Where do you have to commute to?
Please PM me, there’s lots of really BAD info on this thread. For example, only 12% of Orleans Parish voted R for our last presidential election. Slidell and Metairie were more like the exact opposite. Liberal atheists are welcome here!
@ChaosParent23, yeah he is only looking at the housing in Federal City and then market rentals past that. He figures if he has to pay his entire BAH he’s not having a commute and tiny house too. @greenwitch that info is heartening. Even if I still don’t like the music, food, or touristy stuff, I don’t want to feel like an alien for three years. I am a white passing Latina woman though, so people usually let their racist guard down around me (for better or worse), so this thread made me even more nervous.
I do not know the New Orleans which is described by the first few posters. But we’re Catholic & got along with everyone when in New Orleans. I used to go down to Grand Isle a lot. Most interesting mix of folks on the planet.
New Orleans is dangerous. And it can be very sudden nighttime or in the daytime.
Live on base or in Mandeville. Mandeville is charming. Best if you like sailing.
P.S. Uptown is beautiful, dangerous & unpredictable. And expensive. But if you lived in a tough area in Philadelphia, then you won’t be uncomfortable. Tulane & Loyola are in Uptown.
Ok, serious question. Tulane is in New Orleans, yes? It’s a fancy, expensive school that has a large national draw? Do those rich parents know they’re sending their kids somewhere so dangerous? Are they all cloistered on campus at all times? If anyone can understand the references, I grew up in Kensington in Philly… and worked in law enforcement in Newburgh, NY… and I am trying to get a picture of what dangerous means. It really doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone.
New Orleans was developed in a checkerboard pattern. The wealthy lived on, for example, St. Charles Avenue, while the help lived a block or two away.
Both Tulane & Loyola are on St. Charles & are located next to each other.
The danger is really in straying off the main high profile streets into the adjacent neighborhoods.
I found a crime map site, so checkerboard I see. It doesn’t actually look too different from Philly but does look hard to drill down to the little pockets when it comes to finding rentals for an area I’ve never even visited.
If you read the many threads and posts about safety on/off/near campus at Tulane, you will get a good idea. There are several colleges/universities/med/law schools in NOLA. Most students are aware that there are safe areas and less safe ones, and that its a good idea to just be aware and mindful of your surroundings. This is also true for colleges like Johns Hopkins, U Chicago, USC (CA), Penn, etc, just to name a few, that are in or near rougher neighborhoods.
DIdn’t Newburgh go really downhill recently?
Re: #23
https://www.nola.gov/nopd/data/ is a crime map from the NOPD.
Overall levels can be compared with other places and times with the FBI UCR and derived lists. Note: depending on when you grew up, crime generally may be significantly lower now than then.
Trulia is a good site to use that lets you drill down to see crime rates in an area/neighborhood for listings.
@jym626 I don’t know how far back you’d have to go to find Newburgh to be uphill- the city of Newburgh, not the neighboring town. We lived there about a decade ago though, but blighted wouldn’t have been misconstruing it. In my training I had an overnight ride-along with a K-9 unit. The officer straight up told me that if I was in the city at night and not in a cop car, to safely as possible skip stop signs and red lights. My brother is a cop in the band lands in Philly. The area around Penn (and Hopkins) doesn’t seem scary to me at all. I think I’m going to table the whole research project until closer, and take an advance trip down there to get the lay of the land. It seems like too complicated a place/choice to make from a computer search. Thanks everyone!
Based on your training & past experience living in a tough area of Philadelphia, you should be fine in the Uptown area–which offers easy access to the French Quarter & restaurants.
Nevertheless, Mandeville is charming, but the drive across Lake Pontchatrain will become too much on a daily basis.
Area around Penn is a LOT better than it used to be.
If you want fabulous restaurant recommendations uptown or downtown, ask. There are many very knowledgeable people here.
My DS#2 lived in NOLA for 6 years. He still has many friends there. Many of the things you have expressed concern about were not things he experienced, AFAIK. Good luck and have a great visit!
BTW, The main camous of Tulane and Loyola NOLA next door, is uptown, in the garden district. Audubon park and the zoo are acrtoss the street. Visit. The houses are gorgeous.
https://freetoursbyfoot.com/garden-district-new-orleans/
https://www.neworleans.com/plan/neighborhoods/uptown-garden-district/
DH suggested that since you don’t need to worry about schools to look in Harvey.
OP - you bring up a really good point about people having different comfort levels. Super that you can go and scout out for yourself. Nothing beats an in-person visit.
“DIdn’t Newburgh go really downhill recently?”
Newburgh is very sketchy, and has been for a long time. Even in the middle of the day, I don’t like driving thru. MS 13 gang tags on lots of buildings.
As far as NOLA goes, my SIL has lived there for 20 years. She has been mugged a couple of times. Even more than most cities, you have to be very cognizant of the neighborhood that you are in as well as the time of day you are there. Some areas, you just don’t go to. A few years ago, there was a TV show set in the Treme area, and tourists would go there to visit. SIL thought they were crazy to do so, especially after dark.
I would check out Algiers Point. Many small, historic houses in a quaint neighborhood where you can ferry across the river to the French Quarter for dinner if you like. I think you’d like Mid City but not the commute. Since you are moving there regardless come down one weekend and check it out for yourself with an open mind.
OP’s H will be working in Federal City on the westbank so Algiers Point would be very convenient. Harvey too, although it has a very different feel. If he can commute over the Mississippi bridge, there are close by neighborhoods in Nola proper that would avoid the perpetual traffic on the highway (90) that goes by the Superdome on the way to the bridge. Get on and off at Tchoupitoulas and it’s not bad.
I have long been fascinated by Algiers Point. Great recommendation.