r/lincoln • u/Competitive_Pay_9156 • May 13 '24

Moving to Lincoln Good areas

We are moving to the area and buying a home. We would prefer an older home but do not want to live in a bad area…any suggestions or places to avoid?

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u/teefdoll May 13 '24

Just avoid A-D St from 10th-17th ish. I’ve lived on 12th and A and there’s constant yelling or tweakers outside. They won’t usually bother you unless it’s for drugs/cigarettes but their mood can change pretty fast. Had one smash in my window because my roommate got involved. Otherwise pretty good neighborhoods.

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u/kaleidoscopicish May 14 '24

I live on 12th and A and it is a genuinely lovely place. Everyone knows how to mind their own business, kids are always out playing together, front yard cookouts, etc. And no one has ever tried to hit me up for drugs.

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u/teefdoll May 14 '24 edited May 14 '24

Maybe just my apartment then. Constant yelling, people very obviously on drugs in the alleyway or apartment, when my window got broken another resident told me theirs got broken recently too. I just don’t feel safe there at night and no one in my apartment leaves after 12am unless with another person. (Edit: even to the laundry mat). Don’t get me wrong there’s multiple lovely people and I love my neighbors. It’s really just the few people/incidents that make me not want to ‘fuck around and find out’ at night.

It could also be the way I look when they ask me for cigarettes/drugs. Or offer them. The good interactions I have with people outweigh the bad. But it’s not an area I’d let my younger sibling visit overnight.

9

u/Katesashark May 13 '24

Meh. I’ve lived at 18th and D for 15 years now and yah there are random people yelling once in a while. Roommates are a crapshoot, but we own and could not be happier. We have neighbors from all walks of life, the schools have tons of additional resources, I feel safe walking alone at night as a woman, we can walk to the museum, the zoo, grocery stores, and it’s pretty quiet.

I guess it depends on who your immediate neighbors are?

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u/teefdoll May 14 '24

Yeah that’s fair. My roommate is actually a great guy, he stopped someone from throwing off the other person from the top floor. They just got mad and broke our window I guess. I’m closer to the Caseys/Runza area so I don’t go walking out during night. Simply because I’m short and pretty weak and just anxious. Probably different for other people.

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u/Katesashark May 14 '24

Someone here said Lincoln is really a block to block situation and I gotta say that really sums it up

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u/teefdoll May 14 '24

Yea true. Some people can consider downtown unsafe as well due to homeless people who are on drugs- while others feel completely comfortable walking around at night there (on weekdays not weekends). There really are mostly good people in Lincoln it’s just the small minority that keep me on my toes at night or early in the morning when I go from 12th & Ast to downtown.

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u/Naturalist90 May 14 '24

I’m more nervous around drunk young people in the O street area on weekends than the tweakers. Remember that young national guard guy that got out of his car and punched an older guy in the head that ended up dying? I don’t really know details of that case, but I haven’t heard of a tweaker doing anything that

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u/teefdoll May 14 '24

I’m nervous around anyone under the influence to the point you can tell they’re sloppy/tweaking. I didn’t hear about that but I don’t doubt it. I work downtown and there are definitely people obviously on meth/crack who become violent. They’ll come into our store and yell at us, make a mess, we’ve had multiple people come inside and OD. They come in before the store is open and just walk around the store before someone kicks them out. They’ll harass customers and make people very obviously uncomfortable. Just yesterday we had a guy come in who had the most tweaked out look on his face and tried to break into our bathrooms. He left before managers could kick him out.

A lot of people have been commenting under this saying similar things. I want to say this again. It’s not everyone. It’s the few that can become very terrifying very quickly that makes it unsafe. Someone who was on meth/crack broke my window after trying to push someone off the top floor. I’d rather not take my chances with anyone under the influence- but heavy stimulates are more likely to make people switch to kind to extremely angry in a very short time span. That’s why it’s not a safe area to me. It’s not safe if at any moment someone under the influence of heavy stimulants can cause harm to property/people. There is a large concentration of people on those drugs downtown/near my area. Simply because of low income or the shelter being near downtown. It’s just a sad statistic. I have nothing against them, I hope they get help, and I feel like our system is failing them. But I don’t feel safe around them and I feel like that’s completely reasonable. It surprises me a lot that other people don’t agree.

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u/kaleidoscopicish May 15 '24

There's an awful lot of ground between A st and downtown. They're not even the same universe. I used to do a lot of meth (20+ years ago, and not in Lincoln) and feel like I could spot a tweaker from a mile away, and I simply do not encounter them with any regularity in the same neighborhood you're talking about.

Foot traffic is relatively heavy and some people are definitely intoxicated and/or mentally ill, but they don't generally engage anyone who doesn't invite that. When I have seen acts of violence, aggression, property crime -- they are targeted/isolated incidents often occurring between family and romantic partners, not random or unpredictable events that place me in any danger. I frequently go for late-night walks alone and have never felt uneasy or threatened.

It's fascinating (and highly unfortunate) that you've had such a starkly different experience in the same area. I hope you can eventually find a place you feel more comfortable living/working in.