I would disagree about how it “doesn’t feel remotely unsafe”. While my daughter attended a program there before her overnight stay that evening, I took a one hour walk around the perimeter of the campus. It was dismal at best and dangerous at worst. Two of the four corners had drug deals going on at 3 pm in the afternoon. Another corner had prostitutes hanging around. A lot of the storefronts were closed or looked dicey. I’ve been around a bit, I know a drug deal when I see it. I can also spot prostitutes. This one hour was one of the few times in my life that I felt uncomfortable walking around by myself in any city/suburb. I found no place to have a cup of coffee or slice of pizza, although there was a 7-11 type store with some hoodlums hanging outside the door 
I’d agree that the best city around is more than two hours away, Burlington, VT. I’m not familiar with Albany except to drive through but they do have a good concert list and its a fairly good size city from what I gather.
I’d like to see stats about the Chem edge going to Clark. Honestly, I have no clue either way but I’d be curious about it for my own information.
It will definitely take visits to both schools and obviously one person’s perception can vary widely from another persons and again, obviously, each student has to decide what characteristics of a school are the most important to them. Location might top the list, academics might top the list, student body might…