<p>Does anyone have any recommendations on where to live in the Durham area? Or where to stay away from?
I’m going to Duke for grad school, so I prefer to stay close to the campus near the business school (biking distance), relatively safe, and most importantly quiet.
It doesn’t have to be specific apartments, general area of the town would be okay.</p>
<p>see pm (10char)</p>
<p>bump (10char)</p>
<p>belmont .</p>
<p>check for a PM. Most of the places I suggested could probably be considered biking distance from Fuqua, with the exception of Off-East houses/apartments. Depends how far you’re willing to bike…lol.</p>
<p>I heard that east campus is prone to break-ins and crime, is that true?</p>
<p>The blocks on the north side of east campus (Green St, etc) tend to be less safe than those to the east, IMHO, but in general I always felt comfortable walking to my car (my undergraduate major was based on east, so I’d generally park a block of two off campus instead of in the west campus parking lot for class) during the day and early evening. At night, I always felt fine if I was with other people…as a small girl I would probably not want to be walking more two or three blocks by myself, but, heck, I feel that way about most residential areas in Washington DC (even the nicer ones). Once you get a few blocks away from campus it is much more prone to crime, and you’ll see that reflected in the shape of the houses, etc…it just looks “sketchier.” That said, there are always a few incidents a year or student being robbed, but in the residential areas its generally at night, and students are generally walking alone. Right off east is actually Durham itself, so like any city you have to be careful. </p>
<p>In terms of break-ins, none of my friends…and I knew quite a few in houses and apartments off east…ever had any trouble with their cars or homes. I’m sure those problems exist, but the blocks my friends lived on (Buchanan St, Watts St, Monmouth St) were pretty close-knit neighborhoods that looked out for each other.</p>
<p>Is it going to be more prone to break-ins than complexes like the the Lofts at Lakeview, Station Nine, etc…yes. But probably no more prone than somewhere like the Belmont which is a “gated” community. </p>
<p>In terms of a general “safety” factor, relatively speaking, I’d feel safer in a complex off Erwin Rd, or closer to the 15-501 area, but I would still feel perfectly safe going home at night off East, if it were a block one of those blocks I mentioned. It’s the kinda thing where you have to go, check out a house, and see how you feel.</p>
<p>Also, I believe the Duke University Police Department keeps track of all this, and posts crime statistics on line for different areas/apt. complexes…so look into that.</p>
<p>The area of lasalle street that’s across from Belmont isn’t very safe either. A dude in my lab got robbed walking in that area at like 2pm on his first day in durham.</p>
<p>True story. (Although more so the area past the Belmont…that apartment complex further down LaSalle is apparently a huge trouble zone). I think if you were to look at the facts, incidents such as robberies and whatnot would probably be higher in the Erwin Rd. area, but it’s different because you walk less there, for the most part, and closer to Erwin you have nicer apartments and new plazas. For me, it feels safer than off-east.</p>
<p>How’s the parking around Duke? I lived in quite a few college towns and the parking around campus has always been a pain. It seems there are a number of people who drive to Duke and bike to class, Park-n-“Ride” ;-)</p>
<p>The only people I’ve seen park-n-“ride” are ones with pickups. Haven’t seen many bike racks around the parking lots. But parking isn’t bad, at least from an undergrad perspective. Undergrads park in blue zone, grad students/postdocs I hear park in lots like green zone, chem, lasalle, the new Sands Lot, etc etc. Some of those are close, others are a bit far away, but the green zone has a shuttle. It all depends on what’s available and how long you want to stay on a waitlist for the good lots. One thing though, you should sign up early, I hear late comers get screwed over and have to stay on waitlists for a long time. </p>
<p>Check out parking.duke.edu for more info.</p>