Quote:
Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown
I've always thought it odd that students tended to live more west of campus than east. East feels a lot safer to me, though that student from Prospect Park was killed east of Broad from what I remember.
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I agree with this statement now, but this did not feel true up until a few years ago. I attended Temple up until I graduated in 2018. The area east of campus had always felt shady up until around the end of 2016/beginning of 2017. Around that time, the Norris Homes created a dangerous, chasm-like feeling along Berks Street between the beginning of campus on 11th Street and the Regional Rail station on 9th Street, the northern end of Ludlow was only just beginning to become revitalized, and you did not want to be caught north of Susquehanna east of the railroad. Living west of campus always felt safer due to the number of students on that side of Broad, along with all of the development taking place at the time. Nowadays, the Norris Homes have been replaced by the much nicer NC5 building, the development wave that started in Ludlow has moved up to Harntraft, and the formerly empty lots north of Susquehanna are beginning to fill in. I often use the Temple University station to walk to Fishtown, Northern Liberties, and my favorite brewery (Human Robot), and I simply cannot believe how much things have changed east of campus.
If I could be a freshman at Temple again, I'd give living east of campus a very serious look. It doesn't have the party scene that the streets west of campus have (specifically Gratz Street), but Ludlow, South Kensington, and the southern ends of Harntraft and Norris Square have been so thoroughly redeveloped that one can safely walk to Fishtown, Northern Liberties, and East Kensington to enjoy all of the amenities those neighborhoods offer.