<p>I guess I'll give my 2 cents worth on the topic of safety in the bronx or other parts of NYC. Please realize my background: I lived in the bronx (northeast) for the first 25 or so years of my life and moved away (compliments of the army) 15 yrs ago, but still visit regularly because of relatives that live there. I'm also a fordham alum who was a commuter student from the 1980's era and my son just started his freshman year.</p>
<p>So...on the topic of safety around fordham, one needs to appreciate and not underestimate the dangers that are in every large city in the US, with NYC being no exception. There is a lot of poverty in NYC, and with this comes crime, sometimes being very violent. Every college located in the five boroughs is a relatively short walk away from the safety of the campus to what we would call "bad areas". I wouldn't venture far away from NYU at night, alone, in the west village because one will walk into criminal elements just as easily as in the bronx. Columbia is very close to Harlem and Washington Heights, in contrast to hunter college and fordham lincoln center which have a larger safe perimeter around them -- but I wouldn't do a stroll through central park late at night by myself. The same can be said about the areas that other NYC colleges are in such as manhattan college, pace, st. john's, queens college, etc. (from memory I think statan island college is in a relatively safe area). Now, some areas may be slightly safer than other areas, but it is NYC and there will be a larger amount of crime in it than the suburbs. It was mentioned of some areas of the bronx that are "safe", but Throgs Neck is a short walk away from E. Tremont and that area, Riverdale may seem safe up on the hill, and with its large religious population, but it is also in walking distance to a much poorer area below it.</p>
<p>The bottom line with being in any large urban city is realizing that there will be a higher percentage risk of being a victim of a crime, possibly a violent one, and making prudent choices of how and when one gets from point a to point b. In my "safe" part of the bronx that I used to live in, only the kids took a train to manhattan or if one couldn't afford the "express bus". But, if one had the money to pay for the higher cost to use the express bus (which basically made stops in our community then went express to midtown manhattan but was twice the cost of a train token each way) one would use this bus in order to avoid the train stops in the south bronx and upper manhattan (thereby reducing your chance of being mugged). </p>
<p>One thing I told my son is that it will never make sense in my head if he decides to walk up fordham road to the grand concourse in order to get on to the D train for manhattan -- when fordham has a very safe and convienent van service between the rose hill and lincoln center campuses. Why do I say this -- because I was a victim of a violent crime in my "safe" part of the bronx, coming home in the evening time not even 8pm, and was shot at point blank range after giving over my money. The two muggers were never caught. This didn't stop me, though, from allowing my son to go to fordham, even though it is in the bronx, or from me still visiting the bronx (or even parking in the same area where I was shot for that matter if there have been no other parking choices even with waiting). Or from taking him over to White Castle one evening after he finished a summer session course at rose hill 2mths ago (now that was a stupid culinary choice).</p>
<p>The bottom line with going to school in NYC, or being a full-time resident of the city, is that one always needs to have an awareness of what's going on around in the street, and try to make the safest choices out of the possibilities given. On that evening when I was robbed and shot, I had safer parking choices, but I would have needed to wait 45-60 minutes for a spot to become available. I parked in an area that I knew extemely well, that was somewhat less safer than the prime parking area, but it was an area that I parked in literally thousands of times prior without any issues. That evening I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That slightly higher increased chance of being mugged in that area (versus the more safer area) had finally caught up to me. That is why I said to my son that I would be very disappointed in him if he knowingly chooses not to use the RamVan when he wants to hang-out in manhattan, and instead walks to the D train. Sure, it may only be a slight risk of being mugged using the fordham road/D train method, but it will always be a higher risk than using the Ramvan shuttle.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long post, I just felt I had to say it after reading so many posts on "safety" and Fordham. Fordham is as safe or as dangerous as any other school in an urban area, just a lot of common sense needs to be used.</p>
<p>--jack</p>