Church Hill - It's Scary Dangerous BUT a Great Place to Buy an Old House! - Irony Abounds

The magazine "This Old House" has named Church Hill one of the best nine "old house" neighborhoods in the South.  [NOTE:  I am a little perturbed that Baltimore, Maryland and Wheeling, West Virginia  were included in "the South."  Hello, basic geography and Mason-Dixon line?]  I also have been to several of the other neighborhoods - Meridian, Mississippi, Newnan, Georgia, Durham, North Carolina, and the Lower Garden District, New Orleans (where I actually lived after college - LOVE the Big Easy!) - so I know what an honor it was to be in the company of these neighborhoods.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20283025_20634574,00.html

However, within days of this release, another organization named Church Hill one of the Top 10 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods IN THE NATION.  Here's that article. 

 http://www.walletpop.com/insurance/most-dangerous-neighborhoods?photo=17

The data came from some site called "neighborhoodscout," which looks a lot like Zillow or Trulia, but appears to be in only the beta testing stage. 

So, which is it?  Awesome place to live, or scary dangerous?  I've never lived there, so I'm not taking a position on the issue.  I am happy to hear from anyone who has an opinion.  I just think that it's the absolute height of irony, these two articles being released so close together.  For the sake of our City, let's just hope good news triumphs over bad.  OR, if there is a crime problem that is going unaddressed, maybe this rating as 10th Most Dangerous Neighborhood in the Country will be an impetus for some dialogue on a possible solution and re-direction of some crime-fighting resources.  Let's take lemons and make lemonade!

Comments

[Melissa Loughridge Savenko]

Rasta, you got me. I knew I should have looked that up. What I was trying to communicate, although inaccurately with my "Mason-Dixon Line" comment, was that in no way would I - or many others, I suspect - consider West Virginia or Maryland "Southern," either culturally or geographically. West Virginia seceded from Virginia to join the Union during the Civil War, and Maryland always remained loyal to the Union. Census Bureau or no, that was my only point. But you are right, I am wrong. Both states are below the Mason-Dixon line. Thanks for the correction. MLS

[Rasta]

Hello, basic geography and Mason-Dixon line?

The Mason Dixon line is the border between Maryland on the SOUTH and Pennsylvania on the North. All of Maryland, and virtually all of West Virginia is SOUTH of the Mason-Dixon line. The Census Bureau classifies both Maryland and West Virginia in the Southern region. Maryland is typically considered a southern state. Furthermore, most people consider West Virginia part of the south, as it was originally part of Virginia (although I will grant you that if the line were extended beyond its western terminus, it would be south of Wheeling).

Look before you leap.

[Libby Hill Res]

Church Hill is so the opposite of scary dangerous. I feel so much more safe on the streets at night there than the Fan or Museum District. I also know people who have been affected by property crimes in those neighborhoods. I haven't heard of anything in Church Hill since I moved there over a year ago.

It's almost offensive to me that Church Hill gets that bad rep. How many women have been sexually assaulted in the fan recently? How many people have been mugged? You would be shocked to compare those statistics to crime in Church Hill (the little crime we have tends to be between two individuals who know each other).

If you're not renting a house in a project, I'd say you're way better off in the "best place to buy an old home" than any other urban neighborhood!