to an area that ppl probably would look unfavorably upon

[PigeonCoup77]

Originally Posted by happyhunting

I looked at the crime stats but couldn't access exactly WHAT the crimes were, are they car break-ins or something?

I imagine Ballard's crime is higher for two reasons. Firstly, Ballard has bars; and thus fights, petty theft, etc. Second, Ballard is known as a nice neighborhood, and thus there's nice stuff there! So that equals more break-ins; both car & home. If Lake City has such a trashy reputation, nobody's going there to steal anything...

[The Siobhan]

I don't think anyone can define "sketchy" for you except you. My dad was in the military so I grew up on military bases and there were times when everywhere off base seemed "sketchy". As an adult, I'm more likely to live in an area with a predominately minority population, and I would feel pretty safe and secure, but others may see the groups of brown youth, the older cars, and the smaller homes and think it was sketchy.

I liked the Lake City area, myself. As someone said, you will find good and bad pockets in just about every neighborhood of Seattle.