<p>Maybe it’s because Wikepedia is hardly an authoritative source.</p>
<p>Clayd, let me offer you the perspective of someone who has lived in the suburbs of Philadelphia for 55 years, has worked in center city Philadelphia for 30 years and who has 2 college age kids attending schools in Philadelphia (Temple and UArts).</p>
<p>First of all, when looking at generalized crime statistics for Philadelphia, it is important to note that Philadelphia is not just a city, it is a large county that is comprised of a multitude of diverse neighborhoods that take more than an hour to drive from the southern most reaches to the most northern. The crime statistics quoted are for the entire county, not just those neighborhoods that would be thought of as center city Philadelphia. Like any large city, Philadelphia has areas that are severely economically depressed and high crime areas, as well as many areas that are not. The crime statistics are generally driven by neighborhoods where students normally would not find themselves and generally have no reason to be in. Since you posted your question on the UArts forum, lets focus on center city Philadelphia where UArts is located.</p>
<p>UArts is located in the heart of the business and theater districts in center city Philly. It is generally a safe area for students to go to school and enjoy all of the artistic, cultural, social and historic opportunities that Phila has to offer. During the day, the streets are teeming with professionals, businessmen, other workers and students going about their daily lives and walking anywhere you want to go is safe. At night, there is also a high volume of foot traffic in and about UArts as students and others take advantage of all that is offered. It is not at all unusual to see crowds of people out and about well into the night and in warm weather on weekends until 2 am. There is a vibrant nightlife in the city and within a 5 minute walk from all the UArts dorms are no less than 7 performing arts venues with 2 more a 15 minute walk away. Restaurants and retail stores abound on virtually every block in the vicinity of the UArts campus. Three major museums are a 20 minute walk as are a ton of historical buildings and sites. Of course, it is a city and as in any city environment common sense should be used, particularly with respect to students not walking alone late at night and sticking to high foot traffic streets if walking at night. There are 10’s of thousands of students living and going to school in center city Philadelphia and those who ever encounter any crime are in a small minority.</p>
<p>My daughter and her friends love living in center city near UArts. Her freshman year she lived in the Spruce Dorm and this year lives in an apartment 2 blocks from the Terra Building. If I didn’t think it was generally safe for her to do so, she wouldn’t be. If you have any additional specific questions, let me know.</p>