How safe is West Seattle?

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  • #759158

    Betty T
    Member

    I’ve lived in High Point 6 years now. Have not heard of a lot of violent crimes. We’ve been told our area has a lower crime rate than most. Was recently told it had increased but had all over Seattle. There was one violent attack in broad daylight due to the young person being off their meds. A stolen vehicle dumped in our parking lot, I’m in an apartment building. This is a very mixed ethnic neighborhood. Basically low-income rentals mixed with private owned homes. The plan hoping to maintain a nicer cleaner neighborhood. I love to walk in our neighborhood and see people walking all the time. I love our Market Garden that sells produce to the public one night a week in summer, also beautiful flowers. A wonderful park across the street with a playground and a few blocks away is the Viewpoint Park and playground where you can look out towards the Spaceneedle. Our newsest playground to the west side we , the neighborhood residents built with the help of KABOOM project. If you’re not fond of kids not a great idea to live hear. Last I knew there were over 1,000. This is a Green Living project and we’ve had people come from all over to tour and see how it works. Our Neighborhood House works toward Green Living and Healthy living and exercise. Has Head Start class and many activities for kids and families.

    Would I walk out at night? Probably not far but I don’t walk out alone at night anywhere.

    We have people living in this neighborhood who lived in the “Old Highpoint” and they say they now feel safe. Some of the people have lived in other countries that are at war and they feel safe here. Like the mayor is saying right now on TV violent crimes are on the increase everywhere for many reasons.

    #759159

    Betty T
    Member

    So—East of 35th is better? the recent police shooting was on 37th! The incident related was to the north. Can’t blame us in WS.

    #759160

    wsn00b
    Participant

    We just bought a house and moved in a few months ago. We did get the “west of 35th/north of thistle” advice from a bunch of people we knew in west seattle. We are in that exact neighborhood (bounded by 35th/California/Holden/Thistle) and love it so far. Keep it safe. I’m still wondering how the neighborhood crime watch system works. On a side note: WSB has a lot of good, timely info. In this age of information overload, if you watch every news bulletin with every death/robbery/crime you’d think the world was coming to an end. Don’t fixate on crime incidents – even the incident today that ended on 37th. Probably a troubled person (PTSD, whatever). Doesn’t make West Seattle unsafe.

    #759161

    JanS
    Participant

    wsn…definitely true…he just happened to end up in WS…and, as we all know…sh*t happens everywhere ..

    welcome to the ‘hood…hope you’re enjoying exploring the peninsula…it’s a great place to live :)

    #759162

    beachdrivegirl
    Participant

    I will say I was nervous when my husband approached me with the idea of moving back to WS because the Gregette Guy murder basically took place across the street from my house. But crime happens everywhere.

    #759163

    miws
    Participant

    Yes, welcome to West Seattle, wsn00b!

    Nice to have another voice of reason, here!

    Mike

    #759164

    JanS
    Participant

    beachdrivegirl…are you back yet?

    #759165

    TDe
    Participant

    Funny to hear some say that West Seattle crime has gotten worse because we’ve seen the opposite. When we first moved here in the 80s (West of the the Alaska Junction area) there was a rash of neighborhood burglaries, car break-ins and theft. Now we rarely see that at all. A couple of years ago someone took a cast iron stove we had put out by the alley in preparation for selling it, but that’s all. The good news is that we can leave almost anything in the alley with a “Free” sign on it and within a couple of weeks it will disappear, even if there’s no metal in it. Our very own curbside recycling program.

    #759166

    trickycoolj
    Participant

    I agree with Betty T, just moved to High Point from Northgate (just off Northgate Way and Meridian) and I feel much safer in High Point. I checked all the crime stat maps and things looked much lower than my old neighborhood which often had armed robberies, muggings, drug deals and prostitution. It’s the city, those sorts of things are everywhere but I do appreciate that SHA keeps the riff raff in check with the security patrol and thorough vetting of their residents. I know that if anyone causes serious problems they’ll most likely be removed from SHA’s housing. I didn’t think twice to take out my garbage cans long after dark last night, must have been 11pm or so. In Northgate I didn’t want to go out to my complex dumpsters by myself at night or the bus stop before dawn (drunks lived in a nearby park that yelled all night long).

    My family had misgivings about the area having lived near E.C. Hughes in the mid 50s to mid 60s. My grandmother didn’t want my mom and her siblings going to junior high in the city so they moved away. Their car was stolen straight out of the garage and recovered in Canada, the dogs were stoned from the alley by “the kids from the projects,” and my grandpa’s service stations were repeatedly broken into and had gas stolen right from the tanks in the ground. It was a different time then and none of them can believe what High Point looks like today!

    #759167

    wendyhj
    Participant

    I have lived in West Seattle 15 years, always east of 35th. First on Holden at Delridge, in Westwood, bought my first home in Puget Ridge (well, one block south of it) and moved to High Point 5 years ago.

    As a Realtor I get pissed when I hear other agents participating in what the insurance industry calls “redlining”, but in real estate it is called “steering”, their clients to the more expensive parts of West Seattle. It’s actually against the law to do it. There is some financial incentive to get people to buy in these more expensive areas (which is why it is illegal). It’s fine if someone’s friend wants to tell someone stay west of 35th, but it’s not fine for a real estate licensee to do it. I have always sold east of 35th, having lived there myself. There is good real estate everywhere and I always tell people to take a Friday night and go park on the corner near their prospective purchase and see what they can see (and hear). And do the research of course, but life is so random, really.

    As for the Courtesy Patrol in High Point (I don’t call it a security patrol because they aren’t armed, and all they can do is call the police for stuff), the hours are 4 pm to 2 am last I heard. Hours may adjust once the kids are out of school. My husband and I regularly walk the dog after 1 am most nights in the last few months at least and rarely see anything to contact Courtesy Patrol for. (We refer to ourselves as the late-late-night block watch.) Walking with someone at these hours is just common sense. But if I had to go walk my dog by myself I just pay attention to what is going on around me.

    #759168

    beachdrivegirl
    Participant

    JanS no we aren’t back yet! :)

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